Our Work to Finish
John 17:6 – 19
So today is Ascension Sunday as we read in the Epistle lesson and as we could find in Luke’s account in Chapter 24. In each of those instances Jesus also promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, which we will celebrate at Pentecost next week. As you know the Ascension is the time when Christ returns to his Father for good, yet promising to return at His Second Coming when the final victory over evil will occur. Actually the day of the Ascension of Jesus is 40 days after his resurrection so that day would have been on the 21st of May, on Thursday of this week.
As an aside, the number 40 reappears many times in the Bible. For example in the Old Testament; when God sent the flood to destroy the earth with water, He caused it to rain 40 days and 40 nights. Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights and the Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years. And Goliath taunted Saul’s army for 40 days before David arrived to slay him. That is just some found in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights before His ministry began. There are 40 days (excluding Sundays) in our observance of Lent. And as we saw in our Epistle lesson today there are 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection and his Ascension back to Heaven.
Now there doesn’t seem that there is necessarily any divine significance of the number 40 other than that number of days or years represents a period of trial, but it does seem that God has chosen this number to help emphasize times of trouble and hardship, a period of revelation and inner reflection, a period of submission and reliance on God and His grace and mercy. Anyway so what does any of this, the Ascension and the periods of struggling, reflection and waiting have to with our message lesson today? Well nothing – and everything!
As I told you during our Lenten and Eastertide services, John’s presentation of the Gospel is different than the others. He begins his Gospel not with the birth narrative but rather in eternity past, at Creation. God is creating everything that we see in the universe, He puts it all into motion. He brings light into being so that we can have periods of day and night, periods of labor and rest.
But God also introduces The Light into the universe to hold all the parts together and He introduces us to The Word, the Truth of God’s ultimate plan in the person of Jesus, in order that we can have Salvation and Eternal Life. That is where the difference of John’s Gospel begins. But it also ends differently than the others.
As I have mentioned to you, John’s telling of the Upper Room event on Maundy Thursday is also decidedly different from the others. John, who was there by the way, goes into much more detail than the others, there is much more interaction between Jesus and the Disciples. The other Gospels go from after supper, to communion, to Peter’s ultimately empty promise to not deny Christ, to the garden and the arrest. You all know the rest of that story.
In John’s Gospel Jesus spends considerable time comforting the Disciples after what they have seen and what He has told them. He comforts them with “do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God so believe in me also” and again he promises the Holy Spirit to come and be their comforter and guide. These words of comfort, encouragement and strength are summed up by Jesus with “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace” in John 16:33a. With that we come to our lesson in Chapter 17.
Our scripture lesson today is known as the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, in fact the entire chapter is Jesus’ prayer. In the prayer we come to understand that the world is a battleground where the forces of God’s kingdom face off in a continual struggle with the forces of Satan. And it serves as a fitting conclusion to the Upper Room teachings.
It is a prayer in which Jesus continues to encourage the Disciples, to give them confidence and hope in the face of his imminent “departure” from them because of his suffering and death on the cross.
In much of the Bible Jesus is said to go off and pray to God by himself, in personal conversations with his Father, we see that in the Garden scene. But in this case it is clear that this prayer is intentionally done in public, in front of the Disciples so that they can hear and understand. So both they and the faithful hearers of John’s gospel, both ancient and modern, “listen in” on his words as he prays to the Father on behalf of those who are left in the world.
In the first section of John 17 Jesus is “reporting in” to God so that the disciples can hear, that Jesus is nearly complete in his mission. Jesus says:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, so that you too may be glorified. You gave me authority over all people so that I could give them eternal life”. Jesus says, “They know what Eternal life means; they know you, the only true God, and myself Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought glory to you on earth by ‘finishing the work you gave me to do’”.
Jesus is still one day removed from death on the Cross but he knows the reason for his death and is willing to fulfill his work. In fact His words of finishing His work is a foreshadowing of the final words that he utters as mortal man, just as He gives up His spirit Jesus will exclaim, “It is Finished”!
So now that Jesus has prayed to God about having fulfilled his mission he turns his thoughts and prayers outward, towards his disciples and the concern that he has for those that he is leaving behind. Again we must remember that Jesus is now praying for the Disciples with the Disciples listening.
With that in mind Jesus’ words are as much teaching, a sermon for the Disciples if you will, as it is a prayer to God. In his final discourse to his band of Believers Jesus is seeking to equip them for their Work to Finish. American theologian James Boyce notes three gifts for Believers that are found in Jesus’ Prayer.
The gift of: Knowing That We Belong
It was important to the Disciples then and as well for Believers today, to know that we belong in God’s family. He states that most important and immediate knowledge is that the followers of Jesus know they belong to Jesus. Twice in the opening verse we hear of this essential inclusion. Jesus says to God “I have revealed you, Father, to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me”. Jesus loved the disciples and was concerned for them because they were chosen by God for Him.
The gift of: Knowing the Father’s Name as your own
Three times Jesus says that he has revealed the Father to those that are Chosen and Precious. Since those that the Father has given to Jesus now belong to Jesus, then these believers “know the Father’s name” Jesus says. They now know the character of the One who is the source of eternal life. God’s “name” stands for all that God is and has done, most importantly we know God in and through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. To know the Father’s Name as your own is to have one’s life built upon and sustained by the power of the Name, to be protected and guarded by the Name of God.
The gift of: Knowing the Word
Jesus prayed “I gave them the words that you gave me and they accepted them. Of course when we hear the Apostle John refer to the “Word” we must harken back to the 14th verse of first chapter of his Gospel when John witnesses to the arrival of Jesus onto the Creation stage by writing that the “Word become flesh“. It is therefore important that we are to understand “Word” in its dual sense.
Jesus has given to them only those words which he has first received from the Father. They have received or accepted those words and so have been given power to become God’s children, as ones who have received Him, they know the truth that Jesus as the Word made flesh which has come from God; and they have then believed in the One whom God has sent.
In His prayer Jesus is telling God that Jesus has finished his work. But the evangelical work of the Disciples is just beginning, reconciling a broken world is Our Work to Finish but we need divine protection.
Jesus asks God for the protection of his followers. Jesus is not asking that the disciples be promoted from this world into the next but rather that they would be preserved and protected in this world. He says that I am going to leave but they must stay, they have Work to Finish. So he asks the Father to protect them just as he had protected Him.
Satan may blow the storm winds against you forcing you to fight the head winds. He may raise up mountains in front of you to force you to climb the heights or he may put boulders under your feet to make you stumble and falter but he cannot remove the renewed spirit from your soul.
Jesus understood that the challenges ahead for his followers involve spiritual warfare for which they must be protected and girded. So Jesus prays to the Father watch them, guard them and protect them.
Jesus wants to remove Satan and his demons from the disciple’s way, to remove those things that are a barrier to their completion of their calling in the service of God. He wants the same for us, for you!
Hear the Good News my friends……..
This my friends is where the Holy Priestly Prayer, the Crucifixion, the Ascension and Pentecost all tie together. Jesus wasn’t only talking about the disciples and followers that he left behind in our lesson just before his death at Calvary but was also foreshadowing the Ascension that we celebrate today and he was talking about the sending of the Holy Spirit that we will celebrate next week.
So to revisit my original question what does the Holy Priestly Prayer have to do with the Ascension and Pentecost? Everything! Here is what we know:
- Jesus is no longer in the world.
- The incarnation is over.
- Jesus has been resurrected.
- He ascended to the Father from whence he came.
- The Holy Spirit is with us
- But we are still in the world.
Jesus’ works are now in our hands, and Jesus is counting on us to be his presence in the world with God’s protection. It is Our Work to Finish. Amen
Chatham Circuit
St Louisville, Chatham & Liberty UMC
May 24, 2020
Seventh Sunday of Easter, Ascension Sunday
Prelude
Bringing the Light
*Call to Worship
L: Shout to God with songs of great joy!
P: Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!
L: God has made us whole.
P: God has called us to a ministry of hope and love.
L: Come, let us celebrate the love of God!
P: Let us praise God’s name and serve God joyfully. AMEN
Recognition of Memorial Day
Heavenly Father, as our nation pauses tomorrow to remember those in the military who have given their lives for freedoms we enjoy, we pray you would have us all look to you for strength, comfort and guidance.
Be with all who serve in our Armed Forces. Bless them and their families. Grant your loving protection. Let peace prevail among all the nations, O God. Especially let your mercy rest upon our land, even as we acknowledge with thanksgiving your past goodness on this country.
If it is your will, preserve the lives of the men and women in uniform as they defend our citizenry. Most of all, we pray that you would turn the hearts of all – military and civilian – to your holy Word where we find the true peace for our sinful souls that surpasses all understanding.
Keep us repentant of sin. Move us to know, take hold and treasure your saving grace. In the name of Jesus, our Savior and Your beloved Son, who alone gives this peace and hope for eternity, we pray. Amen
*Hymn: Onward Christian Soldiers #575, 3 verses
- Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; forward into battle see his banners go! Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before.
- At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee; on then, Christian soldiers, on to victory! Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise; brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise. Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before.
- Like a mighty army moves the church of God; brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod. We are not divided, all one body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity. Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 68:1 – 10, 32 – 35
The Lord’s Prayer
Second Scripture: Acts 1:3 – 9
*The Apostle’s Creed UMH 881
*Gloria Patri UMH 70
*Message Lesson: John 17:6 – 19
The Message
Our Work to Finish
Bryan Moore
Hymn: Take My Life #399
- Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for thee.
- Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King. Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from thee. Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold. Take my intellect, and use every power as thou shalt choose.
- Take my will, and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne. Take my love, my Lord, I pour at thy feet its treasure-store. Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for thee.
Prayers of the People
Offering in Response to God’s Grace
*Doxology UMH 95
*Offertory Prayer
Bless our gifts, time and talents, O Lord of all, that we might worship you with great joy and serve your people with great love. In Christ’s name. Amen.
*Hymn: Rise Up, O Men of God #576
- Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things. Give heart and mind and soul and strength to serve the King of kings.
- Rise up, O men of God! The kingdom tarries long. Bring in the day of brotherhood and end the night of wrong.
- Rise up, O men of God! The church for you doth wait, her strength unequal to her task; rise up, and make her great!
- Lift high the cross of Christ! Tread where his feet have trod. As brothers of the Son of Man, rise up, O men of God!
*Benediction
People of God, receive the blessing of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Go now to live in Christian love and witness to the power of forgiveness in your homes, in your community, even to the ends of the earth, until that day when Christ returns in glory. Amen.
Closing
“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
Prayer Requests:
- Prayers for Sandy, Nancy’s sister
- Prayers for Dick and Mary Ann,
- Prayers for Bonnie and Gerald,
- Prayers for Sally and David
- Prayers for Sandy in the loss of her brother.
- Prayers for Rick, Kayla’s cousin
Birthdays this week
5/27 Megan Ewers
5/28 Bob Cliver
Happy Anniversary
5/16 Ruth and Rick Wilson
5/18 Nancy and Dean Runyon
5/26 Donna and Arnold Pope
The Life of the Church Coming Events
May 27 – Bible Study, 2PM Telephone 508 – 924 – 5730. We will begin studying the Book of Genesis this week.
For anyone that misses the Bible Study, starting this week we will make a recording of the Bible Study available by dialing the Study Line at 508 – 924-5730 from Thursday morning until Tuesday evening. Just call the number and a few seconds later the whole service will begin to play.
Sermon Line
The Sermon Line is 617-793-8516! Just call the number and a few seconds later the whole service will begin to play. You might want to put it on speaker because it is several minutes long. The plan is that at least until we can be in fellowship with each other again, that we will continue making the audio of the services available by noon on Monday.
Words of Confession:
Our Savior Jesus, even while we extol you as Divine Sovereign whose authority is above all earthly power, we have failed to give you authority over even the smallest matters of our lives. We confess our arrogant, self-centered exercise of power over matters in our lives, in our church, and in our world. We desperately cling to our own power, failing to yield to your divine authority, wisdom, guidance, and love. Forgive us, we pray, for the harm we have done to others and to ourselves. In your mercy, save us, Lord. Amen.
Words of Assurance:
Jesus said to his disciples before he ascended to God, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in my name to all nations.” Repent then, followers of Christ, and allow Christ to transform your lives. Receive forgiveness in the name of the risen savior. Amen.