A Different Perspective Official Podcast

The Bible tells us (Ephesians Chapter 1) That God has already made His incredible great power, His resurrection power, available to each and every person who believes in Jesus. So today, were going to take a look at what happens, when we lay hold of that power.
As you can imagine, I speak with a lot of people. People who respond to this radio program, people I meet in my travels, people who've hear me speak and want to know how to apply it to their lives. And most people, come to me with a problem. This is working in my life … and I just don't know why. That isn't working in my life … and I don't know what to do about it. I want to follow Jesus … but Satan keeps on winning as he tempts me with this sin or that sin.
Over and over again, I hear the same thing, the same question, the same problem, the same frustration in people's voices.
Why isn't my life all that Jesus promised it would be?!
It's a question that plagues many a Christ follower. It causes many to fall by the wayside. It causes many people to live a life that falls so far short of all that it could be in Christ. To my way of thinking, this is one of the greatest tragedies playing itself out in the Kingdom of God today. And just like many of the lifestyle and diet related illnesses that are killing people across the globe, this is a sickness that is completely avoidable.
Here is what I see happening in God's Kingdom, amongst God's people. The societies in which we live are moving further and further away from God. Look at the United States. A country of religious freedom, founded by the pilgrims, who came to the land to have the freedom to worship God. A nation who, on its dollar bill, has the words "In God we trust". And now, a country, where it's illegal to pray at school, illegal for an officer in the military to share his faith or a Bible with a soldier, a country where four in ten unborn children are 'terminated' – that's a genocide of around 1.2 million children each year.
I'm not just picking on the US of A … it's happening right around the globe. Societies founded on Christian love, as they become more secular, are shifting further and further away from God. And they're behaving as though this is progress. It's progress to allow one man to marry another man, or a woman to marry another woman. It's progress to allow a woman to choose whether or not to kill her unborn child. It's progress for women not to respect their husbands and men not to cherish their wives. And anybody who stands in the way of this so-called 'progress' is a narrow-minded, conservative bigot.
And these sweeping changes are sweeping many a Christian along them. Christians en masse are forsaking a life based on God's Word, for a life based on the world's ways. And not just individual Christians, but preachers, Bible teachers, churches and denominations. And then we wonder why things aren't going so well for us in our lives.
Really?!
Back to the Bible International based in Lincoln Nebraska, is a ministry that I have been closely involved with now for a good many years. They in fact founded the ministry of Christianityworks that I now lead here in Australia, way back in 1957. Part of Back to the Bible is the Centre for Bible Engagement, which has conducted extensive research around the world on the impact in the lives of men and woman, who are engaged with God's Word on a regular basis.
Remember, the Bible itself says that there is incredible power to defeat Satan, in God's Word:
… our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:12-17)
The only offensive weapon in our spiritual armour given to us by God is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. All the other parts of the armour are defensive, which is good, but you don't win a battle by going on the defence. You have to go on the offence, you have to attack the enemy to defeat him. And the one tool, the one weapon that God has given us to do that, is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
So the Centre for Bible Engagement researched the spiritual lives of more than 100,000 people 21 countries, ranging from ages of eight to 80 years. They began with this question: What is it, of all the things that Christians do, that is the most powerful predictor of spiritual growth? When you think about it, Christians do a lot of things to express their faith. They go to church, they pray, the listen to sermons, they attend home groups, they give, they serve … and many more things.
The Centre of Bible Engagement's research project wanted to find out which ones of those had the most impact in the life of a Christian. That's not a bad question to ask through a large, scientifically constituted, statistically valid, international research project. That's not a bad question to ask, for anyone who wants to lay hold the super-abundant life that Jesus promised (John 10:10) to give us.
The conclusions of this research was as follows (and I quote from their report):
The findings consistently show that engaging in the Bible four or more days a week is the single most powerful predictor of spiritual growth – and they defined spiritual growth as becoming less of the person I was before I committed my life to Jesus and more like Christ in my thoughts, words and deeds.
In fact, I know Arnie Cole, the President of Back to the Bible pretty well. His background is as a professional researcher and statistician. And he said to me that statistically speaking, the correlation between engaging with God's Word, the Bible four times a week or more and spiritual growth, is stronger than the correlation between smoking and lung cancer.
Just think about that. What powerful evidence of the importance of receiving, reflecting on and responding to God's Word having a powerful impact in changing our lives. Making the changes that we ourselves have been powerless to change.
Let me come back to the Apostle Paul's reflection on this whole question of the power to change:
Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 7:24)
The answer is that only God can give us the power to change, the resurrection power to be able to live the born-again, new, super-abundant life that Jesus came to give us.
What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:1-4)
Do you see? God's plan is for you to walk in the newness of life, the resurrection life made available to you through the Cross and the Empty tomb. And the power to live that life is something that you will find in the Word of God, as the Spirit of God breathes His Word into your heart:
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. (1 Tim 3:16-17)
That's where you'll find the power to change – power unlimited. In God's Word. So … you have to ask yourself, why do so many Christians ignore their Bibles?!

Too many Christians, in fact, way too many Christians, are living lives that fall so far short of the life that Jesus promised. When Jesus promised power, they instead end up living a powerless life. I wonder if you know anyone like that.
I wonder if this scenario sounds at all familiar to you. At some stage, way back when, you decided to believe in Jesus. Perhaps you, like me, can remember the day that you took that step. Or maybe like many people I know, you can't remember a time when you didn't believe in Jesus.
So you've believed … and believed … and believed … and somehow life doesn't seem to get any better. You seem to have the same challenges, successes, failures … whatever, as all the other people you know who don't believe in Jesus. In fact, often times, they seem to be living a better life than you are and on top of that, they're not wracked by guilt the way you are, because by not believing in Jesus, they don't have to worry about the idea of temptation, or falling short of God's ideals, or any of that stuff.
Does that sounded all familiar? Sadly, it's de rigour for many a Christian. Most Christians in fact. The Christian life doesn't seem all it's cracked up to be.
Wasn't it Jesus who said:
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)
So where is that abundant life (the original Greek word used there actually means super-abundant!) Where is this super-abundant life that Jesus promised us? Why is everything so difficult? Why is it that I'm not filled with the joy and the excitement that I first felt when I gave my life to Jesus?
Can I tell you, I speak to a lot of people, all around the world, who come to me with basically that scenario; basically that same story. Here it is in a nutshell:
I know that my life isn't what it's meant to be in Christ. I know that. But I don't know why. I don't know what to do about it.
And that's why today we're kicking off a brand new series of messages called 'Power Unlimited'. Because the thing that's lacking in the lives of these people – perhaps in your life too – is the power to live the life that Jesus promised us. The devil comes along and whispers in our ear You're not good enough for God. And actually He's right.
That's exactly what the Apostle Paul says of himself (and remember God called him to write almost half of the books of the New Testament).
For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. (Romans 7:14-21)
So Paul, as it turns out, has exactly the same problem that you and I have. But happily, he doesn't give up, because the old Paul, God bless him, also has the answer. The only answer that has the power to make a difference:
Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 7:24)
You see I have some very good news for you today. Listen carefully so you don't miss it: God has already placed within you all the power that you need, to live the super-abundant life that Jesus died and rose again to give you.
God has already made the resurrection power, the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead, available to you, here and now, to live the super-abundant life that Jesus came to give you. I know, I know … you don't believe me. Good, you shouldn't believe me, it's not within my purview to grant you that power. But will you believe what God says in the Bible:
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:17-22)
Do you see? Paul's prayer for the Ephesians is that they would discover the immeasurable greatness of God's power for us who believe … the very same power that raised Christ from the dead. Each year we celebrate Easter, the death on the Cross (which receives most of the focus) and the resurrection (which frankly, we don't focus on as much).
But this resurrection is the evidence of the immeasurably great power that is available to you and me, so that we can live a new life. The life that Jesus promised. As Bible teacher Casey Treat once said … we need to stop praying for power, and start praying with power, the power that we already have.
One of my Bible college lecturers from years ago, Dr Barry Chant, once said that if he were to transliterate the original Greek words used there for immeasurably great power, it would sound something like this: hyperballistic, megathonic, dynamic power!
Do you get it? Do you realise the immeasurable greatness of God's power that He has placed at your disposal to live your life for Christ? Hello, wake-up!
And the purpose of this power, the whole point of this power, is to enable us to live the new life, the born–again life, the resurrection life, the super-abundant life, that Jesus came to give us. Yet so many Christians, most Christians, fail to live that life for one reason and one reason alone. Because they don't lay hold of that power. We live on a spiritual battlefield. The Apostle Paul puts it this way:
… our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:12-17)
No I'm an old soldier from way back. And I can tell you that as I look at each of the elements of that spiritual armour that Paul lists there, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes, the shield the helmet, each of them those is a defensive piece of armour. Defence is important to protect yourself, but you don't win a war by defending. To win, you have to attack. And the only offensive weapon in that list is … what? The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God!
That's the only attack weapon in the spiritual armoury that God has given you. And the truth is that most Christians leave it in its scabbard. They leave the sword of the Spirit at home, and then they wonder why the devil keeps on winning!
And that … that's something we're going to talk a lot more about over the coming days.

We race through Easter. A long weekend, chance for a break. Maybe a trip to church … but then again, perhaps not. And to do that, we have to shield our eyes. We have to avoid looking at the cross. Because when you do, when you turn your eyes to Calvary, let me tell you, it's something you just can't ignore.
Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged and the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on His head and they dressed Him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to Him saying, 'Hail, king of the Jews', and striking Him on the face. Pilate went out again and said to them, 'Look I'm bringing Him out to let you know I find no case against Him'. So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.
Pilate said to them, 'Here, here is the man'. When the Chief Priests and the police saw Him they shouted, 'Crucify Him, crucify Him'. Pilate said to them, 'Take Him yourselves and crucify Him. I find no case against Him'. The Jews answered, 'We have a law and according to that law He ought to die because He has claimed to be the Son of God.'
Now when Pilate heard this he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters and again asked Jesus, 'Where are you from?' But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to Him, 'Do you refuse to speak to me? Don't you know I have the power to release you and the power to crucify you?' And Jesus answered him, 'You have no power over me unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.'
From then on Pilate tried to release Him but the Jews cried out, 'If you release this man you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor'. When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge's bench at a place called The Stone Pavement or in Hebrew Gabbatha.
Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, 'Here is your king'. They cried out, 'Away with Him, away with Him. Crucify Him'. Pilate asked them, 'Shall I crucify your king?' The Chief Priests answered, 'We have no king but the emperor' and he handed Him over to be crucified. So they took Jesus and carrying a cross by Himself He went out to what is known as The Place of the Skull which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.
There they crucified Him and with Him two others. One on either side with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put it on the cross, it read 'Jesus of Nazareth king of the Jews'. Many of the Jews read this inscription because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.
Then the Chief Priests of the Jews said to Pilate, 'Do not write "the king of the Jews" but "this man said, I am the king of the Jews".' Pilate answered, 'I have written what I have written.' When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took His clothes, divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took His tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, 'Lets not tear it but cast lots for it to see who will get it'.
This was to fulfil what the Scriptures says, "They divided my clothes among them and for my clothing they cast lots." And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile standing near the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene." 
When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loves standing beside her, he said to His mother, 'Woman, here is your son'. Then He said to the disciple, 'Here is your mother'. And from that hour the disciple took her in his own home. After this when Jesus knew that all was finished He said, in order to fulfil the Scripture, 'I'm thirsty'.
A jar full of sour wine was standing there so they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to His mouth. When Jesus had received the wine He said, 'It is finished'. Then He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.
Since it was the day of preparation the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the Sabbath especially because that Sabbath was a great day of solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. 
Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with Him but when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead they didn't break His legs. Instead one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear and at once blood and water came out.
He who saw this has testified so that you may believe. His testimony is true and he knows that he tells the truth. These things occurred so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, "None of His bones shall be broken." And again another passage of Scripture says, "They will look on the one whom they have pierced."
After these things Joseph of Arimathea who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission so he came and removed the body.
Nicodemus, who had come at first to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths according to the burial custom of the Jews.
Now there was a garden in the place where He was crucified and in that garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid and so because it was the Jewish day of preparation the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
It's an amazing story. And I thought that on this day, the day that we call Good Friday, there was nothing to share with you, no words that I could possibly say that could come anywhere close to the power of this account. This Jesus, this Son of God who came to earth and became a man. Who grew up a Jew, who loved the loveless. He healed the sick, He blessed those who were cursed in this world, He taught those who didn't understand, He liberated those who were captive. Arrested, beaten, tried and found guilty.
This Jesus who came for the people in that crowd, the people who just days had shouted Hosanna in the Highest as He rode into Jerusalem on that colt, the foal of a donkey. The people who now, whipped up by the religious leaders, bayed for His blood. These people are the ones that had Him crucified. Common, ordinary people. People in fact just like you and me.
And there He died, bloodied and beaten, the death that I deserve for my sin. The death that you deserve for yours. He died that we might live again. He died to give us a new life, a life where for all eternity we might be with Him where He is and behold His glory. For this reason Jesus came, to die for my sin and for yours that we may have access once again to God the Father.
To give you and me a new life. My slate wiped clean, completely clean. Forgiven by God. To give you a new life, your slate wiped clean, completely forgiven by God. But what a terrible price He had to pay this Jesus who knew no sin. In fact He became sin on that cross so that you and I might have a right standing with God.
Greater love has no one than this, that He lay down His life for His friends. You are my friends, said Jesus, if you do what I command.
Friend, this story of Easter is simple and powerful and profound. May you be blessed, may you be blessed richly as you drink in His blood red message of Easter. They don't call it the good news for nothing.

Judas Iscariot would have to be one of the most infamous men in all of history. The friend of Jesus who betrayed Him. The man who betrayed the Son of God. Have you ever wondered – what made him do it? What if I told you that the trigger, the straw that broke the camel's back, was a love of money?!
All of us have experienced some time in our lives the betrayal of a friend. It's a terrible thing and in fact it is quite possibly the worst thing we could ever experience. When a trust is broken. When there's an infidelity or a betrayal where there should have been faithfulness and trust. Where there's hate where there once was love. Where there's strife where once there was peace. These are the most painful of all pains.
The greater the love, the greater the trust that once was, the deeper and darker the betrayal. As I speak these words no doubt your mind turns to a betrayal in your life. Your heart remembers the darkness and the depth of the loss. That's because betrayal was never meant to be. And so when we talk about Jesus betrayal by Judas Iscariot, this man whom Jesus took to be one of His closest disciples, then this is the thing of which we speak.
It's not just a story as familiar as it may be, it's a real human and spiritual drama based on betrayal and desertion. And as it turns out Judas wasn't the only one of the disciples who betrayed Jesus. When push came to shove they all fled, they all left Him completely alone in His hour of need.
Jesus didn't just die on that cross, he was betrayed and He was deserted by His closest friends. Turns out He suffered in a whole bunch of different ways, in ways that we sometimes gloss over and miss and ignore.
Betrayal is something that begins in the heart and that is exactly what happened with Judas Iscariot. Interestingly the thing that seemed to trigger it was money. Have a listen, John chapter 12 beginning at verse 1:
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus whom He'd raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for Him. Martha served and Lazarus was one of those at the table with Him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus feet and wiped them with her hair.
The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume but Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples, the one who was about to betray Him said, 'Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?' He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.
So there they were just six days before the Passover, less than a week before Jesus was arrested and tried, that money was playing merry hell in Judas' heart. Am I drawing too long a bow here? Well I don't think so particularly when you look at a similar thing that happened also in Bethany just four days later. Matthew chapter 26 beginning at verse 1:
When Jesus had finished saying all these things He said to His disciples, 'You know that after two days the Passover is coming and the Son of man will be handed over to be crucified?' Then the Chief Priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the High Priest who was called Caiaphas and they conspired to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill Him.
But they said, 'Not during the festival or there may be a riot among the people'. Now while Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it they were angry and they said, 'Why waste this for this ointment could have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor'.
But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, 'Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you but you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world what she had done will be told in remembrance of her.'
Then one of the twelve who was called Judas Iscariot went to the Chief Priests and said, 'What will you give me if I betray Him to you?' They paid him thirty pieces of silver and from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus.
So there it was. It was Judas' love of money that caused him to go out after the thirty pieces of silver and sell out the Son of God. It is the sin that triggered the crucifixion of Jesus, the love of money. And it wasn't long before the wheels were set in motion. John chapter 18 beginning at verse 1:
After Jesus had spoken these words He went out with His disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden which He and His disciples entered. Now Judas who betrayed Him also knew the place because Jesus often met there with His disciples. So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the Chief Priests and the Pharisee's and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to Him, came forward and asked them, 'Who are you looking for?' They answered, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' Jesus replied, 'I am he.' Judas who betrayed Him was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, 'I am he', they stepped back and they fell to the ground. 
Again He asked them, 'Whom are you looking for?' And they said, 'Jesus of Nazareth'. Jesus answered them, 'I told you I am he, so if you are looking for me let these other men go.' So the soldiers, their officer and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound Him.
And of course Jesus was tried several times and unjustly eventually condemned to death. Judas suffered a lot as a result of this and actually he had a change of heart, we read in Matthew chapter 27 beginning at verse 3:
When Judas His betrayer saw that Jesus was condemned he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the Chief Priests and to the elders. He said, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' But they said, 'What is that to us? See to it yourself.' So throwing down the pieces of silver in the Temple he departed and he went and hanged himself.
Do you see how normal, everyday, human sin and frailty were involved in the arrest and the crucifixion of Jesus? How the lure of treasures of this world placed in Judas' heart and fanned by satan himself were at play here. You and I, we're so quick to cut ourselves some slack, to rationalise and justify our own sin and sweep it under the carpet. And yet it was your sin and mine that Jesus went to the cross to pay for.
And one of the most common of all sins friend is this love of money. The delight in the riches of this world which rises up and sets itself above God in our hearts and our lives. That's what happened to Judas. He saw all this money being poured out on Jesus by way of these perfumes, he wanted that money, he wanted money and so he went and sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.
Friend, sin is as insidious as it is dangerous. It is all the sort of sin that God views so gravely that He sent His Son to die for it so that you and I might be forgiven. We can fool ourselves sure but only for so long. At some point we come to the painful realisation that Judas Iscariot came to. That it just ain't worth it. That setting up other gods above the one true God is just about the dumbest thing that you and I could ever do in our lives.
And maybe, just maybe right now as we're heading towards Easter you and I have the opportunity to ask ourselves, are we in that position? Is there something in our lives that we're setting up above God? Are we, in anyway shape or form, like Judas? Because no sin is small sin, it starts as a seed, it festers, it grows and before we know it its fully blown sin which leads to death.
Judas discovered that, when we do that it has the most dire of consequences. Let me ask you to examine your heart, is there something that you are placing above God because if there is it's time to let it go?

You discover a lot about someone when you see how they react under pressure. That's when you see the real man or the real woman. And one of the things that Jesus does just before He's to be crucified is that He prays. Question is – who or what does He pray for? Now that's an interesting question, because the answer tells us an awful lot about Jesus.
Prayer is something that most of us, well we don't have time for, right? I mean life's busy, we're under pressure and so we're just flat out getting through life. The idea of spending twenty minutes or half an hour or maybe even an hour praying each day, well I guess that's nice, maybe it's good for the minister to pray every day, I mean after all it's what we pay him for but me, I'm just under too much pressure, I don't have time.
And you know when we're in a difficult place if we do pray then the things that we're praying fervently about are the things that are putting us under pressure. If it's a financial thing we pray for that. If it's our children we pray for them. Whatever's affecting our little world that's where the focus of our prayer is. Imploring God, make a difference, fix this up.
Now there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, we should take our problems and our pressures to God, we should lay them at His feet and ask Him for His help, all good. That's why when Jesus prays just before He's about to be handed over and crucified, that's why this pray completely blows me out of the water. John chapter 17.
The theologians call it the "high priestly" prayer. Bit much for me. Here is Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of man, praying to His Father in heaven just before He's about to be nailed to that cross. What do we imagine He's praying about? Who or what is He praying for?
I know who I'd be praying for I have to tell you if I were in His shoes. So let's go and have a listen, it's rather a long prayer but it's a beautiful one and it's worth eavesdropping to see who or what He prayed for. Come on, let's have a listen and carefully, who's He actually praying for?
After Jesus had spoken these words He looked up to heaven and said, 'Father, the hours come, glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you. Since you have given Him authority over all people to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him. And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you sent.
I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now Father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. I have made your name known to those whom you gave to me from the beginning from the world. They were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your word.
Now they know that everything you have given me is from you for the words that you gave to me I have given to them and they have received them and they know in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me. I'm asking you on their behalf, I'm not asking on behalf of the world but on behalf of those whom you gave me because they're yours. All mine are yours and yours are mine and I have been glorified in them.
And now I'm no longer in the world but they are in the world and I'm coming to you. Holy Father protect them in your name that you have given me so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.
But now I'm coming to you and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I've given them your word and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world. I'm not asking you to take them out of the world but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.
So they do not belong to the world just as I don't belong to the world. Sanctify them in your truth, your word is truth as you have sent me into the world so I have sent them into the world and for their sakes I sanctify myself so that they also may be sanctified in the truth.
I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word that they may be all one. As you Father are in me and I am in you may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them so that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me, they may be completely one so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.
Father, I desire that those also whom you have given to me may be with me where I am to see my glory which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father the world doesn't know you but I know you and these know you that you have sent me. I made your name known to them. I will make it known so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.'
So, a long prayer but who's He praying for? Well for His disciples and not just for His disciples back then but actually for us here and now. Very specifically, did you pick that up? Let's have another look, verse 20:
I ask not just on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may also be one.
Well we've believed in Jesus through the word of the disciples so Jesus is praying for us quite specifically here. Jesus is praying for you and for me. Friend I love doing what I do. I love being part of bringing the word of God to you and I'm so blessed in the knowledge that from time to time in different people's lives God uses the foolishness I preach to transform them.
Truly I've dedicated my life to that BUT I have to be honest here, I am struggling to imagine myself on death row about to be nailed to a cross praying for you instead of me. Do you get my point? Maybe the Spirit of God will fill me in a way where I could do that but I have to be honest here I'm thinking I'd probably be praying about saving my own skin.
And yet here Jesus, just before He's about to suffer the most gruesome death, is praying for you and for me. And what's He praying? That God would protect us from the evil one so that you and I could be one just as Jesus and the Father are one.
You discover what's in a man's heart when you see how he reacts under pressure. The real man, the real woman comes out when we're under pressure. And here we discover the real Jesus. Jesus is so passionate about you and me, so passionate about making us one with Him and with the Father, so passionate about uniting us in His body the Church as one that He would lay down His life to achieve that passion.
Just stop and think about that for a moment, let it sink in. If someone said, "Would the real Jesus please stand up?", well here in John chapter 17 in this beautiful prayer, this is where we discover the real Jesus, the heart of God beating. Glory for Him isn't about being on a throne, being glorified is about being nailed to a cross so that you and I could be part of His glory.
Do you see how sad it is when we just breeze through Easter as though it's just another holiday or maybe a religious festival? I've heard the story so many times, I mean I know how it ends but do you see the tragedy of that? Of missing the heart of God, of missing what Jesus is all about in coming to be a man to suffer and to die and to rise again. Because there's a point to it all.
That we are invited to a completely new life, a life based on the sacrifice of Jesus that includes being one with God with an intimacy that we could never have imagined. Just in the same way as Jesus and the Father are one.
It includes a unity and a fellowship and a family of God's people being one with them. It includes beholding the glory of God for all eternity, being with Jesus where He is forever. That's why Jesus went to the cross. That's why we celebrate Easter. That's why sailing through as though it's just another holiday is such a tragedy.