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THE APOSTOLIC CONSECRATION (3)
(John 17:6-19)
SUBJECT:
F.C.F:
PROPOSITION:
INTRODUCTION:
A. In the recent issue of Ministry and
Leadership, a publication of Reformed Theological
Seminary, Dr. Michael J. Kruger, president of the
Charlotte, North Carolina campus of RTS writes an
article titled: “Scripture on Trial: Defending the Bible
in a Culture of Skepticism.” He was responding to a
popular Newsweek article written by a Kurt
Eichenwald on December 23, 2014 which challenged
the Bible’s claims to truth. Dr. Kruger notes: “It
seems almost every Christmas and Easter, some
major news publication comes out with a story
criticizing the Bible and questioning its historical
reliability. Such articles, timed purposefully to
challenge Christian beliefs precisely when they are
being celebrated, often encapsulate the standard
objections to Christianity prevalent in our modern
world.” (Spring/Summer 2015, 7).
He lists (and answers) several of the common
challenges to the authority of the Bible: “The Bible
has not been reliably transmitted, the Bible has not
been reliably translated, early Christianity was wildly
diverse with no theological consensus, apocryphal
gospels were just as popular as canonical gospels,
and the Bible contradicts itself.” The Bible has
always been under assault from some quarter or
another, but it seems in our day that the attack has
intensified, even among some formerly-reliable
churches and institutions.
B. That’s why it is essential that we are
convinced of the divine authorization of the
Scriptures. And it all hangs on the identity of Jesus
Christ. Jesus clearly accepted the authority of the Old
Testament as the Word of God, and in our text, he
clearly authorized the apostles to be his official
spokesmen, adding his endorsement to the New
Testament. So if Jesus was who he claimed to be, the
Son of God and only Messiah and Savior, then if we
would follow him we must likewise recognize and
surrender our lives to the authority of the Word. If we
are not true to the Scriptures, then it’s hard to see
how we are being true to Christ, indeed, how we can
claim to be his followers at all.
In this longest middle section of Jesus’ high
priestly prayer, after consecrating himself as the
atoning sacrifice for sin, Jesus next consecrates the
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eleven to be his official representatives and
spokesmen, to bear witness of his gospel and
eventually to enscripture his truth for all time.
C. Last time we noted 1) their surprising
origin, they were in the world as a part of the world,
2) their decisive awakening, their coming to faith in
Christ through the regenerating work of the Holy
Spirit, and 3) their unfailing empowering through
Jesus’ continual prayer for them. This time we want
to continue our focus on the apostolic consecration,
how the eleven (and presumably Paul as the twelfth)
were fully qualified to represent and to speak for
Christ, considering:
4. Their divine mission (10)
5. Their complete unification (11)
6. Their sure protection (12)
IV. THEIR DIVINE MISSION.
A. What was the mission Jesus came to
perform? We could point to some aspect or another
of it: his authoritative teaching of the Word of God,
his miraculous signs authenticating himself, his
kingly role of calling rebel sinners to repentance and
restoration, and his priestly work of accomplishing
our redemption through his cross and resurrection.
But if we were to answer the question more broadly
in a way that encompass all of these, every aspect of
his work as our Mediator, what would that mission
be? We can find it in close context back up in verses
4-5: “4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished
the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father,
glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I
had with you before the world existed.”
B. So Jesus’ mission, speaking most broadly,
was not simply to teach or even to redeem, but to
glorify our heavenly Father. In this we can see his
singularity with our race, for our mission, our “chief
end” is likewise “to glorify God and to enjoy him
forever.”
Now as the Son of God, Jesus is also to be
glorified, that is, his glory is to be revealed,
displayed, loved, adored, worshipped, and celebrated.
And this is to the heart of the divine mission of the
eleven. Jesus prays in 10-11a: “All mine are yours,
and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11And I am no longer in the world, but they are in
the world, and I am coming to you.” Jesus speaks
again of his leaving, his going to the Father. And so
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he commissions, he consecrates the eleven to carry
on his mission, broadly speaking.
C. Some aspects of Jesus’ mission were
unique, of course. I recall the WWJD/“What Would
Jesus Do” phase we went through a decade or so ago.
It was started in 1989 when a youth group from
Calvary Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan
studied Charles Sheldon’s 1896 book, In His Steps, in
which the characters tried to live by the guidance of
asking “What would Jesus do?” before every
decision. Some pointed out the inadequacy of that
methodology for following Christ because Jesus
would do some things that were unique. Most
notably, “What Would Jesus Do?” He would offer his
life as a ransom; he would die on the cross as an
atoning sacrifice which none of us could possibly do.
I remember at the time suggesting a different
acronym: WDJSWSDITB? or “What Did Jesus Say
We Should Do in the Bible?” I feared it would be too
long for the bracelet, so abandoned the plan.
Broadly speaking, though, the divine mission
for which Jesus sets them apart is to glorify him since
he would no longer be on earth for display. And this,
of course, they did by proclaiming him, first in
preaching and last in Scripture. That would mean that
the point of the Bible is Christ, and we must always
in our reading and study of the Bible seek to
recognize and exalt Christ.
Jesus also prays concerning…
V. THEIR COMPLETE UNIFICATION.
A. There is a legend behind the Apostles
Creed which we often recite as our affirmation of
faith. According to the legend, which nobody really
believes, before the twelve apostles left Jerusalem to
spread the gospel as Jesus commanded, they came
together and each one contributed one article of this
confession of faith in the Apostles Creed, hence the
name. The legend was devised, I suppose, to
demonstrate the unity of the faith, that just as Jesus
prayed, so they were kept unified in the faith, and so
produced this joint statement upon which they all
agreed. And so the Apostles Creed is a nearly-divine
summary of the faith which all Christians of all times
are called to confess.
Now it is true that in consecrating these
eleven Jesus prayed for their unity. And I think it’s
clear that he was praying for their unity in the faith.
“Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you
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have given me, that they may be one, even as we are
one.” That’s a remarkably strong unity! “That they
may be one even as we are one.” That’s a perfect
unity. And again, that unity especially referred to
unity in the truth.
B. That’s why it’s troubling when people
suggest that there are contradictions in the Bible.
What they are insinuating is that Jesus’ prayer was
not answered: that the eleven were not in fact kept in
perfect unity in the faith they proclaimed and
eventually enscriptured. In the post-enlightenment
attack on the Scriptures as the Word of God, it
became quite fashionable to pit one biblical writer
against another. I recall hearing a sermon in which it
was alleged that John the Baptizer had it all wrong,
that he declared the immediate consummation of the
kingdom, but that Jesus had to correct him. Or there
was a rather famous book arising from this skeptical
period titled The Faith of Jesus and the Religion of
Paul, as though these were two distinct religions. It
was quite common to suggest that the simple faith
taught by Jesus was made both formal and
complicated and so unrecognizable by Paul, and we
need to reject the heavy doctrinal Paul and go back to
the simple faith of Jesus.
C. But God did answer his Son’s prayer.
What we have in the New Testament is a seamless
garment with complementation yes, but with no
contradiction whatsoever. Even more, for all of the
talk of diversity in the New Testament itself, for
example, that there is one body of Christ, but many
members, there is no hint of allowance for diversity
in doctrine, none. There is no suggestion that Paul
taught one thing and Peter another, but they could
agree to disagree. We do have a few instances where
the apostles disagreed, but these were only on
practical matters. Most famously, I suppose, when
Paul and Barnabas parted ways on the question of
giving John Mark a second chance after he had once
deserted them. But this was not a doctrinal issue but a
practical matter. As you recall, Barnabas took Mark
while Paul took Silas, and the mission outreach was
doubled, but they all preached the same gospel. In
fact, in Galatians 2, Paul carefully explains that he
went to Jerusalem seventeen years after his
conversion and set before the other apostles the
gospel he had been preaching, they gave him the right
hand of fellowship. It was important for them all to
test and approve the gospel Paul had been preaching
for the sake of the unity of the faith.
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Also in Galatians 2, when it seemed to Paul
that Peter was acting hypocritical regarding the
gospel they both preached, Paul did not simply say,
“Well, he has his view and I have mine.” Rather he
opposed Peter to his face, and Peter repented. And
the occasion for Jude writing his brief letter to the
churches was that he “found it necessary to write
appealing to you to contend for the faith that was
once delivered to the saints.” (3) He remembered
Jesus’ prayer for their unity in the faith and could not
stand for any innovation or error.
C. So what does that mean when seemingly
faithful churches and Christians disagree regarding
matters of faith, issues such as baptism, or the
meaning of the Lord’s Supper, or the role of women
in the church, or marriage and divorce? Well, what it
does not mean is that we can accept opposing views
as equally valid and true. On the issue of baptism, for
example, some believe that baptism is only for those
who personally profess faith in Christ, while others
hold that baptism is also to be administered to the
covenant children of believers. Since these views are
mutually exclusive, they both cannot be right. We
may be able to cooperate and count as sincere
believers those with whom we may disagree on this
secondary issue, but we cannot say that both are
right. That is an insult both to truth and to reason.
The good news is that we can trust both the
authority and the unity of the Bible. One of the
principles of solid biblical interpretation is called “the
analogy of Scripture.” Scripture interprets Scripture
because the One author of Scripture will never
contradict himself. So we can use clearer passages to
interpret less clear passages.
VI. THEIR SURE PROTECTION.
A. Last time we noted that the eleven would
be empowered by Jesus’ continual prayer for them.
And here we find that Jesus prays that they also be
protected by the Father’s keeping them. “Holy
Father, keep them in your name, which you have
given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name,
which you have given me. I have guarded them, and
not one of them has been lost except the son of
destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
The Father had chosen them and had
entrusted them to the Son, and now here at the end of
his mission he gives an accounting of his trust. He
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had unfailingly kept them and guarded them. So we
can be assured that when in verse 11 Jesus prays to
the Father to “keep them in your name,” he is
entrusting them back to the Father, and the Father
will unfailingly keep them as well.
B. “Ah, but not all of them. What of Judas
Iscariot?” you ask. And the answer is that within the
providence of God, not all were so kept, because not
all were actually entrusted to Jesus. There was one
who was foretold by the Scriptures who would
defect, and he was the “son of destruction.” This
phrase translated “son of destruction” or “son of
perdition” is a Hebrewism. To be a “son of”
something means to be so characterized by that
quality that one is completely given over to it. He
was utterly lost, but lost to what? Judas was lost to
defection and unbelief.
C. The point for John’s first readers is that if
they remain faithful and trustworthy to Jesus, they
certainly would be kept and guarded. But they must
be on their guard—for even those seemingly closest
and most loyal to Jesus, in this case, one of the
twelve, may prove to be false. And it is disloyalty
and unbelief which demonstrates it to be so.
The further point is that there was only one
son of destruction among the twelve, and that the
other eleven had been kept and certainly would be
kept, and for that reason his readers (and we) can
certainly trust the gospel message delivered by these
eleven, including John and his gospel which we are
now considering.
CONCLUSION
So these eleven have been chosen out of the
world, fully awakened to the glory of God, and
wonderfully empowered by Christ’s continual prayer
for them. And they have been tapped and tasked with
this divine mission of being Jesus’ official and
authorized spokesmen, declaring his glory as the Son
of God and Messiah. God would keep them fully
unified in the truth so that their message would be
singular, the infallible and inerrant Word of God.
And just as Jesus had faithfully kept them faithful, so
the Father would keep them until their mission was
fulfilled and his Word delivered as we have now
received it.

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