WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:04.480 This podcast is a ministry of Grant Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:08.240 Helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:14.000 For more information about Grant Parkway, visit GrantParquay.org. 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:18.399 God, we are thankful for time to gather around. 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:21.679 God, we're thankful for mandolins and slide guitars. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:26.399 God, we're thankful that we get to worship. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:41.600 We're thankful for a place that is not perfect, but that values you, your call on our life, singing things that are true about you, to you, and opening your word together. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:52.719 And so take just a moment before we do that, before we open God's word, and say to God, what has my name on it? 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:54.399 What do I need to hear? 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:56.880 And I want that to be clear for me. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.079 Because God, we know that you are always speaking. 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:03.280 We just want to be obedient and listen well. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:19.680 Eugene Peterson says the most important question we can ask when reading Scripture is not what does this mean, but what can I obey? 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:27.120 Ask God before we open his word, what would you have me obey? 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:29.840 God, we trust you and we're listening. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:31.280 We pray sings your name. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:31.840 Amen. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:32.799 And amen. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:36.239 How about Clyde Copeland and the Soggy Bottom boys, huh? 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:37.040 Yeah. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:41.359 I said Union Station in the first service. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:42.159 It was lost on them. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:44.719 I just feel like my knowledge is sometimes wasted. 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:47.599 Union Station, O'Brother Art out. 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:49.040 It wasn't really George Clooney singing. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:50.000 You're all aware of that, right? 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:56.319 I know he's pretty to look at, ladies, but that was a big burly man with a glorious beard that was that voice in that movie. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:01:57.680 Union Station. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:01:59.200 My name is Wade Collier. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:01.680 I'm the Missions and Outreach Pastor here at Ed Graham Parkway. 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:04.079 Um, and I am honored to be with you this morning. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:09.120 Neil McClindon, our lead pastor who is normally preaching, is milling around drinking lots of coffee. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.240 So watch your back if you're gonna say things to him about him, rather. 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:13.840 Um I'm glad to be here. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.199 I am honored to be up here continuing um week two of this series. 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:18.800 You see the art behind me. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:22.960 It is also on the front of your bulletin as well, 40 days to the cross. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:38.240 Um, as we are looking at um, starting two weeks ago, as Jesus makes the turn, um as we read and hear, he sets his face like flint to go and do what he was purposed to do on the cross, uh, there is a 40-day countdown. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:47.520 And so we have been asked by Neil up here last week at this pulpit through emails over the past couple weeks by Neil, even one by Clyde, um, what does it look like? 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:53.840 And we're posing the question of if you knew when you were going to die, how would it change your life? 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:56.400 I didn't get to come to one of the services last week. 00:02:56.479 --> 00:03:01.840 I was teaching at all the different hours and different places, and um I so I listened to the service online. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.680 I listened to the podcast like many of you guys do this week as I was driving. 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:09.840 And Neil asked the question if you knew when and how you were gonna die, would you know? 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:13.520 And he didn't even get to finish the question before people start yelling, no, I don't want to know. 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:15.840 Um it's just interesting, it's an interesting response. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:19.520 It's an interesting response, especially because Jesus knew. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:22.800 Um and so it forced us to ask a couple questions that I want you guys to think about. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:29.360 This isn't part of the notes, but um one, as we've asked, what would you do if you knew the day you were going to die? 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:33.039 How would you live in these final days? 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:37.199 How would you pray, which is especially um poignant this morning? 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:39.039 How would you pray in your last days? 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:45.280 And then pose the question, as I referenced before, would you want to know how and when you're going to die? 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:48.879 And if so, how would it change the way that you live? 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:56.560 Um Jesus did know, and this morning we're going to look at one of those questions of praying in the way that he talked to his father. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:58.960 What did he ask, and what did he pray for us? 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:03.199 So if you have your Bibles, um turn with me to John chapter 17. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:05.439 If you don't have a Bible, um look around you. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:07.120 There's a Black Pew Bible. 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:13.680 Um, find the New Testament there in the back, the back third of that, and find the book of John. 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:16.879 If you don't have a Bible, please take that with you today as our gift. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:18.720 We would love for you to have that. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:22.160 John chapter 17, there's 26 verses. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:24.480 It's known as the High Priestly Prayer. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:29.600 Um so I've been highly creative this morning and titled my sermon, The High Priestly Prayer. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:39.519 Um so as you walk into John 17, the first 12 chapters of John are Jesus' public ministry as represented in the Gospel of John. 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:45.600 And then the next five chapters, 15 through 18, are what most theologians call the private ministry of Jesus. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:47.040 That's time with the disciples. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:51.439 Um, that is as we read right here his prayers to our Father. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:57.759 And so as we enter into John chapter 17, there in verse 1, he has just finished what we call the upper room discourse. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:07.519 He has just finished giving instructions, talking about hope in the midst of what is sure to be horrible tribulation for the disciples upon Jesus' arrest. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:10.800 He talks about the fact they can have hope and they can have joy. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:13.839 Um, and then he begins to pray. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:16.879 Neil told you last week as he was praying, he kind of gave you a timeline. 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:26.639 And so I wanted to do the same because all of these, as Neil and I talked about this sermon series, we wanted all of these to fit within the last week or so of Jesus' time on earth. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:32.079 And so as Jesus prays this, as I mentioned before in John chapter 16, he is in the upper room. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:36.720 And then from there, we know that in John 18, his next stop will be the garden. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:44.480 Um so most theologians believe, and they're all smarter than me, and so I'll agree with them that he is probably still in the upper room. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:50.240 There are some folks who would say maybe he prayed this on the walk, um, but he is most probably in the room. 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:55.199 But whether he is on the walk or in the room, we're less than 24 hours of him going to the cross. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:59.759 Um and so just a very pivotal, very interesting time for us to get a look at. 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:03.120 Um, I'm gonna try to keep my quotes to a minimum in this sermon. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:08.160 Uh, as you guys have, if you've ever heard me, you know I like to talk about people who are much smarter than me, which isn't hard. 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:22.800 Uh but um there was as I studied this over the last several weeks, there were just things that I read that one shaped my understanding, but two, I believe uh shape our understanding of what we were about to read and what we were invited into with Jesus' prayer. 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:24.000 And this is Dr. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:24.959 Warren Wearsby. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:25.839 Did you guys get that quote? 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:26.720 You did get it this time. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:27.120 Okay. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:31.199 Um he says this as relation to where Christ is. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:36.079 Whether he prayed it in the upper room or en route to the garden, this much is sure. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:41.839 It is the greatest prayer ever prayed on earth, and the greatest prayer recorded anywhere in Scripture. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:46.000 John 17 is certainly the holy of holies of the gospel record. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:50.079 And we must approach this chapter in spirit of humility and worship. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.279 So with that in mind, let's look at John chapter 17. 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:57.279 I want to read this in entirety, all twenty-six verses with you. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:03.279 It says this When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted his eyes up to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:12.800 Glorify your Son, and the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:19.920 And this is eternal life, that they know you are the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:32.399 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you would have me do, and now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:36.240 I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:41.040 Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:55.680 Now that they know that everything that you have given them, you have given me is from you, verse eight, for I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them, and they have come to know the truth, that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:57.120 I am praying for them. 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:09.920 I'm not praying for the world, but those whom you have given me, for they are yours, and mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them, and I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:17.600 Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are one. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:20.959 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:26.079 I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the Son of Destruction. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:35.039 The scripture might be fulfilled, but now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have joy fulfilled in themselves. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:41.039 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of this world, just as I am not of this world. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:45.679 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:49.360 They are not of this world, just as I am not of this world. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:51.200 Sanctify them in truth. 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:53.360 Your word is truth. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:09:02.399 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they also may be sanctified in truth. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:13.279 I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you. 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:33.840 That they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me, the glory you have given me I have given to them, and they be may be one even as we are one, I and them, you and me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:45.440 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:50.240 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you. 00:09:50.879 --> 00:10:02.080 And these know you, that you have sent me, and I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:03.919 This is the word of the Lord. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:14.159 This priestly prayer, um, we see it does two things for us in understanding Jesus' walk in this walk to the cross. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:20.000 Um one, it depicts in great details, we just read what Christ has accomplished in his earthly life. 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:25.679 That he came from the Father, that he has made the believers one, just as he is one with the God. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:30.240 He's accomplished in his earthly ministry and what is about to happen through crucifixion. 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:36.399 And two, it is this phenomenal 26-verse picture of Christ's love for us. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:40.320 His love for his disciples, his love for us. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:47.200 And there's no doubt, you read this, you could spend a month of Sundays or more walking through the high priestly prayer. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:48.399 There is a lot here. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:11:02.159 But I truly believe that God wants us to see three things this morning as we understand what it is to know what is coming, to know how it's going to happen, to know when it's going to happen, and how that shapes your understanding, and how it shapes your life. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:06.720 Um, and that is not beyond the realm of our understanding this morning, church. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:09.600 That there are realities that are promised to us. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:16.799 There's persecution that's promised to us, there's a broken world that's promised to us, and so in the same way, Jesus walks through that. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:22.000 And so, three things that I want us to look at this morning, and more importantly, I think God wants us to look at this morning. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:27.279 The first one is this is that God's glory demands obedience. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:30.559 That God's glory demands obedience. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:41.679 Um, much like in the foundations of baptism when we teach baptism, one of the foundations of the belief and the call to do that is built on the fact that Christ himself was baptized. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:44.000 He demonstrated that baptism. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:57.039 In the same way as we talk about this obedience to the Father, Jesus, beautifully, especially right here in this prayer as he talks to his father, discusses obedience and practices obedience. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:02.399 But obedience is one of those words that within the church culture, if we're not careful, we shy away from. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:10.879 Um even now, as I talk about obedience, some of us, and I'm going to talk about submission, and even more that word, we kind of shrink back at that. 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:21.120 Um because we, if we're not careful, um, in a very sneaky way, um, we we begin complacency begins to slip in as it pertains to obedience. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:22.960 Um tell me if this sounds familiar. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:34.720 If you're having conversations about the Bible, you're having spiritual conversations with friends of yours who are believers, maybe they're not believers, co-workers, friends, family, um, and you say things like this. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:42.000 Well, what it means to me is Well, when I read this, what it means to me is sneaky, right? 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:43.120 Does that sound familiar? 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:51.279 That's that's it doesn't mean to you you're included, and God invites you into it, but what it means is what exactly what God said. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:58.720 And so it just starts with a just a simple vernacular as that, and then we begin to lose track of obedience. 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:05.440 And so, in our effort to fit God into this acceptable deity presentation, we grossly misrepresent God. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:10.000 We've taken the God who demands obedience and tried to make him into our favorite advice columnist. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:15.679 Christopher Bloom says this there's only one way to glorify God, and that is to obey God. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:21.679 So, with all this in mind, what do I mean by God demands obedience? 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:22.720 Look back at verse one again. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:28.000 It says, When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted his eyes up to heaven and he said, Father, the hour has come. 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:36.720 Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom have given him. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:14:02.080 So now in verse one, when it says that Jesus had spoken these words, and then he lifted his eyes up to heaven, Jesus is moving the discourse from Jesus and the disciples in the upper room to now Jesus and his father. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:05.279 And he says that he looks upward. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:09.279 And he's taking, what he's doing is he's taking a posture of submission. 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:11.679 What do I mean by taking a posture of submission? 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:16.799 When you pray, if you bow your head and close your eyes, you are taking a posture of submission. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:20.559 Maybe when you pray, just like Christ, maybe you look upwards. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:25.360 This is an acknowledgement of obedience and submission. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:31.600 Um in our house, we we don't have a ton of hard and fast rules, we have a few. 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:36.320 And one of the one of the rules at our house is that when mom and dad are talking to you, we make eye contact. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:40.000 We we ask our kids to make eye contact with us when we're talking to them. 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:43.440 Um especially if it's a serious conversation, if it's a shaping conversation. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:47.600 I have a six and a three-year-old, so most of our conversations are shaping conversations. 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:53.840 Um I'm a Sasquatch in physical stature, I understand that. 00:14:53.919 --> 00:15:03.600 And so since I have little ones, most of their eye contact with me, when I ask them to look me in the eye, is looking up at me, looking beyond the distraction of my beard into my eyes, right? 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:16.559 And so they're looking up, and and and when we have these conversations, as soon as our kids were old enough to talk, my wife Sally and I have been having two continuous, intentional, consistent conversations with our kids. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:18.799 And that is mom and dad are in charge. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:24.320 Mom and dad are in charge of this house, we're in charge of this family, and that you can trust us. 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:28.960 And so my poor daughter, already at six years old, is worn out. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:31.679 And my answer to questions being, do you trust me? 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:33.919 I dad. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:35.519 Do you trust me? 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:38.000 Today I'm gonna go home after being out of town for five days. 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:41.519 I've set a horrible standard, but I I I kind of enjoy it. 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:44.240 Um I bring toys to my kids whenever I go on a trip. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:50.879 And so today they've but they've learned politeness from their mom, and so she'll at my daughter will ask me how my trip was. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:54.000 And I can tell she's just dying to ask. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:59.440 And then she'll say, Well, Dad, you know, most times when you go on trips, do you trust me? 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:07.279 And in the same way, Jesus is looking up in obedience and submission to the Father that he trusts. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:11.440 And so he demonstrates this with the Father. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:14.639 It says he lifted his eyes up to heaven, saying, Father, the hour has come. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:22.799 Gly your son, and the son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:37.679 In our understanding of the sovereign prayer that Christ prays in this demonstration, in this last conversation that we are witness to, and the disciples are witness to, we see him giving this radical obedience to the Father. 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:47.759 And as we understand this sovereign prayer that Christ prays before then going obediently to the cross, there's two things we need to wrap our head around as we understand this obedience that Christ is teaching us. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:51.600 One is this question of God submitting to God, right? 00:16:53.279 --> 00:17:01.840 If you believe that Jesus Christ is God, which he is, he is now submitting himself to God the Father, which is God. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:10.880 And you're wrapping your head around this obedience of the God man, Jesus Christ, then submitting himself to God. 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:16.319 It even says that Jesus Christ was present with God at the very beginning. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:17.759 Don't turn there, it's going to be on the screen. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:26.240 In the very beginning of this book of John, it says this in the beginning was the word, that is Christ, and the word was with God, and the word was God. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:33.359 He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:36.799 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:42.400 And so now we're reading chapter 17, and Jesus, who is eternally God, even before Genesis 1.1. 00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:43.599 You get that, right? 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:48.079 That before that he was the word and he was with God, and all things were made through him. 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:52.799 So this Jesus who is eternally God is now submitting to the Father. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:57.680 For you eggheads in the room, this is called biblical subordination. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:17:59.920 Biblical subordination. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:01.920 So if you like to throw big words around, you're welcome. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.000 I just gave you one for work tomorrow. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:14.720 And this is different, though, from subordinationism, which is a false teaching that Jesus is lesser than God, or the Holy Spirit is lesser than Christ. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:16.079 That's not what's going on here. 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:24.319 What we're seeing here is we are being able to understand the difference in the fact that Christ is submitting himself. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:29.039 There's this magnitude of obedience that Christ submits to and submitting to the Father. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:33.440 And here's the other thing: it was his plan all along. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:36.319 I'm going to say that again. 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:37.279 It's raining. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:38.240 Sounds good, right? 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:39.200 Hear that? 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:41.839 It was his plan all along. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:47.920 Jesus didn't come to earth, and then he's in the last 40 days, and God goes, Oh yeah, you're going to get on the cross. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:50.799 It was his plan all along. 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:54.160 Submission and obedience was his plan all along. 00:18:54.319 --> 00:19:06.319 Don't turn there, but look, just earlier, just a few chapters earlier in John chapter 6, verse 38, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:08.799 God the Son is doing the will of the Father. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:11.039 He is obediently submitting. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:14.079 I said there's two things we have to understand about this obedience. 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:17.680 The first is this submission, and two is the glory. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:19.279 Is the glory. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:21.440 When we think about obedience, we think about submission. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:24.559 I mentioned earlier some of us shrink back when we hear those words. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:30.880 We probably, the reason we shrink back is probably because we don't associate glory with submitting. 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:36.079 We don't associate accolades with doing what someone else is telling us to do. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:39.200 But remember, it was the plan all along. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:42.079 Father, the hour has come, glorify your son. 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:44.319 Your son may glorify you. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:45.759 Look at verse 4. 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:47.599 I glorified you on earth. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:53.119 Verse 5, in your own presence with the glory that I had been before the world existed. 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:58.640 Jesus is saying, glorify me, so then I can glorify you. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:04.559 When he says glorify, what he is literally saying is, clothe me in splendor. 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:06.640 How many of you grew up in church? 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:09.519 BBS, Sunday school? 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:11.279 I don't know. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:15.039 There are some people shaking their heads yes, and the first some people, there were some people nodding no. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:21.119 For a lot of us, when we think about Jesus in scarlet white being clothed in splendor, this is what we think of, right? 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:24.960 Creeperly Anglo Jesus. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:27.839 Not sure how that works. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:33.680 Maybe standing in a field with flowing white robes and white sandals and sheep. 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:36.880 This is not the splendor. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:42.720 The splendor that Christ is asking for, the glorification that he's asking for is going to happen on the cross. 00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:44.799 And it doesn't look like that. 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:51.359 It looks like a death and a ransom that we'll get to in a minute. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:58.720 So this petition that Christ makes to the Father is a testimony to Jesus' commitment to be obedient to the Father's will. 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:02.799 It's exactly what we read in Philippians 2. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:04.400 This is going to be on the screens behind me. 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:06.720 This is Philippians 2, beginning in verse 3. 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:10.000 And this lays out this ultimate submission. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:13.839 This glorification is through submission and obedience. 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:20.160 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, Paul says, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:24.880 Let each of you look not only at his own interests, but also at the interests of others. 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:35.680 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:45.759 And he took on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:46.960 By becoming what? 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:50.880 Obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:54.720 Therefore, because of God was highly exalted. 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:59.759 God highly exalted him and has bestowed on him the name that is above every name. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:11.920 Name, so that at the same name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:21.920 Jesus is praying to his Father here in John 17, asking to obey, to empty himself, to take on the form of a servant, to humble himself to the point of death. 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:24.559 And Jesus is obeying with the big picture in mind. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:33.519 And so the reason that many of us, Church, shrink back from obedience and submission is our perspective is too small. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:38.720 We're too driven by immediate gratification. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:48.319 We're too driven by what we want and what makes us feel good and what gives us success instead of understanding the big picture. 00:22:48.559 --> 00:23:03.039 But what we miss is this example, just like we're looking at this example of obedience with Christ, and he talks to his father and he's acting this out, just like every sermon he preached, every conversation he had, every miracle he performed was all with the big picture. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:07.759 It was all with intentionality, it was all with the end game in mind. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.319 And that is what we're called to. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:17.839 But let me love you enough to say that sometimes your obedience and your submission, the fruit of that, you're not gonna see. 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:20.160 You're not gonna see it on earth. 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:29.039 Some of those fruits of submission and obedience are not gonna be seen until your kids are grown adults. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:32.079 Or your grandkids are grown adults. 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:35.279 This past week, I'll tell you what I mean. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:40.480 This past week, uh, most of the week and most of the weekend, I was at a conference, um, a men's ministry conference. 00:23:40.559 --> 00:23:41.440 It was called a boot camp. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:42.160 I was a little skeptical. 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:43.759 I was like, I'm not paying money to go run. 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:49.200 Uh but it was um a biblical boot camp, so I got to feel super holy and then come back and tell you guys about it. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:52.000 But um it was it was put on by Ransom Heart Ministries. 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:58.720 If any of you are familiar with John and Stacey Eldridge, Wild at Heart and Captivating, I think is the name of the other first book. 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:05.119 And um long sessions, over 600 men at this thing, and each session builds on the next session. 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:15.680 And so we talked about what we were designed to be, what God intended for us, and then the things that we begin to believe about ourselves that keep us from being what God called us and intended us to be. 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:21.759 And there comes a session early on in the week where John begins to talk about the wounds of the Father. 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:36.000 And the things that were done to the men in the room or not done for the men in the room, or said to the men in the room, or not said by the men to the men in the room, um, that begin to lead them to believe they were less than what God had created them for. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:58.319 And this told you 600 people full of men, and numbers and dozens and dozens of them went down as they began to recognize and admit and confess the things that they believed about themselves, and these obstacles to obeying and trusting and submitting to God because of things they had said. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:01.839 And if that wasn't enough, he then moved on to the wounds of the mom. 00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:21.599 And these men who had been told or not told things by their mom, and and and loved or not loved by their moms or their grandmothers or their aunts, and so now, um, in the same way that you might not see the fruits of your obedience, you might not see the fruits of your disobedience. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.319 And that could be even more dangerous. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:44.319 Because here I am seeing a man with Korean War veteran hat on weeping, weeping, because there was a man who was given stewardship to be his dad and called to obey, and called to steward that well, and trust God with his kids, and and and didn't do the greatest job with it. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:52.240 And so now you have these fruits of disobedience that have been played out in a 75-year-old man this weekend. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:26:05.839 And so it was beautiful to watch God restore these men and do a work in them, but for me, it became this really tangible reminder of the call to obey. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:10.559 And so, as Jesus in the last season of his earthly life, he tells us that God demands our obedience. 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:17.599 And then our second point, as he moves on in this prayer, he calls us to understand that service is selfless. 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:19.279 Service is selfless. 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:24.319 Um, yesterday in Neil's Saturday email, if you don't get those, we'd love to be in touch with you. 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:32.400 Um, there's usually a tomorrow email that goes out on Saturday, typically written by our lead pastor Neil, and he said something that struck me last night. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:38.000 It said, the nature of last conversations is that you say what you want people to remember. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:46.480 Um the reason that hung with me is that many theologians believe that the disciples were probably there as Jesus is praying this prayer. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:51.680 Whether it was in the upper room or walking on the road to the garden, um, that they heard this. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:27:01.759 And so, why is that a big deal that they hear Jesus talking to his father in this last conversation, really, that we're privy to, um, or one of the last conversations. 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:03.359 Look at verse six. 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:06.720 This is where Jesus stops praying for himself. 00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:23.839 Jesus spent about four and a half verses praying for himself, the one who's going to go to the cross, the one who's going to be brutally beaten and mocked and carried around from false court to false court, all these things he prays for himself four and a half verses. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:29.599 But then starting in verse six, he takes over three times as many verses praying for the disciples. 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:30.960 Right? 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:40.559 The one who was setting his face like flint towards the inevitability of the brutality of the cross spent one third of the time praying for himself than he did praying for his friends. 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:45.359 Jesus' prayer to his father serves as an example to the disciples who are listening, right? 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:49.680 And to us, how to orient our spiritual posture to service. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:27:52.640 What do I mean by spiritual posture to service? 00:27:52.880 --> 00:28:00.799 Some of you know about three and a half years ago, I was a moron and forgot that I wasn't 18 anymore and jumped out of the back of an 18-wheeler tractor trailer thing. 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:02.480 Luckily it wasn't moving at the time. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:04.480 I have someone, some of intelligence. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:07.759 Um I jumped out and knee went the wrong way and just destroyed my knee. 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:09.440 I had to go in for surgery, have it rebuilt. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:12.319 The surgeon said that thing looks like a bomb went off in there. 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:13.920 That's what he told me after surgery. 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:17.440 Um they had to replace and rebuild ligaments, and I went home. 00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:19.279 How many of you had knee surgery in here before? 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:20.000 Anyone? 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:20.640 All right. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:25.440 So they normally send you home with this big torture device machine that bends your knee back and forth. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:29.920 Um, they brought that in to check us out, check it out to us, and they said, no, your knee's so bad you can't even have that. 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:33.200 We gotta wait two weeks and let all these graphs heal. 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:37.200 Um and so that what that meant was I wasn't able to really get around. 00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:43.519 Um, those of you who know my wife and have seen my wife, she's about half the size of me, and she was responsible for taking care of me. 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:46.480 And when I say taking care of me, I don't mean chicken soup and Gatorade. 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:51.119 I mean help me change clothes, help me go to the bathroom, help me bathe. 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:53.440 Less than an ideal situation, right? 00:28:54.000 --> 00:29:05.119 I'd mentioned she was six months pregnant with our son in August in Houston, and a very rowdy, very stubborn, stubborn three-year-old running around our house. 00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:13.119 And then she's got her six foot four town husband that she's got to take care of. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:19.200 Less an ideal situation, yet she postured herself in this spirit of selfless service. 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:25.839 Even more so, we see Christ as he transitions this conversation from about him to his disciples. 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:33.839 Um, look up on the screen, I want you to see just a list of the things that he prays for them between verses six and nineteen. 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:38.480 And this is um I probably missed some, but these are the ones that that I wanted us to see. 00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:41.519 He says, to keep them loyal and obedient to the Father. 00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:51.759 Umity, which we'll get to here in a little bit, and the importance of that, and understanding Jesus' last words, some of his last words on this road to the cross. 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:53.279 Fill them with joy. 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:55.680 God, they're about to see some rough stuff. 00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:58.240 They are promised to see rough stuff. 00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:04.160 They are promised to be persecuted and hated because, as we've read time and time again in this prayer, they're not of this world. 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:09.519 Verse 15 um he talks about keeping them from the evil one. 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:15.680 Note this if you're taking notes or you have your Bible, note in verse 15 that Jesus does not say, take them out of the world. 00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:17.279 He does the opposite. 00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:20.079 He says, I'm not asking for you to take them out of the world. 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:23.680 What they've been called to is to happen in this world. 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:28.079 But while they're in this world, keep them from the evil evil one. 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:29.599 Sustain a sojourn. 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:35.279 They are aliens, they're not of this world, but they are here to do the ministry of me. 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:37.119 Sanctify them. 00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:41.519 What he means by that word sanctify in the Greek literally means set them apart for service. 00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:42.720 Interesting, right? 00:30:43.519 --> 00:30:47.519 He is serving them by telling them that they are to be sanctified for service. 00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:53.440 Knowing, understanding, and believing your word, God is what I ask for them. 00:30:53.839 --> 00:31:00.640 And then in verse 18, he begins to explain why this prayer is necessary for the eleven and why it's necessary for us. 00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:06.640 And I say eleven, did you catch in verse 13 where he says, I've kept them all but one? 00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:09.359 Judas, he's gone, right? 00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:11.519 So the prophecy could be fulfilled. 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:12.960 And so there is eleven. 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:20.079 And he says this for them, he says this to his father, and for us, as you sent me into this world, so I've sent them into this world. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:29.680 Just like we read earlier in chapter 6, when Jesus said that he had come into this world to do the will of the Father, he is now sending his disciples in the world to do his will. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:38.400 In these 40 days to the cross, Jesus' preparatory prayer to leave this earth, demonstrating the obedience that God requires of us, right? 00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:46.480 The selfless service that he demonstrates and prays for his disciples, understand is key for us to walk with today. 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:48.960 The prayer of Jesus isn't just words. 00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:52.240 This is the Jesus who washed the feet of his disciples in service. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:55.519 This is the Jesus who would climb on the cross in service. 00:31:55.920 --> 00:32:00.960 This is Jesus who selfishly served humanity's need for a savior by dying for our sins. 00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:04.480 If we believe this all of this, it has to be lived with abandon. 00:32:04.559 --> 00:32:07.200 It can't be us leaving here and go, you know what, that's a good word. 00:32:07.359 --> 00:32:09.920 I hope those disobedient people in my house start obeying. 00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:15.200 I hope those unsubmissive sinners at work get their life straight. 00:32:15.759 --> 00:32:17.039 This is for us. 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:18.960 This is for us to obey. 00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:24.799 This is this is service, this is submission, this is selflessness to the extent of the cross, we're told. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:30.559 There is a Scottish theologian named William Barclay who missed it on a lot. 00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:32.720 Missed it on a lot of stuff. 00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:40.160 But I think he hit it on the head right here with this that Christianity was never meant to withdraw man from life. 00:32:40.319 --> 00:32:42.319 It was meant to equip him for better life. 00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:47.920 Christianity does not offer us release from problems, it offers us a way to solve our problems. 00:32:48.160 --> 00:32:53.599 Christianity does not offer us an easy peace, it offers us triumphant warfare. 00:32:53.839 --> 00:33:00.240 Christianity does not offer us a life in which troubles are escaped and evaded, it offers us the life in which troubles are faced and conquered. 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:03.119 The Christian must never desire to abandon the world. 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:05.759 He must always desire to win the world. 00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:09.119 Jesus says, God, don't take them out of the world. 00:33:09.279 --> 00:33:11.599 Protect them, fill them with joy and faith. 00:33:11.839 --> 00:33:18.079 One of Christ's final conversations on this road calls us to obedience, selflessness now, and lastly, belief. 00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:20.799 For us to unite in belief. 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:27.039 When I was going over my notes last night, I thought, man, this is truly about as simple as it gets. 00:33:27.119 --> 00:33:31.359 We're called to obey, we're called to serve, we're called to believe. 00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:35.839 And I'll confess to you that there's part of me that thought, okay, this isn't creative enough, right? 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:43.359 I need to get an acrostic that spells out cross or road and be really impressive. 00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:47.279 And then I was reminded of something that I hadn't thought of in close to 20 years. 00:33:47.519 --> 00:33:51.599 When I was in high school, I was a subpar basketball player at best. 00:33:51.920 --> 00:33:53.599 At best, subpar. 00:33:54.720 --> 00:34:00.079 In the little bit I did play, the coaches were clear that I had a very simple task when I played. 00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:03.519 I had a coach named Coach Thorpe who called me Baby Huey. 00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:08.400 For the older folks in the room, you know who that is, and that is not a term of affection. 00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:12.559 For everyone else, this is what I was called in high school. 00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:15.440 And so he would say, Baby Huey, here's what you do. 00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:18.960