The Village Church
Obeying the Word of Christ - Audio
With your Bibles in your lap turned to John chapter 17 John chapter 17 we're going to be looking at verses 6 through 11 But keep it open in your laps because I'm going to be referring to some of the prayer that well We looked at last time I was here, but I know that not all of you were here So those first five verses we're going to be looking back at those While you're turning there the disciples have come to a point in Jesus's ministry where he's come to the end of it He's come to the end of it and ahead of him lies the cross And in these moments, he is praying a prayer to his heavenly father that is meant to be overheard by his disciples It is for their benefit and he's turning his attention towards them He's prayed those first five verses for himself and in verse 6 We're going to be looking at the prayer that he prays for his disciples. We're going to look at the next six verses John chapter 17 beginning in verse 6 I Have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world They were yours you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them They knew with certainty that I came from you and they believe that you sent me I Pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me For they are yours all I have as yours and all you have is mine and glory has come to me through them I Will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world and I am coming to you 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 let me pray for us Heavenly Father we pray that your spirit would enlighten our hearts To the beauty of your word in Jesus name we pray amen I Work as a chaplain for a hospice Indicator and as as being in that role I have done a phenomenal amount of funerals and Usually things go well, you know as planned but I Want to tell you about a service that didn't go exactly as planned and because I'm going to be using specific names I have the I have the family's permission to recount the story to you We were at a service for a woman named Shirley Lockhart and her husband Norman and And everything was going well, you know the eulogy We had gotten to the end of the eulogy and the Paul Beers are on their way out of the out of the funeral home To load the hearse and I went back in to complement the soloist And I was in there just a few minutes and by the time I got back outside the funeral director whose He's actually just retired whenever you have a funeral with with mr. Pitman, you know everything's gonna go perfectly So when mr. Pitman is a little frantic it kind of made me a little frantic and he said rather Brad They gone and I said who's gone and he said the family they're gone and I said where do they go? And he said well this cemetery I guess and I looked at him like really are you sure and I pointed to the hearse and I said But Shirley's in there right and he said right and I said well I was not only taking start without us You know you got a preacher in a body kind of need those two to go to get to have a great time You got have something to put in you got to have so So we send the police escort away. They're like well, do we stay do we no no? we don't need you now we're sending them away and We get to the cemetery and usually there's order because we've all driven a quarter mile an hour to get there And we're all stacked up in a single line We get there and it looks like the day before Thanksgiving sale or after Thanksgiving sale people are parked everywhere You know kind of well, I thought you were following them. Well, where's the hurts? Well, I thought you this sort of air confusions going on and and I you know what because surely had such a great sense of humor I said at the at the internment, you know surely would just love that y'all beat her to the cemetery She would just love that And you know at the end of the service everyone consoles the family like they do and people started kind of Thinning out and you got a picture this because Norman approaches me Very solemn and right about where you are sir Vernon mr. Pitman is doing the traditional mortician pose, which is probably exactly What you imagine sitting here very solemn and Norman comes up to me and he puts his hand on my shoulder and he says this Everything happened exactly the way you said it would pecs treated us. That's a funeral home pecs treated us exactly the way that you said they would and I'm sitting here watching mr. Pitman listen to this with Norman with his hand on my shoulder and I'm thinking you can't ask for better marketing You can't ask for better marketing site. I can't pay for better marketing and at the same time I'm thinking are you serious? Did you just experience what I did as I'm smiling nodding my head? Did you just experience all the chaos that I just did and I think it may have been a similar sense that the disciples had When they heard Jesus say these have obeyed your word. They're like, huh? Yeah, we obeyed your word. Did we know we didn't obey your word? This is what it's like when Jesus represents you to the Father. This is what it's like Thinking about all the things that were running through the disciples mind as they're hearing Jesus talk The time they reprimanded the kids for bothering the Lord The time that Jesus told them to feed the five thousand and they argue with him how it can't be done The time that Peter took his eyes off the Lord began to sink The time they rebuked him when he predicted the fact that he was going to die now We could go on and on we don't have enough time to rehearse all the ways that they failed but when Jesus represents them to the Father it says having obeyed perfectly and Later, they're all going to desert him and Jesus knows that and even if you look forward to the future He's going to see them arguing and quarreling and bickering and even falling asleep when he begs them to keep watch And we even even touched on the denial in all the future ways that they're going to fail him in their entirety There is nothing in the lives of the disciples worth commending to the Father in prayer There just isn't there's nothing so how in the world could Jesus say they have obeyed your word? Where does that come from the disciples were being perfectly misrepresented to the Father? Misrepresented because Jesus represents them and this is what it's like for us when Jesus represents us to the Father It's as being completely perfect. So we're actually being misrepresented, misrepresented I want to spend the rest of our time looking at three ways that we benefit from the way that Jesus represents us to the Father First of all, we've kind of already talked about this a little bit just to recognize the gift of being misrepresented that it's a gift Second of all because Christ represents us to the Father We need to remember our need of perfect reliance Perfect reliance and thirdly because Christ represents us to the Father We must regard God's perfect mission going to look at two ways Through flawed servants you and I and through flawed means kind of unpack that in a little bit Just the fact that we recognize that it's good news for them to be misrepresented Think about your thought life think about your life outside these walls the things that you hope nobody ever finds out How would you like to be perfectly represented? Oh no, thanks. No, thanks I don't want to be perfectly represented Can you imagine if Norman at that funeral had perfectly represented packs and put his hand on my shoulder And he said you said it'd be good, but that was a mess That was an absolute mess In Christ the disciples are recipients of things they did not have before they did not have before Presentation it's a gift. It's a gift and we've already seen how they were misrepresented. It was a good good thing Secondly because Christ represents us to the Father. We must remember our need of perfect reliance Look with me at verse 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them They knew with certainty that I came from you and they believed that you sent me This is actually an echo of an earlier part of the prayer that he prays up in verses 1 through 5 Look at verses 2 and 3 The Son has been given authority to give eternal life to those the father of points Verse 2 for you granted him authority being Jesus over all people that he might give eternal life to those you have given him What is eternal life? This is eternal life that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom you have sent? This is very important think about this what has been given to them. This has been given to them freely as a gift a Knowledge of God as the only true God given to them and a knowledge of Jesus as coming from God Both of those are gifts the disciples don't do anything to receive that There is nothing the disciples know that wasn't given to them to know they're actually quite passive in this scenario It's a father initiated gift given to the disciples through the Sun What I want us to see is the outworking of this gift the disciples have received now What does it look like because not only did they know? But we're told they know with certainty The out are effects of this gift it has landed everything has been accomplished It's a confirmation of what Jesus said would happen earlier in the book of John remember this I think it was in our worship All those the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never drive away The disciples don't do anything to receive this you see that very important to recognize that It's the will and the action of the father through the Sun that they received it's not about what we know But our reliance on the one who gives very important moving on Question becomes do you recognize how knowing this having this knowledge that's a gift from the father? How this blesses us? Because if you and I if we operate on anything other than the recognition that this is a gift We get into some dangerous territory We're in danger of assuming a burden that was never meant for us to bear If I think that I chose to become a Christian and it was my will it was my choice And it was presented to me and I chose now I got something to brag about well You didn't choose and I chose and maybe I can persuade you if I'm sharing the gospel with you Maybe I can persuade you to choose like I did because you just don't have enough information Maybe I can push a little it's important to distinguish the difference because Whether or not people respond to the gospel is not our area to push Our area is to present the gospel and let the spirit do his work really have very little to do with it Our reliance on God demonstrates that we understand that it's a gift We can only receive it freely as a gift. We do anything beyond that we misunderstand the intent. Does that make sense? Very important as a result because some people kind of Misperceive their role a lot of people get into some very sticky situations and I want to detail them for you Just make sure we're all on the same page Probably at some point in your church going life or in some time of your your Christian experience You have been to a service that sounded like this The gospel is presented and then the ministry will say now with every headbound and every I close now everybody Pray this prayer after me And it completely oversteps our role. We're not supposed to make people pray a prayer It's the spirit who draws us who gives us the desire to come in in the first place It kind of oversteps and as soon as you overstep where scripture is clear. There's a danger there. There's a danger there It's the father who draws people to himself and gives them eternal life through the Sun John chapter 6 verse 44 says this No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws them and I will raise them up at the last day Cindy and I and my wife and I may be six or seven years ago when we first came to Alabama We're visiting churches and I think we were looking for Southwood, but we were so late. We got we made a wrong term I mean, I know you're thinking who can't find Southwood Brad and Cindy On a Sunday morning about six years ago. We took a wrong turn I knew as soon as we crossed a valley we'd oh there it is But we ended up at another church of that well, we got to go somewhere We're not gonna I'm not gonna spend an hour and a half looking for a church that is invisible this morning So we ended up at a church, you know, I just you know, we saw people going in we won't be late We were the recipient of a gospel call at the end of the service This same thing every head bowed every I close we thought well, you know, it's the way to do it It's okay, and at the end of the service we go to Sunday school. They did Sunday school after the service We go to Sunday school. There's three other couples in our Sunday school They all know each other and we're just like have the twinkly stars on us They know that we're the new couple so we sit there and before we even start the Sunday school teacher says now Let's bow in prayer. Okay prayer Now with every I close and every head bad we're all gonna now Everybody just pray this prayer after me, and I'm thinking did we just do this? This is just what we did in the service, you know, okay, we go through this yet And I thought well, they don't know they're trying to make sure that we're gonna get saved before we leave this We they are going to make sure that we are saved before we leave this building now I'm kind of feeling a little irritated little, you know, okay, so we go through the Sunday school and they hold we have visitors today Oh, yeah, we didn't notice that there was a new couple here. There's three couples here were the new couple We introduced ourselves. Who are you we just moved in the area my wife and I met in seminary? You would think that would kind of cue them. Oh Go to seminary to be a preacher Probably are a Christian Oh, that's interesting. Oh very nice Complementary smile obligatory shake of hand go through the lesson. I don't remember what the lesson was. Here's what I remember time three at the end of the Sunday school Gonna gonna bow in prayer now Lord. We don't want to pretend. We know that everyone's a Christian and He starts going into this every head bout every I close thing I actually open my eyes and look at Cindy like are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? We're gonna get this one more time We're gonna make sure that you're a Christian before you leave this building and I'm thinking I just don't believe it And I it felt like when we left there. I thought this isn't a real church. These are robots These are robots and they're going to make sure because they overstep they think it's very very complimentary If the responsibility to make sure that others believe falls on us Then it makes sense Then you know we've got people these are the people that come up to you in the laundry man Hey, brother not no other I don't know you at all. Hey brother. Do you know the saving blood of Jesus Christ died for your sins? You're thinking I just want to get away from you as fast as I can I don't know you I think you might be and not actually I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go over here now These are the people that think the responsibility to believe falls on them Misconception Jesus says this is given to you from the father through me Only through me and only receive freely as a gift and you can't even come to me unless the father draws you Responsibility on us is completely taken off. I don't know about you, but I'm glad I do not want that pressure on my shoulders I do not and I know that some people would probably say you know what Brad? I'm okay with that kind of I'm okay with people saying it's important to them I'm okay with them saying every head bowed every I close everybody pray this prayer and so for that reason I want to demonstrate to you just a little bit further Another scenario because if we were to take the gospel out of this scenario and put something else in it It would be extremely obvious. I want to just give an illustration Imagine that you're going to a timeshare presentation How many of you ever been to a presentation where you knew the goal was for you to buy something before you walk out that tour All right, the end of the presentation. I want you to imagine the sales rep saying okay now everyone repeat after me No, but no intro to this repeat after me I will buy into the platinum package of RCI international and I accept ownership on this day And I want you to know we have some counselors up here in the front to tell you what being a platinum owner of the RCI Timeshare package is like and they're gonna come up. They're gonna cancel you. You're like. Oh, no. No now. That's unethical How is that any different from what people do when they assume the responsibility that it's up to me to make sure that you know the father? It's absolutely not what God calls us to if we understand that it's God who gives us the want to it's God who draws us in It's not accepted or denied by the will of anybody except the father through the Sun You know what this is good news If you're sharing the gospel with somebody and so far they're not responding and your heart is for them to come through and there's a temptation I feel it Push a little but don't you understand and don't you do don't you don't you know that if you were to die tonight? And just all those things that we do to kind of push people not our role Not our role It may seem petty, but sharing the gospel can become legalistic when we overstep that boundary So it's really important to know Where the boundary is this makes sense? Important important so consider so far what the disciples have been given First of all an obedience not their own verse six says they obeyed They know more obeyed. They did not obey. They they were obedient because Jesus represents them to the father as being obedient Second of all they have a knowledge to come to Christ and receive eternal life Verse 7 and 8 says they know Everything they know they were given to know it was given to them as a gift the same privileges that we have in Christ the exact same privileges Thirdly because Christ represents us to the father We must regard God's perfect mission. I want to look at this through two different means Through flawed servants you and I and through flawed means verse 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world and I am coming to you 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 This word protects some of your versions may read keep it comes from a Greek word called te reo And it's very important. I'm gonna make some points on this te reo So I want you to understand the definition of this word to keep is this to cause a state condition or activity to continue To keep to hold or to preserve something or someone in this case the disciples Let me first say that we have a real cultural disadvantage of understanding this word Hey reo Protect or to keep because typically when we pray for protection. Here's what we mean Nothing bad to happen to me that I would be protected. No accident. No injury. No pain. No inconvenience a patted retirement That's what means protect to me This is not what Jesus is praying for his disciples This is not what he's praying and you know how we know this because this was not the outcome of that prayer Those disciples were not protected from bad things Unless you'd rather argue that the father doesn't answer this prayer for the son But this is not how this is not the outworking of that prayer and to realize what it really means You kind of have to skip forward. Well, what happened to the disciples? Jesus prays that they would be kept so we kind of have to leap into the book of Acts and see what is this keeping look like? How is it fleshed out? We're giving hints about what it does mean to go to the end of chapter John chapter 20, and I'm going to read just a couple of verses I read them to you. You can turn there if you like John chapter 20. We're given a hint about what this means starting in verse 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book verse 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God and that by believing You may have life in his name All right, we're on the right track. We're on the right track for a full understanding. We have to kind of skip over into acts Acts records everything that happens to the disciples after Christ's death burial and resurrection So we see Jesus Jesus resurrected and all throughout the book of Acts the disciples the ones that were with Jesus they go around proclaiming the message of the cross and What happens to them over and over in the book of Acts is they get scolded they get reprimanded they get abused and they get imprisoned They get flogged back and forth over and over and over one thing remains constant one common theme all throughout the book of Acts The gospel of Jesus Christ continually gets preached continually goes forth nothing stops them When they get put in prison. I mean we have ridiculous stories like an angel coming in the middle of the night Letting them out of the prison cell and they don't they don't run away like I would I would be running all the way back They're right outside the jail building. They're right in the temple right outside preaching the gospel again. Hey They're preaching the gospel. That's what they're doing Consider You know I would tell you that this is why Jesus keeps them. This is why he prays that they would be kept Because instead of the instead of the disciples being kept like protected nothing bad ever happened to them He's actually asking that the gospel be protected through their mouths through their activity through everything that they're doing Keep in mind this definition of ta Reo of being kept to cause a state a condition or an activity to continue It's a completely different lens To view the book of acts instead of the disciples just being protected the message of the gospel being protected through these disciples It's actually fun to read the book of Acts once you realize. Oh, this is what Jesus was praying for them It's like a superhero and the superhero is the gospel Nothing stops that gospel put a little cape on the gospel It does not matter what they do with the people for whom the gospel comes out of their mouth They're gonna get out of it. That gospel is going forward. No matter what? No matter what Every hurdle every obstacle every hardship you see the doc the gospel that beautiful message of the gospel Desecrating every barrier every single time every single time Think about what this means for missions. What is the outworking of this for missions? God gives the gift We're represented as obedient. He protects us meaning he keeps us meaning the message of proclaiming the gospel Goes forward. No matter what? No matter what? How does it go forward? How does it go forward through you and I the kept ones? We are the kept ones. We are the ones that keep the gospel Claiming it just as Christ called us to do Can you see why so many people get disillusioned at a verse like this? Because when misfortune happens and life lands on them and they say but I prayed and Jesus didn't protect me We misunderstood protection. It's not a self-protection that everything would go well for me. No matter what it no bad Whatever come to me. It's actually a it's a gospel. It's a gospel going forward prayer the kept ones that the message of the gospel goes forward no matter what and God Demonstrates his sovereignty and grace in this choice of flawed servants to proclaim the gospel is a beautiful privilege I can think of 10 million ways that God could spread the gospel. It would be way better than anything that came out of this Came out of this mouth and yet this flawed servant me you us together is the chosen way For God to propel this gospel forward. It's an awesome privilege and it's so cool Don't forget this passage everything the disciples have done has been given to them to do everything that they know has been given to them to know and Here God is pleased to use the kept ones to advance the gospel not only through flawed servants you and I But flawed means this gets a little sticky because we are part of a denomination That is very particular about how gospel is presented here in the States and outward internationally across the world very particular and I I give you an example. I Took some flak for this the last time I said but I'm gonna say it again. I Just do not like tracks. It's not a biblical thing. It's a brad thing. It's a brad thing I don't like them and I'll tell you why I don't like them They remember when I said hey, Lyle. Have you ever known the blood of Jesus? I don't have a relationship with him. He doesn't know me. I don't know him My philosophy of ministry is the best ministry happens in the context of a relationship I got I have a relationship a track. You just hand something to somebody. There's no relationship There's no opportunity and if I'm honest with you the main reason I hate tracks. I'm sorry. I strongly dislike tracks The main reason I strongly dislike tracks. They're so embarrassing They're so embarrassing these little rectangle things. They have cartoons that just make me are you going to heaven clouds harps angels or hell Flames coming off the word hell and I think oh no I hope no non-Christians get this because I would just be mortified that they would think this is what it's so much more Beautiful than that. I find tracks in the craziest places. I'm in the doctor's office You know, I don't want to read sports illustrated so what's this and you pick it up. I'm like, oh, no It's a track, you know I'm just not paging through it How to be saved and I don't know it's like a it's like a contest the smaller the track the more effective it is I get these tiny things and I'm doing through the pages and I just I think All the time I'm reading it. What would a non-Christian be thinking? This is creepy this little thing. I like I can't even fan myself Just I just it is so irritating to me. They make my skin crawl and yet, you know what? I Know people who have come to saving faith through exactly that kind of thing that little track that makes my skin crawl I know people that have come to saving faith through a track and I can't tell you how irritating that is to me I just can't tell you how irritating that it's maybe it's a pride thing. Maybe you'll pray for me that irritates me and That example I gave about the unethical way to present the gospel every head bowed every eye closed I know people who have come to Jesus exactly that way. Oh Just makes me mad, you know, I'm not saying it's an excuse for us to present the gospel any differently than we already do What I want us to see is that through every flawed messenger. That's that's me. That's you Every flawed means every obstacle including our own sin and unfaithfulness All of these have the capability to offend our sensibilities Meanwhile the gospel continues to go forward remember a little red cape that got nothing stopping that gospel Bad means the wrong means the offensive means not my means flawed servants me you us that guy who's going up the line saying hey brother. Have you known that? God uses all of it because nothing stops that gospel look again at verse 11 as We trust and follow the Lord for opportunities to share We are unified to every other true follower in Christ in this one ordained purpose God's perfect mission for claiming the gospel and there is unity among the kept ones There is a unity and for all the difficulties that kept ones have We have evidence of this unity because in this one shared purpose God is most certainly using the kept ones to move that gospel forward Not because of us. I guarantee you not because of me Guarantee you not because of me I Want to end with a passage right at the end of acts everybody turn to the last chapter and acts acts chapter 28 last chapter in acts we're going to look at the last two verses and Remember the purpose of acts everything that happens after the death burial and resurrection of Jesus The mission of Jesus the message of Jesus's perfect mission going out through the disciples through the kept ones And this is how the book of acts closes 28 starting in verse 30 for two whole years talking about the Apostle Paul He stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him He proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance Without hindrance nothing stops that gospel All of the things that can happen to hinder a message Paul taught without hindrance Nothing stopped it. It's a it's a Greek word that is only used this place in the entire New Testament Without hindrance and it's talking about the gospel Nothing hinders that unstoppable gospel same as it is through through you and I today the kept ones the kept ones as We recognize Christ perfect Misrepresentation of us who didn't do anything or in the obedience that were presented as having as we read as we remember our perfect reliance on God It's really about him all the while regarding God's perfect mission Sending the gospel forward and we know that whatever we do to propel the gospel forward as we faithfully proclaim the best that we know to do it God is going to use it. God is going to use it. Your sin Nothing's going to get in the way of that gospel going forward. That is good news. That is really good news. Please pray with me Heavenly Father, you are so beautiful and your word is so beautiful and We thank you for the privilege that you represent us as having obeyed when we didn't You give us a knowledge that wouldn't belong to us unless you gave it to us and You use us in our flawed state to move that precious beautiful Miraculously life transforming gospel forward in spite of us Nothing stops that gospel Heavenly Father, we praise you for this and we pray that you would deepen the truths of this Deeply to our hearts and your precious son's name. We pray. Amen [ Silence ]