Title: THE PRESENCE AND GLORY OF CHRIST
Focus: Let the presence and glory of God in Christ be on the radar screen of our prayers.
Function: To encourage the people to pray with Jesus’ desires for us at the heart of our prayers.
Text: John 17:1-26
Air traffic controllers make use of large radar screens. Every time an airplane takes off the air traffic controller will follow its flight pattern on the radar screen. The same happens with airplanes that are coming into the airport.
Air traffic controllers, then, make it their business to monitor outgoing and incoming airplanes at all times. And should it happen that an airplane is lost on the screen, its location no longer visible, air traffic controllers follow through with emergency procedures. For an airplane—no longer visible on their radar screen—means it may be missing or in trouble. And that, of course, is serious business.
Now imagine that our prayers can be picked up on a radar screen. What kind of prayers would you and I be able to verify?
There are, of course, all kinds of prayers: arrow prayers (Lord, help me!); thanksgiving prayers (Lord, thank you for healing me!); confession prayers (Lord, I really blew it today; forgive me, I pray); and then there are prayers of praise and adoration (Holy, holy, holy, are you, O Lord Almighty!).
But when I am honest, I must confess that many of my prayers tend to be self-centered or centered on my little world of family, friends, and church. So, should you ask me, “Does your radar screen of prayer, pastor Jack, reflect the desires of Jesus as expressed in, for example, John 17:24?” I have to admit that the presence and glory of God in Christ are not necessarily always at the heart of my prayers.
Listen to the text: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” As I take these words of Jesus to heart, I must confess and declare today: Let the presence and glory of God in Christ be on the radar screens of our prayers.
As we continue our biblical reflections on prayer, we now encounter the Lord Jesus as intercessor. We find Jesus praying for his disciples and for future believers—the church, you and me included. In John 17 we have a glimpse of what Jesus is doing today in the presence of our heavenly Father. Jesus prays to the Father on our behalf. As the writer of Hebrews tells us (Hebrews 4:14) “…we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God….”
In John 17 we encounter the Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed. Jesus has come to that critical place in his earthly ministry, where he is about to lay down his life, so that you and I may live. Betrayal, arrest, trial, mockery, crucifixion and a tomb—these are all waiting for Jesus.
Jesus is very much aware of what’s ahead of him. Thus we find him praying in the company of his disciples in the upper room. When we consider Jesus’ radar screen of prayer, we notice that Jesus prays for himself and his mission (vs. 1-5); he prays for his disciples (vs. 6-19); he prays for future believers, the church, us included (vs. 20-26); and we note also that Jesus has the world on his radar screen of prayer.
Listen: (vs. 21b) “May they (the church) also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (vs. 23) “May they (the church) be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (vs. 25) “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you. I know you, and they know that you have sent me.” This is striking: the problems of the world—a lack of knowledge of God the Father and God the Son, and a lack of awareness of God’s love for the world—are all on Jesus’ radar screen of prayer. As Jesus prays for his disciples and future believers, he does so with the world in mind.
So then, Jesus intercedes with the Father for the church and the world. Should not our prayers reflect a similar framework? Surely, the church belongs to God the Father and God the Son. And just as Jesus’ mission is to the world, so is the mission of his church a mission to the world. Mission-minded prayers, then, should frame the radar screen of our prayers.
At the heart of that radar screen of prayer, however, we discover something else: the presence and the glory of God in Christ. Consider, for example,
· The theme of John’s gospel: (Jhn. 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.” The Word is the eternal Son of God, Jesus. He took on our human nature, our flesh. And as he lived among us, Jesus reflected his glory. I say “reflected,” because Jesus is the image of God. He mirrors the glory of God the Father. And Jesus has done so by the way he spoke and lived among us. Consider also that
· the glory of God is very much at the heart of Jesus’ prayers and desires. Listen (17:1) “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” (vs. 5) “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” (vs. 24) “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” Surely, the glory of God in Christ is not only the theme of John’s gospel; it’s also on the radar screen of Jesus’ prayers. But how must we think of that glory?
The glory of the Minnesota Twins baseball team may be seen in their trophy case, or on their scorecards. The glory of the Twin Cities may be its economy, its buildings, its diversity of people perhaps. The glory of America may be reflected by the statue of Liberty, or by the freedom of speech we have. But how shall we see and think of the glory of God in Christ Jesus?
After all, if it is Jesus’ desires that we encounter his presence and see his glory, then we need to know what we are talking about, and we need to ask ourselves, “Is the presence and glory of God in Christ on the foreground of my desires, on the radar screen of my prayers?”
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, we have a key passage: (II Cor. 4:4-6) “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake. For God, who said, “’Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.’”
From this passage (and from the text) I say that we must turn to Jesus to see the glory of God. Here’s why:
First of all, Jesus is the image of God. He reflects God. In fact, Jesus is the eternal Son of God in the flesh. As the writer of Hebrews says (1:3) “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”
Secondly, Jesus reflects God’s glory in his person: he is unique; he is both fully human and fully divine. When the virgin Mary held her baby, she saw her own flesh and blood, but she was also holding the glory of God in her hands. And when the disciples heard Jesus preach and saw his miracles, they were in the presence of glory—a glory that reflects from Jesus’ person and his work.
Thirdly, when James, John and Peter climbed the mountain near Jerusalem, where Jesus was transfigured and talked with Moses and Elijah, they had a direct vision and confrontation with the glory of God in Jesus Christ here on earth. And they saw glimpses of the future—glimpses of what would happen to Jesus after his death and resurrection: namely the glorification of his body; and when Jesus comes again at the end of time, our glorification as we may live with Christ on the renewed creation in resurrected, glorified bodies.
All of these glimpses of glory (embodied and personified in Jesus) need to come on our radar screens of prayer. For that is Jesus’ desire for his church when he says:
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
Randy Alcorn, in his book Heaven, (p.xxii) tells a story about a young woman by the name of Florence Chadwick. In 1952 she stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She had already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still, she swam for fifteen hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way, her mother, in a boat alongside, told her she was close and that she could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out. It wasn’t until she was on the boat that she discovered the shore was less than half a mile away. At a news conference the next day she said, “All I could see was the fog…I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it”
Perhaps, Jesus’ desire that we experience his presence and see the glory of God reflected in him as we pray, is Jesus’ desire that we persevere in our pilgrimage of faith. We need to see the glory of God in Christ as we plod our way through history. We need glory glimpses and glory moments of Jesus’ presence, so that we never lose sight of God in our lives. Let the presence and glory of God in Christ, then, be on the radar screens of our prayers.
SPECIFIC APPLICATION
Perhaps, we can help ourselves praying such prayers by using other Christians’ well-written, biblically-shaped prayers. The Book of Common Prayer, for example, contains many prayers that, I think, may help us along the way.
Consider, for example, this prayer, pertaining to our baptism:
Almighty God, by our baptism into the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, you turn us from the old life of sin. Grant that we, being reborn to new life in him, may live in righteousness and holiness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen (p. 254).
Or consider this prayer for the unity of the church, based on the text from John 17:24
Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they might be one, as you and he are one: Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and obedience to you, may be united in one body by the one Spirit, that the world may believe in him whom you have sent, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever (p. 255).
Or again, consider this form of evening prayers, which contains prayers and scripture readings, as well as free-flow prayers:
O gracious Light, pure brightness of the ever living Father in heaven, O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun and our eyes behold the vesper light, we sing your praises O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices, O Son of God, O Giver of life, and to be glorified through all the worlds.
(a reading from II Cor. 4:5-6). It is not ourselves that we proclaim; we proclaim Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants, for Jesus’ sake. For the same God who said, ‘Out of darkness let light shine,’ has caused his light to shine within us, to give the light of revelation—the revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(Prayers may be offered for ourselves and others; followed by the Lord’s Prayers)
(Close with a collect—a short summary prayer): Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of our love. Amen.(p.139).
So, congregation, let’s work on it in the days to come; let the presence and glory of God in Christ be on the radar screen of our prayers.
Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and always shall be: world without end. Amen.