Knowing God

Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year A John 17:1-11

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Well, our gospel lesson today comes from John chapter 17, and this is familiarly, I have a hard time saying that word, it's very familiar to us because it's the high priestly prayer. John in the gospel, in his gospel, has this very long story about what happens in the upper room with Jesus and his disciples the night he's betrayed. See, Jesus is about to go to the cross. He's about to be punished, he's about to be executed, and this is his last moment with his best friends, his disciples. We have already seen them eating together, fellowshipping together. Jesus teaching them specific things on this last and final night together. And here he concludes their time in this upper room with standing and lifting up his eyes to his father and praying for them. What is it that he prays for them? In this high priestly prayer, we begin to see Jesus not just as a man, not just as the Son of God, but the one who is an advocate for us, the one who visualizes what a priest actually does on behalf of the people. He prays for his friends. And what is it that he wants most of all for his friends? Well, we're going to unpack that. But what he begins to pray for for his disciples is that they might come to know God. Now that seems simple, of course, to know God. But do you really know what knowing God looks like? What it is? What we learn from these first 11 verses in Jesus' high priestly prayer is that faith is required to knowing God. Is that love should be expressed when you know God, and that the hope that you have is assured in knowing God alone. See, Jesus begins by saying what eternal life is. Eternal life is not just something, some period of time that exists for all eternity. Jesus specifically defines what eternal life is. It's not a throwaway statement. Eternal life is this, that they might know you and the one you have sent. It's Jesus. Knowing God is to know Jesus. That's what we learn. Jesus and the Father are inseparable. They are one. They are completely unified. To talk about one is to talk about the other. To see the one in action is to see the other action as well. The two are unified along with the Holy Spirit. And Jesus invites the disciples and prays for the disciples to also be united to them. And how is it that they are united to the Father and to the Son, but by knowing them. Jesus points out that not only is he praying for them to receive eternal life, that know God intimately, but he prays for them to know and come to know his word. He prays in verse 6, knowing the word Jesus has given to them. This is what the disciples and what Jesus has been doing in their private time together is giving them the word, the word that helps guide them to know about God. The word of God is the means by which we come to know God. He has revealed himself. You are not left alone to figure things out and be so confused. This is his letter describing to him to you who he is. Some of you might have done this yourself, maybe when you first met your spouse. I know I did this. I met Melissa online and Christian Mingle. Christian Mingle. And all I put up there was just this is me. This is how I argue. This is how pathetic I can be. But here's some good parts. So she can get to know me. I reveal to her who I am so that she can consider whether she wants to be united to me. God has done this. God has spoken once and for all through his Son, Jesus Christ. If you want to see the Father, read about the life of Christ. If you want to know God, know Jesus. We have it right here. God has been revealing Himself. And this is the word that Jesus gave to the disciples because the disciples, as Jesus prays, is about to continue the mission and the ministry that Jesus initiated. And that's why he's praying for them. To continue to pass this word to each and every one of us. Knowing God means to know Jesus that he was sent. Why is that important? Because there is no other way by which we can come to know God but through the one who was sent, who took on flesh, who embodied the very both humanity and deity of God. You have to have faith in Christ to know God. You have to have faith in the word that is presented to you as God reveals it to know God. And you have to know his name. And this is probably the part where we often overlook. What is in a name? What's the big deal about a name? I could tell you what a big deal is about a name. I could guarantee you that Bo, my seven-year-old, knows how big of a deal a name is. Because when I come and I step on one of those Spider-Man toys on the floor, what's the first thing I'm going to say? Bo Dossi Grimmett! And what happens? His presence and his ability shows up. By the command of a name, what we mean in a name is power and presence. That when you speak the name of Jesus and make your requests known to him, you are saying the name of Jesus that is above all names, that possesses the power above all powers, that possesses the presence that illuminates your life in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. And a name is power and presence. This is why you're not to take the Lord's name in vain. It's just not so that you don't cuss, it's not that you just don't profane his name, it's so that you don't attribute his name to a power and a presence that he's not around or that he doesn't execute. When you proclaim the name of Yahweh, the Lord, God Almighty, you're asking for his presence and his power. And this is the thing that you must come to know to know God. And this is why Jesus says, I have given them your name. This is why it's important that Jesus knows your name, so he can write it down in the Lamb's book of life, so that your presence can be with him, so that you can receive his power. Your name has power in this way. As much as it's connected to Christ. That's why in the name of Christ we can ask for anything according to his will, and it'll be granted to us. Because Jesus gives his followers, his disciples, his name, so they can execute his presence and his power in the world. This is why, here in just a little bit, we have prayers of the people. And it's part of our worship, where we sit down and we all pray together in the name of Jesus. Because we request that name, the power of the name of Jesus and the presence of Jesus to go out into the loved ones that we share life with, that we intercede for. Much like Jesus intercedes for us, we do and mimic our King in this way. So knowing God requires faith. But knowing God is also expressed through our lives by love. When you come to know God, there are two things that are going to be evident in your life. When you come to truly know God, your love for Him grows, and how you love others becomes better. Loving God and loving others is the expression of someone who knows God. This is why we pray for others and not just for ourselves. We mimic and model what Jesus does here in John chapter 17 in the high priestly prayer. We become the priesthood of believers who intercedes for those who can't speak to God because they're far away and they don't know him. We love others by praying for them. And we love God by praying to him, because he is the only one to whom we can pray, and the only power that can do anything about it. But also that love is expressed through doing the actions that Christ initiated. Christ tells us in verse 4 that he achieved God's glory, his father's glory by doing the things that he was sent to do. So Jesus in his high priestly prayer prays for his disciples who are about to go to do the things that they are sent to do to glorify the Father. This means wherever you are in your life on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, your whole aim as a disciple of Christ and Father of Christ is to glorify the Father by doing the things and committing yourself to the things that the Father once done. It is a life not about you, but about God. When you know God, it becomes less about you. You decrease, and he increases. I mean, John the Baptist, a great prophet, declaring repentance. People were coming by massives. And then what happens? He says, I must decrease so that Christ can increase. That's what your life ought to look like if you know God. You begin to see that you must decrease and he must increase. And we do this by accomplishing his will in our lives, not your own. But lastly, knowing God leads to something. All of this is for something. And what is it? Jesus reveals this in verse 11. Jesus talks about how he is one with the Father, and that through him he invites the disciples to come and be one with him. That is the goal of your life. Knowing somebody isn't just head knowledge and heart knowledge, it's union with that person. Just to ask every husband and wife. When they unite themselves together in marriage, they're not two, they become one. And that's meant to point to the reality that knowing God leads to intimacy with the triune God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's the goal. The reason why you express your knowledge of God through love by praying for others and living according to His will. The reason why you know God through believing in the one who sent, in His Word and in His name, because it all leads you to commune with God and be unified and are invited into this unity that surpasses everything you have ever experienced or could possibly imagine. That is the hope we have when you know God. That better things, glorious things are coming. That to be you united to this God that you know becomes your heartbeat and your desire, and it will reach its reality one day. So every day you endure and you persevere, knowing God, because every day, the more you know about God, the closer and more intimate you become with him. And that's the goal. Knowing Jesus is the greatest thing anyone could ever achieve. To know Jesus is to know his word, his name, and the eternal life that he is offering to you. Jesus has prayed for us to know him through faith, love, and hope. When we live by faith, expressing love and pursuing our hope, we grow in our knowledge of Jesus and are assured of our eternal life being united to him. Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you for your word.