Last Sunday on the 25th of January, Alec Honnold did something remarkable. Not only did he climb Taipei 101, which is one of the world’s tallest buildings at 1,600 feet from the earth, but he scaled it without any ropes or without any safety net, and he did so live on Netflix. If you watched it or watched a clip of it, then probably like me, you watched it through your fingers.

(0:39 – 1:16)

As Alec climbed and clambered, dangled and swayed, but then mercifully made it to the top. And the question that came to me was, not only why did Alec do it, but I think even maybe more so, why do people around the world want to watch this kind of thing? Maybe it’s just the fascination with seeing someone do something rather crazy. But I wonder if there’s also an even deeper reason.

(1:17 – 1:40)

We live, don’t we, in a world that is highly safety conscious. Probably no generation has been more highly sensitive to safety than our post-COVID generation. We live in a culture where you can barely climb the steps at work without filling in a risk assessment form.

(1:42 – 2:05)

And I wonder if in such a cautious climate, there’s something intriguing, maybe just a little attractive, about someone throwing caution to the wind and taking a genuine risk. This is one of the dilemmas of modern living. We don’t want to live a life that is unsafe.

(2:06 – 2:49)

But on the other hand, we don’t want to live a life that is sterile. Is it possible to live a life that is ultimately safe, and yet at the same time, live a life that is meaningful and even risky? Well, in John’s Gospel and in Jesus’ prayer today, Jesus, I think, actually resolves this dilemma. Jesus shows that you can live your life in a way that is both safe, ultimately, in the ways that count, but he also shows the necessity of living with a sense of mission.

(2:50 – 3:06)

And that carries human risk with it. So let’s see how Jesus brings these aspirations together. It’d be good if you could reopen your Bible to John 17, verses 6 to 19.

(3:06 – 3:32)

Now, by this stage, we’re fairly deep into John’s Gospel. It’s the night before the cross, and it’s Jesus’ final prayer before he suffers. Jesus began the prayer by praying for himself, but the great majority of this prayer is Jesus’ prayer for his people.

(3:33 – 3:57)

This is why it is sometimes called the high priestly prayer of Jesus. Because like the senior priest of Israel in the Old Testament, Jesus is standing in the gap and praying for the people of God. And this prayer for God’s people then splits itself into two parts.

(3:58 – 4:20)

In verses 6 to 19, which we’re looking at today, Jesus prays for the 11 disciples. And then in verses 20 to 26, which we’ll look at next week, God willing, Jesus prays for the worldwide church. Now, the difference in length here is very, very striking.

(4:21 – 5:03)

Have you ever noticed that Jesus only spends seven verses, 20 to 26, praying for the worldwide church for Christians in all places, in all centuries, down all of history? And yet, Jesus prays 14 verses, double the amount for the apostles. He prays twice as long for a small band of men who would only live a few more decades. It’s curious, isn’t it? On my social media feed a few weeks ago, something popped up.

(5:04 – 5:26)

It was the travels of the apostle Matthew. It was one of these map and voiceover sorts of things. And it showed you and explained where they reckon the apostle Matthew travelled after the resurrection, where he planted churches, and where tradition says that he was martyred.

(5:27 – 5:50)

Of course, the algorithm now thinks that I like this sort of thing. So I’ve been getting a different apostle pretty much every day for the last fortnight. But as I’ve watched these videos, it has slowly dawned on me how pivotal these men were at the outset of the church.

(5:52 – 6:22)

They were not only foundational in providing us with the New Testament, but they were also foundational in terms of planting churches in the then known world. They created, if you like, the beachhead for the gospel’s advance. One commentator is right to say then that humanly speaking, the future of the church depended, it hung on the pegs of these 11 men.

(6:23 – 6:50)

Such was their importance, and such was their fragility that the prevailing prayers of Jesus for them was necessary. And so before Jesus gets to the future of the church, he must pray for the men who will lay its foundations. Now, in verses 6 to 10, Jesus begins his prayer for them by simply describing them.

(6:51 – 7:06)

And that’s another little side note we could go down. It is helpful, isn’t it, to identify the people we’re praying for and to remind ourselves of what God has already done for them. Jesus could simply have said, Lord, I’m praying for the 11, and then just go on with the prayer points.

(7:06 – 7:28)

But he actually takes about five verses to simply describe them to the Father before he prays for them. God has already been doing great things in the lives of these men. Despite their many misunderstandings and their lapses in faith, God has been at work.

(7:28 – 7:42)

Notice some of the things Jesus says. That the Father has been revealed to them, verse 6. That they belong to the Father and to the Son. He says that they’ve obeyed Jesus’ words.

(7:42 – 7:51)

A world that did not obey Jesus’ words, but they were different. They obeyed it. And they believed that Jesus was sent by God.

(7:52 – 8:16)

And I assume that it’s for that reason, their faith in Jesus, that Jesus says, they have brought glory to me on earth, in verse 10. It’s a very gracious description of the disciples, but it’s a true description. And it reveals Jesus’ deep connection and affection for these men.

(8:17 – 8:37)

I think when Jesus says in verse 9, I am praying for them, I am not praying for the world. He’s not meaning this in an absolute sense, but in a sense of affection and closeness. He’s not saying that He never, He literally never prays for the world.

(8:38 – 8:46)

Because as we’ll see in a few chapters, Jesus will pray from the cross. Father, forgive them. He’s praying there for the world.

(8:46 – 9:07)

Forgive them the rebellious anti-God world, for they know not what they are doing. So Jesus prays for the world. But the point here is, that in this moment of urgency, when time is short before the cross, Jesus’ priority is to pray for His own.

(9:08 – 9:26)

Those of you who are parents instinctively know this kind of thing. You can have a love and concern for other people’s children, who are not your own. But you have a different level of investment in praying for your own children.

(9:26 – 9:41)

You just do. And Jesus is saying here, these men are my very own. And so they become the focus in this limited time for the prayers of Jesus.

(9:41 – 9:59)

Now, it’s just worth saying, as a little aside, in case you’re worried about this, that their privilege can also be our privilege. Because to be Jesus’ own is actually a very simple thing. To be one of Jesus’ own, you simply need to believe in Jesus.

(9:59 – 10:05)

That’s what this whole gospel is telling us. We may not be apostles. We may not have lived on earth when Jesus was here.

(10:05 – 10:26)

But do you believe in Jesus? If you do, then you belong to Him. And Romans chapter 8, verse 34 says, that Christ Jesus is at the right hand of God, and He is also interceding for us. Jesus is interceding for these men.

(10:28 – 10:45)

And so we now come to the heart of the prayer and what Jesus prays for them, finally. What did Jesus pray for these men? What were the priorities of Jesus as He looked to the future? There was millions of things He could have prayed for. I think there’s two things He focusses on here.

(10:46 – 10:59)

Very interestingly, what Jesus thinks is important to pray about. Number one, Jesus prays that they will be safe. Jesus prays that they will be safe.

(10:59 – 11:11)

Look at the middle of verse 11. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name. That’s Jesus’ first request for them.

(11:12 – 11:32)

And you’ll see in verse 12, there’s a historical context to this. Jesus says to the Father that He has been safeguarding the disciples during His earthly ministry. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by the name You gave me.

(11:33 – 12:07)

But now that Jesus is leaving the world and because the disciples are staying in the world and because this world is full of dangers, Jesus now prays for His Father to take on the role of safeguarding these men. Protect them by the power of Your name. That is, protect them with all of Your authority and with all of the might that accords with who You are as God.

(12:08 – 12:34)

And this is a wonderful prayer, but it’s a prayer we must also understand correctly. Because you only need to be a Christian five minutes to realise that Jesus could not have been praying that His people would be safe in every respect. Jesus notes in verse 16 that the world has already hated them on His watch.

(12:36 – 13:02)

Jesus has warned them in chapter 15 that the persecution and hatred against them will ramp up after He leaves. So we need to ask ourselves an important question. What kind of safety is Jesus asking for? It seems to me that the character of this safety, at least here, is entirely spiritual.

(13:03 – 13:15)

What kind of protection is He praying for? It’s a spiritual protection. Notice this with me in three respects. First of all, that they will be protected from disunity.

(13:16 – 13:29)

Disunity, that’s the first outcome of verse 11. Protect them by the power of Your name. You gave me so that they may be one as we are one.

(13:30 – 13:48)

Safe in order that they might be united. Now, David next week will look at the prayer for unity in the worldwide church, unity today. But think about this for a moment.

(13:49 – 14:18)

Had the early apostles been divided, had the 12 apostles as they became stopped agreeing on what the gospel was, or had they broken into factions early on, the whole future of the church would have been disrailed right from the very beginning. We know this from the gospels. They were a divergent group of men with different temperaments and even different political persuasions.

(14:19 – 14:42)

There was a serious danger that through the devil’s attack, they would be disunited and the whole church enterprise would be destroyed. Unity isn’t often at the top of the Christian’s prayer list. But Jesus saw that nothing could succeed without unity.

(14:43 – 14:58)

So Jesus prays for safety from disunity. And then secondly, He prays for safety from destruction. In verse 12, Jesus comments on the protection of His disciples.

(14:58 – 15:24)

He says that none of them were lost except the one doomed for destruction. He’s referring there to Judas Iscariot, of course, who has already left the group and gone out to make his selfish choice. And yet a man who in the purposes of God was foretold to betray His decision and yet somehow a divine providence.

(15:25 – 15:47)

The implication of this is that Jesus’ disciples are different. Jesus’ disciples are protected from such spiritual ruin and implosion. If you’re one of the children of Jesus and you belong to Jesus and you’re a true sheep of Jesus, you cannot be lost in that way.

(15:48 – 16:06)

And this would remind us that the safety that matters most in life is always our eternal security. What matters most is your eternal salvation. Be concerned for all the safeties.

(16:07 – 16:17)

I mean, the reason we have these things is because they do matter. They have a massive impact. Be concerned for workplace safety, kitchen safety, or whatever other kind of safety there is.

(16:18 – 16:34)

But do not neglect eternal safety. That would be crazy, wouldn’t it? Judas didn’t take his eternal safety seriously, but Jesus takes it seriously. And He never loses one of His sheep.

(16:36 – 17:02)

So the safety Jesus prays for is specific. Safety from disunity, safety from spiritual destruction, and linked to both of these things, because these are all really connected, He prays for safety from the work of the devil. Verse 15, my prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.

(17:03 – 17:26)

This is similar to what Paul speaks about in Ephesians chapter six, when Paul says that the real enemy of the church is not so much the flesh and blood who oppose the church. They’re not the real enemy. The real mastermind is the devil himself and his schemes and the evil forces that plot for the downfall of the church.

(17:28 – 17:48)

In the Western world and in the Western church, I think we can be particularly naive to these spiritual realities. But if it wasn’t for the prayers of Jesus, we would be ruined by the vicious attacks of the evil one. The evil one may fiercely attack.

(17:48 – 18:16)

We see that in the book of Job, for example, but he cannot devour the faith of the disciple who belongs to Jesus. What Jesus once said to Peter, I think is true of every believer. Remember when Jesus said to Peter, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

(18:17 – 18:36)

Or as the words of a modern hymn put it, “When I fear my faith will fail, He will hold me fast. When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast”. It’s right to have the instinct of safety.

(18:37 – 19:25)

But do we know the safety in these respects? Do we know the ultimate safety? Do we know it for the first time? Have we come to believe and belong? And do we know the safety that is being offered here continually? Do we know in moments of doubts and in moments of anxiety that however insecure I may feel in my emotions and in my circumstances, Christ has promised to hold me absolutely fast. Well, it’s in the confidence of these things that God’s people can then step into the risk of mission. And so notice that Jesus requests don’t finish with safety, but he prays also for something that we will do.

(19:25 – 19:43)

So secondly, we move on to Jesus’ second prayer, that they will be set apart and sent out. Set apart and sent out. Now in one sense, the disciples are already being set apart from the world.

(19:44 – 20:01)

Look at verse 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. By virtue of belonging to Jesus, the disciple no longer has their identity in the world.

(20:01 – 20:15)

We live in this world, but we do not belong to this world. And that is simply true by virtue of you believing in Jesus and being united to him. It’s true through conversion.

(20:17 – 20:27)

Now, people will sometimes use John 17 in this sort of way. They’ve locked onto this phraseology in the world, not of the world. And it becomes a kind of exhortation.

(20:28 – 20:43)

A Christian should be in the world, but not of the world. And this is something taken to mean it’s something we need to do. Be more in the world than you’re in the world now, but be less of the world than you currently are.

(20:44 – 21:06)

But in actual fact, as I’m reading this, this is not so much something you do as it is, first of all, something that you are. The disciples are being left in the world, whether they like it or not. And the disciples are not of the world, not because they’re trying to be different, but because they belong to Jesus.

(21:07 – 21:18)

He’s taken them out of the world spiritually. They’re a new creation in Christ. Of course, that needs to be worked out in practise, but it is already what we are.

(21:20 – 21:29)

And this is true of all Christians. Even as it is true of the apostles. You are in this world, but you are not of this world.

(21:30 – 21:56)

However, in verse 18, Jesus adds another distinctive thing. Not only to do with where the disciples are, the world, and who the disciples are, they’re not of the world, but what they are called to do. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

(21:57 – 22:19)

In an echo of Jesus himself being sent, Jesus is sending his disciples into the world with a message and a task. In fact, what Jesus more precisely says is that these disciples have been sanctified to do this. Sanctified to do it.

(22:20 – 22:47)

Now, is this worth taking a moment on this word sanctify or sanctified? It appears three times in verses 17 and 19. And it’s worth asking the question, what does Jesus mean by this biblical word sanctified? Quite often, the answer people give is, well, sanctify means to be made morally pure. It’s to be unholy and then you’re made morally holy.

(22:47 – 22:56)

That’s you being sanctified. And that can be part of the meaning of sanctified. But it’s not the only meaning.

(22:57 – 23:15)

And it’s certainly not the whole meaning in the Bible. You see, in the Bible, sanctify has an even bigger meaning. To be sanctified means to take something out of the world and to set that thing apart for God’s use.

(23:16 – 23:37)

So if you had a jar full of water or something, it’s a jar you could use at home. But if that jar was set apart and sanctified, it could become a jar of water that was used in God’s holy temple. And it would only be used in the temple and it would only be used in the worship of the Lord.

(23:37 – 23:49)

It was set apart from ordinary worldly use for something that God particularly wanted to happen. Priests, it was exactly the same thing. The priests were sanctified people.

(23:49 – 24:05)

They had to be sanctified, of course, by a work of atonement. So that’s the point about we do need to be made morally holy in God’s sight. But they were set apart for a task to be those who would dedicate their lives to worshipping God and proclaiming His name.

(24:06 – 24:18)

And I think it is this bigger meaning that is here in John 17. When Jesus says in verse 17, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth.

(24:19 – 24:39)

He’s not just saying that the disciples through the gospel are cleansed of their sin. But he’s saying that the truth of God’s word is at work in them in such a way that it is setting them apart for a task. The task immediately follows in the next verse, verse 18, that they are sent into the world.

(24:39 – 25:02)

Not the task of serving in the temple, but the task of being sent out into the world as a missionary. And of course, this can only happen through a work of atonement. That seemingly strange line in verse 19 is about that, where Jesus says, I sanctify myself.

(25:03 – 25:16)

I think that can be explained in terms of the cross. Because Jesus can’t be saying that. When Jesus says, I sanctify myself, the perfect Jesus can’t be saying, I’m making myself more morally holy.

(25:16 – 25:41)

Because he’s perfectly holy. But I think what Jesus is saying there is he’s saying, I am setting myself apart for a most holy task to complete the job that only the great high priest could do of making atonement for sin on the cross. But notice, Jesus died on the cross.

(25:41 – 25:55)

He sanctified himself for a reason. And the reason was that the apostles would then be set apart too. And that they would take this glorious good news to a dying world.

(25:56 – 26:19)

Their mission was not the mission of sin bearing, but the mission of truth telling. As the Matthews and Peters and James and Johnses went out to all the parts and places of the world, spiritually safe, and yet facing human danger. Let me just say that the apostles, of course, are not alive today.

(26:21 – 26:29)

But missionaries are still needed in the world today. Missionaries are still needed. It’s great to see Bobby and Isabel and Pablo here this morning.

(26:29 – 26:39)

We need to pray for missionaries. We need to respond to the call for mission if God puts that on our hearts and on our lives. Evangelists are still required in the world today.

(26:39 – 26:48)

Yes, we’re all witnesses. But God raises up certain people with a particular gift. That’s something we should pray for and respond to if God has given us that gift.

(26:49 – 27:06)

Church planters are still utterly vital. And if we’ve not been given the call or the gift of these particular things, then one of our tasks is to support these people in their roles. And yet, as we’ve already said, you cannot be a Christian and not be a witness.

(27:07 – 27:18)

You can be a bad witness, but you can’t fail to be a witness. What was it Jesus once said? You are the light of the world. Just don’t put your light under a bowl and hide it away.

(27:20 – 27:45)

The heart of Jesus and his priorities are revealed in this prayer. Jesus is concerned for the safety of his people, but he’s most concerned about protecting them from spiritual dangers of disunity, spiritual destruction, and the ruinous attacks of the devil. Jesus has promised you the safety that matters the most.

(27:45 – 28:05)

Remember that when you’re going through difficulty and even experiencing other harms. Lean on that, rest on that, find comfort in that. And at the same time, remember that having set us apart for himself, Jesus has set apart his church and he has sent us out.

(28:05 – 28:14)

We are safe and sent. We are the light of the world. We are in the world, we’re not of it.

(28:16 – 28:36)

But are we hiding the light and showing unnecessary caution? Or are we showing the light to those around us? Father, help us with these things. Help us to respond to your word. Help us to rest in the finished work of our great high priest.

(28:37 – 28:38)

And it’s in his name we pray, amen.

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