John 17:3 (NKJV) 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
This week we are looking at the prayer Jesus prayed for his disciples in John 17. Although he is praying for the men who were with him in the upper room, verse 20 tells us that the intent of his prayer was that it applies to all who would believe on him through that small band. Every one of us who have received Jesus as Lord and savior has done so because of their lives and ministries. They were the first.
In verses 14-16 Jesus reveals that we are not of this world just as he was not of this world. That means many things, but the word that the Lord has placed in my heart in relation to this is supernatural. We are a supernatural people. Then Jesus prayed that God would not take us out of the world but that he would protect us from the evil one. That evil one is Satan. The conclusion we reach is that we are to be a supernatural people living in the natural world protected from the devil by the God we serve. The purpose is that we be an example of the supernatural God and his care for people in order that we draw those people into relationship with him.
Yesterday we looked at a definition of the word supernatural. To be supernatural people means we live beyond what is possible in the natural. We live with access to things that cannot be explained by natural laws. It means that we live so that our lifestyle reflects the nature of God. To me this means we live according to God’s character and principles. Jesus said if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. If we are truly supernatural people we will be able to say, “If you’ve seen me you’ve seen Jesus.”
Finally supernatural people live life to a superlative degree. Jesus called this abundant life. By definition, this is a life is greater in quantity and superior in quality to that of those who do not live as supernatural people. That is what I believe we need to cultivate in 2022.
As I studied the rest of this prayer, I realized that part of what Jesus is doing is praying specific things that we will need in order to live as supernatural people in the natural world. I want to look at some of those things this week. Keep in mind that this is the last prayer Jesus prays for his people on the earth. It is very important.
In the first five verses of John 17, Jesus tells the Father, and we are privileged to listen in, that his part is all but done. Jesus has humbled himself and become a man. (Phil. 2:5-7) He has fulfilled all that the Father has asked him to do and he is about to take the final steps on his journey to death on the cross. In his prayer, he calls his impending death, burial and resurrection being glorified.
John 17:1 (NKJV) 1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,
I wonder if we, knowing we were going to face the fate Jesus was facing, would have been able to think of it as being glorified. However, Jesus understood his purpose and accepted that if it took his death to bring glory to the Father, then that death was also glorious to him. He knew that he had come to make eternal life available to man and he was willing to do anything necessary to accomplish that. Supernatural people think that way.
He also understood that what he did on the earth was not the end of the story. He knew that after he had done the will of God, he would return to the glory that he had laid down when he left heaven. His death was simply a vehicle that God would use to bring life to many, many more children. Supernatural people think that was as well.
In verse 3, he prays something for us that I believe is one of the keys to becoming supernatural people. He reminds us what life really is. Real life is to know the Father and Jesus Christ. If we are going to live as supernatural people, we must be grounded in this truth. There can be no confusion. Life is to know God. Anything else is a counterfeit of life.
In the west, we live in a very material world. We are greatly blessed with many nice things. We have nice houses, cars and possessions. I do not apologize for that. I believe we have these things because Western civilization was founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are often taught that the renaissance was when western society awakened from barbarism and began to become what it is today. However, we sometimes forget that the renaissance was preceded by the reformation.
The reformation was the beginning of God’s process of restoring the church to what Jesus intended it to be. It began with Martin Luther’s revelation that the Word of God was the foundation upon which all Christian religion must be built. He rejected the idea that elite clergy could make religious rules that superseded the bible. His convictions were born of a deep personal experience with God. He came to know God on a personal level. This is exactly what Jesus was talking about in his prayer.
There is a saying we use when we are experiencing something good in the natural. Maybe we are on vacation on a beach or doing something else that we really enjoy. We are relaxed. We are in luxury accommodations. We say, “Boy this is the life!” We equate life with comfort or pleasure. We may equate life with security or prosperity. We have all seen the bumper sticker that says, “He who dies with the most toys wins!”
That is not the kind of attitude that will allow us to be supernatural people. Life is to know God. If we have nothing but we know God, we have life. If we have everything the world can give but do not walk in intimate knowledge of our creator, we do not really have life. We must accept this as one of the foundation truths of our existence. It must be prerequisite to every decision we make. The final determiner must be will this help me know God and Jesus or will it hinder that process. If something will help us grow in the knowledge of God and his will, we do it. If it will hinder that process, we do not. This leaves a great deal of what life in the natural has to offer to enjoy since as long as they do not hinder our relationship with the Lord.
When I settle in my heart that true life is to know God, I am free to walk in the supernatural. I will not pull back because a decision will cause something negative in the natural. I understand that I am a supernatural person living a supernatural life knowing God. I have access to something that cannot be explained by natural things. Knowing God gives me access to that. The result will be a lifestyle that reflects the nature and character of the God I serve.
It will also result in abundant life for me and my family. I believe this means a life that is greater in quantity and superior in quality to any other life I could live. I believe God will take care me where natural things are concerned, but I also believe this is talking about the intangible things that make life truly worth living.
This is what Jesus is saying about himself in these verses. He lays everything at the feet of the God he knows as his Father. He trusts that yielding to that knowledge will cause him to fulfill his destiny and thereby provide life for many. In the end he will return to the glory that he had with the Father before he came to earth. As we accept that same truth, we are free to begin walking as supernatural people in the natural world.
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