John 17:6-19 - A Prayer for God's People

Scripture is always life-giving and should be taken seriously, but sometimes when I read certain passages I have to kind of giggle about them.  Jesus – part of the Trinity – prays a prayer to God – part of the Trinity.  I have this image in my head of my brother and me wrestling when we were younger.  Some of you may have had a similar experience.  My brother gets me to where I can’t escape and to add insult to injury, he grabs my hand, starts slapping the top of my head with it, and asking, “Why are you hitting yourself Matt?  Why are you hitting yourself?”  This is all with in the sphere of brotherly love, of course.

I have this image floating around in the back of my head as Jesus prays this prayer. “Why are you praying to yourself Jesus?  Why are you praying to yourself?”  If you ever catch me giggling while I read Scripture, this is probably the kind of thing that is happening.

I can’t help but think that sometimes, when Jesus prays to God, he’s really doing it for our benefit.  When he prays the Lord’s Prayer, he’s really doing it so that we can know something of the mind of Christ.  That’s what is happening in John 17.  

             

Elizabeth and I have talked some about the World Café which gathered in the Pit Stop about a month ago.  One of the question that representatives from our churches discussed was, “What would the church of Christ’s dreams look like?  I think that’s what we are getting in this passage.  By listening in on Christ’s prayer, we get to hear a little bit about his hopes and dreams for his ministry.

When I look at this passage, I notice that the word “world” is used 13 times in the span of 13 verses.  When one word is used that many times it is impossible to ignore it.  In the beginning of his prayer, Christ talks about the world as a place from which his disciples came.  He also describes the world as hating the disciples, because they are not of the world.  When John speaks of this world, he is describing a world that is at odds with God.  A world that is lost, ruined, and depraved.  A world of chaos.  This world is the world in which we live. We are reminded daily of the chaos and lostness of the world: trains which careen off tracks, people abusing and mistreating each other, discrimination destroying lives left right and center.  This is not the world which Jesus wanted, this is not the world of Christ’s dreams.

But that didn’t mean Jesus was done with the world.  Jesus goes on in his prayer, "I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from evil.  They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world."  We are a people in the world, but not of the world.  Jesus doesn’t want us to retreat from the world, he wants us to be in it.  He also doesn’t want us to simply conform to the world he calls us to not be of the world.  Basically, Jesus is calling us to continue his mission.

God sent Jesus into the world, God did not remain separate.  God realized that, in order for true discipleship to be born, there had to be an advocate who could be of two kinds: both in the world able to affect the world, but of something different - able to speak truth to the world and able to change the world.  So God sent Jesus into the world, and so Jesus sends us into the world. not to conform to the world, but to affect change in it.

This is a tough thing to do.  We’ve always wanted to do one or the other.  Sometimes we’ve wanted to not be in the world at all.  We built monasteries and convents, we retreated from the world and lived as mystics.  Claire and I went on a cruise a few weeks ago, and I realized there is no more obvious retreat from the world than a cruise.  It is an artificial world in which you put out to sea and leave all your cares behind.  You have just about everything you could need.  It’s nice to be just not “in the world” sometimes.  It’s nice to be able to focus only on our own selves, on our spirituality.  But God became flesh, and dwelt among us.

Sometimes we’ve decided to be “of the world”.  We’ve conformed to human schemes.  We’ve idolized food, or money, or people rather than worshiping only God.  We’ve placed our priorities higher than God’s priorities.We do this because it’s easy.  But Jesus came so that the world might be saved, so that the world might be changed.

We are called to carry out the legacy of Christ in the world.  Jesus says, I have sent them into the world,  just as you have sent me into the world.  We are sent to be like Christ.  This is Christ’s dream for the church: a people who change the world by being in it and unlike it.

So how do we do this?  How do we – the church – be a people who are in the world but not of the world?  How do we change the world?  How do we become the church of Christ’s dreams?  What does that church look like?

I have a friend who is a Methodist pastor.  More than that, she is a blogger and a truth-teller.  She has a blog which I love to read, and she recently wrote a post about churches and how we do them.  The title of the post was, 5 Reasons NOT To Come to...Any Church.  In it she highlights the five things you should not care about when you decide to go to any church.  What follows is a summary of her article.

1.     Don’t come for perfect programming.  This doesn’t mean we don’t do a good job,
and it doesn’t mean we don’t try.  It means that sometimes there is a little holy chaos mixed in there.  As my friend says, not every moment of every program is going to be picture perfect.  Don’t come because you expect everything to be seamless and sterile,
come to join the mess.

2.     Don’t come for good preaching.  I know that good preaching helps.  The thing about preachers is, eventually, like all things in life, they change.  Don’t come to church to follow a pastor, come to church to follow Jesus.

3.     Don’t come for the best music.  This music isn’t made for the sake of entertainment.  By all means enjoy it, love it, and support it.  But know that it is made to glorify God.
As my friend says, being the best is not our goal, offering our best is.

4.     Don’t come because we are hospitable.  Don’t be mistaken, we want to be warm and inviting and welcoming.  But at some point, in some way, on some day,
we are going to disappoint you.  As much as we don’t want to, we’re all human, and we will disappoint each other.  The question is, what will you do when that happens?  Will you help us do better?  Will you help us become a better church?

5.     The last one, and the one that really sums it up: don’t come because you’re only looking for your needs to be met.  This is a place of nourishment.  This is a place to which you can turn in both your joys and your sorrows.  We love each other and we are there for each other, no matter what.  But fulfilling Christ’s call is more than that.  Jesus came not to be served, but to serve.  It ultimately isn’t really about us.  It’s about God, God’s call on our lives, and the mission to which Christ calls us.

All five of these things point to the church as a sent-out people, not a come-to people.
Our programs, our music, our preaching, our hospitality, our pastoral care, our love for one another, all of these things exist to help us become the church of Christ’s dreams.  A church that reaches out to the world around us.  A church that demonstrates God’s love in our love for those around us.  As my friend says, “The point of church is not to get people into a building, the point of church is to get disciples of Jesus into the world.”  There are so many people in the world who need to experience the love of Christ.  

By being in the world, but not of the world, we have the great opportunity to give them that love.  We have the opportunity to change the world for the better.  Friends, we have the opportunity to become the church of Christ’s dreams.  
Let that be our mission.  
Let that be our legacy.

Amen.