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Sunday Sermon Outline STUDIES IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN – PART
97
Chapter
17, verses 23- “….and have loved them as You have loved
Me”- It seems staggering to consider
that Jesus is asking the Father to have the same love for redeemed sinners as He has
for His obedient Son.
To appreciate this, we
might grasp how divine love functions: 1) God’s love functions from the character
of God Himself; that is, He loves because He is love- I
John 4:8, 16—His beneficence & righteousness is expressed by loving
righteousness (in final considerations, holiness can only bless corresponding
holiness). 2) Through the doctrine of
imputation of His righteousness to believing sinners, God is free to “love”
those sinners- Rom. 5:8, 16,18; Eph. 2:4; II
Thess.2:16- as they, in turn, possess His
imputed righteousness. 3) God’s love acts, not because of the
value or worth of the object being loved, but because of
love’s own integrity- I Cor.13:4-7; John 3:16; I John
4:9-10 4) Thus, God’s love differs radically from
human love as human love often acts based on the value or worth of the one being
loved- Rom. 5:7. 5) Believers are to love others based on
the principle of #3—such love as this may be called ‘impersonal love’ as a
personal relationship is not required in order for a believer to love another
person. See I John 5:11, 16.
Yet, such love should not be reduced to mere willful
altruism lacking emotion or personal relationship. 6) The degree to which God loves is neither
increased nor decreased by the conduct of a believer since it is based
on God’s character. This is
“grace”, where favor is extended to someone, but not extended because that
person “does” something to earn it or forfeit it. 7) Thus, our experience of God’s love is an
amazing matter and looks entirely to the foundation of grace. The appropriate response is humility and
obedience. Further, it should be remembered
that the intra-trinitarian relationship (including
love) of God is eternally perfect in all aspects (as initiated, as sustained and
as a response) unlike that of human relationships. “for you loved me before the foundation of the
world”- as there was a pre-incarnation glory (vs. 5) shared with the
Father by Christ, so there was a pre-incarnation love as
well. Page 2
Before
the foundation of the world: 1)
The Son had been in loving inter-relationship with the Father- John
1:2, 17:5,
24 2)
God had created angels & stars- Job 38:4,7 3)
God had settled the eternal counsel of salvation- Rev.17:8,
Eph.1:4-5, Titus 1:2, II
Tim.1:9 4)
God had conceived salvation for the church- Eph.3:6,9 5)
God had prepared the kingdom for His own- Matt. 25:34, I
Cor.2:7 6)
God had appointed His Son to be mediator of the counsels of
salvation- I Tim.2:5 – mediator of world creation,
world redemption & world judgment 7)
The Son was willing to carry out the work of redemption- Heb.9:14
Vs.24-“I desire ..they…whom You gave Me may be with Me…and may behold My
glory…” as was seen in
vs.23, Jesus’ prayer moves to anticipate the church experiencing the future
glory of Christ—Eph.2:7; “behold”=
theorosin- to observe or
study. Some theologians
describe this viewing or observing by believers to be a
‘beautific vision’ reserved from only the most
dedicated Christian. Note it is the
last request in this prayer. Jesus began with a request that the
Father glorify the Son and ends with a request that His followers share in the
ultimate glory He would have. In vs. 7-12, Jesus prayed for His
original disciples In vs. 20-22, Jesus prayed for those yet
to believe on Him (church) In vs.23-24, Jesus prayed for the
ultimate glory to be shared with a glorified
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