Okay, so good morning every one of you and welcome to Grace Chapel this Lord's Day morning. So thankful to be here and it's a privilege for me to start with you today a reflection and meditation on prayer. We will look in the coming four weeks to a model of prayer that we find in the New Testament. It's not the Lord's Prayer, but it's the High Priestly Prayer, that's how they call it, which is found in John 17. John 17 is the famous prayer of Christ before He goes to the cross. And in the following weeks, we would like to look together, first of all today, as the Master, Jesus Christ, prays for the glory of the Son. in the first part of John 17. And in the following weeks, we will look at the Master praying for the Word that has been received by the disciples, and how that Word, then, He's praying that He will keep and sanctify the disciples. And in connection to that, then we will end looking how, through this Word of Truth, then He's praying for the unity of those who are kept and saved and sanctified by that Word. This is the word that the disciples went to Jesus and said, Lord, teach us to pray. And this model of the Lord's Prayer was given, but now the Son of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, gives us a practice of prayer that is far higher. And the question that we want to ask ourselves as we go through this material this week is, how can we grow in our communion with God? What are the means that God uses so that we may grow in communion with Him? What do you think, if anyone has a thought? What does God use to help us to grow in communion with God? Means of grace, correct? That is a chief element, right? That when we partake the Lord's Supper, when we go through the step of baptism, our communion with God is improved. What else? Any other aspects that God grows in our communion with God? Prayer, and that's the number one that we will look through these weeks. How prayer, you see, you know, we have the means of grace, we have the Scriptures, through the Scripture we hear God's voice to us every day, right? But prayer is a crucial aspect. I think I said to some of you this week, last week, prayer is like an oxygen of the Christian. It's like you can't breathe unless you pray. And how do we define, therefore, communion? This word communion with God. What does it mean to commune with God? As we say in prayer, in the reading of the Word, in partaking of the Lord's Supper. What happens in communion? Anybody wants to? Communicating. There is a conversation, right? The Lord is basically speaking to us. That is part of it. And what I would like to use as we look at John 17 is actually a book, a very small book that now has been reprinted in a more readable way by a Puritan, they call it the Prince Theologian of the Puritans, John Owen. John Owen wrote this book, Communion with God. It's a small little book. I invite you to, perhaps in the future, order it and read it in your personal meditation. I know that he's quite a theologian. At times he seems to be having a technical language. Again, he defines communion as a mutual communication of good things. Of good things. This is a general definition. A mutual communication. Some good things are communicated between persons, as wherein the persons holding that communion are delighted. So we see two things in this definition of communion with God. There are good things that have been communicated, and there is a result of this communion, that there is a delight from God to us, and from us to Him. And some people usually, if you were to ask them, what is the foundation of this communion? As Christians, we are tempted to say, you know, I am saved, therefore I have communion with God. I am forgiven, therefore I have communion with God. And this is part of it, definitely. Salvation, forgiveness are the means, the instrument by which we can actually have a communion with God that the unbeliever does not have. But the foundation of this communion that John Owen in his book emphasizes is actually the Trinity. The very fact that our God is a triune God, a God of three persons and yet one essence, and this is the foundation. As the Father, John Owen goes through the first and the second part of the book and he emphasizes how we have communion with the Father and all the aspects, in particular love, that comes through the communion of the Father. And then the Son, communion with the Son. And this, in John 17, will be our focus. Then the third part talks about the Holy Spirit and communion with the Holy Spirit. I know we do not have much time to focus on that because, again, the focus of John 17, our passage, seems to be Father and Son. But still, there's other parts of Scripture like Romans 8, you know, it talks about the Spirit's role in prayer and in our communion. And so, yeah, I invite you to reflect on that, but we will not primarily focus on that. Now, I ask any one of you, can anyone go to John 17? and read to us the first five verses of John 17, on which this morning we will start our meditation of the Master praying for the glory of the Son. John 17, verses 1 to 5, if you have Pew Bible, it's page 757. Anyone want to read? that they may know you, the only true God. Thank you. So, this is the beginning of this prayer. Jesus is, remember, approaching death, right? And before we dive in into the reflection on this first verses which again are focused upon what is the petition of the Lord here. He's asking, glorify the Son. He's asking for this glory of the Son to be revealed as the Son will then go back to the Father. At the right hand of the Father, He will go and He will have the glory that He had before the foundation of the world, right? And yet, He has to go through the cross, right? Before He goes there, He goes through the cross. And there is a sense in which this is not a parenthesis somehow. The cross is a parenthesis to the glory of God that He will enjoy in heaven. No. It is part of it. It's through the affliction of the cross that God is glorified in the salvation of us, right? So that's what we want to meditate today. But again, John, as a Gospel, until chapter 12, seems to focus mostly on the miracles of Christ. And how those miracles prove that He, in fact, is the Logos, the Word made flesh, the divine Son of God. But now from chapter 12 on, the focus of this Gospel is the glory of God. The glory of God. And the main idea that I would like you to really focus upon that this whole chapter focus and all throughout these weeks we will look at is that the Jesus is praying that the several aspects of this communion that he has with the Father and we see them in the text. All these several aspects of communion. He's praying that God will then extend them to the church. That He will extend them to me and to you. That is the focus of his prayer. He says, glorify your son. What is mine is yours. They are in me and they are in you. Keep them. Preserve them from the world. Send them into the world. Sanctify them. Help them to be one so that they may know you as I know you, so that they may love you, because all that love you proceed from you." All of these aspects of communion in the Trinity between the Father and the Son, Jesus is praying that they will be then part of us as well. And the first thing that we notice again is that prayer must have a Trinitarian foundation. You see, the Gospel is A gospel where the triune God is at work. Even the way that we order our church must follow, they call it ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church, must follow this Trinitarian model. And our fellowship and our communion with God must be based upon this Trinitarian foundation. To the point that in prayer we reflect this triune God. It's not some appendix to our doctrine. And Jesus had spoken with the disciples. And what we see in verse 1 is that actually now, He turns into prayer. Another Puritan, Thomas Goodwin, in his marvelous work, The Heart of Christ in Heaven for Sinners on Earth, says, referring to John 17, He goes alone to the Father and speaks over all again unto Him that which He said unto them. And He says much behind their back of them as He had said before their faces. He's opening this prayer, right? Time of prayer. And he is in a communion with the Father that John Owen focuses and he says, the Father and the Son are in this joint communion, and this joint communion has distinct aspects of communion for each person of the Trinity. This prayer is more focused upon the deity of Christ. Remember, Christ has two natures, right? The human nature and the divine nature. At the Mount of Olives in Gethsemane in Luke 22, when Jesus says, not my will but thine, that prayer and the whole context of the prayer is more coming from his human nature. But John 17 actually is his divine nature, and he is saying, again, things He's asking for this glory to be revealed. And as He's received immediate answer, like when He raised Lazarus, He knew that God was going to answer. Like when He says, Lord, in previous chapter, glorify your Son, a voice from heaven came, I have glorified Him, and I will glorify Him again. You see, He has direct answer. He knows that what is to come is the cross. And yet, even in front of the shame and the curse of the cross, He knows that He's praying for the glory to come. Before that, He said that the hour has not yet come, but now He knows that the hour of test is approaching. The hour of the Prince of Darkness. And what is He asking? He's not asking for himself, for his struggle. He's saying, glorify your Son. Now, this is already a declaration of His deity. No one can receive glory but God, right? And He is. He is God and He is transforming that hour of defeat, a shame and curse at the cross in an hour of victory and glory. Because He is fulfilling the purpose that was given before the foundation of the world. And what does this tell you and me? That if the Son of God who is God in the flesh, was aware of the need of prayer, even though he's going through the fulfillment of the purpose of God before the foundation of the world, to die on the cross, and yet he prays. Do you see how the human responsibility and God's sovereignty in prayer work together? In harmony. And again, we must custom ourselves to see the constant parallel in this chapter as we will meditate this week between the Father and the Son. Look at verse 10. Like you, Father, are in me, and I am in you, I pray that also them will be in us. Or verse 21. You know, the constant focus of the Son is, again, extension of these aspects of communion to us. And this is the first petition of the Master, glorify your Son. There will be several petitions that you will see through the weeks. And so the question we need to ask ourselves is, how has our prayer life been? In particular, have we emphasized this Trinitarian foundation to our prayer life? As we look to God, not as a distance, as we focus on Him, not just for one person. I know that there has been some movements that emphasize prayer of the Spirit. Everything is about the Holy Spirit, right? And we focus only on the Spirit. Some others do everything in Jesus' name, which is nothing wrong, as I'm saying, Or others just, you know, Father and that's it. But here there seems to be, also in light of the previous chapter, John 16. What do you see in John 16, verse 4 on? We see that Christ is, what is He doing? He's asking and He's promising that the Holy Spirit will come. He will dwell with us. He will send another Comforter, one who is like me, one who will glorify Christ, and He will continue to teach what Christ has taught to the disciples for three years. So, what I'm saying is, even though the Spirit is not present in chapter 17, the trinities are working in the immediate context. And so, as our prayer life reflected this, and another question could be, Because there's two dangers that we can fall into. In one sense, as I said, we could just emphasize the Spirit in our prayer and that's it. We can emphasize the Son in our prayer, that's it. And we can emphasize the Father, and that's it. But, there's also the other extreme that we become mechanical in reciting those, you know, relationship of theology. But, in the case of John Owen, all of these come with warmth and devotion. as we marvel upon this triune God in our prayer. So this is my question to you. How has your prayer life been? How does this affect our understanding of prayer? Anyone want to share? Feel free to share, because as I said, these are things that I'm learning, I myself, and none of us has arrived. Again, something to think about, something to ponder, because again, we are surrounded by people who do not, you know, take this approach, and we look at the Savior praying, and all of our prayer compared to His prayer. Yes? Yes. Glory to the Father, to the Son. I used to do it, and as I said, those are the two extremes, right? You can't say the right words without fellowship, and that's what John Owen is after. He's trying to correct, even during these days, people who emphasized the Holy Spirit. There was no Pentecostals in his days, but they had some weird movements that emphasized the Spirit, and it's all about the Spirit. And yet, Catholicism has all the right words, but there's no fellowship, right? And so that's why we need to ponder upon this. But yeah, that's why words are not enough. Words are not enough. But the point is, if our Savior is praying this way, we can definitely see and pursue the same fellowship with the Father and with the Son. But thank you for the question. It's definitely what I was after in the second extreme. So if there's no other observation, let's keep going. John Owen says that When Christ desired His Father to glorify His name, as He is doing here, He was instantly answered. And this means that through Christ, because of intercession for us, you know that Christ has a threefold office. Anybody knows? prophet, priest and king, and what office do you think is at work here? Is he praying for us? The priestly office. In fact, Martin Luther said that even the cross itself that is about to come, he could not have taken place without this intercessory prayer the priest had to pray for the people and then offer the sacrifice for the people those two things went hand in hand, right? As He is doing, and because we have such a High Priest, says the letters to the Hebrews, Owen says, Christ can remove all difficulties, answer all objections, and pardon all sins, conquer all oppositions, and He is all sufficient. It's like we as Christians have access to the throne of grace through Christ. And so our prayers too, as deficient as they may be, and at times we feel that we do not know how to pray, right? And yet the Trinity, each person of the Trinity has worked to our help. And however, if we do not pursue this, there's something that we need to deal with our hearts. Because again, we are commanded Christ desires so much that this communion may be extended to us. And so, it's more than just going on prayer to the Lord and having a grocery store list of things, which is not bad. Actually, you know, and even remembering all the answer prayers that God has given us. But, there's something more, right? Prayer should start in a wonder that the Lord of heaven and earth, the triune God, will allow us to come before His presence. And what we see here is secondly also that prayer acknowledged Christ in verses 2 and 3 of John 17. Prayer acknowledged Christ as the only mediator who is able to give us eternal life. He has received, because of this glory, He has received authority over all flesh. Even in the moment that He was on earth and incarnate Christ, He had authority over all flesh to give eternal life. Now, this authority is not clearly said in our text, but it's pointed to something that took place before the foundation of the world. Who gave this authority and what happened? It is something that theologians call the covenant of redemption. This is a covenant that took place before the foundation of the world. As again in the Trinity, the Father covenanted with the Son to send the Son. The Father out of His love sent the Son into this world and to give authority, to give all life, eternal life, and the Spirit has been agreeing to be sent into this world to apply this work of redemption in believers like you and me. So this is what Christ is after. The Father has given to Christ those who are the elect, those who have been chosen, and those who belong to the Father even before their own conversion. They are chosen before the foundation of the world through a sovereign Act of the Father. And this, again, communion with the Trinity, which happens in eternity, outside of time, has then flourished into our salvation. And this is the display of their love for us, and their communion. This covenant, again, of redemption. The Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world, and out of this love sprang our salvation. Now this leads us, therefore, to the need to reject some errors that are quite common. Perhaps you have heard, or sometimes you have thought, growing up, that there is a wrathful God, the Father of the Old Testament, who hates us, and somehow Christ has to come and compensate for that anger of the Father, and so He dies on the cross for us. Is that correct view of the relationship in the Trinity? It is not. In fact, our salvation in the first place comes because the Father loves us. It's out of the Father's love that the Son was sent. And this love precedes even the cross. And He gave Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life. And then verse 3, this eternal life. What is this eternal life for which Christ is praying? Simply living eternally? Eternal life, I live forever? Well, yes, but there's two destinies as we know, right? And is eternal life living in the first place in a place of pleasure where we finally are free from all of our afflictions? Well, it is part of it, but is that the essence of this eternal life according to our text in verse 3? His eternal life, the fulfillment of all my desires, all my wishes, all I want. What do you think? Anyone? Fellowship with God, you're right. How do you get that from verse 3? Okay, it's fine. I like when you guys just, you know, it's good to Yeah, but verse 3, there's something specific he says that validates your pointing. That they may know you. This is eternal life. Correct. Exactly. It's more than intellectual discovery. Oh, there is a God, right? There is a fellowship with the living God. It is an intimate personal experience. Correct, Ruben. And what does that mean? It involves our affections. It involves our devotion and, in fact, many, many catechisms of, you know, reformed tradition. How do they start? They say, to know God and enjoy Him forever. This is eternal life. You see, to know God, the Father, and what type of God, the true God. Yesterday we were evangelizing and so many people these days just, yeah, I believe in God, but I believe that He's somehow, you know, Something else. He's something that I made up with my own ideas. And I make up my own God. And that's idolatry, right? But no, here is that they may know you, the only true God, and Christ. Christ is the only mediator, again, through which we can know this God. He is the anointed Messiah whom the Father has sent. Remember that word, covenant of redemption. The Trinity has agreed upon sending the Son and this so that they may know you. And then through us, this mission goes then to all the world. So you see how Usually, people think of eternal life in our days as some sort of heaven on earth, and having all sorts of pleasures. And instead, as we just saw, our eternal life is God. Knowing God. Knowing God. and enjoy Him forever. And we, you know, who is this God? He's eternal. He's triune. He's incomprehensible, which means we cannot wrap our mind around Him. It will take eternity to just know Him. And so, again, I ask you, what do you think when, what you thought in your past when you thought about eternal life, this word? Do you think that it's just asking Jesus into your heart? Because that's what our culture tells us, you know. Yeah, I asked Jesus into my heart and that's it. I did it. Now I move on with life. Is that what eternal life is all about? Anyone want to? Yes, it is. Correct. Yeah, what does that tell us of people in this way? What does that tell us? Is that real communion with God? Are these people really... Maybe confused, and that's my hope, but at times I wonder, do they really know the Lord? And you know, going to Song of Songs, we don't want to come with wild interpretations, I know, but... There is a point there, and I would like to share with you perhaps in coming weeks, but there is a point in the fact that, as you said, the analogy of husband and wife and intimacy and communion kind of It's almost a little example of that eternal marriage of the Lamb and His Bride, the Church, to which every marriage is pointing to. And unfortunately, many of us have an impoverished view of eternal life and salvation. We think, you know, I just have to do a sinner's prayer, I have to just ask Jesus in my heart, The reality is that such view is hopelessly and ridiculously inadequate. Hohen says, Our love is like ourself, as we are, so are all our affections. We are mutable, we are fallen, we are selfish, but Christ does not change. He is the same. His love does not change. It does not change. And He is the spring of all life. And He can bring clean out of our filthiness and sinfulness. He was fit through this prayer, you can see that He passed the test. He was fit to bear all of our iniquities. He was strong enough to bear the burden of the curse. He was a scapegoat sent in the wilderness, but given for our salvation. But remember, this covenant that the Triune God has done before eternity, this inter-Trinitarian love is now accessible to us. He has given to us through His Son. And thirdly, we see in verses 4 and 5 that prayer is received. All of our prayers can be received before God only for one reason, on the basis of the obedience of Christ. If Christ did not obey in His flesh, through all His life, the law that we broke, our prayers will will not come to God. He will be like a smoke into His eyes from which He turns away, Isaiah says. This is verse 4. Why does the Father glorify the Son? Because Christ has glorified the Father throughout His whole earthly life. Christ has completed the work that the Father has sent Him He has fulfilled the law on our behalf, the law that we cannot keep. And He resisted all the temptations of the devil. And He proclaimed the kingdom of God. He kept all the commandments in a way that is perfect, without blemish. And He revealed the name of the Father to the world. But most of all, He bore our sin on the cross. And at the cross, He's not saying, oh, that was a mistake. No, He's saying, it is finished. It is finished. I completed your work from beginning to end. And the question is, can we say the same at the end of our life? Because we will have to give an account, a job report. We have to give an account of our Christian life. Have we glorified God? Brothers and sisters, in our life, this is our purpose, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And verse 5, again, glorify your Son. You see how the glory emphasis of this introduction to the prayer. How does the Father will glorify the Son? Well, He will raise Him from the dead. He will ascend Him to heaven. He will sit at the right hand of the Father, right? And in His new man nature, Christ longs to go back to the Father in that communion, in that full communion and perfect communion and fellowship, which is eclipsed by His earthly Permanence. Christ is not anymore of this world, says verse 11 of our text. And now He comes to the Father, verse 13. It's almost like a farewell notice. It's like I can, you know, when I... I don't often go back home in Italy, it's very far away, and through the years I had to study, If I am to call my mom and say, Mom, I'm coming next week. How do you think she will feel like after, you know, entire years and even the joy? And this prayer is recorded here for this exact purpose. So that we may look with expectation at the joy that is coming when Christ will come back. And He's praying for us, for this fellowship. My joy, says Christ in verse 13, is that it may be fulfilled through the disciples. He wants that joy to be fulfilled in the disciples' salvation, in your salvation. Therefore, He was able to bear the cross. In chapter 15, two chapters before our text, He says, I said these things to you, verse 11, so that my joy may dwell in you, and your joy may be complete." He already predicted to the disciples. He will leave them. And yet, He is going back to this glory from which everything started. He was God. Christ was God. He was before the foundation of the world. He was begotten, we say in the Apostle's Creed, not created. And he was delighted in the glory, in this divine glory from eternity to eternity. But the incredible aspect of this prayer is again that this glory then will be shared by us. The Apostle Peter says, that we are partakers of the divine natures. And we've got to be careful with that verse. Because it does not mean that somehow we become gods, as some cults would have us believe. But it means that we have this fellowship. I mean, the Christian condition in this world, despite all the afflictions, and actually sometimes through those afflictions which, again, create this glorification, Our condition is the best, because we will partake of this, and we are already partakers. And Christ wants that His joy for us as His disciples may be shown through even our difficulties. Because like if a woman that is bearing a child, The pain is great, the struggle is great, but once the child is born, oh, she rejoices and she forgets all her pain. So it is for us. We have very hard times ahead of us for those who are true disciples of Christ. And yet, like Christ, He bore the pain and the shame at the cross for the joy that was set before Him. What was the joy that was set before Him? That prayer fulfilled. O Father, glorify Your Son, and I pray that this will be extended to the ones You have given me. The ones You have called before the foundation of the world to share in that and partake in that beautiful glory. That they may see me, that they may behold me, that they may be forever with me and enjoy that fellowship that me and You enjoy. And we should use this truth to just lift up from all the burden that we have day to day in our life and that we are sink deep into this world. That is the struggle that John Calvin often refers to that somehow we have this glory and we have this joy to come and yet we have this burden, right? It's like we're a pilgrim in this earth and we struggle and we have frustrations and sin is still in us and we long to get rid of it, right? And yet, again, we live with the promise of things to come. We know that their seed, the seed of this glory has already been implanted in us. The thought of the glory of Christ should be should be the source of our joy, even in our daily afflictions. So the question that I have to you, and then we can conclude, how can the glory of Christ become your primary concern as you pray, my friend? Prayer is not something that we just need to do on Sunday, Well, the pastor needs to pray. This is something we as believers need to grow day by day. And as I said, we present our petitions, but we also pray for His glory to be revealed in us. How can we grow in that? How do we do justice to each person of the Trinity as we pray, as we think of the love of the Father? that has been shown for us as we think of the Son and His perfect mediation when we are in sin and we fall and we have many shortcomings and we approach the throne of grace through the blood of the Son. How do we give justice to the Spirit who comforts us and intercedes for us even when we do not know how to pray? In which way should the glory of God then impact through prayer even our work, our ministries, our families, our daily routines, our crosses? What do you think? Anyone want to share some concluding thoughts on this? How can the glory of God impact our prayer and ultimately everything that we do. Let these things really sink in for you because again Christ calls us His through the Father but He also calls us His own because of His Son. He is the Father of the Son, but He is also our Father. He displays His glory in this introduction, so to speak. He doesn't just go through the petition, but He's brought before the glory of God. May our prayers be the same. John Owen continues, he says, We are utterly unable to bear the rays of His glory. because of our sin. Like, our prayers compared to Christ's prayers, they just melt like, they fade like tapers in the sun. And yet, all of our knowledge, despite it's full of those spots and stains of sin, in Christ, who is the fullness of grace in the human nature, His graces are extended to us. That's the point of His prayer. To His saints. So that He may please their spiritual senses, refresh their dropping spirits, delight their souls, commune with Him. Therefore, Christian, commune with Him. Seek Him. How sad and tragic that we spend our contemplation in this life on poor, low, perishing things. And we make much of them and we drain our energy after them when we have, as Owen says, the excellency, the glory, the beauty, the depths of God available to us at any time, anywhere we are. These depths deserve our inquiries, our research, our communion, so that the vigor of our spirit is strengthened in our affliction, and so that we can go through those times again as pilgrims, awaiting for the glory to come, which is already here, as I said. And Christ has prayed for this. And you rest assured that his prayers are always answered. If there's no final thought, yes? Yes Absolutely Yes, and you know it's it's a continuous struggle because as I said sin just or trials, you know, they just bring you down, right? There's times that we don't make those thoughts, and we should make much of those thoughts, especially in those seasons. Any final comment? Yes. Yes. Yeah. to the small, tiny detail, isn't it? Amen. Well, we have no more time now. If you have any more questions, just feel free, or observation, just feel free to share. We need to move on. Let's pray and again, commune with our Triune God. Our Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we rejoice, we rejoice in this privilege that is made ours, as the Savior of our soul and bodies has bore for us on that cross all of our sins. And before He went to that cross, His first thought was on your glory. even though He knew that He was going through the drinking of the hardest cup. Pray, Lord, that You will help us to grow in our prayer, that we will fellowship with You and commune often with our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We thank You because You help us to reflect Your image in our communion with You, as well as in our communion with one another. We ask You that You will be with us for the rest of this morning, that we will glorify You in our worship, in everything we do, in everything we think, and in everything we act, Lord. Please be with us. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. Thank you, everyone.