John 17.1-11

When you pray, what do you pray for?

Do you pray that you would get a “good night’s sleep?”

Do you pray that you would pass your upcoming school exams?

Do you pray that the guy or girl that you really like would ask you out on a date?

Do you pray that you would get a call back from the job you interviewed for?

Do you pray that you would have the money to pay the rent this month?

Do you pray that a rebellious child would turn around and come home?

Do you pray for reconciliation in our currently divided and hostile nation?

Do you pray for the imprisonment of your political rivals?

Do you pray that a sickness or disease would be healed?

Do you pray that the addiction of a loved one would be broken? 

Or, do you pray that a personal addiction that you are enslaved by would be broken?

At the age of 16, in the year 371, Augustine ran away from his mother in Carthage. During the night he sailed away to Rome, leaving her alone to her tears and her prayers.

How were these prayers answered? Not the way Monica [Augustine’s mother] hoped at the time.

Augustine himself wrote, “And what did she beg of you, my God, with all those tears, if not that you would prevent me from sailing away? But you did not do as she asked you. Instead, in the depth of your wisdom, you granted the wish that was closest to her heart.

“For she saw that you had granted her far more than she used to ask in her tearful prayers. You converted me to yourself, so that I no longer placed any hope in this world, but stood firmly upon the rule of faith. And you turned her sadness into rejoicing, into joy far fuller than her dearest wish, far sweeter and more chaste than any she had hoped to find.”

God always has our best and his glory in mind, and he is willing and able to answer our prayers with more than we could ask or imagine.

Through a mother’s prayer, a once rebellious teenage son became a 4th Century philosopher who majorly influences Christianity.  Today, when we discuss his theological contributions to the Church, we refer to him as Saint Augustine of Hippo.

Prayer happens in a variety of ways for a variety of reasons.

Sometimes we pray with other people in church using pre-writen, guided words of prayer on a screen.

And, sometimes we pray, using our own words, in our bed at night after reviewing the day we just completed and anticipating the new day that will begin in a few hours.

Sometimes we pray because we are thankful.

And, sometimes we pray because we are desperate.

We all pray.  

But, the questions that come with our prayer habits are:

“Who do you pray to?”

“What drives you to pray?”

And, “What do you pray for?”

In this morning’s text from the Gospel of John, or, in other words, John the disciple’s biography of Jesus, we are going to hear who Jesus prays to, what drives Jesus to prayer, and what Jesus prays for.  

In John 17:1–11, we hear this:

[1] When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, [2] since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. [3] And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. [4] I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. [5] And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

[6] “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. [7] Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. [8] For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. [9] I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. [10] All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. [11] And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. (ESV)

This morning, we find ourselves in the room and at the table where Jesus is eating The Last Supper with his disciples.  This is the night that Jesus will be betrayed, arrested, and set up for the death penalty.

Jesus’ disciples were troubled at the news of Jesus no longer being physically with them on a daily basis.  They had many questions about who would lead them, guide them, teach them, protect them, defend them, and strengthen them for the hardships associated with everyday life.

They were filled with fear, anxiety, confusion, doubt, and were experiencing an existential crisis that demonstrated a great need for help.

In the texts leading up to this morning’s pericope, Jesus addressed their concerns and gave them confidence through assuring them that He would fulfill his promise to them—the promise to be with them always (see Matthew 28.20)—by living with them and in them through the third person of the trinity known as the Holy Spirit.  In His presence with them, in the person of the Holy Spirit, Jesus would do everything He did for them while present with them in the flesh and bones of Jesus Christ.  He would continue to strengthen them to know the truth of God when confronted with the lies for the world and He would strengthen them to be obedient to God’s commands for life and love while always providing forgiveness when they stumbled.

After speaking with the disciples about what life will be like once He was gone from the earth, but present with them in the Holy Spirit, Jesus turns his attention to pray.

Just as we mentioned a few minutes ago, prayer begs three questions whenever we do it.

The first question is, “Who do you pray to?”

Why is this an important question?

This is an important question because there is only One person you can pray to that is alive and powerful and can therefore hear you and respond.

And, this One person is the exact person that Jesus prays to.

In verse 1 of our text, Jesus begins His prayer by acknowledging that He is asking God, the Father in Heaven, for His help.

In 1 Peter 5.6-7, we have this directive:

[6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (ESV)

And, in Proverbs 15.29, we are told:

[29] The LORD is far from the wicked,

but he hears the prayer of the righteous. (ESV)

God cares for us and wants us to speak with Him about EVERYTHING,  He wants to know when we are content, happy, and thankful.  But, He also wants to know when we are in despair, dealing with depression, and have questions about His love for us.

We also have a warning about addressing our prayers to the wrong people and places in Psalm 115:4–13 when we hear the song writer say this:

[4] Their idols [the false gods that they pray to] 

are silver and gold,

the work of human hands.

[5] They have mouths, but do not speak;

eyes, but do not see.

[6] They have ears, but do not hear;

noses, but do not smell.

[7] They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

[8] Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them.

[9] O Israel, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

[10] O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

[11] You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

[12] The LORD has remembered us; he will bless us;

he will bless the house of Israel;

he will bless the house of Aaron;

[13] he will bless those who fear the LORD,

both the small and the great. (ESV)

This Biblical text is saying that,

You cannot pray to a statue and expect results;

You cannot pray to Allah or Mohammed and expect results;

You cannot pray to Mother Nature, and expect results;

You cannot pray to “the god of your understanding” and expect results;

And, you cannot cause a manifestation of a wish or desire by speaking it out into the Universe and expect results.

All of those examples are just man-made fictitious gods and prophets who have no divine power.

This Biblical text is also saying that,

You cannot pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and expect results;

You cannot pray to man-named “saints” and expect results;

You cannot pray to Buddha or Confucius and expect results;

And, you cannot pray to your ancestors—your parents, grandparents, or other relatives—and expect results.

All of those examples of people that are prayed to are just plain humans, like you and me, who have passed on from this life.

Regardless of what other people or places tell you about who to address your prayers to, you should always be wise and go back to the Bible to find the truth about who is listening and wants to respond to you.

And, this is what the Bible says about who we pray to:

[1] First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, [2] for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. [3] This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, [4] who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. [5] For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, [6] who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (1 Timothy 2:1–6, ESV)

Jesus knew the truth that God, the Father in Heaven, the Creator and Redeemer of all things, was the One and Only true God who is eternally alive and active.  

So, Jesus’ prayer aligned with the truth that would later be recorded by the disciple John in his first letter to the Christian Church in which he states:

[14] And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. [15] And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:13–15, ESV)

The second question that has to be asked when we pray is, “What is driving us to prayer?”

Well, for Jesus, we see and hear that Jesus is driven to prayer because He knows God is good and He wants the world to know that God is good by having him provide for the needs of His friends.

Jesus asks over and over again in prayer for God to be glorified.

What does this mean?

For God to be glorified means for God to receive the recognition and honor and praise and thanks that He deserves for being good and gracious and merciful to the world.

We actually ask the same thing when we pray the Lord’s prayer.

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, we open in a similar way to the way that Jesus opens his prayer during this Last Supper conversation.

We say, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be your name.”

When we ask, “Hallowed be Your name,” we are asking God to let His name be known everywhere by every person so that He receives the recognition and honor and praise and thanks that He deserves for being good and gracious to the world.

So, Jesus is driven to prayer so that God can act graciously and mercifully and be known by more people in more places by His miraculous answers to prayer.  Jesus is praying for people to be saved.  He is asking for people to recognize God and their need for forgiveness and eternal life.

And, finally, the third question that has to be asked when we pray is, “What do we pray for?”

Well, in Jesus’ prayer this morning, he asks for two things.

The first thing we just discussed, Jesus asks that God would be glorified as people believe in Him as Lord and Savior.

The second thing that Jesus prays for is unity among all who follow him.

Jesus knows that the Church is made up of people from different ethnicities, different socio-economic status’, different upbringings, and so on.  

And, on top of all of those differences, the Church is made up of individuals corrupted by sin who are all self-centered, self-seeking, and self-preserving.  The Church is made up of changed and transformed individuals who will continue to struggle with the temptation to sin by always seeking their own good above the good of others.

But, Jesus knows what God reveals as truth—when humans find themselves believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and they are strengthened by the Holy Sprit to love one another and put the needs of others above their own, the love of God is shown to the world because they are demonstrating that this is the way that God loves humanity—He puts the needs of others, meaning you, above His own.

Through the unity of Christian brothers and sisters, the love that God has for you, the love that God demonstrated to you by giving Himself over to death on the cross in the person and work of Jesus Christ for you—to forgive your Sin, which includes a messed up prayer life and your part in the disunity of the Church—God points us back to what the song writer says in Psalm 133.1 when he tells us this truth:

[1] Behold, how good and pleasant it is

when brothers dwell in unity! (ESV)

Tim Keller, reflecting on the passage, “Don’t be anxious but make requests to God with thanksgiving”, writes that, “We would expect Paul to say first you make your requests to God and then, you thank him for the answers. But that is not what Paul says.” Keller then illustrates his point with a story from his early twenties:

I prayed for an entire year about a girl I was dating and wanted to marry, but she wanted out of the relationship. All year I prayed, “Lord, don’t let her break up with me.” Of course, in hindsight, it was the wrong girl. I actually did what I could to help God with the prayer, because one summer, near the end of the relationship, I got in a location that made it easier to see her. I was saying, “Lord, I am making this as easy as possible for you. I have asked you for this, and I have even taken the geographical distance away.” But as I look back, God was saying, “Son, when a child of mine makes a request, I always give that person what he or she would have asked for if they knew everything I know”

Jesus, being God in the flesh, knew everything that God, the Father, knew.  Therefore, when he prayed, he prayed for the exact things that He needed and that those He was praying for needed.

In this morning’s text, Jesus prayed that God would be glorified in all things done by Him and in all things done by those that had faith in Him as Lord and Savior.  Jesus prayed for the disciples at the table during The Last Supper, and Jesus prays for you.

I will say that last part again…

Jesus is always praying for you!

You are on Jesus’ prayer list!

That means the God that created and sustains the universe knows your name, knows your troubles, and knows your needs, and has you on His prayer list every second of every day.

So, with the good news of Jesus’ prayers for you, 

Go this week and pray only to God the Father in Heaven.

Go this week, let the love that God has for you in the person and work of Jesus Christ—the love that leads to your forgiveness, your reconciliation, your righteousness, and your eternal life—lead you into moments of prayer.

And, go this week and pray that God would be glorified in your thoughts, words, and actions, and that God would allow you, and the Christians in your Church, and in the world around you, to be unified so that that people are drawn to the cross of Christ where there is rest, peace, encouragement, support, help, and hope.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg

November 9, 2025