How Does Jesus' Prayer Still Shape the World Today? | John 17:1-19 | Darien Gabriel
Series: Signs & Glory
Title: How Does Jesus’ Prayer Still Shape the World Today? Or How does Jesus’ prayer for us change the way we live? Part 1
Scripture: 📖 John 17:1-19
Philippians 2:5-11
Preacher: Darien Roger Gabriel
Bottom Line: Jesus prayed for His glory, the Twelve's sanctification, and our unity—so the world would know His love.
INTRODUCTION
CONTEXT
📖 SERMON OUTLINE
CONCLUSION
NOTES
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
🎥 YOUTUBE DESCRIPTION
MAIN REFERENCES USED
Opening prayer: Lord God, help us grow to be and do like Jesus, while abiding in him and leading others to do the same.
Bottom Line: Jesus prayed for His glory, the Twelve's sanctification, and our unity—so the world would know His love.
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever overheard someone pray for you? There’s something deeply personal about hearing your name spoken in prayer.
In John 17, we get to “overhear” Jesus praying—not just for His disciples, but for every believer who would come after them.
If you want to know what matters most to someone, listen to how they pray.
Rowing
"In the sport of rowing, unity is key. Each oar must enter and exit the water at precisely the same time if the boat wants to maintain speed. The way the rowers stay in sync is by listening to the coxswain. The coxswain doesn't row; he sits in the back of the boat and calls out the strokes. The coxswain is the only one who faces forward, so the entire crew must listen to the coxswain's commands and respond. When that happens, the boat flies over the water. Unity doesn't come from everyone rowing their hardest but from everyone submitting to a single voice.
As the disciples submit to the voice of God, they grow more and more of the same mind. (See movie/book "The Boys in the Boat")
Their thoughts, desires, and intentions begin to mirror God's, and they experience a unity unfamiliar to the world." Matt Carter, p. 340
Bottom Line: Jesus prayed for His glory, the Twelve's sanctification, and our unity—so the world would know His love.
Let’s listen in on the most powerful prayer ever prayed—and see how it still shapes our world today.
CONTEXT
• This is Jesus’ final recorded prayer before His arrest—called the High Priestly Prayer.
• It concludes His upper room teaching (John 13–17).
• The cross is just hours away.
• Jesus prays for the Father’s glory, the disciples’ protection and holiness, and the church’s unity—all for the sake of the world.
SERMON OUTLINE (with help from ChatGPT & Matt Carter)
I. How Does Jesus Reveal God’s Glory? (John 17:1–5)
• “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” (Cf. Luke 9:23; Phil 2:5-8)
• Eternal life is defined: “that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (v.3)
• The cross is not tragedy—it’s triumph, displaying divine glory through love and obedience.
Application: Worship means living to glorify God, even when it costs us.
II. How Does Jesus Pray for Our Sanctification? (John 17:6–19)
• The disciples belong to the Father and have received His word.
• Jesus doesn’t ask for their removal from the world but for their protection from the evil one.
• “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (v.17)
"Jesus prays for the Father to sanctify them (w. 17-18). To "sanctify" is to set something aside for a special use-like fine china reserved for special occasions." Matt Carter, p. 340
• He sends them into the world as the Father sent Him (v.18).
Application: We’re called to live holy lives in an unholy world—set apart for God’s mission, not away from it.
III. How Does Jesus Pray for Our Unity? (John 17:20–26)
• “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.” (v.20)
• The goal: “that all of them may be one… so that the world may believe.” (v.21)
• True unity reflects the oneness of the Father and the Son.
• Jesus wants His followers to experience the same love the Father has for Him.
"Unity Is Not Outlawing Any Diversity; at the time, we are more uniform than we might think; we all wear robes of righteousness.
If you've seen a military documentary, then you can probably picture scenes where battalions of soldiers line up, all wearing matching uni-forms, all standing the same way. They are faceless, nameless, and opinionless, but they're uniform. Some believe the church should be a battalion of nondescript soldiers ready to assault the world. This often happens when a leader demands everyone think like he thinks. He often uses the pulpit to bully people into his positions. He's trying to create good soldiers who think, look, and act just like him." -Matt Carter, p. 344
At the same time, we all have a uniform as well and that is the robes of righteousness that we wear in Jesus. So we actually do wear a uniform of sorts and I think that unifies us it reminds us that we're unique and in his kingdom.
Application: Our unity in love is God’s greatest apologetic—it shows the world who Jesus really is.
CONCLUSION
Bottom Line: Jesus prayed for His glory, the Twelve's sanctification, and our unity—so the world would know His love.
The Church is A Photograph
"The church is the visible display of God's goodness to this world. Each local church is the visible display of God's kindness to its community. We don't have any photographs of Jesus. The church is the photograph. The church is the picture of his love and mercy. There's a picture frame around each church and a sign above us that says, "Come, see what God is like."" Matt Carter, p. 349
Quote
“If we are distracted from real-time connection with the mercies of God, so that our hearts grow cold and our mouths become reckless and our eyes wayward and our feet wandering, we are only one misstep away from life-shattering catastrophe. We do not have to give ourselves to raw evil to end up there; we only have to unguard our hearts, we only have to stop being vigilant. Every one of us is always five minutes away from total disaster. But if we are receiving by faith the outpouring of Christ’s love in constant supply from his Throne of Grace, we cannot lose our way.”—Ray Ortlund
Challenge: Live as an answer to Jesus’ prayer—glorify God, walk in holiness, and love others in unity. This leaves us overflowing with his love into a world without love apart from Christ Jesus.
Summary of Applications
Worship means living to glorify God, even when it costs us. This is 24/7.
We’re called to live holy lives in an unholy world—set apart for God’s mission, not away from it.
Our unity in love is God’s greatest apologetic—it shows the world who Jesus really is.
Jesus prays for himself. Therefore, we should pray for ourselves too.
Jesus prays for his 12 followers. Therefore, we should be praying for those we're pouring into for the kingdom too. (Starting at home)
Jesus prays all his followers. Therefore, we should pray for one another. (Pray Charleston, Pray Together, Lord's Prayer)
INVITATION
What about you?
Peter puts it all in perspective in his first sermon:
““Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”” Acts 2:36-39 NIV
How do we respond? Answer 2 questions:
Take out a card or piece of paper right now. Write down the answer to these questions:
What is God saying to me right now?
What am I going to do about it? Write this down on a sheet of paper.
What I hear you saying, Lord, is ___________________.
[my name] is going to believe/do __________________________________________________ as a result.
Finally, share this with your Home or Mission group this week when you gather as a testimony about what God is doing in your life. You don’t have to get too specific to give him praise.
Lord's Supper, 1 Cor 11:23-26 is good passage.
Also, say something like, "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again." (past, present, and future)
Pray
NOTES
I thought this was a good picture of how God works, and how we respond to his work freely, but dependently.
"The disciples were responsible to believe, but even their belief was the result of what God said and did.
Let's say you showed up to church one morning with your beautiful, ten-month old baby, dropped him off at the nursery, and headed in to the service. The nursery worker begins to talk to your ten-month-old.
"You look so nice. Did you take a bath this morning?" He nods his head yes. "It looks like you're full. Did you eat a yummy breakfast?" Once again, he nods his head yes. "I love your outfit. Did you get dressed in your nice clothes?" Again he answers yes. So he has answered yes to all three questions. He took a bath, he ate breakfast, and he got dressed.
But that's not the whole picture. As his parent, you drew the bathwater, lathered him with soap, and rinsed him off. You fixed breakfast, fed it to him, and cleaned up his mess. You washed his clothes, changed his diaper, and then got him dressed. It's true he took a bath, ate breakfast, and got dressed but only because of what you did. You did the work he couldn't do himself. He simply responded. God does the work of calling sinners to salvation. Our responsibility is to respond to what God does.
Let's summarize two principles from verses 6-11: God did the work.
Everything the disciples did was in response to what God had done. The disciples kept the word, but who gave them the word? God. The disciples believed on Jesus, but who sent Jesus? God. And behind all of this was God's choice of them and gift of them to the Son. God not only did the work, but God used his word. The way God brought them to faith was through his words. He didn't use visions or apparitions. He didn't open the heavens or rain down fire and brimstone. He created new life in the disciples simply through his words."
Matt Carter, pp. 338-339
"Christians often take one of three different approaches to dealing with the difficulty of being in the world but not of the world.
Some practice isolation, believing the gospel needs to be protected instead of shared. They hear the call to remain faithful to God's Word, and they disengage from all non-Christians. They think, What better way to keep from falling away than to keep yourself as far as possible from any temp-tation? These Christians would love to buy forty acres of land at least fifteen miles outside of town, fashion a compound, and never set foot outside their barbed-wire fence. Their legitimate desire to remain faithful to God's truth has caused them to disregard his mission.
Some practice inoculation, believing the gospel has made them immune to temptation and worldliness. They hear the call to remain faithful to God's mission and immerse themselves fully in the world.
They ask, "What better way to reach the world than to blur any possible distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian?" These Christians minimize the biblical teaching on sin and repentance, choosing to live exactly as their non-Christian neighbors. Their legitimate desire to remain faithful to God's mission has caused them to disregard his truth.
Isolation and inoculation are not the only options. A better perspective is insulation, believing a daily focus on the gospel protects us from temptation as we seek to share the gospel with those who don't know Jesus.
Insulation means working diligently to balance faithfulness to the truth and faithfulness to our mission. We recognize Christians should live differently from non-Christians but not by removing ourselves from the world of non-Christians. We live differently in the midst of an unbelieving world, and the difference is seen in the unmistakable fruit of Jesus Christ in our lives." -Matt Carter, p. 341
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
What do I want them to know?
Why do I want them to know it?
What do I want them to do?
Why do I want them to do it?
How do they do this?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Discovery Bible Study process: https://www.dbsguide.org/
Read the passage together.
Retell the story in your own words.
Discovery the story
What does this story tell me about God?
What does this story tell me about people?
If this is really true, what should I do?
What is God saying to you right now? (Write this down)
What are you going to do about it? (Write this down)
Who am I going to tell about this?
Find our sermons, podcasts, discussion questions and notes at https://www.gracetoday.net/podcast
Alternate Discussion Questions (by Jeff Vanderstelt): Based on this passage:
Who is God?
What has he done/is he doing/is he going to do?
Who am I? (In light of 1 & 2)
What do I do? (In light of who I am)
How do I do it?
Final Questions (Write this down)
What is God saying to you right now?
What are you going to do about it?
🎥 YOUTUBE DESCRIPTION
Description:
What matters most to Jesus’ heart? In John 17, we overhear the Son of God praying—for His glory, for His disciples, and for every future believer. Just hours before the cross, Jesus prays that we would live for God’s glory, be sanctified by His truth, and be united in His love. This is the prayer that still shapes the world today.
Bottom Line: Jesus prayed for His glory, our sanctification, and our unity—so the world would know His love.
Chapters:
0:00 – Introduction
2:45 – Jesus Prays for His Glory (John 17:1–5)
10:20 – Jesus Prays for Our Sanctification (John 17:6–19)
19:45 – Jesus Prays for Our Unity (John 17:20–26)
28:50 – How We Live as the Answer to Jesus’ Prayer
Subscribe for more messages from the Signs & Glory series and other teachings from Grace Christian Fellowship.
🕊️ Watch, share, and join us as we learn to be and do like Jesus, while abiding in Him and leading others to do the same.
MAIN REFERENCES USED
“John,” by R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word Commentary, Edited by Kent Hughes
Exalting Jesus in John, by Matt Carter & Josh Wredberg
The Gospels & Epistles of John, FF Bruce
John, RC Sproul
John, Köstenberger
The Gospel According to John, DA Carson
Let's Study John, Mark Johnston
The Light Has Come, Leslie Newbigin (TLHC)
The Visual Word, Patrick Schreiner (TVW)
“Look at the Book” by John Piper (LATB)
“The Bible Knowledge Commentary” by Walvoord, Zuck (BKC)
“The Bible Exposition Commentary” by Warren Wiersbe (BEC)
Thru The Bible with J. Vernon McGee (TTB)
Outline Bible, D Willmington (OB)
NIV Study Bible (NIVSB) https://www.biblica.com/resources/scholar-notes/niv-study-bible/
Chronological Life Application Study Bible (NLT)
ESV Study Bible (ESVSB) https://www.esv.org
The Bible Project https://bibleproject.com
Nicky Gumbel bible reading plan app or via YouVersion
ChatGPT AI