WHAT JESUS DESIRES MORE THAN A MAN SERIES

Transcription

1 As we get started today, there is something that we all have in common. And it is this we all can relate to desire. We all know what it is like to desire. And some have noble desires and others have ignoble desires. Some have noble desires, desires like graduating from college someday, getting married, building a family, glorifying God with their life, going to the mission field, being generous, or even eating Cold Stone strawberry cheesecake ice cream on a daily basis. There are noble desires out there, but then there are ignoble desires that we can have such as lying, cheating, stealing or adultery. And what happens is we do those things because we might desire something, and it seems like a shortcut to achieve our means. But either way, we all have desires be it noble desires or ignoble desires. On the One Minute Apologist programs, I had the opportunity to interview a world renowned scholar, Peter Kreeft. He was actually a Catholic scholar and philosopher, and he talked about this idea of desire. And here is what he said: You can no more stop desires than you can stop thinking. Even the sceptic who is thinking that thought is thinking. Thinking what thoughts? The thought about not desiring. Now Buddhists recognize desire, but if you were to go to a Buddhist temple they would say that desire is bad; all desire is bad, all desire is ignoble. Why? It is because they believe the reason that you suffer in this world is because of desire. If you can remove desire, you will not suffer, they reason. Well, why is that? It is because you desire, and then when you don t get what you desire, it creates suffering in your life. You desire for your kids to be raised a certain way, and when they go another way, you suffer. You desire to spend fifty years with your spouse, but then your spouse dies in a tragic accident and then you suffer. And so if you can eliminate desire, you can eliminate suffering. But the problem with that world view is in order to eliminate desire, you have to have desire to remove the desire. And if you have desire to remove desire, then you have desire, and that is desire; therefore you cannot remove desire. And so their world view breaks down. But then Christianity speaks about this idea of desire, that there are good desires and there are bad desires. There are bad desires like Adam and Eve in the Garden when Eve desired the fruit. And we know that she desired, she took of the fruit, and then she ate. And we saw that that ignoble desire launched us into basically spiritual futility. Now there are noble desires that you are created with. I believe desires were planted in us by God. And desires are to point us Godward. In fact C. S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity, wrote this: Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for these desires exist. A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim; well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire; well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience Page 1 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

2 in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. Well said, Mr. Lewis. So our desires then are ultimately to point us Godward. Desires are noble, but our desires are to point us to God. But we are to discover and tap into what does Jesus desire? The Bible says in Psalm Chapter 37 and verse 4, Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. So does that mean if I delight in God then I can have whatever I want? No what it means is when you delight yourself in the Lord your desires will be His desires, your desires will align with God s desires. And that is half of Christian discipleship, getting our desires to align with God s desires. Because so often what we desire, and what God desires, run on different paths. But through the work of the Spirit for you to desire what God desires is being in sync with God. So now if you would, let s turn in our Bibles to John Chapter 17, because we are going to look at what Jesus desires for us. This is the longest recorded prayer in all Scripture of Jesus. It is known as His high priestly prayer. And this is the third week we are looking at this prayer. We want you to understand that the biggest question that we need to ask is what is Jesus desire for our lives? What does Jesus want for our lives? Because if we are not careful we will think about our own desires apart from Jesus desires, and we should want to live Jesus aligned lives. John Chapter 17 gives us this rich and beautiful prayer. Jesus is publically praying this prayer before His disciples. In John Chapter 17 and verses 1 through 5 Jesus prayed for Himself; in verses 6 through 19 Jesus prayed for His disciples; and now starting in verse 20 to the end of this prayer, Jesus will pray for those who will believe, which is the world, which is you and me. It is one thing to have people praying for us. That can be fantastic when someone tells us they have been praying for us. And it is something extra worldly, extra great, extra phenomenal to know Jesus is praying for us. Have you ever wondered how Jesus would pray for you? Wonder no more. You will find it today in these Scriptures as we explore what Jesus desires for us. John Knox was the great Scottish preacher who actually prayed this prayer in Scotland, Give me Scotland lest I die. And on his dying bed, every day John Chapter 17 was read to John Knox. In fact it is said that the last words that John Knox would hear was this prayer of Jesus. Why did John Knox turn to this prayer? It was because he found comfort in knowing what Jesus had prayed for him. Jesus has prayed for us who believe in Him. And what we are going to see flow out of today s passage is three areas that Jesus desires for His church to grow in, that Jesus desires His church to exhibit. And Jesus first desire is for us to be internally Page 2 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

3 unified. Let s take a look at John Chapter 17 and beginning in verse 20. Jesus prays, I do not ask for these only. What does Jesus mean by I do not ask for these only? Remember He has just finished praying for His disciples who have heard this prayer. And He says, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me. This is so critical. He is praying for those who will believe in Him, and that is the key to our salvation. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one gets to the Father except through me, in John Chapter 14 and verse 6. We learn in Acts Chapter 4 and verse 12, There is no other name given under Heaven whereby men must be saved, but at the name Christ Jesus. And so Jesus is saying He is also praying for those who will believe in Him. How will they believe in Him? Verse 20 continues, Through their word. Through whose word? It will be through the disciples that He just prayed for. And so that is how others are going to get saved, through the disciples word. And that is why I stress that we have to go on mission, we have to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, because people need to hear about Jesus. Paul the Apostle said in Romans Chapter1 and verse 16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe. And we also know the Bible says in Romans Chapter 10 and verse 14, How can they hear unless someone tells them? So here Jesus is praying and the disciples are hearing that people are going to get saved in the future through them preaching the Word, through them taking on the ministry. Why is Jesus praying at all? It is because He is about to die. And He is praying for the disciples, and for the world because the disciples are going to take on His mission and they are going to go into all the world on mission. Verse 20 says, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. Why is He praying that they will believe in Him through their word, and what is the result of believing in Him? What does He hope the result will be? That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us. So Jesus prays for this internal unity. He hopes that their evangelism will result in unity in the church. Let me talk to you about unity for a minute. There are two types of unity. You have positional unity and you have relational unity. The Apostle Paul was familiar with both. In Galatians Chapter 3 and verse 28, Paul the Apostle talked about positional unity. He said, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. What is he talking about? It is positional oneness. What is positional oneness? It is when you place your faith in Jesus Christ you are justified, which mean that you are declared righteous. You are seen with the righteousness of Jesus Christ when you Page 3 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

4 believe. It is a powerful thought that when God looks down upon you He sees you with the righteousness of Christ. You are no longer alienated from God. You are made one; there has been reconciliation through the cross, and it creates a positional oneness with God. According to I Corinthians Chapter 12 and verse 13, We are baptized into the body of Christ. And we experience this positional oneness, and it is what makes Christianity so wonderful. You can travel around the world, like when I was in South Africa last summer, and I was experiencing and rejoicing in positional oneness with other Christians from different cultures around the world. So there is positional oneness. And then there is also relational oneness. And Paul knew that full well. He said in Philippians Chapter 2 and verse 2, Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Paul said his joy was going to be stripped if they were not unified. He is writing from a prison cell, and he is pleading with the Philippians to be one, to be unified. And boy, if you have ever been at discord with anyone you know it takes your joy away. And if you have ever experienced real unity, you know that gives you joy. Have you ever had that in your life, where you are experiencing discord maybe in your marriage, discord in a church, discord in your small group, discord in your work, or discord with a friend? What that does, that division, robs your joy. And Jesus prays that the church will be unified. And then Paul says, Complete my joy, by being one. I know in the Conway home this past week we experienced our joy being robbed. I was so excited after being so busy lately, and I was pretty stoked about the opportunity to have three nights in a row with my family. I knew that we were going to have three uninterrupted nights where we could just be together, bond and connect. And so on Tuesday night I was excited after I got home from a long day. I can t remember a Saturday that I didn t lose most of the day in studies and preparation. So I was just tired on this Tuesday night and anxious to spend the night at home. Heather gets dinner ready for us and we sit down and then we get into a philosophical disagreement about Dawson s birthday gift and the nature of it. And this was right in front of Dawson. So here Heather and I are having some intense fellowship with one another and as we are interacting, Dawson said, But it s my 10 th birthday, Dad. And I said, But Dawson, we are not going to buy gifts and do things the way everybody else does. Not that Heather was implying that, but basically we were just struggling. I had been excited about this evening and now we weren t doing well as a family. And now some of you are thinking, We need to look for another church because the pastor has intense fellowship with his family. I have told you before that I want to be Page 4 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

5 vulnerable and transparent because I think it is good for the culture. And I don t want you to look at me like I m Jesus, because I am not. I want to be a good example; I want to be a godly example, but I fall desperately short of Jesus. And we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. I will do my best to follow Him, but I will still have to repent after I blow it because I will blow it many times. And then Haley walks in and she could just feel that the family was not doing very well. And she said, What is everyone being so grumpy about? So I sent Dawson up to his room, and then I went up to my room to sulk. And I had to work through all of this but then I thought, This is silly. So I called Dawson into my room and said we need to talk about this. And as I always do we went through a reconciliation process. I tell him, Your dad is a sinner. Forgive me for blank, blank, blank. And now let me tell you what you did wrong as well. And then after the discussion we prayed together and things returned to the way they should. But do you know what happened while this was going on? We lost our joy for almost two hours. We were robbed of that because of the discord happening in the family. Paul said, Complete my joy. And Jesus wants the church to be unified. He wants the church to be totally, utterly and completely connected. Often the world becomes convinced of our positional unity by first recognizing our relational unity. When we are in the church and we are in discord, people that don t go to church look at that and then they don t believe in positional unity. In other words they will question whether God exists or not by our discord. In the same way our oneness can show and gives credence to the credibility of God. Now God exists whether we are divided or not, but our oneness gives evidence that God is working. In fact look back at John Chapter 17 and verse 21. That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us. Why? So that the world may believe that you have sent me. Jesus lays it out there. He is saying when you are unified, when you are one, it is an evangelistic tool; it convinces people that God is real. In fact one Indian pastor said this. The miracle of Christianity is the fact that people from all different groups can come together, different social castes, and be one. In India where we have different caste systems and different social structures, the real miracle of Christianity is the oneness that is there. And Jesus knew that His Jewish disciples were going to go and share the gospel and Gentiles (non-jews like us) would become Christians. And those different backgrounds, bringing all of that together and still experiencing harmony and oneness would testify to the reality of God in the church s life. Page 5 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

6 Verse 22, The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one Why? So that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. It is interesting that the two core components to evangelism that makes it effective is unity and joy. Paul says, Complete my joy, by being of the same mind, by being one. Jesus is saying that when you are unified it shows that the church is the real deal. And not only that, but our joy and our unity together can shine. And sometimes what happens is we lose our joy, we lose our unity, we become divided, and we lose our effectiveness in evangelism. Craig Blomberg said this: The prayer for unity is not an end in itself, but displays massive evangelistic potential. How the world needs to see a unified church. In a world where people are so leery of the gospel, and there is so much division, division in politics, division in religion, division in work and marriages, the church is to be this unifying culture that points people Godward, that testifies to the reality of God s grace. I think about my friend, Ben Parkinson, who I went to seminary with. Ben is a pastor at Fellowship Memphis, which is a sister church of ours. And my other dear friend, Bryan Loritts, is a pastor there as well. Bryan is African American, my friend Ben is Caucasian, and they have planted this multi-cultural church that is racially unified. It is beautiful to behold. I have preached there once before, and in fact I am flying there in a week or so to spend a Tuesday and Wednesday evening training the church in how to do apologetics. This church is about 60 percent white and 40 percent African American in Memphis, the place where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, and where much racial division has existed for years. And here is this church that is thriving in unity. It is so incredibly beautiful to go in and see this oneness, because sadly, as it has been said, the most segregated time of the week is between 9 and 10 a.m. on Sunday mornings. But the cross brings about reconciliation. It does not recognize different colors. It does not recognize different socio-economic classes. It does not recognize different ages. The cross says we are to be one. And my Caucasian buddy, Ben, knowing that he has a heart for African Americans, has moved into the hood. He moved into the most difficult and most violent place in all of Memphis. So much so that my great friend, Bryan Loritts who is African American said to me, Bobby, I am telling you what man, I wouldn t move down there, Bro. But Ben moved down in the hood, and you know what is happening in that church? Several white families are moving in and black and white are unifying and going to church together, and they are making much of God. Something phenomenal is happening in Memphis, and oh how people need to see the church being unified. Page 6 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

7 But here is what I want to say. We do not unify at all costs. What do I mean we don t unity at all costs? Unifying at all costs equals relativism. And you will get some people that have kind of a Golden Retriever personality, and they will just unify at all costs. But they end up doctrinal compromising. Yet we don t want to come over here and just be truth, truth, truth and lack love and lack grace. Jesus was filled with grace and truth. And we want that hybrid working together very beautifully. But we do not unify at all costs because it ends up as relativism. Oh, it doesn t really matter what you believe. This works for me. If you believe that you can get to heaven this way, no big deal. That is not the vision of unity. We love at all costs, but we don t unify at all costs. For instance, we don t unify if people want to come to the church and bring false doctrine in. Suppose I was teaching a Life Plus Membership class and somebody said, Hey Pastor Bobby, I have to tell you about my god. He is an eightfold god and he sort of works like this. No! We would have to have a talk. But I would also need to talk in a loving, gracious way. It drives me nuts when people just go beat people up for having wrong beliefs. We are to love them. But if we cannot come to an agreement on a Trinitarian view of God, that God is one revealed in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then membership would be out of the question. I was so proud of my wife the other night. I was elated, like That is why I married you, baby. My son and I were watching TV and one of these guys that creeps you out comes on the Christian channel, and he starts saying these weird things. And I get so frustrated internally because they take advantage of people that are watching. And this guy, Mike Murdock, I don t mind mentioning the name because I feel like it is my job to protect you from people that are not teaching truth. I believe that. In fact you should read the Apostle Paul where he talks about Demas. Keep your eye out for him. We live in such a culture today that we don t want to say things like that, but I owe it to you. Like, if you have been watching this guy, just beware. So I watched my son while this Christian station is on, and it bothered me because that is often what the world thinks Christianity is. And I was letting my son watch it because it was a great teaching moment for me. And Mike Murdock said, Hey, I have my book out and some have told me that this is the best book next to the Bible. And if you will send me $58.00, I will send you this book. By this time my wife is having a cardiac arrest in the kitchen. Fifty eight bucks? And then he says, Get out your credit cards, even if you don t have the money to do it. Just go ahead and use that card and we will send you this book to celebrate your obedience. Well, what does that imply? It implies that if you do not send him fifty eight bucks, then you are not being obedient. He is taking such advantage of these people. Then he says, There are widows out there right now and if you want God s blessing on Page 7 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

8 your life, send fifty-eight dollars in. There are some of you out there that have been married for at least eighteen months (really? of course there is there are five million people married). I am telling you that God does not speak to anyone that clearly. There is someone out there with brown hair and brown eyes wearing glasses, etc. Well no kidding, there are millions of people like that. I am not saying that God can t speak to someone clearly, or that He can t totally reveal something to someone. But when someone stands up in front of a camera saying, God told me this, and God told me that, I have a real problem with it. You know what I have found about people who walk around saying that? God is not telling them those things, because the things they told me are going to happen in my life haven t happened. Some would say, Oh that is just a lack of faith in you. No, it s not; it is this person s emotionalism. So here is Mike Murdock saying, Send me this money, send me this money, and my heart was just grieved. And my wife says, This is not right. She picks up the phone and calls their call center and asked the lady who answered if she worked directly for Mike Murdock. And the lady said no, so my wife said, I need to know, because this is wrong. She could tell the lady on the phone couldn t talk about it, but she hinted that she disagreed as well. And Heather said, Honey, I need to tell you something. You need to quit this job. There are better jobs for you out there than taking money from these people like this. We don t unify around that. That causes destruction in the church. It takes advantage of naïve people. Is it good to give? You better believe it. Is it good to plant seeds in God? You better believe it. But the day that I get up here and say, You better give this because if you don t you are not being obedient, and I start charging a hundred dollars for some silly little thing, you need to find a new pastor. We have to be careful. Jesus went into the temple once and started flipping tables because of this kind of stuff. So not only does Jesus desire us to be internally unified, He desires us to see His glory. Look with me in verse 24. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. In Matthew Chapter 17 and verses 1 through 8 we saw a snapshot of Jesus glory. This was where He was transfigured, and where He unveiled His glory for a moment for Peter, James and John to see. Peter, after being scared to death, said, Let s camp out here. Let s build some tents. Let s have a good feast here. Let s enjoy this. Why? Because the Bible says in the book of Psalms, Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. It was like Peter saw the glory of God in that moment and he thought nothing would be better than this. Page 8 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

9 Oh, if we would believe that. If we would believe that there is nothing more powerful and glorious than Jesus glory. In fact, look with me in the book of Isaiah Chapter 6. Here is one of my favorite passages, if not my most favorite in all of Scripture. Isaiah is a major prophet. Now you need to understand the Bible has major prophets and minor prophets. And the reason is because major prophets were longer books like Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and minor prophets were shorter books like Joel, Zephaniah, Haggai or Nahum. So Isaiah has this vision of God. And I love these verses because they are a snapshot of glory that Isaiah got. Jesus prays that His disciples can see His glory someday, but there are snapshots of His glory that we can see from Scripture. And we will have a full time glory fest someday in Heaven. Isaiah Chapter 6 and verses 1 through 5 says, In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Now turn to John Chapter 12, and some of you will remember this insight. We learn who it was that Isaiah saw with this awesome vision in John Chapter 12 and verse 41. It says this: Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke of Him. Whose glory? It was Jesus glory. Isaiah saw a vision of the pre-incarnate Christ. What does the word incarnate mean? It means in the flesh. Isaiah saw Jesus before He came in the flesh. I have said before, Jesus existed before He existed. He existed as God before He became a man. Why? Because He is more than a man, which is what we have been contending in this series through the gospel of John. Isn t that amazing? 700 years before the virgin birth Isaiah has a vision of the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, and of His glory. He sees that glory and it blows him away. Look at John Chapter 1 and verse 14 where it says, And the word became flesh. Who is the word? Jesus is the word. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen His glory; glory as of the only Son from the Father, full Page 9 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

10 of grace and truth. And here is Jesus and they had a chance to see glory in action. It said the glory dwelt among us. In the Greek it is a word that means tabernacle, that is glory tabernacled among us. His glory dwelt with Him. It says in Colossians Chapter 2 and verse 9, For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. So how did God s glory manifest itself? In the Old Testament in the tabernacle it was the first place where we kind of see it abiding consistently. It was also up on Mount Sinai, but it abided consistently in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. And then in the temple the glory of God rested. And then in the New Testament, The word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us. The glory of God was now on the move in the person of Jesus Christ. And then after Jesus goes to the cross, dies, rises from the dead, where is the glory? It is in the church now. It is in you through the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, whom Jesus said in John Chapter 14 He was going to send. That is where the glory is now. Moses, in Exodus Chapter 33 and verse 18 says, Please show me your glory. Have you ever asked that? What does God say to Moses, No one can see my face and live. And what happens there is God uses anthropomorphic language. You are probably thinking, What in the world is anthropomorphic language? Anthropomorphism is when God uses a human description to describe Himself so that we can relate to Him, though He is not flesh like us. That is where Mormonism goes to its extremes and believes that Elohim is flesh and blood. They believe their god is flesh and blood. The Bible says that God is spirit. He will use language like, No one can look at my face and live, and that is anthropomorphism, using human language to help us grasp who God is. He said, No one can look at my face and live, meaning no one can look into His inner essence and survive. And He says, Here is what I am going to do, Moses. I am going to hide you in the cleft of a rock and when I pass by, I am going to cover your eyes so that you don t see the essence of my glory, and when I pass by you will see my back. That is anthropomorphic language. And you know what happens to Moses. He spends 40 days in the presence of God, and then he walks down the mountain and he is so radiating the presence of God people say, Cover your faces. It is so amazing that after meeting with God Moses face shone. That is what happens when you spend time in the presence of God. It puts a shine on you. Page 10 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

11 Now Moses was so filled and permeated with the glory of God it says, He knew it not. Moses didn t even realize that he was illuminating God s glory when he walked down the mountain, but the Israelites were saying to one another to cover their face. Moses was gracious to put a veil over his face, but on the days that the Israelites were grumbling he probably was tempted to take the veil off and remind them of God s glory. Moses had spent time with God and he illuminated His glory. That was a snapshot of God s glory. Oh that we would spend time in the presence of God, because spending time in the presence of God will put a shine on you. Jesus is praying and He is saying that He wants them to see His glory unveiled; not just His transfiguration, not just this snapshot of glory, not just what Moses saw for a moment, not just a little hint of it once a year when the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies, but that He wanted those who believe in Him to see all of His glory. Not just a vision like Isaiah saw, but all of God s glory. Someday, those of you who believe in Jesus Christ will see the glory of Jesus Christ. And it will be so much more powerful than what Moses saw, so much more powerful than what Isaiah saw, so much more powerful than what the High Priest saw, because you will see glory divine. So in the meantime, what can we do? We can reflect on that glory. I love the way that Brother Lawrence went about living his life. He lived several hundred years ago. He wrote a book called, Practicing the Presence of God. And Brother Lawrence did everything he could to make sure that God was a part of his thoughts all the time. Even as he washed dishes, he would think about the glory of God. In fact this is one of the statements Brother Lawrence said: As often as I could, I placed myself as a worshipper before Him; fixing my mind upon His holy presence, recalling it when I found it wandering from Him. This proved to be an exercise frequently painful, yet I persisted through all difficulties. If you have ever sought to focus consistently on the glory of God, you know that it is a mental exercise. When was the last time you took time just to think about how glorious God is? Do we really believe Better is one day in his courts than a thousand elsewhere? If so, why is it that we can sit in front of American Idol for three hours a week, but we can t sit for 30 minutes thinking about future glory? II Corinthians Chapter 3 and verse 18 has this to say: And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. As we think about God s glory, and as we get in God s presence like Moses did, and plant Page 11 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

12 ourselves, God changes our lives. We often become what we think about. And we should want to think about God, we should want to focus on God, we should want to meditate on God and His greatness. So I would encourage you, like Brother Lawrence, to practice the presence of God and know that we can practice snapshots of His glory now, and that Jesus prayer was for us to live consistently in His glory. Jesus desires for us to be internally unified. Jesus desires for us, as I have shared, to see His glory. Maybe you are thinking, Bobby, when will I see His glory? You will either see His glory when you die or when He returns. I John Chapter 3 and verse 2 says this: Beloved, we are God s children now, and what we will be is not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. The third part of Jesus prayer request is Jesus desires us to experience God s love. Let s look at verse 24. Father, I desire that they also, who you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me, may be in them, and I in them. Jesus acclaimed them to the Father, so that they could experience the Father s love. Jesus wanted them to experience the same love that He experienced from the Father. Have you ever experienced God s love in your life? Have you ever experienced God s grace working through your life? Not only is it powerful when we can experience it vertically, but it is also powerful when we can experience it horizontally. I John Chapter 4 and verse 2 says, If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. Our love for each other proves that God loves us and that we love God and that we are in relationship with Him. In fact, I love how Francis Schaeffer takes love down to our level and says, Love is the final apologetic. The word apologetic comes from the Greek word apologia, which means to give a defense, as found in I Peter Chapter 3 and verse 15. The way we love each other gives an ultimate defense for the credibility of our Christian faith. Francis Schaeffer said, The love of Christians must have a form that the world may observe. It must be visible for it is the final apologetic. It is the ultimate defense that Christianity is real by the way that we love one another. Page 12 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

13 Francis Schaeffer also said this: Unless Christians love one another, the world cannot be expected to listen, even when we give totally sufficient answers. We might walk around and know all the Bible information in the world, but if we do not love people it is not going to be very compelling. We have to show God s love. We have to experience God s love. But some people go, It s all about love, love love, love, and no truth. And we see that with people who don t want to learn the Bible. They just want to get to the practical stuff real quick. At Life Fellowship we believe you need to learn what God s Word has to say. That is the most important thing for us to dig into the Scriptures. But when we talk about the Scriptures we need to always do it in love. Jesus prayed that we could have this experience of God s love that He experiences with the Father. And the only way that that love can be realized is through the cross. In fact, what is so beautiful about the desires of Jesus in the prayer that we just read is because all of Jesus desires are realized in the cross. Jesus desires for us to be internally unified. That can happen because of the cross. The cross unifies us. The cross reconciles us to God and it unifies us to each other. Jesus desire for us to see His glory is possible because of the cross. Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead, so that someday we can spend time in eternity. And it is because of the cross that it is possible for us to get to the place where His glory will be unveiled. It is because of the cross that we can experience God s love because it is at the cross where you see the greatest picture of love ever. It is where Jesus loved us so much that He died for us. Romans Chapter 5 and verse 8 says, But God demonstrated His love for us in this, while we were still yet sinners, Christ died for us. So Jesus prays these prayers, but these prayers get realized because of the cross that was coming the next day. And the question is have you partaken of the cross? Jesus Christ and Him crucified makes it possible for us to be unified, makes it possible for us to see His glory and makes it possible for us to experience God s love. And that is why we glory in the cross at Life Fellowship. Have you encountered Jesus Christ in a personal way? Have you experienced the forgiveness of your sins? Do you realize how much God loves the church? He shed His blood on a cross for those who would believe. It is a powerful thought. Do you believe in Jesus Christ today? Maybe you say, What will it benefit me? Jesus said, I come that you might have life and life abundantly. Without Jesus we exist; with Jesus we live. Page 13 of 14 pages 2/13/2011

14 Jesus comes to bring purpose, meaning, unity into our relationship with God, with our spouse, with our children, with our friends. The Bible breathes out principles for unity. The Bible shows us God s glory in snapshot form while we wait for that day to partake of His glory, and then ultimately experiencing His love. As the Worship Team comes, I hope that in your heart of hearts you have done business with God this morning. I hope that you will believe in Jesus with all of your heart. Maybe you are asking, What do I need to do to be saved? The Bible says, Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. There is no magic prayer in the Bible. There isn t a magic sinners prayer that you are going to find there. The Bible simply says, Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. What do you need to do then? You need to recognize that you have sinned, that Jesus died in your place as your substitute, and you need to believe that He is your only hope to get to Heaven, to get to glory. It is through Christ that we get to Heaven. It is through Jesus. And I will tell you this. When you get a hold of that it will change your life. Have you grasped that love that Jesus has for you? Some of you this morning are struggling so much so in your life that you don t know how to receive grace. You don t know how to accept the grace that God can give. You may have been a Christian for a long time but you constantly beat yourself up. Why? It is because that is what we do as humans. We can t understand that forgiveness that is other worldly. Maybe you just need to take that blanket of grace and allow it to free you up. Because if you don t receive that grace, you will try to perform for God. You will try to please Him by doing all these duties and that is great. But we don t serve Him because we have to we serve Him because we get to. We are not working for grace; grace just works. God s kindness leads us to repentance. If you would like God s grace in your life, then in the quietness of your heart just say this: Jesus, I don t understand how you can forgive me, but I know that you are more than a man. I ask you now to forgive me for all my sins. I believe you died on a cross for my sins and rose from the dead. From this day forward I want to turn from my sins and give you my life. I pray this in Jesus name. The preceding transcript was completed using raw audio recordings. As much as possible, it includes the actual words of the message with minor grammatical changes and editorial clarifications to provide context. Hebrew and Greek words are spelled using Google Translator and the actual spelling may be different in some cases. Page 14 of 14 pages 2/13/2011