I’ve heard it said that you can learn a lot about a person by listening to him pray. That is certainly true of Jesus as we read through his prayer to the Father in John chapter 17. Let’s take a look. In this magnificent passage, Jesus reveals a great deal about His relationship to the Father and, by implication, ours as well. But let’s limit ourselves to just one point: what he received from his Father. Here’s a list that I jotted down this morning. Jesus says that he received from the Father:
1. Authority (vs. 2)
2. The people whom the Father had given him. (vss. 2, 6, 9)
3. The glory that he had, has, and will be given again. (vss. 5, 22)
4. The work that the Father assigned him to accomplish (vs. 4)
5. The Father’s name which is given to him, which he bears, and which he reveals to his disciples. (vs. 6, 11, 12) (In the bible one’s name reflected their character and reputation.)
6. The words that He gave to his disciples. (vss. 8, 14)
7. Being sent into the world by the Father. (vs. 8)
8. The Father’s love. (v. 22)
As I made my list I was amazed by the scope of what the Father had given the Son. In verse seven he sums all of this up when Jesus says to the Father: “Now they (the disciples) know that everything that you have given me is from You.” What a humble acknowledgment by the Son of God!
So if this was true for Jesus, how much more must it be true for us! My strength, health, intellect, talents, family, life situation, the air I breathe, the water I drink, and the food I eat. . .all of it ultimately comes from the Father. The apostle Paul nails this down with two questions. The first is:
“What do you have that you did not receive?”
The answer of course is: “Nothing.”
And then Paul challenges us with his second question:
“If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”
Jesus’ own example and Paul’s challenge cry out to be applied to my own life:
Question: If everything I have and am is ultimately from God, then how should I use it?
Answer: The same way Jesus did . . .for the glory of the Father!
What did that look like in Jesus’ life? On some occasions, he explicitly credits the Father as He does something dramatic, like raising Lazarus from the dead. And we too can give God the glory verbally. But on many other occasions he seems to have simply done things in a way that pointed toward the Father rather than toward himself. (e.g. Mark 2:11-12)
What could that look like in my own life? For me it may be the way I care for my wife, the way I raise my kids, the way I do my job, the way I navigate through traffic, the things that I do with my time, the values I express in conversation, the way I treat my neighbors, and so forth. But if I follow the example of the Son of God himself, then the question I must constantly be asking myself is:
“Am I living my life to glorify the Father?