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LESSON 5:
PRAY
TALKING POINTS
John 17: 9 "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.”
John 17: 15, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
John 17: 20, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Jesus possessed a personal knowledge of the awesome power and love of the one to whom He prayed. He sought to demonstrate that power and love during His life, then sought to reveal it through the written word that we may not be afraid or ashamed to pray to the same God. Before prayer can be a part of our life, we must realize the truth of these lessons. The more firm these lessons are in our heart, the more intense will be our prayer life. It is our privilege to follow the example of the prayer life of Jesus and accept His invitation to pray to the same God and Father to whom He prayed. If we follow the example of Jesus’ prayer life, we will lift up others in prayer to the Father. When we pray for others, we take personal responsibility for them to a higher level. Before we can pray for someone, we must have God and that person in our hearts and desire to pray. The deeper that person is in our heart the more earnest the prayer will be because our knowledge of that person’s needs will be deeper and our love greater. Prayer can have a timeless effect, impacting many generations yet unborn.
Jesus is praying here for His disciples, not just for their welfare, but for their mission which is to result in the salvation of millions. His prayer was not for the world, but for the Christians who would seek to save the world through their ministry. Therefore, the personal welfare of His disciples was of paramount importance, the mission they were to serve was greater than they and the success of that mission was tied to the good welfare of his apostles. When Jesus prayed for them, He was also praying for us and everyone between that time and now and beyond who would believe on Him. Prayer always has a more far reaching effect than we know. Jesus understood that and so should we. Our prayers for another could further the cause of the Kingdom and save other souls. The lives of all Christians are interconnected and they are all tied to the world. A prayer for a saint is a prayer for the lost.
All three of the prayer requests in these three verses are for Jesus’ disciples, both present and future. None are for the world. Each statement is for the success of faith and of believers.
Request #1: Jesus prayed for His disciples and thus teaches us to pray for our Christian friends.
Request #2: Jesus prayed that His disciples be kept them from the evil one while in this world. We are taught to pray for the safety and success of all Christians while they live in the world.
Request #3: Jesus prays for the success of the mission to save the world and the success of the Christian in keeping separate from the world while living in it and teaching it. This prayer looks through time to future generations of converts and obligates them in the same manner as Christians were obligated in the first century, praying for the success of the written Word and the devotion of the saved to following it. It ultimately was for us because we were once in the world and our mission to help others to come out of the world. The world is not excluded from the invitation to eternal life and must be given the opportunity to learn of the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus. We must pray for the success of the Word in reaching souls.
But notice closely, Jesus emphatically states in John 17: 9, “I do not pray for the world.” His prayer was for His disciples, those they convert, and those the converts convert. The only recipients of Jesus prayer are those who believe. That is because He is the mediator of the saved. The saved must in turn seek out the lost to bring them unto salvation so that Jesus may also be their mediator.
The two basic elements contained in the request for believers is salvation and unity. God’s only plan for reaching non-believers is through you and me. We cannot afford to be the kink in God’s plan.
Usage in John:
Pray: Jn. 14: 16; 15: 26
1) “I Pray for them.” In His hour of need, He was praying for others. Jesus’ selfless nature is demonstrated throughout His life, constantly sacrificing for others. His prayer for glory was ultimately for our salvation. He was a man of compassion and wisdom. He knew how to listen and come to the aide of the afflicted. He knew how to die to self so that His own personal dilemmas did not destroy others. His prayers were specific in regards to person and action. He prayed for the righteous because they were righteous and that they would convert the wicked so that they would become righteous.
In this statement Jesus demonstrated His work as mediator. Paul argues that there is one mediator between God and man, Himself man, Jesus Christ. A mediator typically intercedes, as would a lawyer, in behalf of a guilty person, imploring to the king that the guilty person be spared punishment. In this case He is acting in this role soliciting the mercies and abundant wealth of the King to be used in the favor of His friends, seeking the escort of Heavens armies to preserve them while they spread the word that the Kingdom of Heaven has come down to man. A lawyer only defends those who come to him. Likewise, Jesus only defends those who come into His court.
Some feel Jesus was praying that His disciples would be spared the abuse and death He was about to experience, that they would not be caught up in the fear and terror of the moment and also be killed. It was enough that He was about to die. He wanted His disciples spared so the mission would continue. Certainly the devil believes in slaying the shepherd so that the sheep will scatter. Jesus was most certainly praying for the disciples that they would remain as a cohesive group and become a powerhouse example of faith to all who would follow. He was praying for their deliverance and their salvation, both physical and spiritual, both during the current storm and those to come. He was praying for their salvation in spite of the world because the evil one makes the world work against us and makes it a dangerous place, even for those who love the world. We cannot win against the devil by ourselves. Victory against the evil one can come only through personal assistance from God. This personal assistance comes out of a personal interest in lifting us up. God’s personal interest in us prompts Him to personally lift us up knowing that this deliverance has the power to result in the strengthening of our faith and hope and resulting in our salvation and in the salvation of those who watch us and would learn from us. The strengthening of faith results in deliverance, a deliverance that can come only from the Lord. Sometimes deliverance is in life; sometimes it is through death (cf. 2 Thessalonians 3: 3; 1 Peter 5: 10; James 5: 11). We are told to not fear those who can only kill the body, but rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. (Mathew 10: 28).
2) “Keep them from the evil one” can refer to the great deceiver or to a person whose life is a representation of him. The one who is a representation of evil is described in James as being set on fire by hell. This description metaphorically represents the devil in an almost incarnate way. This person becomes the human personification of the devil and his relationship can be described as “he in the devil and the devil in him.” They are one even as the Christian is one with God.
With so much evil on every hand, how does God keep us from the evil one, especially when we are constantly bombarded by those under the influence of the devil? The devil has influence over every evil thing from sickness to death, from to jealousy to murder, from unfair peer pressure to political corruption, and from suppression of wholesome free speech to over zealous religious false teaching. God does not protect us from illness, evil governments, or mistreatment from our fellow man, but from the sway they can hold over our hearts and minds. These things cannot control what they do not own. He does not build a firewall in our hearts, but does give us the Gospel as a filter to prevent evil from influencing our faith, hope, love, knowledge or conviction. He leaves the choice to us to make the right decisions for life and worship. We cannot avoid everything that can be seen or heard or every thought that can creep into our minds, but He has revealed a law to educate us and guide us and holds us responsible for self education. If we fail, He will hold us responsible and no one else. If we sin, God is not to blame. If we get sick, God is not to blame. If we are persecuted by an evil person or a corrupt government, God is not to blame. If we miss Heaven and gain hell, God is not to blame.
He will save the soul of the one who is faithful, but has not promised to save the body. Birth into His kingdom is for the soul, not the body. The blood of Christ cleanses the soul, not the body. The Gospel provides the means to a sound mind but does not force its way. The resurrection will be to give the soul a new body. This salvation is God’s ultimate help in time of need. His concept of help is different from ours and provides help on His terms, not man’s. We should not be upset with God when He behaves according to His nature and not according to our concepts of right and wrong. He does not play politics or favorites. He operates on His time frame, not ours. Salvation operates within a specifically defined environment and on His terms. He does not give one plan to one person and a different plan to another for He is not the author of confusion. He does not deviate over time or between cultures. His plan to keep us from the evil one involves protecting the heart and restricting our life through a well defined lifestyle, one in which we walk a narrow road, with the specific eternal benefit of eternal life. The ultimate deliverance of eternal life is the ultimate freedom from the evil one. His motivation to protect us from the evil one in this life is for the spread of the Gospel and the salvation of souls. Whatever evil may happen to us on the way may be used to help us see the need of leaning on and learning God’s strength so that we may be God’s comfort in the lives of others so that they may be saved. Final freedom away from the devil in all totality will be us in Heaven and Satan in Hell. God will ultimately keep us from the evil one in every way. The first step was God’s. The second step is ours. The final step will also belong to God. We must walk in lockstep with Him for our salvation and the spread of the Gospel depends upon it.
Usage in John:
Evil one: Jn. 3: 19, 20; 5: 29; 6: 70; 7: 8; 8: 44; 13: 2
Keep: Jn. 7: 19; 8: 51; 12: 25
3) I do not pray for these alone, but those who will believe. Jesus prayer was all about salvation. He was not being selfish and praying only for His friends, but establishing the principle of teaching others so that they may teach another, and another, and another. He is praying for the salvation of the world without praying for the world and establishing the goal of world mission evangelism. If the apostles were successful, the Gospel would be revealed and salvation preached to the world. All who believe are Jesus’ friends. He makes new friends as more people are saved.
It should be emphasized at this point that Jesus does not pray for the world. Prayer is an intercessory act and to be performed by the one who is the mediator of the saved would imply that He was acting as such for the world and blur the lines between those who are saved and those who are not. Jesus is the only mediator between God and man and has become such through His sacrificial act which saves only those souls that come to Him. Jesus was sacrificed for those who seek God’s salvation. He was not sacrificed to save the world, but to give the world the opportunity to be saved. John 1: 12-13 says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” The right to become a child of God is not given to the world en masse, but to only to those in the world who are ready to come out of the world, to those who have received Him. Matthew 28: 19 says those who are discipled are those who are to be baptized. The world is not a disciple of Jesus, but may become one.
The Christian’s challenge is to be the personification of the Holy One. This is a tremendous responsibility, yet God has taken this into consideration when He gave us the mission. He wants to be glorified through us. We are His chosen mouthpiece. We need to more speaking for our Master and not depend upon our doing to say it all.
Jesus makes a great assumption in the commitment of His disciples to the work. He speaks of those who will believe. Before others can believe they must hear the word. Before they can hear the word someone must take it to them. Those who are given charge to carry the word are His disciples. Jesus makes a tremendous assumption that His disciples will be so in love with the message and in love with the people they need to teach that they will not question the need to go or hesitate when the opportunity presents itself.
(1) Through their word. Jesus is obligating the Christian to speak. Before we will feel compelled to speak on any subject we must feel strongly about it and unafraid. At some point the word of God must become our word. The world must not see a difference between the word of God they read and the word they see from His followers. Jesus is not praying for the world directly, for in the world are also the unbelievers, but for those in the world who would believe if the Christian would speak. The Lord’s prayer can be rendered inactive and His love to be in vain by the inaction and silence of His disciples. It will not be the Lord’s fault, but it will be our problem. We will be held accountable for not speaking. The importance of the human role cannot be over valued. Our silence is our doom. We must speak. We are obligated to speak. We cannot serve without speaking. We will be personally responsible for the failure of Lord’s prayer if we fail to speak. The method by which God planned to reach the world was through His disciples. We personally represent the success or the failure of the mission. The two talent servant and his doom represent the scope of this failure.
(2) That they may all be one. Paul commanded the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1) to speak the same thing, to be of one mind and thought. With such unity of thought would come a comradeship that would betray the strength of the love of the church. The unity which Jesus sought for His believers is witnessed by the agreement of what they teach and how they behave both toward one another and in the world, not by their meeting at the same address or by the name on the door. True unity depends upon the believers and their focus on Truth and love. It cannot happen without the proper conduct and teaching of the disciple of Christ. Jesus does not seek that His disciples will agree on most things or even on some things. To teach differently on doctrines is to not be one. The world will not believe in Jesus if those who claim to be His disciples cannot agree and cannot act in love.
(3) One in us. The supreme example of the type of unity which Jesus seeks for His disciples is illustrated by the Unity which exists within the Godhead. It is demonstrated in their singleness of speech and singleness of action. The fact that the word the Spirit would give to the apostles was passed to Him through Jesus by the Father demonstrates their singleness of mind. Our speech unites us with God. Failing to speak the same things not only looks bad on us, but removes us from unity with God. If we are removed from unity with God, we are removed from His presence.
(4) That the world may believe. The primary objective of unity of speech is the salvation of the world. If the world is lost because we do not speak and because we do not agree, then their loss may be our demise. We must not be held accountable for the condemnation of another’s soul. The truth of this statement is being witnessed within our own country, the USA. Our own neighbors are losing sight of the glory of God because Christians are not living the life or speaking the word as they should. Should this country be lost to another religion, it will be no one’s fault but that of the silent Christian.
It is encouraging to know that no one who would believe will be denied the chance to hear. God will personally see that one of His disciples will attend to that soul. Will it be you? Or will we be the two talent servant who hides his masters’ treasure because we are afraid?
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