On September 18, 2007 Randy Pausch gave an upbeat lecture at Carnegie Mellon University that he titled "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". The room was packed, filled with students and friends in rapt attention because they knew that one year earlier Randy had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was told he had just months to live.
Here are some of the quotes from that lecture
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.
Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.
When we're connected to others, we become better people.
Randy Pausch,The Last Lecture
There is nothing terribly profound about those quotes. They’re not new or original so why did this lecture…
· converted into a book… became a No. 1 New York Times best seller
· get >16 million views on YouTube
· Why was Dr. Pausch one of the 100 most influential people in the world
Because he was dying…and we pay attention to people whose lives are about to end which Randy’s did on July 25, 2008.
It’s for that very reason we must pay careful attention today to the words of not just any man…but those of Jesus Christ who also left us his “Last Lecture”
John 17
· It’s not a lecture but a prayer – but functions as one, as you’ll see
· In the middle of a power packed, love filled, last meal with his disciples
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. (lit. the hour has come) Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
· He begins this dramatic moment asking for God to shine a bright light on both of them (glorify us)…
· …because this moment has cosmic significance – the work is about to be completed to open eternity to humanity. For people to know eternal life.
6 "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them.
· This next section about his disciples is important because I believe they were listening…which turns the rest of this prayer into a dying wish…a last lecture…
I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." John 17:1-26
...and with that Jesus got up and left the place where they were to enter the garden to pray…that was his last sermon.
· he meant it, of course, as a legitimate prayer to the Father
· but…he intended it as a provocative message to his followers, a list of dying wishes for them to grasp and pursue…
It’s such a sacred moment that I feel a little uneasy taking it apart and analyzing it…but there are some crucial desires of Jesus buried in this prayer that I believe we should not miss. So, let’s look at his dying wishes:
Jesus’ dying wish is that we would move into the world on a mission.
Compare Vs. 15 - My prayer is not that you take them out of the world…and Vs. 18 -but that you send them into the world
· This is an inescapable desire of Jesus for his church…to be on mission
· Over and over Jesus emphasizes this “sending and going”
Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Luke 10:3
...go and make disciples of all nations Matthew 18:19
…you will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8
Living life on a mission is inescapable if you are a Christ follower. We do not get to ride it out till we die. We do not get to live for fat city while we wait for soul rescue (As Tom Sine would suggest).
We are to be inexhaustible goers. That’s Jesus dying wish. We are Plan A and there is no Plan B…but for what?
· to proclaim the Kingdom of God has come…the rescue mission of God for this planet and humanity.
· to heal, to love and to decry hatred and injustice
· to live brave not safe
· and…most importantly (look at Vs. 20…those who believe in me through their message) to persuade people to believe in Jesus (the broken place of separation)
That’s your job…and it is Jesus dying wish
Jesus’ dying wish is that we would move into the world on a mission.
but…he has another wish that is related…
Jesus’ dying wish is that, as we move into the world, we will be differentiated from the world.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
· to “sanctify” = to make it holy or more clearly set something apart from other things… the root of the word means to differentiate
They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Differentiate them by the truth; your word is truth..
· Set them apart. Make them different by immersing them in what is true, especially in the Word of God.
So here is one of the great tensions of the Kingdom of God: Radical identification with the world coupled with radical differentiation from the world.
Peter years later tried to capture this tension…
You are a chosen people,a royal priesthood,a holy nation,God’s special possession… foreigners and exiles…Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify Godon the day he visits us. 1 Peter 2:9-12
Complete engagement with humanity plus radical autonomy from the world…that’s Jesus dying wish for us.
We are losing this world because of two things: We are not engaged enough with human beings around us and we are not differentiated enough from the world.
We cannot live as separatists. Nor can we live as syncretists.
Living out that tension will be our everlasting conundrum as the people of God.
And it is Jesus dying wish. As is this…
Jesus’ dying wish is that we would be protected from the evil one.
Vs. 11 - protect them by the power of your name
Vs. 15- protect them from the evil one.
· Jesus knew that living out the tension of engagement coupled with differentiation would be made that much harder because we would live under attack. So he prays literally that God would keep an eye on us.
· Specifically from a personified evil – Satan…who would tempt, steal the seed of the word of God and sometimes even possess human beings.
· When Jesus prayed this prayer his young followers knew exactly what he was talking about…they saw it with their own eyes. We don’t.
· Satan is way more saavy and subtle but equally nefarious – he is out to get you…to take you down…to take us down.
a. protect – keep your eye on them…to watch
We must pray along with Jesus, we must set up guards, we are under attack, always.
Another dying wish of Jesus Jesus’ dying wish is that we would have an abundance of joy.
Vs. 13 - I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
· full measure = replete with
· the verb tenses are extreme = to have constantly and for all time…on and on and on…
There are a surprising number of times Jesus expresses this wish…
… that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. John 15:11
…no one will take away your joy. John 16:22
…ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. John 16:24
Joy (which is a mix of happiness and satisfaction) frankly is not always an inclination of our hearts.
We are more inclined to whine, we are more predisposed to deprivation, we have a tendency to scarcity, and we are bent toward deficit.
Jesus wants us to smile…to laugh…to sing…to celebrate…and to enjoy. Maybe this is one more way we will be differentiated from the world.
It’s time for more Tigger – less Eyore around here. Time for brass bands and balloons… just stop and consider all of who we are and all of who he is… and open our arms to receive the joy of Jesus Christ.
Now there is one more dying wish of Jesus…
Jesus’ dying wish is that we (his church) would be one.
4 times in this prayer Jesus emphasizes this unity
Vs 11 -that they may be one as we are one
Vs. 21 – that all of them may be one Father, just as you are in me and I am in you
Vs. 22 - that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me
Vs. 23 – that they be brought to complete unity
…further in Vs. 23 Jesus indicates why this is crucial: …to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
· our oneness as a community somehow causes an unbelieving, undiscipled world to realize something about Jesus…that he was sent by God
· and more dramatically…they feel loved more by God.
I’m not at all sure how our unity has that profound an effect except to say that the less we are one the less the mission is accomplished and the less we are differentiated from the world.
· the less we are one the less the world gets saved.
· the less we are one the more we look like every splintered special interest group in America.
Unified we are powerful – divided we are weak.
Cohesive we are effective – estranged we are frail.
What is this unity…this oneness. It has to be less about agreement and more about commitment. Like a marriage.
IL – my wife and I agree on a lot of things but on much we don’t…rarely do we like the same kind of books, she can lay on the beach for hours and I get antsy after 10 minutes, she digs oils and lotions and I hate being slimy... and early on in our marriage we disagree about big things like how we spend money.
But…regardless of whether we agree – we are ONE – because on June 23rd 1979 we declared it to one another and others in the form of a vow…and nothing will separate us…I promised and she did too.
THAT’S being one…and THAT’S Jesus’ dying wish for his church.
Unity is not a state of being that is the result of all being on the same page…but a state of being that is the result of commitment to one another regardless of being on the same page.
Agreement is something you experience. Unity is something you choose.
When we choose unity…in some mystical way people feel loved by God and Jesus is glorified and the world is saved.
So…Those are the dying wishes of Jesus.
Jesus’ dying wish is that we would move into the world on a mission.
Jesus’ dying wish is that as we move into the world we will be differentiated from the world.
Jesus’ dying wish is that we would be protected from the evil one.
Jesus’ dying wish is that we would have an abundance of joy.
Jesus’ dying wish is that we would be one.
Now what’s left for us is to live them.