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LESSON 3
Make Clear the Name
Talking Points
John 17: 6-7, "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.
John 17: 26, “And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
The answer to the question of how did Jesus enjoy such great success in His ministry is given by noting that first He made it clear who was in charge and served Him (the Father); second He made the message clear; third He served His followers. No cause ever establishes itself as formidable without a clearly established leader and a clear message. Jesus lifted up the Father, pointing to Him as the Father of all creation and the one from whom the message came. The message established that Jesus would return to His glory after His crucifixion and that is when the Father would present Jesus as Christianity’s established leader and present His message, the Gospel, as the new law. If we are to serve God successfully, then we must know first who is in control and second, know His law. God must lead us if we expect to be successful in our Christian mission.
1 Corinthians 13 argues for the need of making things clear so that confusion does not reign. We do not want to be as bothersome to people as a clanging symbol or a trumpet without purpose. A train’s whistle blows with distinctive long and short bursts to announce its arrival at different types of crossings or intersections. A horse race is announced with a specific melody from a bugle. A foot race begins with a shot from a pistol. The U.S. Calvary of the 18th century would charge to the blast of a bugle. Revelry announces the time when soldiers are to awake and begin their day. Christians also have a clear and distinctive voice to follow. Its message must always be clear. If its believers sound out different tones to different peoples, then all are confused and no one wins.
1) “I have manifested your name.”
8 times in John 17 Jesus says, “I have” while listing His accomplishments. Let’s re-word them as questions and listen to how He responds.
(1) Did you glorify me? “I have.”
(2) Did you finish my work? “I have.”
(3) Did you manifest my name? “I have.”
(4) Did you give them my words? “I have.”
(5) Did you keep the ones I gave you? “I have.”
(6) Did you give them my word? “I have.”
(7) Did you share your glory with them? “I have.”
(8) Did you live so as to show others that you know me? “I have.”This expression (I Have) is another way of saying, “It is finished.” There eight categories given by Jesus as having been completed. In this, Jesus is giving the secrets for His success and how that we may enjoy the same success. Here is what He did:
(a) Manifested. When something is manifested it is clearly outlined and described. Shipping manifests contain complete itemized details of goods and cargo being transported. Military missions must be clearly defined in a manner that could be described as manifest before they can be brought to fruition. For missions to be manifest there must be clear and unequivocal communication of authority, message, plan and goals. The chain of command must be clearly communicated and established. Jesus clearly communicated the authority for His work, He clearly presented the message, and He had a clear plan with clear goals. A clear and complete message is necessary for clear and complete action. A message that is always evolving or changing according to the whim of the leader is confusing to those who follow. If any part of that message is treated by its followers as irrelevant, then the message as a whole will not be respected for its authority or its plan. The Gospel must not be seen as evolving, or being different for different people. It must be seen as complete for all times. Otherwise, it makes for a confusing message and makes the Gospel appear to have no authority and to be from man and not from God. A “Gospel” message that is treated as dynamic and not static is actually a message from demons and not from God.
(b) Name. The name of the God of Abraham; the name of the God in whose behalf Moses led the children of Israel; the name of the God for whom David would have built the House of God; the name of the God for whom the prophets of old spake; the name of the God in whom salvation is found; the name which is above all names; the name which is synonymous with the power of Heaven; the name of the God in whom Israel found salvation; the name of the one in whom Israel sought to place their identity. Jesus wanted His disciples to know that this God was the God who had empowered Him to act.
Empowerment is simply a transfer of power. It is typically done through legal processes to be properly delegated and should never be assumed. One cannot legally act in behalf of another without some type of empowerment occurring. It comes in varying levels of authority, but it gives one the privilege of acting by the authority of that name to the degree to which he is empowered to act.
The symbol of this empowerment came in olden days in the form of a wax seal. Today it is in the form of a letter or court document. No similar tangible document or object was available for Jesus to use to prove He was from Heaven and officially represented the Father. He used the only evidence available for Him – miracles.
Jesus had all authority in heaven and earth and consequently had the fully delegated legal authority to act in behalf of the Father. When Jesus says that He has manifest the “name” of God, He assures all that He has clearly communicated the identity, power and authority of the One who is behind His actions and has clearly communicated the identity, power and authority of He who is behind the Christian life. The apostles testified of this authority themselves in John 1: 14, 18 and repeated the authority in other passages such as Matthew 28: 18-19 and Hebrews 2: 1-4.
Usage in John
Manifested: Jn. 1: 31; 2: 11; 3: 21; 21: 1, 14 – through signs
Authority: Jn. 5: 27; 7: 17; 12: 49; 14: 11; 16: 13; 17: 2
2) To the men. In this case the “men” whom God had given to Jesus were the disciples whom Jesus led around for three years while training them to become Heaven’s ambassadors to the world (cf. Eph. 6: 10; 2 Cor. 5: 20). They knew whom they followed and obeyed. They found a clarity in Jesus that couldn’t be found in anyone else and refused to abandon Jesus because no one else could offer to them a clearer meaning of life. In Jesus they also found clarity of doctrine and mission, which is essential to the success of one’s followers. If we fail as Christians, it is not because the message is not clear, but it is because we have not clearly grasped the power and message of the Gospel. Clarity of understanding is first suspect and clarity of commitment is second when faith fails. The disciple who endures to the end will win, regardless.
Usage in John
Disciples: Jn. 2: 2, 11, 17, 21, 22, 25; 4: 1, 7, 27; 6: 1; 8, 11, 16, 22, 61; 7: 1-5; 8: 31; 9: 2; 11: 7, 8, 16, 54; 12: 16; 13: 5, 22, 35; 15: 8, 29; 16: 17; 18: 1
3) Whom you have given. The thought of people owning people is reprehensible to some. But, God clearly expresses ownership of believers. This ownership is completely legal as His believers have sold themselves to Him in exchange for the hope of eternal life. God is perfectly at liberty to trade in human commodities without human consent since He created all things and all things belong to Him. Laws regarding intellectual property rights are quite common. However, God does not claim ownership of people unless those persons had already given themselves to Him in obedience. Those whom He gave to Jesus had to be of special obedient quality. This quality was of the type that could only have been prepared in advance by believing and obeying the Heavenly law in power at the time. It is thus a special right of ownership which God is claiming. Not the ownership inherent in creating a thing, but the ownership inherent in buying and owning a thing.
It was this special right of ownership which God is claiming when He transfers ownership of the twelve men to Jesus who later became His apostles. This special relationship can barely be described by the word “servant.” The relationship between believer and God is greater than that. It was because He first owned them as His servants that He claims the right to transfer them to Jesus. When someone owns a servant, the life of that servant does not belong to himself, but to his master. Even so, when God owns us, we do not have a life of our own. We are not in ownership of ourselves. We belong to God.
Judas was among the ones given to Jesus by the Father, but he refused to fully yield his will to Jesus. Jesus still claimed ownership of him. Judas was obviously imperfect, yet God gave him every chance to change so that he could be used by God. He was given the authority and responsibilities as the other apostles. He could have seen the benefit of Jesus’ wisdom and message, but he did not. Jesus knew ahead of time how Judas would ultimately be filled with greed and jealousy and betray Him, yet He used Judas anyway. Jesus’ use of Judas leaves us full of questions, yet one message is clear. We are all imperfect, yet Jesus still invites us and chooses to use us and dares anyone else to discount us a servant of God. Jesus did not deny Judas until he manifest himself as the son of perdition. God gives us the benefit of opportunity until we clearly toss it away and reject it out of hand as if to betray our savior.
The greatest compliment one can give another is the confidence displayed when we recommend someone for a job. Can you imagine the level of confidence God displayed in these disciples when He gave them to be the apostles of Jesus? This behooves to ask, “What would God recommend us for?”
Usage in John:
Have given: Jn. 4: 10; 17: 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 22; 18: 9
4) Out of the world. Jesus’ disciples were said to have been selected from out of the world. They were in the world, but not of the world. They knew how to live on the moral high ground while doing business with world. They had severed the ties that bound them realizing that they could not serve two masters. A faithful disciple cannot serve God and mammon and hold between positions. The disciples were always walking away from the world, letting their direction of motion and sense of belonging proclaim to the world that they were different. Their point of origin was “the world” because they were born here and lived under its influence, but they did not allow its influence to control them. Whether we come out of the world depends upon how tied we are to it. Jesus could not have used someone who was uncommitted. They were chosen because they were already committed. Jesus knows you and still offers to you the same privileges enjoyed by the disciples of the first century church.
Usage in John:
Out of the world: Jn. 13: 1; 15: 9; 17: 6, 15
Elsewhere: 1 Cor. 5: 10; cf. Romans 12:2
5) Were yours. It is a complement of the extreme kind for Jesus to say to the Father, “They were yours.” If Jesus was to be able to complete His mission, a transfer of authority has to take place within Heaven involving everything Heaven owned. This verse speaks of the believer as being part the property of Heaven. Those who belonged to God under the Old Law would now belong to Jesus under the New Law. The catch is that the believer also had to embrace the New Law as being from God, otherwise he would utterly show his distrust in the God of Heaven and God would disown that believer. The element of continuity between the Old and New Laws is in the promise God made to Abraham. The believer had to fully accept the Old Law as the mechanism delivering God’s people to the grace of the New Law in fulfillment of the that great promise. (cf. Romans 9: 1 – 13)
Note: John 17: 12 v. Jn. 18: 9a
6) They have kept your word. The means by which the disciples were able to come out of the world and become Jesus’ apostles was because they kept the word of God. They were able to live up to expectations because God’s word was hidden in their hearts. There is no other way to belong to God, but to keep His word. The word of God must be of paramount importance to us. It must be accepted as fully inspired and wholly authoritative, demanding our full and complete obedience. Obedience cannot be colored by a personal style of obedience. Our obedience cannot be of our own manufacture.
While the disciples were with Jesus, they kept the letter and the spirit of the law. Jesus showed them how to obey and made sure their attention was always focused on the obedience of God. “Jesus claims loyalty and fidelity in these men with the one exception of Judas (verse 12). He does not claim perfection for them, but they have at least held on to the message of the Father in spite of doubt and wavering.” (Robertson’s Word Pictures) Jesus was able to use these men in spite of their imperfections.
To say that someone “kept your word” goes even deeper. It implies more than preserving something in a jar, but of necessity includes obedience. The word of God is not kept by simply believing. It is not kept by simply confession or telling. It is kept by carefully attending to and taking care of the word as a precious treasure, patiently observing it so as to guard it and holding it in reserve as your failsafe when the world goes bankrupt.
Usage In John
Jn. 14: 23, 24; 15: 20; Rv. 3: 10
Elsewhere: Ps. 119: 101
7) Now they have known. Knowledge of God and His word does not come by osmosis nor by observation, but by hearing, believing, doing, participating and experiencing. How Jesus trained His disciples is witnessed in the limited commission and the in the miracles He performed (i.e. cast out demons; feeding multitudes; riding out the storms). While learning God’s word, they personally witnessed the Divine endorsement. They participated in a training seminar that is rivaled only (but not equaled) by the wilderness wanderings. They personally experienced the opportunity to observe God at work, living the revelation of God’s work, love, power, and his teaching.
Have known: Jn. 8: 20; 14: 7; 3 times in chapter 17.
8) All things which you have given me are from you. John 5: 30-41, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish the very works that I do bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. "I do not receive honor from men.” (also see Jn. 7: 28-29; 8: 14-18, 28, 29, 42, 54-56; 12: 30-32;
Nothing was assumed. Everything was planned.
John 17: 26, “And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
9) I have declared Your name. – This declaration never stops. It cannot stop. God’s word was declared and must continue to be declared. It is an ongoing mission, then and now. Thought the work may seem irksome at times, it must be declared until the work is finished. (cf. Jn. 15: 9, 10)
10) And will declare it. equals inspiration to come. Name equals power, love – intricacies of. Learning never stops. Demonstration of God’s power never stops. Love never stops. Never irksome for God or Paul. God has spent 10,000+ years telling His story. Surely we can “endure” in for 50. The message must be told and told again to each generation and by each generation.
Usage In John
Declare: 1: 18; 16: 14, 15; 17: 26
11) The love with which you loved Me may be in them, and I in them. With God’s love comes His presence. With His presence comes His indwelling. With the indwelling comes God-likeness. God is in Christ, Christ is in us, we are in Christ, Christ is in God and we are filled with the Spirit. The indwelling which this relationship requires is not one way. It does not endow us with supernatural powers, but with supernatural access. Indwelling is not miraculous, but defined and enabled by law. This is not just a matter of physical or spiritual presence, but commitment of heart.
That which would make complete the life of the Christian is for Jesus to live in His disciples. The work of salvation was finished with Jesus crucifixion, but the final touch that makes the Christian complete is for all spiritual blessings to be found in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). Thus John joins the apostle Paul in the superlative importance attributed to being "in Christ." Paul used the expression "in Christ," or its equivalent (in him, in whom, etc.) no less than 169 times in his epistles. To be "in Christ" is everything with regard to salvation.”
Usage in John
In you: Jn. 5: 38, 42; 6: 53; 8: 37; 14: 17, 20; 15: 4, 6, 11; 17: 21,
12) Love is not separate from the word of God and the word is not separate from love. God is not separate from love and love is not separate from God. God is not separate from the word and the word is not separate from God. Neither of these can be proclaimed without the other. When these are truly in us, we are one. The whole story is about the love of God. The love of God must be shared with others before it can be said to be in us. We must do more talking without diminishing the amount of showing and living we may already do. We cannot claim to know God or to love God without knowing and keeping His word.
Usage in John:
Jn. 3: 16, 34; 5: 20, 42; 10: 17; 12: 25; 13: 1; 13: 33
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