Couldn’t resist it! There was more I wanted to preach from John 17 as I near the end of this series. This week I preach on the two words featured in this chapter, ‘glory’ and ‘honour’.
The sermon is available as a Podcast. Notes are below. The material is made available so that any may use it, adapt it and preach it.
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John 17
‘Glory’ & ‘Hour’
John 17:1-5
Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. NKJ
John 17:22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. NKJ
1) Glory
Glory?! What glory? When? Where?
What does it mean to speak of glory in v5 & v10? The answer is given in the words of Jesus when he speaks of a grain of wheat falling to the ground (dying) in John 12:23-25 .
23 Jesus replied, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
24 I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
The answer then is dying, sacrifice.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Hebrews 12:14-29 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm (verse 18).
Philippians 2:7-8
“..but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!”
All glory must go to Jesus/God. God will not share his glory with another. Be careful lest you be found stealing God’s glory. See Isaiah 42:8, I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
We are to be the display of his glory. How? By laying our lives down for him in service, being the fragrance of Christ, by being salt and light. See Ephesians 1:5,6 ..he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will 6 to the praise of his glorious grace..
What glory was given to the disciples?
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Joy v13 I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
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unity v23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
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love v26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.
2) Hour
At the wedding feast an Cana Jesus declared his hour had not yet come (John 2:4).
A time came when those who heard him in Jerusalem wanted to to seize him, rebelling against God’s message, but were unable to do so because his ‘hour’ had not yet come (7:30; 8:20).
After his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (celebrated each Palm Sunday) he told them in John 12:23 “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Then again in John 12:27, Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour‘? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. The passover and the Passion both begin at this time. Truly this was his hour!
‘The Donkey’ by G. K. Chesterton (a poem about a donkey who knew his hour)
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil’s walking parody
On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! for I also had my hour;
One fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
Can we recognise it when we have our hour, our special moment? Or an hour, a special moment?
So, this is your hour:
Philippians 2:1-4
Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfil my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
