Text: John 17:20-26 | Listen to Message
His Love In Us
A recent tweet summarized the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy as “nine hours of men fighting over jewelry.”
That’s a crude (and inaccurate) oversimplication. But it’s not tragic. It’s tragic when we oversimplify irreducibly complex matters of eternal significance. Take the Cross as an example. A myopic view of the Cross reduces the most significant act of love, grace, and justice in history to the palatable, personal blessings that we enjoy in its wake – blessings like happiness, forgiveness, and heaven. But the Cross speaks to much more than that which we gain through it. It speaks to an all-powerful, eternal love of the Father for His Son and the sublime, submissive love of the Son for His Father. As if this were not incredible enough, the Cross also invites us – once regarded as enemies of Christ – to be participants in this perfect, intra-Trinitarian love.
John 17:26 captures this idea. At the conclusion of His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus asserts, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” In this passage, His prayer is NOT that we would know the Father’s love for us. Instead, He requests that we would know the Father’s love for the Son. In essence, Jesus is praying that we could look on Jesus with the very love, delight, and satisfaction that the Father knows in His Son.
Imagine loving Jesus in a manner of which He is truly worthy. Envision a love that does not dissipate in the face of hunger or sleepiness or stubbornness. Picture a love that sees all of life as it truly is, properly assigning value to that which is infinitely valuable. Consider a love that extends beyond the bounds of time and serves as the basis for all creation. This is the love that the Gospel wins for you and, ultimately, imparts to you.
The implications of this love are far-reaching, revolutionizing the manner with which we approach service, strife, and suffering. It answers for the challenges that we face in this life, but, more than that, it engenders a longing that is satisfied in the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God.”
Sermon Notes & Application Questions