May 12, 2002 John 17:1-11
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.
How did you wake up this morning? Did your children wake up and say, “today we get to go to church!” Or did you say in a sorrowful and drawn out way, “come on, it’s time to go to church!” I’ll never forget a young lady with her mom, who had come to visit our church service about three months ago. They sat in the back row through the worship. It wasn’t an especially long service - normal length - 45 minutes to an hour. But as it came to dismiss from worship and the ushers were letting people out - she couldn’t wait to get out of here. Long before the ushers got to the back row, she hurried up, genuflected, and took off. I thought to myself, “was our worship service that bad?” Even though she was only here for an hour tops, she acted like we had kept her here for hours, padlocked to the pew, and finally set free. What’s my point? Time is relevant to what we’re doing. If we think we’re having fun, it goes fast. But if we’re in a place that we’re bored at, it goes extremely slow. We stare at our watches and count the minutes, waiting for every tick of the clock to hurry up and be over with.
In today’s text, Jesus said, “the time has come.” Time for what? For Jesus to be glorified. Was he in a hurry to get out of here? How did he know it was time? What determined it? That’s what we’ll find out today as we look at how Jesus said -
The Time Has Come to Glorify the Son
I. Because he completed his work
In America, we measure time with clocks. We are driven with a watch around our wrists. We have to be to work by a certain time, and then wait for the clock to hit five or six and then decide, “it’s time to go home.” And yet, as I’ve mentioned, we also measure time by the fun or lack of it thereof. In other cultures, like Mexico for instance, they usually aren’t slaves of “time.” They go when they feel it’s time to go. That’s just the way their world works. We don’t get it. But they don’t get our culture either.
What about God? How does he measure time? How does he make a determination that “it’s time to”. . . do something. When we look at the Scriptures - we see that our God is not driven by the position of the sun or the stars. God promised Abraham in Genesis 15 that his descendants would re-inherit the promised land when the sin of the Amorites reached its full measure. Once the Amorites sins came to a certain level, then God would act. In the same way with the coming of the Savior, God said, “when the time had fully come, God sent His Son.” What God meant by this, was that all of the conditions had to be just right. The Israelite nation and kingdom had to be cut down to a stump, which it was. (Isaiah 11:1) A foreigner had to be king of the Jews, which there was. (Genesis 49:10) After these conditions were met, then God decided to act. This shouldn’t surprise us, for our God has existed before time as we know it - before there was a sun, moon, and stars. It’s impossible for us to really comprehend this. But as we read the Scriptures, it seems that God is task oriented, not time oriented. He’s willing to be as patient as He needs to be until a task or goal is completed - a thousand years or a day.
This seems obvious today as well, as Jesus introduces his High Priestly prayer by saying, Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. Why did Jesus say it was time for him to be glorified? Verse four says, 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. Jesus prayed this right before he went to be betrayed by Judas. It was bad enough for Jesus - the holy God - to be born in this stinking and rotten cesspool of a world. He had to live among sinners, touch sinners, eat their food, talk with them, and heal them. But now Jesus was going to go through the worst part of it - as he would be bathed in the sins of the world on the cross - suffer a humiliating and excruciating death - and be buried. This would not be glorious. Yet Jesus never complained about the duties he was given. All he asked now was that He had done His duty, the Father would glorify Him in His presence after it all was said and done. It wasn’t that he was in a hurry to get out of here, but he had just done what he came to do.
Sometimes I will go shopping for my wife. And more often than not, it inevitably happens that I will forget something that she had put on her list of things to get. So she can’t make what she wanted to make, or if she does it just won’t taste the same. If Jesus had left one stone unturned, forgotten to do one thing, then Jesus’ sacrifice would not have tasted right in our holy God’s mouth. If Jesus had forgotten one little ingredient of love or joy or forgiveness, God would have thrown Jesus back down to the earth on Ascension Day and said, “you’re not done yet! Get back down there!” If Jesus had forgotten one thing, God would spit us out of his mouth on Judgment Day. But Jesus said that he had completed the work God sent him to do, so it was time to return to glory.
Isn’t this a great reason for us also to glorify the Son? If we were to stand before God on Judgment Day with our works, how many of us could say as Jesus did, I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do? God would say, “oh really? Did you willingly come to worship every Sunday? Did you work for your employer as hard as you could? Were you always respectful to your parents?” Well, not all the time. “Did you always complete the jobs that your parents gave you to do? Did you do a complete and accurate job at work? Did you obey all of my laws all of the time, or just some of them?” “Well, I did most of them most of the time. . .” Would that be good enough? It’s interesting to note that those who base their salvation on their works realize that God doesn’t allow for half baked jobs. He demands perfection. Their conscience tells them this, and they KNOW they can’t do it - at least within THIS lifetime. And so they create a theology that gives them other lifetimes to reach this perfections - Mormons have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd heaven. Catholics have a purgatory. Hindus have reincarnation. Places where they can be purged of their evil and be given extra time to try and reach that perfection.
Thankfully - as Jesus said - eternal life doesn’t rest on our works. As Jesus said, this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Salvation isn’t based on what we DO. It’s based on who we KNOW. We know that Jesus obeyed God’s laws in our place! Not once did Jesus complain about healing the sick. Not once did Jesus procrastinate about going to the cross. We know that in 33 short years He did what he was called to do - no matter how much it hurt - as our Substitute and Savior. Through faith in Christ, we know him as our Savior, and are connected to him. We don’t have to worry about finishing the job of salvation - because Jesus said he completed it. It’s done. Isn’t this a great reason for us also to glorify the Son right now?
II. Because he revealed the Word to us
When it comes to glorifying people, when writers do biographies on professional people - they try to pick out several key moments or events in their careers that made them great - and sometimes even narrow it down to one defining moment. Some are good - some aren’t. Larry Bird’s most memorable moment was probably a steal that he made in the finals against the Pistons. Mike Tyson’s most memorable moment was biting Evander Holyfield in the ear. Harrison Ford’s was his lead role in Star Wars.
What about Jesus? We always mention Jesus’ suffering and death as the main point in his “career” - because really it was. But up to this point in his “career”, prior to his suffering and death, what would you say would be the most defining moment in his “career” - something to glorify him for? His raising Lazarus from the dead? His overturning of the tables in the temple? His walking on water? Or turning water into wine? Most of us would probably try to pick the most glorious or fabulous miracle. But what did Jesus mention as a reason for his time of glorification? I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. Jesus didn’t point God the Father to his resurrection of Lazarus or his walking on water or stilling of the storm. He pointed Him to a very seemingly simple task of taking care of the disciples that God the Father had placed under His care - by raising them in the Word of God.
What kind of a message does this send us? The most important things in life are not the seemingly glorious - scoring fifty points in a game - making millions - being a famous actor or politician. It’s not being an elder of a congregation or a singing a great solo. The most glorious thing you can do revolves around taking care of the most precious treasures God has given us - His Word and His children. It is to teach your children to say, “Jesus loves me, this I know - for the Bible tells me so.” If you are a mother who does this with your children, who takes the time to read your children Bible story and the distinction between right and wrong, you are worth more than a million dollars - more than a high powered business woman! If you had a mother that did this, she is to be valued more than the air you breathe! The most important task that Jesus felt he had performed was taking on the responsibility of caring for God’s children - and so this is one of the most glorious tasks for us to do as well. God regards it as far more valuable to reveal God to your children through the Word of God.
When Jesus revealed God to the disciples whom the Father had given him, how did they respond? They have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. The disciples responded in faith - obeying and believing what Jesus said - that He was the Christ - sent from heaven. So Jesus said, glory has come to me through them. When the disciples responded and believed Jesus’ words, it made Him look good and glorious. And why did Jesus want this glory? Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. If Jesus were glorified, then his Father would also be glorified - because He was the one who had sent Jesus.
If you want to make your mother (and more importantly your Lord) happy this Mother’s Day, do you know what would make her the most happy? Don’t just buy her a card or candy or dinner - although that’s nice. One of the greatest gifts that a child can give his or her mother is not to praise her - but to praise and thank God for her. When a child listens to his or her mother’s instruction and responds to her guidance from God’s Word - that is to her glory and God’s. When children respond with Christian lives, it means more to a Christian mother than a thousand roses or Happy Mother’s Day cards. That’s what brought Jesus and God glory. In the same way, not only will your mother take glory in your life, but so will Jesus and God. The time to glorify God in doing this is now!
According to a press dispatch two men, William Bell and Jacob Rosenwasser, who were under sentence of death at Ossining, N.Y., felt that they would be deprived of an hour of life if they were electrocuted on daylight saving time, and so they applied to the warden to have the clock in the death house returned to standard time. How precious even an hour may be under certain circumstances!
It is said that when Queen Elizabeth of England was dying she exclaimed, “All my possessions for a moment of time!” But time cannot be bribed even by a monarch. If the two men who are pleading for an additional hour of life had always made a proper use of the time at their disposal the probability is that they would be little concerned now about the additional hour to which they think they are entitled.
Jesus didn’t need to beg for more time to complete salvation. In 33 short years he completed what the Lord had called him to do. And so he prayed, “now it is time to glorify me.” God answered his prayer, as he raised Jesus from the dead and had him ascend to the Right Hand of God - in the power position. God the Father glorified Jesus, and now is the time for us to glorify the Son as well. Now is not the time to put off glorifying God. Now is the time to glorify God in the way you raise your children. Now is the time to glorify God in the way you treat your parents. Now is the time to glorify God for sending Jesus to save us from our sins. Now is the time to glorify Jesus for completing the job. Amen.
