THE GOSPEL OF JOHN Small Group Discussion Guide Text: John 17:20-26

Theme/ Big Idea: Jesus prays for future believers, their unity of faith, that the gospel would go forth, and the kingdom of God would advance.

Context/ Background Information: After praying that God's glory would be seen in the cross (John 17:1-5) and after praying for the unity, protection, and sanctification of believers (John 17:6-19), Jesus prays for the gospel to go forth and the kingdom of God to advance. In John 17:17, Jesus asked that the Father make the disciples further and further distinct from the world through further and further conformity to the word. In verse 18, we learn why. The disciples are district from the world for the world. They have been transformed by the gospel and are being commissioned as messengers of the gospel to the world.

Immediately after praying, "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world," (vs. 18) Jesus begins to pray for those who will hear the disciples' message (vs. 20). Specifically, Jesus asks the Father to unite all current and future believers as one just as the Father and Son are intimately united as one (vs. 21, 22, and 23). Then, Jesus prays that their faith and unity would result in the world, knowing that Jesus is the Son of God and Redeemer of the world (vs. 21-23). And finally, Jesus prays the gospel would go forth, and the kingdom of God advance through the ongoing witness of future believers.

JESUS PRAYS FOR FUTURE BELIEVERS In John 17:18, Jesus prayed for his disciples, "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." Immediately on the heels of that prayer, Jesus prays for those who will hear and believe as a result of their testimony (vs. 20). Jesus clarifies for all to hear, "I do not ask for these only," referring to his disciples, "but also for those who will believe in me through their word…."

In other words, Jesus is not just praying for his disciples, but also for those who have yet to believe. Jesus said he had other sheep "not of this fold" that he must pursue (John 10:16). He also made it clear his disciples were being "appointed" and "sent" to proclaim the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world (John 15:16; John 17:18). Now he prays for future believers who will hear the gospel message "through" or "on account" of the disciple's testimony. Jesus will go on to express his desire that future believers know the full expression of the Father's love, just as Jesus knows the Father's love (John 17:23b).

THAT THEY MAY BE ONE Jesus' request for future believers is very specific. Like his request for disciples in verse 11, Jesus asks three times "that they may all be one" (vs. 21), "that they may be one" (vs. 22), and "that they may become perfectly one" (vs. 23). His request in verse 21 "that they may all be one" is in the third person plural. In other words, he is asking that "they all," both present and future disciples, be united into one gospel- centered, gospel-loving community of believers.

But Jesus is not simply asking for any oneness. He is not asking that they be just familiar acquaintances. He is not asking that they simply tolerate one another until it is no longer convenient. Nor is Jesus praying for uniformity. No, Jesus asks that the Father unite all present and future disciples as family. As Matt Carter notes, "The unity Jesus asks for is a unity of relationship," first in Christ to God and then in Christ to one another.(1)

Remember, all who "receive" and "believe" Jesus are given "the right to become children of God" (John 1:11-12). Three times in John 17:20-26, "Jesus says the word Father" emphasizing the new family identity we are given as believers.(2) If believers are children of God, then they are also brothers and sisters together regardless of racial, ethnic, generational, or societal background. This means believers are "one new man" (Eph 2:15), citizens of a new kingdom (Eph 2:19; Phil 3:20), members of a new "household" (Gal 6:10; Eph 2:19; Rom 12:10), members of "one body" (Rom 12:5; 1 Cor 12:13, 20; Eph 2:16; 4:4; Col 3:15), united by faith in Jesus as one new family. Nowhere in any of the relational references cited above is uniformity the goal—quite the opposite. Paul argues extensively that the gospel's uniqueness is that every believer, with all of his or her unique personality and gifting, can be united together in one body. Whatever commonalities or differences we once had are now secondary to our union in Christ. Jesus is asking that believers past and present be united as one new family.

Jesus' request is for "a oneness modeled upon his own oneness with the Father" and rooted in the familial unity of the Godhead as Father, Son, and Spirit.(3) His request for our unity together begins with his request for our unity with God. Jesus asks, "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us" (John 17:21). He prays again in verse 22, "that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me…." In both cases, Jesus roots believer's unity together to their being "in" the Godhead and Christ "in them." It is simply impossible to experience the supernatural unity that Jesus prays for apart from the supernatural reorientation of heart and reconciliation to God that man desperately needs.

Jesus' request in these verses is a summary of his entire purpose and mission. He asks that present and future disciples "become perfectly one." The Greek word for this phrase is "teteleiomenoi," which means "to achieve a state of being." It derives from the root word "telos," which means to bring to completion, make perfect, or achieve the end and purpose of a thing. In other words, Jesus is asking the Father to achieve the purpose for which he sent the Son. Namely, that all things be restored to wholeness and unity through the Son.

As a result of the fall, man is alienated from God, alienated within himself, and alienated from fellow man. Additionally, the whole creation is fractured, fragmented, and broken. Conflict, discord, and strife pollutes the air we now breathe and pulsates in the veins of every person. Therefore, redemption and reconciliation in Jesus means restoration to wholeness, peace and unity. And that begins with our reconciliation and restoration to the Father through the Son. The natural overflow of our vertical reconciliation is horizontal reconciliation with others. It is a byproduct and an expectation. This is why Jesus prays that all present and future disciples be "one even as [the Father and Son] are one" (John 17:22-23). The final consummation of total restoration of creation will occur when Jesus returns to bring wholeness on the earth as he makes all things new.

SO THE WORLD WILL KNOW The question is, why? Why is unity such a central component of Jesus' prayer in John 17? Why did Jesus ask the Father to guard the disciple's unity in John 17:11, and why does he now request for the unity of future believers three times in verses 21, 22, and 23? Jesus provides the answer in verses 21 and 23. In both cases, Jesus says, "so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

This is remarkable and profound. Jesus directly connects the unity of believers to the world's believing the good news of the gospel. In other words, the unity of believers is so profound, so unique, and so out of step with the world that it displays and communicates the remarkable nature and absolute truthfulness of the gospel. Said another way, the love of believers for fellow believers provides one of the most compelling arguments for the gospel.

The gospel transforms lives, and the gospel-transformed life will result in gospel-transformed relationships. It must. After Jesus departs, how will anyone know who his disciples are? Jesus said, "the world will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). A believer's love for fellow believers will be distinct from anything else in the world. It will stand out as different and appealing. Why? Because it will look, smell, and taste like Jesus' love. It will be humble, sacrificial, and exalting the will of God rather than its own will.

The essence of sin is substituting ourselves for God. It is considering one's self higher, brighter, and greater than God. If man will do that with God, how much more will he do this with his fellow man? This rebellion, rejection, and attitude will naturally overflow into our horizontal relationships. Therefore, when we are transformed by the gospel, align our lives under the authority of Jesus, and consequently begin to serve sacrificially—even those who disagree with or even wound us—we stand in stark contrast to the world, sin, and Satan.

When we love the way Jesus loved, we display the gospel transformed life to the world. We display the power of God to transform self-centered, sinful people into self-sacrificing servants. When we forgive rather than take to court, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, we are behaving in stark contrast to the pattern of this world. We are displaying the gospel-transformed life. When we serve our enemies rather than step over them, as Jesus describes in the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, we are acting in contrast to the pattern of this world. We are showing what a gospel-changed life looks like!

In the words of Francis Schaeffer, our love for one another becomes an apologetic (i.e., a compelling argument for faith) to the world.(4) George Beasley-Murray makes a similar point saying, "The Church is to be the embodiment of the revelation and the redemption of Christ before the world, so that the world may not only hear that Jesus is the Christ, who has achieved redemption for all, but they may see that the redemptive revelation of the Christ has power to transform fallen men and women into the likeness of God and to bring about the kind of community that the world needs."(5) It is in our reconciliation to one another that the world has tangible evidence that the gospel is true, that the gospel is powerful, and that sinful man can be reconciled to God.

AND THE GOSPEL GO FORTH Finally, Jesus concludes his prayer in John 17, where he began. Jesus started his prayer by asking the Father to make much of the Son and his death so that the Son and his death would make much of God the Father. He also prayed that the world would see the glory of the cross and the glory of the Son and would believe Jesus is the Son of God and the only hope of redemption. Jesus concludes the entirety of his prayer with the same request.

In verse 24, Jesus asks that the Father allow all "whom you have given me…be with me…[and] see my glory." Jesus is asking the Father to pull the curtain back on the Son's transcendent beauty that the world may see. Said another way, Jesus is simply praying the thesis statement of the Gospel of John, that we might "believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing [we might] have life in his name" (John 20:31). This is seen even more clearly in verses 25-26.

In verse 25, Jesus says the unbelieving world does not know God as Jesus knows God. This is reminiscent of John 1:18, where John said, "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known." Though no one has ever seen God, Jesus has, and he has made God known. Jesus says, "I have made known to them your name." As with verse 6, "name" means identity, personhood, and character. Jesus made the invisible God visible (Col 1:19; 2:9; Heb 1:1-3).

The disciples saw Jesus, and they "received," believed," and "kept" the revelation Jesus gave them regarding God the Father. Jesus made the identity, person, character, and presence of God visible and tangible to them (vs. 26a) so that they would personally know the love of the Father "in them" (vs. 26b). Jesus revealed the Father, the disciples believed, and now Jesus prays they would take that same revelation into the world. This is Jesus' prayer for them, for future believers, and Jesus' entire mission in coming to earth. As Gerald Borchert summarizes, "This is the message that the disciples both then and now are to present to the hostile world. God sent Jesus. And Jesus sent us to the world."(6)

Quotes To Consider: • “If even ever so slightly, when we make peace in our relationships, we help the lost among us sense what a wrong world fixed feels like. We help them taste heaven, and remember that they were made for it. The new creation is coming, and we can help the watching world get an impression of its glory and its state of total shalom. In this way, our conflicts aren’t just one-off issues we need to resolve. They have an evangelistic dimension that impacts the lost! —Tony Merida • "We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus' claims are true, and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of Christians." —Francis Schaeffer • "The grace of God is always going somewhere—moving forward, extending his kingdom, propelling his people toward love and service to others. As we learn to live in light of the gospel, mission should be the natural overflow." —Robert H. Thune • "This is the message that the disciples both then and now are to present to the hostile world. God sent Jesus. And Jesus sent us to the world." — Gerald L. Borchert

Discussion Questions: 1. Who is Jesus praying for in these verses? How does it make you feel when you hear Jesus prayed for you? 2. Jesus asks three times in verse 21, 22, and 23 that all past and present disciples be united as one. 1. What sort of unity is Jesus requesting in these verses and how is it different from the unity the world demands? 2. Why does Jesus make this request for unity (i.e., what is the “so that” reason in verses 22 and 23)? 3. Why is gospel-unity such a compelling argument for faith? Read and reflect on the quotes above by Merida and Schaeffer. 4. Why is unity, or wholeness, the essence of Jesus’ entire mission? 3. If gospel-unity among the community of faith is a compelling argument for the gospel, is community something you intentionally pursue? Is unity something you intentionally guard and defend? What are subtle and overt ways we can undermine unity? 4. In verses 24-26 the word “know” is mentioned 6 times. By what means does Christ make the Father's name, love, and glory known in the world today?

For Further Study: • The Gospel-Centered Community by Robert H. Thune and Will Walker. • Christ-Centered Conflict Resolution by Tony Merida • The Mark of A Christian by Francis Schaeffer

Footnotes: 1. Matt Carter and Josh Wredberg, Exalting Jesus in John (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2017). KL 7360. 2. Ibid., KL 7415 3. Colin G. Kruse, John, Revised edition. (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2017). 400. 4. Francis A. Schaeffer and James W. Sire, The Mark of the Christian, 2nd edition. (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 2006). 17. 5. George R. Beasley-Murray, John, Volume 36: Revised Edition (Dallas: Zondervan Academic, 2015). 303. 6. Gerald L. Borchert, John 12-21: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (Nashville: Holman Reference, 2002). 206.