Jesus last words call His followers to communion with Him and to community with one another....

This week, we are looking at a prayer that Jesus engaged in during the final conversation with His closest followers before His death. Wednesday, we discovered that Jesus wanted His closest followers to clearly understand that His prayer for them was that God the Father would protect them as He sent them on mission to proclaim the truth about the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel to the world.

Today, we will see Jesus, after focusing on His relationship with God the Father; after focusing on the disciple’s relationship with Him and the mission that they would be given after His departure, shift the focus in a most unexpected way in verse 20. Let’s look at these verses together:

 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. "O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

If you are here and you are a follower of Jesus, did you know that Jesus prayed for you today, some 2,000 years ago? Did you know that Jesus, on the verge of dying the most painful death possible, prayed for those throughout history who would respond to His life, death, and resurrection, by believing, trusting, and following Him as Lord and Leader?

And Jesus prayer for His followers today, as it has been throughout history, is simple and to the point. Jesus prays that God the Father would unite all followers of Jesus throughout history in communion with God and in community with one another.

And it is here that we see Jesus, in a prayer that was heard by His closest followers, reveal a timeless call for His followers. And that timeless call is this: Jesus last words call His followers to communion with Him and to community with one another. Just as God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit live in intimate communion and community with one another, Jesus prayer is that His followers would experience that intimate communion and community.

But what does Jesus mean when He explains that “the glory which You have given Me I have given to them”. The glory that Jesus is referring to is the splendor and greatness that followers of Jesus will experience for all eternity in Heaven. Just as Jesus engagement and completion of the mission that He was given resulted in Him returning to the splendor and glory of Heaven, as followers of Jesus, our rescue from selfishness and rebellion through placing our confident trust in Jesus results in us experiencing that same splendor and glory of Heaven.

But notice what our rescue from selfishness and rebellion by Jesus calls us to. Jesus explains that our rescue from selfishness and rebellion calls us to “be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

Now this little phrase perfected in unity literally means in order that they might attain perfect unity. You see, the world is able to arrive at the knowledge that Jesus was who He said He was when followers of Jesus live in communion with Him and in community with one another that is marked by unity. The church has been divinely designed by God as the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world. And followers of Jesus have been given a mission.

Just as God sent Jesus into the world to reveal and explain God, followers of Jesus are to be sent into the world as missionaries to reveal and reflect Christ to those in our world. And followers of Jesus reveal and reflect Christ and accomplish the mission we are given when we live in communion with Jesus and in community with one another.

So here is the question: Are you living in communion with Jesus? Have you responded to God’s activity in your life by placing your confident trust in Jesus? Do you have communion and connection with Jesus throughout the week? Or do you only attempt to connect with Jesus for an hour on Sunday?

And are you living in community with one another as part of the church? Are you a part of genuine and authentic community that gathers on Sunday and scatters in community throughout the week? Are you a part of a community group? Are you living in community throughout the week, or only for an hour on Sunday?