John 17:9 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. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name– the name you gave me– so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

In today’s passage With Christ in the Upper Room, Jesus is praying aloud and reveals some beautiful things that are easily missed!

First, He prays for His disciples, those who belonged to Him.  He’s not just giving some generic lick and a prayer for all humanity and toasting to world peace like that scene from the movie Groundhog Day.  Rather, Jesus was specifically praying for those believers in Him.

Next, He’s telling the Father how proud He is of His disciples.  Glory has come to Him through those who believed He is who He says He is.  They brought Him glory by believing.  That’s a very special piece of information for us to cherish, too!

But then, there’s something reassuring about Jesus praying for the disciples and their protection.  While they would no longer know His physical protection, His prayer for their protection is sufficient because He is showing the full extent of His love.  He’s asking the Father and the Father is faithful to protect them.

Fast forward to us: We do not need His actual presence since one Jesus of Nazareth doesn’t stretch very far.  It’d be like a crowd of fans trying to catch a glimpse of a superstar.  Only a few could be near enough to have Him reach out to touch us.  Most of us couldn’t see Jesus for all the crowds.  So Jesus leaves this earth and sends the Holy Spirit whose presence as God is as close as the nearest believer’s heart.

Jesus doesn’t take any of us out of a world of trouble, but He does protect us from becoming part of that troubled world.  That’s what His Name and His prayer does.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Feeling alone in this world

Put it On for Lent: Confidence that the Father is protecting us by the power of His Name.

For further thought:

• Does it seem unfair to you that Jesus is not praying for unbelievers here?
• What are some reasons why we might prefer Jesus’ physical presence to His invisible presence?
• Can you remember a time when someone or something sheltered you from everything going on around you (a parent, a sibling, an umbrella, a storm cellar, etc.)?   What were some of your sensations?  What kind of sensations should accompany our being protected by the Name of the Father?

* * *

Holy Week is the final week for 2015 Lenten devotionals which you can receive in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  There’s still time to meet With Christ in the Upper Room.  After Lent, sermons and additional devotionals will be posted and arrive in your email.  I hope you will continue to be blessed beyond Lent as other devotional series unfold.

With Christ in the Upper Room, the disciples are privileged to witness Jesus’ prayer life as final preparation for His departure.  This third section of the Upper Room Discourse is often called the “High Priestly Prayer.”  Jesus is praying as our High Priest before He goes to offer sacrifice on our behalf—with Himself as our perfect sacrifice!

The completed work of preparation, of Jesus’ planting the faith, is now outlined.  Jesus reports back to the Father what He did:

• He revealed the Father perfectly to those God gave to Him from within the world.
• They belonged first to the Father and they now belong to Christ as part of the completion.
• The disciples accepted the words of Christ and the Word of God.
• The disciples believe—completely (albeit in a shallow sense at the present) that Jesus came from the Father.
• The disciples know enough to obey God’s Word.

The Church in America is appallingly weak in this idea of obedience to the Word of God.  As Jesus is praying, He says

John 17:6 “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.”

We treat God’s Word like a cafeteria. 

We take a little of this that we like and take a pass on all the stuff we don’t like.  We like love.  We hate judgment.  In that respect, who is God?  Which one of us, the Father, or you and me?

God has every reason to be disgusted with us.

Jesus says the mark of discipleship is accepting everything that comes from the mouth of God as truth.  That’s how we are known by Him as disciples.  The world knows we are disciples by our unity, but Christ knows we are disciples by our obedience.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Thinking we can pick and choose through God’s Word.

Put it On for Lent: Full, unconditional obedience.

For further thought:

• Note how much giving is going on.  Jesus reveals the Father to the disciples God has given.  The Father gave them and they obeyed.  Everything has been given by the Father to Christ and He gave these teachings to us.  Some theologians see a case to be made here that God alone grants salvation to individuals by His sovereign choice.  All we can do is accept God’s choice as final.  Grace is like that.  Others see a call and response in which God gives but we obey, accept, and believe.  What do you think?
• Have you accepted the full Word of God?  Do you obey it?
• Read Hebrews 7:26-8:2; 9:11-15, and 10:1-24.  How does the title “High Priestly Prayer” fit?

* * *

Holy Week is the final week for 2015 Lenten devotionals which you can receive in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  There’s still time to meet With Christ in the Upper Room.  After Lent, sermons and additional devotionals will be posted and arrive in your email.  I hope you will continue to be blessed beyond Lent as other devotional series unfold.

John 17:1 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.

The disciples have been With Christ in the Upper Room, hearing His words at the Last Supper, continuing in a second section of the post-dinner walk, and now they get a rare glimpse into the prayer life of their Lord.

We are not privileged to enter Jesus’ prayer life very often, but after offering all this reassurance to the disciples regarding their grief and confusion, and that someday soon their sadness will be behind them, Jesus prays aloud.  And what a prayer!

Knowing what we know that the disciples did not, we must try to hear it as the disciples might have in that moment.

• Jesus looked toward heaven.  We can too.  That’s where the Father is.  Upward is close enough to realizing He’s not of this earth.
• The time has come.  What time?  The time Jesus has been talking about.  He’s about to go away for a little while.
• Father, glorify your Son.  Jesus isn’t just a teacher.  He isn’t just a Rabbi.  He’s the Son of God as well as His self-designation, the Son of Man.
• The Father granted Him authority over all people…for a purpose: so that He could give them eternal life. Eternal life, something He gives to those people He has been given. What’s eternal life?
• Eternal life defined, that we may know God the Father, the only true God and Jesus Christ, the sent One.
• Jesus brought glory to God by completing the work the Father gave Him.  To the disciples, this meant that Jesus was going away.  But for us, we wonder because the Cross is yet to come!  How could Jesus have completed it if it wasn’t actually done yet?
• Look at how Father and Son dominate these verses.  It’s all about relationship!
• Glorify me in your presence…with the glory I had with you before the world began.  How would Jesus have been with the Father unless it’s true that He’d been sent?  How would Jesus know what anything was before the world began unless He’s God?

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: An ineffective prayer life focused on you or other people

Put it On for Lent: Prayer that is focused on relationship with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and on bringing glory to Him.

For further thought:

• First ponder what the Son’s glory before the world began must have been like.  That’s what’s been restored to Him.
• What does it mean that Jesus brought glory to God by completing the work the Father gave Him?  Even with the Cross yet to come!  How could Jesus have completed it if it wasn’t actually done yet?
• Consider a seed that is planted by a farmer.  The farmer’s work is to plant the seed.  God’s work is to make it grow.  Jesus has done everything He needed to do in order to prepare the disciples, teach them, and help them up until now.  Planting is done.
• Read John 12:24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
• Now it’s just time until God does His work of unfolding His plan with sinful man condemning Jesus to death.  This plan in which God punishes sin upon Jesus on the Cross. The only thing Jesus could yet do is to interfere with the Father’s work.  Read John 12:27 “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.” What does this say about Jesus?  How does this bring glory to the Father and glory to the Son?

* * *

Holy Week is the final week for 2015 Lenten devotionals which you can receive in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  There’s still time to meet With Christ in the Upper Room.  After Lent, sermons and additional devotionals will be posted and arrive in your email.  I hope you will continue to be blessed beyond Lent as other devotional series unfold.

John 16:32 “But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The problem with faith-of-little-depth is that it’s easily shattered and scattered.  Jesus knows this is where the disciples are headed.  He knows the path to the Cross will be a lonely one.  The very ones who need Him to go to the Cross will desert Him.  Right now, they’re With Christ in the Upper Room.  Soon they’ll want to be anywhere… but… to be seen with Him.

Only the One who sent Him to save the world would be with Him to the end.

Scripture will be fulfilled.  He has foretold this scattering so that when it happens, they won’t lose heart or have their fragile faith be broken beyond recovery.  Jesus says,

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Just at the time when Jesus might have wanted their reassurance of friendship and encouragement, He gives it to them instead.  He continues to show them the full extent of His love.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Being embarrassed of Christ

Put it On for Lent: A cheerful heart that sees His victory

For further thought:

Read Matthew 10:24 “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! 26 “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law– 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

• How do we reconcile everyone falling away at the Crucifixion, but Jesus’ sure promise of His peace and overcoming even before that happens?  In what way does this anticipate their return to faith in Him?
• What’s the difference between denying as Peter would do and the disowning Jesus speaks of in Matthew 10:32-33 (immediately above)?

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 16:29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.” 31 “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied.

Shallow understanding.

Superficial faith. 

Lip service. 

Shutdown. 

The disciples have had enough of all this confusing stuff.

This is one instance in which the English translations don’t do justice to what is actually in the text With Christ in the Upper Room.  Read the similarity of these English translations (click link).

The English all make it look like Jesus acknowledges the disciples have had a Eureka moment and the light bulb appears over their heads.  They get it!  YAY!  In fact, it’s a bit more like their shutting down this whole thing by giving Jesus a bit of lip service, proclaiming their faith.

If, as they acknowledge, Jesus truly knows all things (and He does) and He knows what’s in their hearts (and He does), He knows that their faith is paper thin.  All this proclamation and bravado must have been very hurtful to Jesus.  It’s no wonder that His response borders on sarcasm.

He knows that they have no clue how much they really don’t know at all.

It must be enough for now.  Jesus is already interceding for them that their fragile eggshell faith won’t fail when the reality of His Crucifixion hits them square upside the head and their world crumbles apart.  They’re pretending that they understand.  They’re shutting down.  He knows they’re in for a shock.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Lip service

Put it On for Lent: Real faith that grows deeper by the day

For further thought:

• If Jesus were to look in your heart right now, what would be the measure of faith He’d see?
• When we praise Jesus are we doing it because it’s expected or because it’s the only right response to what He has done for us?
• I confess that my faith is often shallow.  My praise is often half-hearted at best.  I hate how much I hurt Jesus by being that way.  I don’t know why I’m so superficial so often.  If that same sentiment applies to you, the Lent is the perfect time to repent that and ask Him to grow your faith in authentic, deep, genuine, and transparent ways.

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 16:27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

Let’s face it: Jesus was no ordinary man.  To the disciples, He was their Rabbi and Messianic hope.

But Jesus was far more than that.  He is the unique Son of God.

Never having met the Son of God before and never again being able to be in the presence of God in the person of Jesus after His ascension, we can’t fault the disciples for being slow to understand this.  We have the Holy Spirit, time, and history to teach us what this means.  The disciples didn’t have any of that.  Instead they were privileged to have Jesus in the flesh.  God, as the Son, walked with them and taught them.

Jesus’ coming from the Father is more than just a commissioning. Coming from the Father is more than being an emissary, a negotiator, or an ambassador.  Even more than a simple missionary or preacher. 

He would be the supreme sacrifice for our sin, once for all time.

Jesus gets as close here as He gets anywhere in Scripture to speaking about His own Incarnation.

He was not created.  He was not born as just a human who would be raised to deity.  No, and this is critically important: He was God from before His birth.

If His Incarnation is a mystery and His coming to this world is a birth like no other, His Crucifixion and Resurrection are a mystery and His return to His Father will be a going like no other.  He came born through the Spirit of God overshadowing a virgin.  He goes through the shame of the Cross and does battle with death in a realm unseen in the cold of a tomb.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Treating Jesus as a mere human

Put it On for Lent: Humble acceptance of the supreme sacrifice of the unique Son of God

For further thought:

Read Hebrews 7:23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. 26 Such a high priest meets our need– one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

How does Jesus’ coming and going as the unique Son of God mean more and do more than any sinful human efforts could?  Read through that passage in Hebrews again paying close attention to sufficiency and fullness.

Read this hymn to the Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Exaltation and marvel at the mystery!  Philippians 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 16:23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. 25 “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.

Way back, Pastor Marvin invited me to the church where he preaches.  I was the only white face in the crowd and I loved every minute of the service.  I liked full gospel black church even if it was outside of the box of what I typically experienced on a Sunday morning.  To this day, I remember clapping and singing a Fred McDowell song, Jesus Is On The Mainline (click link to listen, a long version is in the “further thought” section) .

• Jesus is on the mainline. Tell Him what you want.  (3x)
• Call Him up and tell Him what you want
•  
• Well, the line ain’t never busy, Tell Him what you want (3x)
• Keep on calling Him up And tell Him what you want

And then the lyrics repeated with verses beginning with:

• Well, if you want His kingdom …
• Well, if you’re sick and want to get well …
• And if you’re feeling down and out …

Today’s passage of Scripture With Christ in the Upper Room is kind of like that.  The disciples were worried and confused, thinking (perhaps) more about themselves, painfully ignorant of the future for Jesus that they never could have imagined, though He told them about it on a number of occasions.

Jesus won’t be with them much longer in person.  Even after He rises from the grave, things will be different.  In His Name, the Father will answer us directly.  In His Name, we pray and have a mainline to the Father through Jesus Christ!  We have the privilege of directly entering the throne room of God because of what Jesus did and the love of God flows directly back to us through His Mainline, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  He’s not a middleman.  He’s the Mainline Man.

What we ask—in His Name (in alignment with His will)—will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  It’s not wrong when we’re praying in accordance with His will to tell Him what we want.  Because He wanted it first, before we ever thought of it.  Most of all, God wants people to come to repentance and faith.  He wants us to be truly well, not just in the physical sense of healing, but more than that!  It’s in the spiritual sense first and foremost.

No more figures of speech or spiritual language we cannot understand.  Jesus Is On The Mainline.  We can hear and speak with plain talk and full access.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Fear of entering the throne room of God in prayer

Put it On for Lent: Bold humility of asking in Jesus’ Name

For further thought:

• This is the fourth prayer-promise of Christ.  (John 14:13-14, John 15:7, John 15:16, and today’s, John 16:23-26)  What is the condition of the promise?  We must pray in…
• What types of things might be asked in alignment with Jesus’ will?  What does God desire for us?
• How is a sprint different from a relay?  Think of a race in which you run directly from start to finish versus one in which you pass the baton to another.  In Christ, which type do we run?  Why does it help that there is no middleman?  How is Jesus’ being the Way better than His being an intermediary?
• When the Holy Spirit comes and the Spirit of Christ dwells in our hearts, how does that help us to have bold access?
• For a longer version of Jesus Is On the Mainline, click here.

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 16:19 Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? 20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

I love this promise of Jesus.

He knows they’re confused.  He even knows what they’re asking each other.  He knows that they don’t feel comfortable asking Him what He means.  Maybe they don’t want to bring up a bad subject.  Maybe they don’t want to appear stupid.  Maybe they don’t even know what they’re thinking and feeling in their grief.  The shock and the fear are like that raging wind back when they were in the boat with Jesus.  They need for Him to calm the wind and the seas, that storm in their spirits this time.

So He tells them that there are seasons of tears and joy.  The tears last for the moment and true, they don’t even know the tears fully yet, but He promises their grief will turn to joy!

Then, He gives this beautiful picture of a woman in labor, giving birth to a healthy baby.  All the labor pains will become a distant memory.  Joy swallows up any tears.

Pain gives way.  Good triumphs.  Joy triumphs.  And even better, Jesus promises

I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”

This joy is forever.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent:  Expectations of monotony, every day is the same, it’s gray, it’s sad, and it’s always winter

Put it On for Lent: Hope that springs eternal

For further thought:

• How does Jesus teach them to be more than simply optimists?
• What is the difference between what Jesus is saying and blind optimism?
• In what ways is it reassuring that Jesus already knew their questions?
• What questions of yours does Jesus know, too?
• Be reassured and read Psalm 30:5 “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”  Even when it seems like anger takes its stand against you, or weeping over life’s circumstances is getting the better of you…look at the duration of His favor.  Look for the Son rise and the rejoicing in the morning with He is Risen!  Good Friday was pretty dark, but Jesus knew…hold on through the season of tears, joy is a-comin’, the empty tomb is a-comin’… Easter morning is a-comin’.

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 16:17 Some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” 18 They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

It is so easy on our side of the Cross to forget how confusing all of this was for the disciples. 

They didn’t have the benefit of knowing what we know.  Instead they were living it.  They were in the middle of the stream, afflicted by the currents whereas we have an aerial view.  They were at a crossroad of questions and confusion.

Have you ever been there?

In the thick of circumstances you find totally overwhelming?

Not knowing which way is up, which way is forward, and how to keep your head above water?

Where do you turn when things like this happen?

I’ve been known to rail against God.  To be angry with Him and His plan.  To question what He’s doing with me.  To think He’s being kind of mean–especially given how hard I try to follow Him.  I get tired of being nice.  I get tired of praying for the same thing over and over and not seeing “results.”  It’s not as if I’m asking Him for anything other than some understanding!  I find being cheerful and encouraging to be exhausting work much of the time.  Sometimes, in my frustration, I ask a billion questions and yell up at God (as if His presence in my heart cannot hear me in my silence and tears).

But God is patient with me.  For that I am grateful.  He forgives my outbursts because He knows I do truly love Him.  I am just too human to be able to understand.

Where do we turn when we have more questions and confusion than answers and confidence?

The Word.  It always tells us what is true.  Even if it doesn’t feel true, it is.  Because God says it is.  The disciples With Christ in the Upper Room are in a place like that.  They will turn to Jesus who will tell them that Abba said there’d be days like this.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent:  Unbelief

Put it On for Lent: Patience

For further thought:

• Can you think of a time you were angry with God?  Did you feel guilty about it?  How did you resolve it?
• Are you still angry with God?  How can you resolve it?
• Do you find being Christian in your daily life to be hard work?  What types of things can you do to let His Word apply to your struggles?

* * *

You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.