Wrong Tools
One of the reasons I don’t enjoy 'handy work' is I don’t have a variety of tools. Trying to do a home improvement job without the correct tools usually results in frustration.
You're either are unable to properly fix what you’re working on, or you end up making things worse. When you use the wrong tool, something usually breaks. Either the incorrect tool or the item you’re working on.
It’s also much more difficult to get the result you want with the wrong tool. Maybe you have a large, rusted bolt you’re trying to loosen. Instead of using a socket set, because you don’t have the right size, you grab a pair of small, old pliers.
Not only is the bolt impossible to turn, but you can’t grip the pliers properly because they're old and small. The bolt is also in a difficult position. Maybe in a spot you can’t visibly see too well. You grab, you slip, you grab it again. You turn and turn, but nothing. You try harder and harder until you strip the bolt and the pliers slip off, pinching your hand in the process.
On the other hand, the correct tools make all the difference. No frustration. Nothing breaks, no slippage, and you get the job done correctly (most of the time).
You may ask, why wouldn't I just get the correct tools? Sometimes, (especially if you have very little interest in handy work,) you don’t know what the correct tools are. Oftentimes I try to get the right tool but end up buying the wrong correct tool :-)
However, if the job you’re doing is urgent or critically important, you have no choice but finding out what the correct tools are, and finding them.
For the past several chapters in the Gospel of John, Jesus had been explaining to the disciples what the correct tools are for launching the kingdom movement He had begun. It can not be compromised. It’s urgent. It’s important.
Everything was riding on them to trust the Lord and take the gospel to the world (even if they didn’t fully understand that quite yet). Jesus gave them several tools: Servanthood, loving one another, staying connected to Him as a branch, prayer, the Holy Spirit dwelling in them and more. In His High priestly prayer, He asked that they be kept by the Father so they can be one as He and the Father are one.
In our passage today, John tells us of another super important, if not the most important tool the disciples must have in order to complete their mission of the Great Commission. Without it, they will not only fail at achieving their mission, they will 'spin their wheels'. Meaning, as much as they try with the wrong tools, they will not move forward.
In this third section of Jesus’ prayer, His gives us three additional supplications, all which are rooted in the most important tool the disciples must possess as they take the gospel into the world. What it is?
Read John 17:13-19 and see if you can find the three things Jesus asks for, but more particularly, how they translate into the most important tool that every disciple must possess.
In this sermon we try and apply this incredibly priceless tool to our mission for Christ. Exactly like the disciples, you and I are also called to partake in Jesus’ kingdom building mission. But in order to be used in the transforming of the world back to its rightful order, nothing works without the right ‘God given’ resources.
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