Sermons from the Moorpark Presbyterian Church

What Jesus Wants for You

John 17:1-16

July 26, 1998

by Dave Wilkinson

Mrs. Bloomfield had been a member of St. John's Church for well over twenty five years. As she walked toward the pastor, she had "that look" on her face -- the look the pastor had learned to recognize with foreboding. It was obvious that she had something on her mind.

"Reverend!" she proclaimed, "if God were alive today He would be shocked by the changes in this church." Another variation on the story has her saying, "Pastor, if Jesus knew about the changes taking place in this church He'd turn over in His grave."

That story describes the short-sighted perspective many people have about the nature of the church. They think that the church is a club that belongs to them. One great strength of this congregation is that we don’t have this attitude. We don’t suffer from too many turf issues. When we disagree, it is usually over the methods to reach the goal that Jesus calls us to -- not over the goals themselves.

That’s important. For, despite Mrs. Bloomfield’s assumptions, Jesus is alive. Not only is Jesus alive. Jesus is the Lord and Head of the church. He has desires for the people -- including us here today -- who are called by His name. These desires are partly expressed in our passage for this morning from John 17 which is the first part of what is sometimes called Jesus' "High Priestly Prayer." Listen to Jesus’ prayer for you:

(John 17:1-16)

Jesus has left the Upper Room where He ate the Last Supper with His disciples. They are now on their way to the Garden of Gesthemane. In just a short while Jesus will enter what is called his "passion in the Garden" -- the agonized prayer for the cup to pass Him by if possible, His submission to the will of His Father, the sweating drops of blood.

But for now, Jesus’ thoughts are all on His disciples. John wrote at the beginning of the Upper Room narrative back in chapter 13, "Having loved His own who were in the world, Jesus loved them to the end."

This prayer is packed with great feeling but it is not gloomy. Jesus has just told His disciples that He has "overcome the world." Because of that fact Jesus prays what we might call a "shopping list" for His people. As we consider some items on this list, we need to remember that Jesus prayed this prayer not only for his immediate disciples but also for all of those in the future, including us, who would believe in Him through their words. That this prayer includes us, is made clear in verse 20 of this chapter -- "I do not pray for these disciples only but also for those who will believe in me through their words."

The first item in this "High Priestly Shopping List" is joy. In verse 13 Jesus prays: that we might have "His joy made full in us."

Now I read those words and I have to admit that sometimes I do not seem to experience the joy of the Lord the way some people experience it or at least express it. I am not particularly prone to depression but I am also not particularly prone to elation. Sometimes I want to stop evaluating what is happening around me. I want to turn off the monitors. I just want to abandon myself in worship as King David did when he danced before God.

But it’s hard. Let me tell you how hard.

A couple of years ago, Sheri and Janet Loughry and I attended a gathering in Pasadena to learn about an exciting Christian outreach program called Alpha. The program has had a great renewal impact on the Church of England. I figured, "That’s hard-core stagnant. If something can work there, I need to check it out."

Most of the conference was what I would consider to be mainstream evangelical teaching. But in the portion devoted to experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit, it became a little less comfortable.

The leader indicated that there would be a worship time -- which means that each person was free to do whatever he or she chose to do in the praise of the Lord. For many people, this turned out to be singing in tongues.

I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced singing in tongues. It can be very beautiful. I didn’t want to resist. I was wanting to suspend my evaluative faculties. I was wanting to be vulnerable to whatever God had for me.

I prayed, "Lord, let me be open." I placed my hands palms up in an attitude of surrender to Him. I allowed myself to drift on the sound -- waiting to see if the Lord had a sound of worship to come from me. And then I felt it. I felt a word coming up from deep within my being. The two guys singing close to me suddenly harmonized on a certain note and our came my word.

"Shh-boom."

That was my word, "Shh-boom." I guess the particular note that spurred my word by was right out of 1957 and the Crew Cut’s.

Later I told a couple of Pentecostal pastor friends about this experience and asked for their opinion. They said, "That’s just about what we would expect from you, Dave."

I’m still not sure what they mean. If you know, please don’t tell me.

Is it wrong to have shh-boom, be my word? If I am not singing the way these other people sing -- if my hands get up this high and then lock -- does it means that I am not experiencing the joy that Jesus wants for me?

There is a Peanuts cartoon where Charlie Brown is talking to Schroder. Schroder is saying: "I guess I won't be seeing you until Monday, Charlie Brown, so have a happy weekend." Charlie Brown thanks him and then stops to think. As Schroder walks away Charlie Brown calls after him, "Incidentally, what is happiness?"

To answer Charlie Brown's question from its root we might say that the word "happiness" comes from the old English word "Hap."

Now a hap is a chance. If the haps that happen by happenstance are pleasant then we are supposed to be happy. If the haps that happen are unpleasant than unhappiness is the result.

But this "happiness by happenings" is not what Jesus wants for us. He wants us to have His joy which is something far different, and far greater.

What does joy look like? Well it doesn't look like much that we see around us that masquerades as joy.

In an article called "Behind the Advice Column" published in Saturday Review, Ann Landers comments: "Since I began writing my column, I've learned plenty -- including, most meaningfully, what Leo Rosten had in mind when he said, ‘Each of us is a little lonely inside and cries to be understood.’ I've learned how it is with the stumbling, tortured people in the world who have nobody to talk to. The fact that the column has been a success underscores, for me at least, the central tragedy of our society -- the disconnectedness -- the insecurity -- the fear that bedevils, cripples and paralyzes so many of us. I have learned that financial success, academic achievement, and social or political status open no doors to peace of mind or inner security. We are all wanderers, like sheep, on this planet."

In a book called The Higher Happiness, author Ralph Sockman wrote: "A few months ago my oldest daughter returned from her first evening in a nightclub. This was her reaction: ‘I was not too disturbed by the dirty stories, the heavy drinking, the scantily-clad dancers. What really bothered me was the large number of terribly unhappy middle-aged people running after a good time and failing miserably."

Ann Landers used an interesting word in her analysis which characterizes the absence of joy. That word is "disconnectedness' -- the feeling of being cut off and living life without a center.

Joy, on the other hand, is characterized by two things -- connectnedness and wholeness. When we have joy, we are centered on God and are therefore centered in ourselves. We do not need to reel from pleasure to pleasure and path to path because we are focused.

Theologian Paul Tillich wrote: "Joy is more than pleasure and it is more than happiness. Happiness is a state of mind which lasts for a longer or shorter time and is dependent on many conditions, external and internal. In the ancient view it is a gift of the gods which they can give and take away again. Happiness can stand a large amount of pain and lack of pleasure. But happiness cannot stand the lack of joy. For joy is the expression of our essential and central fulfillment. Even in an unhappy state, a great joy can transform unhappiness into happiness."

There is another Peanuts strip where Linus is looking as the T.V. and his sister Lucy comes in and yells: "I don't wanna watch that program! I wanna watch my program!" Linus gets out of his chair and says, "All right I'll go upstairs and listen to the radio." Lucy follows him in and yells, "I don't wanna listen to that program...I wanna listen to my program!!" Linus replies, "All right. I’ll go in the next room and play a few records." In a moment Lucy storms in hollering, "I don’t wanna listen to those records. I wanna listen to my records!!" Linus gets up and says, "All right I'll go outside and look at the stars for a while."

As you may have guessed, Lucy runs out to where Linus is sitting on the grass screaming, "I don't wanna look at those stars. I wanna look at my --." Linus just turns and looks at her. Lucy has to walk away sighing. She can't take the stars away from him. They are like joy.

It is so good to know that the joy Jesus" prays for in this prayer is available even to non-demonstrative Presbyterians. It doesn’t concern a style of worship although freedom in worship may grow out of joy. It relates to a way of being. Jesus wants us to be connected and centered in Him so that we are connected and centered in ourselves. Once this happens, we can rejoice in any situation. We will not be under the circumstances but on top of the circumstances. Like Paul you can say: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Do you experience this joy -- this centering in God which gives you a sense of being connected -- a sense of meaning? If not, frankly speaking, something is wrong. For joy is a fruit of God's Holy Spirit. Perhaps something has clogged the channel, broken the fellowship. Confess the sin, heal the relationship, and above all, pray. For Jesus said, "Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."

There is a strong connection between joy and a second part of Jesus' prayer which is found in verse 15: "I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one."

The Greek word used here for evil has an interesting and revealing heritage. The root of this word in Greek means literally "meaningless" or "useless."

It is interesting that in 100 B.C. when the Hebrew scholars were writing the Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), they looked into the Greek language for a word to describe "'evil" and chose this Greek word "poneros" which means "Empty, useless, meaningless." It became the word for

evil in the translation of the Old Testament, and it also became the word used to express evil in the New Testament.

What this says to us is that evil or the evil one is the source of emptiness, meaninglessness, disintegration, disconnectedness. Evil, in this sense, becomes not the opposite of good but of joy which is rooted in purpose and connectedness. Jesus’ prayer for us is that we will be kept safe in the turmoil of life as we live it in the world. This safety, this keeping, is to be accomplished by the power of God's own nature -- His name as verse 11 declares.

But note what Jesus has not prayed for in this prayer for safe keeping. He has not played that we be taken out of the world. Instead, he has called us to be witnesses in the world. What does this mean?

Well, Jesus makes s a distinction between His disciples and "the world." His prayer here is not for "the world" as verse nine makes clear. The world is the system of human life and priorities arrayed against the reign of God.

This does not mean that the world is outside God's love. John 3:16 speaks of the degree to which God loves the world. Later in this chapter Jesus prays that His disciples may do certain things so the "world may believe..." and that the world may know..." The world is to be reached through the disciples and those who will follow them.

What this bit of theology means to us today is that we are in the world even though we are not a part of the world system and, in this situation, we have a job to do. God will not remove us from the job site until the job is done. And we may not remove ourselves from the job site either -- forming ourselves into a holy club with only Christian friends doing Christian things. Quite frankly, if all of your friends are Christians you are not being a witness to the world. Jesus doesn’t want us out of the world. He wants us in the world even though that might mean trouble. He doesn’t pray for our escape from conflict but for our protection in conflict.

Some people today have a concept of a victorious Christian life free from trouble and pain and believe that the more Christian they are, the less they will hurt But that is not what Jesus said. Instead, Jesus makes a promise that I doubt any of us have underlined as a special favorite. It’s in John 16:33: "In the world you will have tribulation -- anguish." That’s a promise for the Christian life.

"In the world you will have tribulation." Jesus promised that. But we must never think of our call to be a witness to the world as a penalty. We must think of it as our glory. The harder a task we give a surgeon, a craftsman, a teacher, a soldier -- the more we honor her or him. We are saying that we believe that the person is capable of doing the job. When it is hard to be a Christian we must remember that the very difficulty of the task is an honor that God has given us. We are not called to be Peter Pans who won’t grow up. We are called to be soldiers of the cross and God will equip us for all of the tasks He gives.

There is a cartoon about a man who is stuck in the rain with his family. The car has a flat tire. The father is outside changing the tire. He’s soaked to the skin. The mother is inside holding the baby who is screaming his lungs out. The frustrated father is saying to another child who is leaning out the window: "I can't change the channel. This is real life!"

Jesus' prayer is a prayer for real life. It is not that we be removed from the world or that we be kept from trouble but that we be saved from final destruction. Jesus prays for line below which we cannot go no matter how bad things become. That is the theme of the great chapter of Romans -- Romans 8 -- that we have been looking at together. It is the good news that whatever happens, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

As Christians in the world today we live in a world that is in turmoil. Read your newspaper. But we do not receive our meaning from the turmoil but from Jesus Christ.

This is the meaning of the joy Jesus wants for you -- that in the midst of even the worst storm we remain solid, stable, centered and focused through a relationship that stands outside the storm -- our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We are not at the mercy of the elements -- because we already live in the mercy of God.