The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them
The Church’s unity and its influence
I. THE GIFT WHICH CHRIST BESTOWS ON HIS disciples.
1. What was the glory which Christ received? A glory belonged to the Son of God in His own Divine right (John 17:5). But the glory GIVEN to Him must refer to His mission in becoming incarnate. It was the glory of being
(1) The Divine Messenger. He was a Teacher sent from God to unfold all the truth which we required to know for our spiritual renewal’ and everlasting welfare, so that He proclaimed Himself as the “Light of the World.”
(2) The Divine Agent. He came to act for God, as well as to declare His truth. How much of true glory was there in such godlike action and enterprise as this!
(3) The Divine Representative. He came to show us the Father, to manifest the Divine name and character (Hebrews 1:3).
2. The glory communicated by Christ. Clearly it has no reference to any perishable wealth or worldly honour; for “the Son of man had not where to lay His head.” It is the glory of being
(1) The messengers of God (John 20:21). Christ came as the Light of the world, so in and through Him they are the light of the world.
(2) The agents of God. As the glory of Christ consisted in doing the Father’s will, and in being about His business, so in the same should the glory of all Christians be found.
(3) The representatives of God. In Jesus there shone forth the glory of the only begotten of the Father, and His true disciples receive of His glory, even grace for grace. Men seek glory for themselves in the material resources, social attractions, and artistic splendours of the world. But all such glory can be no lasting portion for the soul. The glory which Christ bestows will be remembered, and made to shine forth at the manifestation of the sons of God at the end of all things.
II. THE DESIGN OF THIS GIFT. “That they may be one,” &c. Wherever the glory makes itself appear, you see the truest evidence of Christian discipleship, and the highest proof of Christian unity. This unity is
1. Glorious in its source: “I in them, and Thou in Me.” In this way only are Christians truly and vitally one. In the absence of the living Saviour from individual souls, no forced process of uniformity, no subscription merely of the same creed, can effect their union in one body. Christ is in all His true disciples; in their understandings, as the object of the highest knowledge; in their hearts, as the King of Love; in their consciences, as the Prince of Peace; in their whole inner being, as the Lord of Life, the Captain of Salvation, and the Hope of Glory. Thus He becomes the true principle and bond of all unity.
2. Gradual in its realization: “That they may be perfected into one.” Many things hinder the complete enthronement of Christ in the soul, and so many hindrances prevent the perfecting of the Church’s oneness. Christians, instead of showing their essential unity, have appeared to be the fiercest and most uncompromising foes. But all hindrances will yet be overcome.
3. This triumph of unity is the very highest design which can be realised in relation to the Church. Sin is the element of discord, and the principle of dissocialism and separation in the world; and God’s great purpose for the destruction of this discord, and the restoration of true harmony, is the establishment of a holy brotherhood in Christ, the living Centre and personal Head of men. By Him God is to reconcile all things unto Himself.
III. THE GLORIOUS END TO BE ACCOMPLISHED. “That the world may know that Thou hast sent Me,” &c.
1. In John 17:21, Jesus said, “that the world may believe;” here He says that the world may know. Knowledge is belief, or faith in its highest attainment. The growing oneness of the disciples would be to the world an evidence of Christian truth, and the triumph of Christian love, mighty and irresistible. But Christ gives an additional thought--“that Thou hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.” Through-this conviction alone, of God’s infinite love, do the children of the world become the children of God. What an exhibition of the exceeding riches of Divine grace in the gift of God’s only begotten Son would this oneness supply!
2. This oneness, moreover, would show the exceeding blessedness of consecration to God. (J. Spence, D. D.)
The glory, unity, and triumph of the Church
I. THE GREAT MEANS OF THE UNITY which Christ proposes here. “The glory which Thou gavest Me,” &c. The glory which the Father gave the Son was
1. That He endowed Him with the Holy Spirit (John 3:34-35). The Holy Ghost descended upon our Lord in His baptism and abode upon Him. In Him was fulfilled Isaiah 11:1-3. In this Spirit there is glory, for the prophet further says, “His rest shall be glorious.” Now upon each true disciple this glory of God rests according to his measure. Owing to this endowment, there rested upon Jesus Christ a wondrous glory in many respects.
(1) As man He knew the name and character of God. “The pure in heart shall see God,” and those pure eyes of His had seen God to the full. Has He not given us that same vision of the Father? Yes, for He tells us, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” Our eyes have been opened by the blessed Spirit of God to see the invisible.
(2) In His receiving, keeping, and giving forth the Word of God. The depository of the Divine word was Christ, and this was greatly to His glory. Is not THE WORD, one of the brightest of His titles? But now He hath given unto us the Word, and henceforth we are to hold forth the Word of Life.
2. In the sanctification of His blessed person. “For their sakes I sanctify Myself.” How consecrated to God He was from His childhood till He said, “It is finished!” This is the glory which He gives to us. His prayer is, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth.” His disciples live unto holiness, and are known as a people zealous of good works.
3. In His mission. “As thou hast sent Me into the world, even so,” &c.
4. In His model humanity. You, too, are not to be common men, but model men. Jesus especially was a model in
(1) His perfect self-abnegation. For God’s glory, and Christ’s purpose in the convincement of the world, we are to live, and if we do so the Spirit of glory will be resting upon us.
(2) His oneness with God. His life ran parallel with the path of the Most High.
5. Wherever this glory is seen true unity is developed. Suppose I were to find a man, living in the likeness of Christ, with this spiritual glory conspicuous upon him. Suppose he is a coalheaver, the glory of his character will be none the less conspicuous amid the dust; or suppose that he is an earl, the glory will be none the more dim because of the good man’s honours. The holy consecration in each case is the same, and the degrees of rank do not affect the essential beauty of either. If you bring a company of common Christians together and they begin discussing, I daresay they will jangle; but if you could select a number upon whom this glory rests, within a short time they will be all on their knees together, or singing together, or engaged in some form of loving fellowship. Spiritual men are so essentially one that like two drops which lie close together they have an increasing tendency to unite.
II. THE UNITY ITSELF. It is not uniformity. This our Lord says nothing of. Though we are one body in Him, yet all the members have not the same office.
1. “I in them.” Christ lives in His people, and we are so to act, in the power of the Holy Ghost, that onlookers shall say, “Surely Christ lives again in that man, for he acts out the precepts of Jesus.”
2. “Thou in Me.” That is, God is in Christ. This is manifestly true, for you cannot read the life of Christ without seeing God in Him.
3. This brings about the union of believers with the Father: being one with Christ, and Christ being one with the Father, the point is reached for which our Lord prayed, “that they also may be one in us.”
4. Couple this with believers being one with each other, and you get the being “made perfect in one.” Moved by the same love of holiness, inspired by the same spirit of love, the eternal Father’s will is the will of the Son, and the Spirit worketh in us also to will and to do according to the good pleasure of the Lord.
III. THE EFFECT WHICH THIS PRODUCES.
1. It will convince the world of the truth of Christ’s mission. When they see men who are no longer selfish, hard, ungenerous; men no longer governed by their passions; men who desire that which is holy, just, and good; men living to God--then the world will say, “Their Master must have been sent of God.” And then, not only will their characters convince, but their unity, because the ungodly world will say, “We see the glory of Christianity in the poor man, and we see the same in the rich man.”
2. But the world is also to be convinced of the Father’s love to us. When the world sees bodies of truly consecrated men and women living together in holy love, then they will also see much joy, peace, mutual consolation, and they will perceive that the providence of God makes all things work together for their good, and that the Lord has a special care over them as a shepherd hath over his flock. Then will they say, “These are the people that God has blessed.” See how He loves them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
True glory
I. IS THE SAME IN ALL MORAL INTELLIGENCES. This prayer speaks of several grand unities.
1. One life. The life of God and Christ are here spoken of as one.
2. One truth; “Thy truth.” Truth has many sides, but it is one essential whole. Truths are but phases of His.
3. One Church. The Christly in all sects and countries are but one family of which Christ is the Head.
4. One love. Benevolence has many modifications, but in essence it is the same in all.
5. One glory. The glory that Christ had was the glory of God, and this He imparts to us--the glory of moral goodness. In the eye of conscience, in the light of the Bible, and in the estimate of God, the good only are glorious.
II. IS COMMUNICABLE FROM ONE BEING TO ANOTHER. Three things are necessary to its communication
1. The manifestation of it. Were the Eternal to conceal His glory, no creature intelligence could participate in its rays. A good being to make others good must show his goodness.
2. The contemplation of it. What boots it, if no eye observes the manifested glory. The man who at noonday shuts his eyes is as much in the dark as though it were midnight.
3. The imitation of it. There must be an effort on the part of the observer to imbibe, cherish, and develop the Divine goodness.
III. COMES TO MAN THROUGH CHRIST. Christ is the only perfect Revealer, “We beheld His glory,” &c. It is by studying and imitating Him that men become glorious. “For we with open face,” &c.
IV. IS CONSISTEST WITH CIRCUMSTANTIAL SUFFERING. As seen in the case of these disciples
1. How glorious their endurance!
2. How glorious their achievements! To their victories we owe our liberty, Bibles, schools, asylums, Christendom. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Saints glorified on earth
I. THE CHARACTER OF THIS CHRIST-GIVEN GLORY.
1. Negatively.
(1) Not in appearance. Painters have delighted to pourtray Christ with a shining halo on His brow. But this is imaginary. “His visage was marred more than any man’s,” &c.
(2) Not in regal state and trappings. These He despised. He refused to be made a king, and had not where to lay His head.
(3) Not in immediate triumph over existing conditions in any department of thought or action. Judged by all accepted standards of glory hardly was ever teacher less glorious.
2. Positively. His glory lay in the purpose and aim of His life, as appointed by the Father and accepted by Himself. It was early made known that God’s glory was His goodness. At the Incarnation the angel song showed this, and so did Christ at the first manifestation of His glory at Cana. And now with the Cross in prospect He prays (John 17:1-2).
3. It is clear then that Christ gives glory to His people in calling them to carry forward His work and in granting them necessary equipment (John 17:8; John 17:18). Christians are given to know the glory of being fellow-labourers with their Master. Perhaps to some the Lord’s call to service has been unattractive and irksome. It is the glory He hath given us. Is not the soldier honoured when appointed a part in the thick of the fight?
II. THE DESIGN OF CHRIST IS GIVING GLORY TO HIS PEOPLE.
1. To glorify God by making Him known (John 17:1; John 17:6). The fruitful cause of the world’s woe is ignorance of God.
2. To lead to blessed union with God and one another, “that they may be one” &c.
3. Here is discovered the responsibility of all disciples. By unfaithfulness we may turn our glory into shame.
III. THIS CHRIST-GIVEN GLORY THROWS LIGHT ON THE FUTURE GLORY OF THE SAINTS, which will consist of
1. A call to higher service. “Inasmuch as thou hast been faithful over a few things,” &c.
2. The realization of perfect and harmonious relationship with God and one another.
3. The possession of true rest and joy--the joy of accomplished and prospective service. (J. Stevens.)
The mutual glory of Christ and His people
I. THE NATURE OF CHRIST’S GLORY. There is
1. The essential glory of Christ.
2. His mediatorial glory.
3. His remunerative glory.
II. SOME INSTANCES IS WHICH THIS GLORY IS COMMUNICATED TO THE SAINTS.
1. They have glorious titles.
2. Glorious privileges.
3. They are brought into glorious relations.
4. Glorious acts and exploits are ascribed to them.
5. Glorious prespects are before them.
III. INFERENCES.
1. The vanity of earthly things.
2. The dignity of real Christians.
3. Press forward to possession.
4. Let Him who put this glory on us receive all glory from us. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
Christ’s glory given to His people
I. CHRIST’S GLORY.
1. Sonship.
2. Union with God.
3. Perfection of attributes.
II. HIS PEOPLE’S GLORY.
1. They are sons of God.
2. They are one with Christ.
3. They reflect His nature.
4. They are kings and priests. (W. W. Wythe.)
The glory Christ gives to His disciples
As the essence of the glory of Jesus consists in His dignity as the Son, and the well-beloved Son, so the glory He has bestowed on believers is the filial dignity, the state of adoption (John 1:12). Whereby they have become what He eternally is--children of God and objects of His perfect love. This glory Jesusbestowed on His own, by bringing matters to such a state that God could justly reflect upon them all the love which He has for Jesus Himself (verses John 15:9-10). Thus the proposition which follows, “that they may be one,” &c., is easily understood. Once objects of the same Father’s love, and bearing in common the image of their Elder Brother, they form among themselves a closely united family (cf. Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:10)
. (F. Godet, D. D.)