Deo Gloria
May 16, 2021
Sermon for Confirmation
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: John 17:11b-19
Theme: Your High Priest Prays For You!
- That the Father will protect you
- That the Father will sanctify you
This past Thursday was Ascension Day, the day we mark our Savior’s triumphal return to heaven. Forty days after his resurrection, after successfully competing the work of our salvation and securing forgiveness and eternal life for all people, the Bible tells us that Jesus ascended once again into heaven and sat down at the Father’s right hand. And now he’s catching up on a little R&R, right? That’s the impression we have sometimes, isn’t it: that since he finished the work of our salvation, Jesus is now kicking back in a recliner and taking it easy, sipping on lemonade, maybe watching episodes of The Office on his giant, flat screen TV or playing chess with the Father? But that isn’t the case at all. The Bible tells us that Jesus is still very active, still very busy on our behalf. For example, in John ch. 14 Jesus said that he is preparing a place for us. In Ephesians ch. 1 Paul tells us that Jesus is ruling over all things for our benefit, for the benefit of his church. And in Romans ch. 8 Paul states that Jesus “is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us”(v. 34). Just think, Jesus is interceding for us, praying for us.
Do you ever wonder what he’s praying? “Father, give me patience. These people are driving me crazy.” “Father, whose idea was this anyway, to have children? What were we thinking?” “Father, don’t these people ever learn?” This morning you and I have a special privilege, an awesome privilege. We get to listen in on one of Jesus’ prayers, in fact, the prayer Jesus prayed in the Upper Room the night before he suffered and died on the cross. In that prayer Jesus prays for his disciples. And as he prays for them, he also prays for you and me. Listen, then, as your High Priest prays for you! And notice what he prays for: that the Father would protect you, and that the Father would sanctify you.
[Read text.]
The house is typically empty whenever Jenny gets home from school. Mom, you see, has to work in the evenings, sometimes till 9:00 or 10:00. So Jenny pretty much has to take care of things herself. She has to make her own supper and do her own homework. Sometimes Jenny is afraid being home all by herself, especially when she hears noises outside or noises down in the basement. Often she can hardly wait until her mom gets home.
Is the same thing true of us? Are we like latch-key children, left alone to fend for ourselves until our Savior Jesus comes back? Not at all! Listen again to what he says:
Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.(vv. 11+12)
While he was with his disciples, Jesus had protected them. He had kept them safe from the evils of the world and from the evil one himself. And none of them had been lost–except Judas, the one who was doomed to destruction. Now don’t misunderstand. Judas was not doomed by some act of predestination—that that was God’s plan for his life and he had to carry it out. No, Judas was doomed by his own sinful unbelief and rejection of Jesus. Judas allowed Satan to fill his heart and became disconnected from the vine. Judas doomed himself. The other eleven disciples were kept safe, however, guarded and protected by Jesus, their Good Shepherd.
And yet, as Jesus had told them earlier that evening, he wasn’t going to be with them much longer. Soon he would be leaving them and returning to the Father. Did that mean, then, that they were going to be left all alone to fend for themselves, left to struggle alone in a wicked and hostile world, left to fight alone against the devil and his temptations? No, Jesus prays that the Father would protect them.
Notice, though, what Jesus does not pray for: he does not pray that they would be taken out of the world. Does that surprise you? I mean, wouldn’t it be better if the Father did take them out of the world to their home in heaven? Then they wouldn’t be in danger anymore in the world, where they would face rejection and persecution and hatred. Then they wouldn’t be in danger anymore from the devil and his temptations. But you see, Jesus had some important work for his disciples to do after he was gone: to go and make disciples of all nations, to spread his Word throughout the world so that others might also believe in him and be saved. So rather than take them out of the world, Jesus prays that the Father would protect them, that he would protect them “by the power of [his] name”(v. 11).
Normally, when we think of God watching over us and protecting us, we think of him using his almighty power to keep harm and danger away. Or maybe we think of him sending his holy angels to watch over us and keep us safe from physical harm and danger. And God does do that. As it says in Psalm 91, “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone”(vv. 11+12).
But there is another kind of danger, an even greater danger disciples of Jesus face: the danger presented to our souls by the devil and this world, a danger that would lead to our eternal destruction. The danger comes in many different forms, at many different times and places. It may come in the form of a movie or TV show. It may come in the form of music you hear on the radio or your iPhone. It may come in the form of a shady business deal or in a handsome promotion. It may come in the classroom in the values or principles that your teacher is promoting or those he is trying to undermine. It may come in the form of an invitation to a party or an invitation from your boyfriend to come over to his house the weekend his parents are gone. All of these are potential trouble spots, ways in which Satan may try to lead us into sin and ultimately—like Judas—to despair. All of these are ways in which Satan may try to undermine and weaken our faith or deceive us into believing things that are false and destroy the foundation on which our faith is built.
In a way we’re sort of like the troops who are still over in Afghanistan who face danger on a daily basis from snipers, from suicide bombers, from enemy forces waiting to ambush them. We face the same kind of danger but in a spiritual sense. The forces of evil are always after us, sniping at us from behind bushes and buildings, planting land mines in our path, waiting to ambush us as we round the next corner, doing everything they can to harm our faith and bring our souls to destruction.
So how does God protect us from those kinds of dangers? By the power of his name. God’s name, remember, is everything that has been revealed about him. And where do we find this revelation of God? Where do we learn who he is and what he is like? We find it in his Word. Often we tend to think of God’s Word as that which feeds and nourishes our souls. And it is. But it is more than that as well. It is also the way God protects your soul. It is your shield against the temptations of the world. It is your sword to fight back against the devil and to drive him and his temptations away. It is your beacon that illuminates your path, pointing you in the right direction and steering you away from harm and danger. It is your emergency medical kit to bandage up your wounded soul. Friends, we need God’s Word, and the comfort and strength and protection it provides! And Jesus knows that we need it. That’s why he prays what he does: “Father, protect them by the power of your name.” Be sure to hear and read God’s Word often and keep God’s name at the center of your life.
The second thing Jesus prays is that the Father will sanctify you. “Sanctify them by the truth,” Jesus prayed, “your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified”(vv. 17-19). The word sanctify means “to set aside for God, to make holy.” The picture is this: maybe your mom has some special dishes at home—some china, for example, or a set of crystal. And the only time she takes them out and uses them is for a special occasion like Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner. And whenever she does take them out, she reminds you to be very careful with them so that you don’t break them. Those dishes are special. They’re set aside for a special purpose.
In his grace and mercy God has sanctified us. He has us set us aside for a special purpose. When we were still dead in our transgressions and sins, God made us alive. He called us out of the darkness of sin and unbelief and put faith in our hearts, faith to trust in Jesus as our Savior. He washed away our sins and made us holy and sinless in his sight. And he set us aside for a special purpose: not to live for ourselves anymore and for our own personal gain and pleasure, but for him, to live our lives for him and for his glory. And he accomplished all of that “by the truth,” not by a bunch of lies and deception and falsehood, but by the truth, the truth recorded for us right here on the pages of the Bible.
But God isn’t finished. He continues to sanctify us by the truth. Sometimes we don’t live a very sanctified life. Sometimes we do live rather selfishly. We’re more concerned about our own personal gain and pleasure than we are about bringing honor and glory to God in our lives. At times like that God rebukes us with his Word and calls us to repentance. And when we do repent, with his Word he comforts us and assures us of our forgiveness. And with his Word he strengthens us and helps us to live a Godly life, a life that does bring glory and honor to him. That’s what Jesus prays for us, that God would sanctify us day by day through his Word.
Notice what else Jesus says about God’s Word. “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth”(v. 17). Some people say that only parts of the Bible are true. Some people say that certain stories in the Bible—stories like the story of creation or the fall into sin, stories like the story of Sodom and Gomorrah or the story of Jonah and the great fish—that stories like that are not really true. That isn’t what Jesus said. Jesus said God’s Word is truth. Everything the Bible says from cover to cover is true. If you want to know the truth—the truth about God, the truth about yourself, the truth about our world and the origin of our world, the truth about heaven and how to get to heaven—you won’t find it in some philosophy book or by doing a Google search on the internet. You’ll find right here in the Bible. “Your Word is truth.”
And then notice what Jesus says in the last verse of our text: “For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified”(v. 19). Jesus sanctified himself? That’s right, Jesus set himself apart for God. He dedicated his life to serving God and carrying out the work the Father had given him. In fact, he was so dedicated to God and to that work that he refused to be deterred even though he knew what was coming. Even though he knew about the horrible suffering and pain and death that lay ahead, he continued on that road to Calvary and willingly laid down his life on the cross for his disciples, for your sake and mine, that he might save our souls from destruction and that we might be his both now and forever.
Is that your mission? Is that your goal in life: to share the good news of Jesus Christ with as many people as you can so that others too might believe and be saved? If it isn’t, it ought to be, because that is the mission our Savior has given us. For his sake, dedicate yourself to that mission. Just as Jesus sanctified himself for you, dedicate yourself to carrying out your mission for him. Make it your goal to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the people you know, your neighbors and friends and co-workers and classmates, and to support the spreading of the gospel around the world that many might believe and be saved. That’s what Jesus is praying for.
Do you suppose Jesus has a Nintendo Game Cube that he plugs into a giant screen TV and sits and plays on a slow afternoon? Or do you suppose he goes out every morning and plays a round of golf with the Father? Actually, from what we learn in the Bible, our Savior is too busy for things like that, too busy doing things like praying for people like you and me. As our great High Priest Jesus is always interceding for us, praying to the Father on our behalf, praying that the Father will protect you, praying that the Father will sanctify you. Amen.