Telling the Truth

Guest (Female): Would you say prayer is your most natural means of communication? A lot of people today would say, "Nah, it's texting." But when you long for comfort, remember that natural communication method of Jesus, for there is comfort through prayer. Stuart Briscoe explains more today on Telling the Truth.

Guest (Male): Building a consistent prayer life can be a challenge. That's why we want to let you know about a special opportunity to soak in Stuart and Jill's wisdom on prayer through a newly curated collection of their messages called Powerful and Effective Prayer.

This resource is our thanks for your gift today to help others experience life in Christ through the global ministry of Telling the Truth. So call today to request your copy of this special collection: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart and his message, Comfort Through Prayer.

Stuart Briscoe: Now, as we're going to continue looking into John chapter 17, we come to the beginning of the 17th chapter. The particular emphasis that I want to draw from these verses is this: we see the Lord Jesus praying. We notice first of all how instinctual prayer was for him, and we need to learn from that. Is prayer instinctual as far as we're concerned?

We notice also the content of his prayer, and we learn to pray as we build our praying on his model. So with that in mind, let me read to you the first few verses of John chapter 17. Jesus had just told his disciples, "In the world you will have trouble, but in me you may have peace. So take heart."

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed. "Father, the time has come. Glorify your son that your son may glorify you. For your Father granted him authority over all people that he may give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now, this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."

There are three things that Jesus prays here. Of course, there'd be three things that he prayed. But we're only going to talk about two of them. First of all, he talked about his own position. Secondly, he prayed for the disciples who had gathered with him on that particular occasion. And thirdly, he prayed for those who would believe down through the centuries as a result of the ministry of the early apostles.

Let's notice first of all how Jesus prays about his own situation. The thing that strikes me immediately is how Jesus in a crisis situation—and there was no crisis like his crisis now, he is about to go to a cross—in a crisis situation, instinctively Jesus turns to prayer. Why is that? Because prayer was the most natural means of communication open to him.

It's interesting to notice that the opening words of John chapter 17, translated "He looked toward heaven and prayed," should actually be translated "He looked toward heaven and said." It wasn't as if it was a formal praying that he got into. It was a most natural conversation with the Father that he embarked upon. That was what prayer meant to him. It was the most natural means of communication in the world.

Luke tells us that Jesus frequently withdrew into lonely places in order to pray. We know from Luke also that when Jesus had a specific concern, he would pray about it. So on one occasion, he said to Peter, "Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you." And so now, as the Lord Jesus is about to confront the cross, it's obvious what he's going to do. He is going to turn to prayer.

We can learn something about this. Sometimes when people get themselves into a crisis situation, they get around to praying eventually. Other people, as soon as they find themselves in the crisis situation, would pray automatically. It's the first thing that comes into their mind, not the last resort. It is the first thing that comes. Why? Because prayer is customary to them.

Because prayer is an open line of communication with the Father. Because prayer is the thing that they embark on whenever they have a concern. Those for whom prayer is the most normal means of communication, those for whom prayer is a customary activity, those who know what it is to relate concerns to the Lord in prayer, when crisis comes, know exactly how to pray. And those who have not prepared in prayer for crisis will panic and probably have a deep, deep difficulty.

Notice, therefore, the resort of Jesus to prayer at this crisis time. Secondly, notice the way he goes about praying. It's rather interesting to see that the first part of his prayer, he doesn't even get around to specifically saying what he wants. In a very real sense, he spends quite a lot of time telling the Father a whole lot of stuff the Father obviously knows.

Now, he's not trying to teach the Father and he's not trying to help the Father remember something he's in danger of forgetting. In actual fact, he is setting the stage in which his prayer can really work. You see, prayer has to be set in a specific context. The context in which Jesus sets his prayer is simply this: he says, "Father, you have granted me authority over all people in order that I might give eternal life to people."

Eternal life, he says, is not a thing. Eternal life is in essence a relationship with God. Eternal life is not something you get when you die. Eternal life is a relationship you enjoy with God here. It's the life of the eternal one and it takes you right through the grave and it lasts you throughout eternity.

And my task in coming into the world was specifically to give eternal life to people who would understand you can't earn it, but you can receive it as a gift. "Now, Father," he says, "I have completed the work you gave me to do. That is why I'm praying." He is praying in the context of the purpose for which he came into the world. He is praying in the context of the will of the Father, of the purpose of the Father.

His prayer is not simply a response of his own desires. His prayer is a concern that the eternal purposes of God for which he exists might be worked out in his life. You've got to get prayer in context. Otherwise, it won't work. You know how important it is that we keep things in context.

Now Jesus shows us how to pray. He doesn't simply pray in panic when crisis comes. He prays as was his custom. He doesn't pray simply on the basis of his own desires. He prays in the context of his understanding of the will and purpose of the Father. Which leads us, of course, to the requests of his prayer. And the requests of his prayer are very, very simple and very straightforward.

Request number one: glorify your son. Request number two: in order that your son may glorify you. To glorify the son means, "Father, I want to be seen in the reality of my person. I want the wonder of who I am to be clearly recognized." This sounds desperately self-serving. But remember, his concern is that as people see who he is, they will understand the wonder and the glory of the Father.

He says, "Father, I want you to restore to me the glory I had with you before the worlds were created." This reminds us, of course, that the Lord Jesus was involved from eternity with the Father in the creation of the world. But there came a specific time when he laid aside his glory, assumed our humanity, lived and died and rose again, ascended to the Father in order that we men and women might be reconciled to God.

The wonder and the glory of his person is seen in this: that he would lay aside all that was his by right in eternity and come to our earth and live in desperate circumstances, be dreadfully abused with us in mind. This shows his grace. This shows the wonder of his mercy. This shows his incredible love. It is his grace and his mercy and his love which are his glory.

He has shown his glory down here on earth, par excellence, in the cross and the resurrection. But he has now the opportunity to go back to the Father and to receive his pre-incarnational glory and to add to it all the glory that accrues to him because of what he's accomplished on the cross on our behalf. So he says, "Father, my concern is that people might really see and give credit for all that I am and all that I have done."

What a prayer that should be for us today. Our world is full of people who can't see the glory of Jesus. Our society is full of people who do not understand the wonder of his person. They have no clue about the significance of who he is and what he has done. They have little sense of being thrilled with the Lord Jesus. And we need to pray that that will happen in people's hard, cold hearts.

But notice that he is concerned that to the extent that he is glorified, the Father will be glorified. A lot of people think the whole point of us being here is we might have fun. Another lot of people think the whole point of us being here is that we might make a bundle. A lot of other people think, "Hey, I'm here on earth to do my own thing." No, you're not. You were made by God for God to glorify God.

You say, "You mean God is sitting up there saying, 'Come on, glorify me'?" No. What God is saying is this: you need to understand that if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be alive and you wouldn't survive. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have any gifts. You wouldn't have the gift of time. You wouldn't have any energy. You wouldn't produce anything.

So if only you could get around to admitting the fact, "God, here I am alive today for no other reason than you created me and you sustain me. And here I am going to work today and I'm going to produce for no other reason than you gave me the ability, you gave me the energy, you gave me the strength, you gave me the gift. And therefore, everything that I do is simply a statement of how incredible you are, not how wonderful I am."

It is perfectly appropriate for people to understand why they are alive. Jesus understood it. And he said, "My raison d'etre, my reason for being, is that I might come into the world and finish the work he gave me, which is to make eternal life available to people." What is the reason for you being here? What is the task he's given you to do?

Do you have an overriding concern that you might fulfill it and in the fulfillment of what God had in mind for you, the sheer glory and wonder of God will be manifest in your life? That should be the overriding desire, the overarching concern, and the tone and the context of your praying. Jesus teaches us how to pray as he prays on this occasion.

Notice, however, the second aspect of his praying. Jesus prays about his disciples with respect to two specific things. He prays about his disciples and their relationship to the world and, secondly, their relationship to the Word. Three things particularly Jesus states about the relationship of his disciples to the world.

Number one, Jesus said disciples are left in this secular society. Number two, Jesus explains that they are not of this secular society. Number three, Jesus outlines in this passage that he sends his disciples to this secular society. In it, not of it, sent to it. I submit to you that if we can get this nailed down in our own lives, we will have got the structure in which we live our Christianity in the world today. But I promise you, it's not easy.

You see, some people, when they say to themselves, "Well, here I am in this secular society. This is where I live," so I may as well just throw myself into it. So they live in it and of it. Other people say, "Well, I'm a Christian now, so I'm not of this secular society. And therefore, I must isolate myself from it." So they're neither of it nor in it.

So we have some who are in it and of it, and we have some who are neither of it nor in it. Now, the Lord Jesus didn't give us the freedom to decide to do either of those extremes. He said you are in it, you're not of it, and you're sent to it. Which means he has a purpose for us living in secular society where first of all we're distinct from it, but we're committed to do something about it. We're in it, we're not of it, we're sent to it.

Notice also that he prays about the disciples' relationship to the Word. He says, "Now Father, I would like you, please, to sanctify these disciples of mine. I'd like you to sanctify them for me in the same way that I sanctified myself for them. And the way I'd like you to do it, Father, is please sanctify them through the Word because the Word is truth." Now, that probably sounds like a lot of gobbledygook, so let me explain it to you.

Sanctify means to set apart in a very special way. Jesus said, "I sanctified myself for these disciples. I set myself apart in a very special way for them." How did he do that? Well, he sure set himself apart when he stepped out of heaven and down into the womb of Mary. He sure set himself apart when he was prepared to live for 30 years in the boondocks of a tiny little dusty country that was ill-developed in the Middle East.

He sure set himself apart in three years' public ministry. And could we ever misunderstand the unique setting apart of Jesus when he went to the cross for us? "I sanctified myself for them," he said. "I died for them. Now then, Father, in exactly the same way that I set myself apart for them, would you please work on them so that they might be set apart for me?"

Because in the same way, he says, that you sent me into the world, I want to send them. Now, when I was sent into the world, he said, I had to be set apart. If I'm going to send them into the world, they're going to have to be set apart. They're going to have to be special. They're going to have to be different. They're going to have to be unique.

There's going to have to be something about them that makes them put other people on inquiry. Sanctify them, Father, and do it through your Word. Do it through your Word because as the Bible gets under their skin, it will change their priorities. It will change their perceptions. It will change their aspirations. It will change their behaviors.

It will make them different people. It will set them apart for me. Up until now, they've been in the world and of it. Up until now, they've simply lived for themselves, basically fundamentally no different from other pagans. But now they're mine. They have eternal life. Set them apart, Father. Get the Word into them. Get it working in them. Get it changing them from the inside out, so that as I was set apart for their benefit, they would be set apart for me through the Word.

Listen, when you understand what's supposed to be happening in your life, you sure pray. For you say, "Oh Father, if I am to be set apart in this secular society, uniquely different, not in it, not of it, but in it, sent to it, set apart by you, how I need to know the impact of your Word in the power of the Spirit changing me from the inside out. Oh Lord, would you please make that happen?"

When you think about it, an awful lot of praying is necessary. We need to know how to pray when crisis comes because we have already found that prayer is instinctual and habitual. We need to know how to pray because if we're not careful, we can be so wrapped up with our own whims and caprices, we can forget we're here to glorify God.

We need to pray if we're to ever understand the tension of being in the world but not of it and sent to it. We certainly need to pray if ever we're going to know what it is to be set apart for him as he was set apart for us. Let's make sure we're deriving our resources through prayer. There is comfort through prayer.

Guest (Female): You're listening to Stuart Briscoe on today's Telling the Truth and his message, Comfort Through Prayer. And we'll hear more coming up. Okay, let's be honest. Prayer can sometimes feel like a bit of a mystery. Some people feel so confused by how prayer works that they'll just forget it all together.

But scripture paints an exciting picture of what a life of prayer can be and how you can experience it yourself. That's why we want to send you a newly curated collection of messages from Stuart and Jill called Powerful and Effective Prayer. These five eye-opening messages will help you push past today's common platitudes on prayer and develop the rich and vibrant prayer life you're longing for.

We're excited to send you this one-of-a-kind resource as thanks for your gift today to help keep sharing the life-changing truth of God's love with people around the world through Telling the Truth. It's only thanks to the support of generous friends like you that broadcasts like this one can keep going out, reaching others with God's love so they can experience life in Christ.

So if you haven't given before, please consider a gift today and remember to request Powerful and Effective Prayer when you call and give. Just call 1-800-889-5388. 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org.

Guest (Male): For many, our smartphones have become our social connection. But we want to help you make a spiritual connection with the Telling the Truth mobile app. You can listen to daily programs, engage in Bible reading plans, journal, and share your thoughts and prayers on the community wall. Get the Telling the Truth app through your app store or log on to tellingthetruth.org/mobile-app. Let's go back now to Stuart Briscoe.

Stuart Briscoe: Eternal life is someone we receive now, even though we are not good enough. Now, that's some explanation. What does it mean that we talk about eternal life being someone? Well, Jesus himself said this: that life eternal is to know God and his son whom he has sent. So knowing eternal life is all about experiencing the crucified, risen Christ in our innermost beings.

And when we receive him, we receive life eternal. Now, life eternal is a whole lot more than life that doesn't end, everlasting life. Life eternal is a life of quality, not just a life of quantity. The life of quality is the life of the eternal one. It is knowing God. It is knowing the one whom he has sent, that is Jesus.

And when we know him, then we experience his life within us. This is life eternal that we receive in the here and now. Not because we're good enough—because we're not—but because by grace through faith, God has made it available to us. We should have a sense of purpose in our lives. And the sense of purpose is clearly related to an understanding of meaning. What is the meaning of life?

I would put it in a nutshell as follows: God made me for himself. God made me for himself, that when I come into a relationship of loving, trusting obedience to him, he opens my eyes to what it means to be safe and secure in him with a life of purpose stretching ahead of me. And it becomes my overarching goal in life to discover his will and purpose and to do it with all my heart and bring a smile of pleasure to his face.

Guest (Female): Thank you so much, Stuart. Before you go, we want to remind you to request Stuart and Jill's newly curated five-message collection, Powerful and Effective Prayer. It's our thanks for your gift today to continue sharing God's Word through Telling the Truth broadcasts and resources.

So please request yours when you call and give: 1-800-889-5388. 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org. Next time, it's more from Stuart and Jill Briscoe, so tune in tomorrow and experience life right here on Telling the Truth.