In Chapter 17 of the Book of John, we
have Jesus, shortly before His arrest and subsequent execution, praying to His
Father in heaven. We, as believers, are expected to follow Jesus’ example in
all things (a task which I admit we are never completely successful at
accomplishing). It remains, however, that this is one of the examples of prayer
that we should, at least, be striving to emulate even if we cannot do so
exactly, or always. This rather lengthy prayer, takes the entirety of the chapter,
and is easily seen to be divided into three distinct parts. First of all, in verses
1-5, Jesus prays for Himself, stating that He has completed the work He was
sent to do, and requesting the return of the Glory He possessed even before the
world was created. This is often reflected by older Christians in their belief
(correct or otherwise) that they themselves have completed the task(s) which
were set before them by God, and their ensuing desire that they should now be
allowed to return to their Maker.
The next part of the prayer, verses
6-19, contain Jesus’ specific prayer for His disciples, the eleven who remained
true to Him. Verse 9 is especially pertinent to the discussion at hand:
“I pray for them (His disciples). I am not praying for the world, but for
those you have given me, for they are yours. (Emphasis and parenthetical statement
mine for clarification.)
And verse 14 pinpoints this sentiment
even more:
“I have given them (His disciples)
your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.” (Emphasis and
parenthetical statement mine for clarification.)
I stress yet again, the promises of
God were not given to the world in general, but specifically to those who
believe, and are thus His children.
The Christian’s reflection of this portion of Jesus’ prayer is
when we pray for the growth and improvement of the organized church in general.
We pray for its continuance, we pray for its growth, and we pray for its
continued adherence to, and accurate teaching of, the things entrusted to its
care by the Lord. Much as in those early days when the world (according to
Jesus) hated the things He had entrusted to the disciples, so now in the
present does much of the world hate those same things which are now entrusted
to the organized church, by the disciples.
In the third division of Christ’s prayer, which is comprised of
verses 20-26, Jesus prays for all believers. Verse 20 actually defines
the term “believer” when Jesus states:
“My prayer is not for them (His
disciples) alone. I pray also for
those who will believe in me through
their message,…” (Through the New Testament message that the disciples
passed on to others.) (Emphasis and parenthetical statement mine for
clarification.)
The mirroring of this third part of
the prayer by Christians works a little differently. This portion is reflected
not only by our prayers for each other (believer-believer), but also by our
prayers for unbelievers (believer-unbeliever), since unlike God, we have no way
of knowing who exactly among unbelievers will one day come to be a believer.
Jesus, on the other hand, was not restricted in this way, for He was sinless,
and thus remained always in His Father’s will. His prayer for all believers
would thus include those who He knew would someday become believers.
You will have noticed by now,
however, that at no time did Jesus ever claim to be praying on behalf of the
world in general, but only for Himself, His disciples, and any who would come to believe in Him by hearing the message that
the disciples would bring to the world concerning our Lord and Saviour. It should
be noted that the final portion of this prayer includes every person on the face of the earth, with the exception of any, who, by the exercise
of their own free will, have heard
this message, and then chosen to reject it.[1] And that brings us around to
the final stipulation in John Bunyan’s definition of true prayer.
This final point states that prayer
must be accompanied by “submission in
faith to the will of God[2]”.
And if the word of John Bunyan is not good enough for you on that specific
matter, then you should recall that Jesus Himself made the same stipulation
when teaching believers how they should pray in that section of the Holy Word
that has come to be known as “The Lord’s Prayer”.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be
your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew
6:9-10 (Emphasis mine.)
It is even recorded that Jesus
Himself remained true to this stipulation in the garden
of Gethsemane, when He prayed to His Father, just prior to His arrest
and execution.
“…”My Father, if it is possible, may
this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Matthew
26:39 (Emphasis mine.)
So just what does it mean to submit
to God’s will? It means that in the end, whatever our prayer may be in regards
to, we can only lay it, through Christ, at God’s feet, and know in faith that
God will answer our prayer in whatever manner He, in His infinite Wisdom, sees
best. We may also, in faith, believe that whatever God’s answer might be, it
will certainly be to the best advantage of the church in general that He
answered it in that manner, and thus, any glory that is manifested by the answered
prayer will be His specifically. It
should also be noted that if we remain in Christ, we will only pray for those
same things that Jesus prayed for, and since God would never say no to Jesus,
who is always in the Father's will, we can always expect that our prayers will
be granted.
A Couple Thoughts On Prayer
It is
clear that he does not pray, who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires
that God shall lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer not to stir the
man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man
in us wills.
-Thomas
Aquinas-
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The
function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of
the one who prays.
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In the next installment we will begin
looking at the Scriptures you have offered as support for your position. So
until tomorrow.....
TO BE CONTINUED.....
[1] I realize that at the
present time there are still many on this earth who have not yet heard the
message of the Gospel, and that is why we have so many of God’s children
working in the various mission fields. As for the matter of those who have both
lived, and died, without hearing the message, I can only say that this is a
concern that is beyond my present capability to understand, but I truly believe
that God has both considered the situation, and acted upon it. I know, by
faith, that the action taken by God, can only be the correct one.
[2] “Prayer”, John Bunyan,
Puritan Paperbacks, Banner of Truth Trust, 1965, p.22
