How do you close a chapter you know well and step into a reality that is completely new to you? Moving house, children growing up, changing jobs or places of service, in moments like these the same questions return: did we do everything we could? This sermon takes us to the garden of Gethsemane to overhear the longest prayer in the New Testament (John 17), in which Jesus closes the most important chapter of his life: with gratitude, with concern for those he is leaving behind, and with trust in the future. Listen, and consider what you can entrust to God where your own options run out.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In John 17:3 Jesus says that eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ. How does it change your thinking that eternal life begins here and now, in a relationship with God?
- Jesus prays that the Father would not take the disciples out of the world but protect them from the evil one. What does this request reveal about how Jesus saw His disciples' place in a hostile world?
- The disciples were impulsive, slow to understand and quick to make rash decisions, yet Jesus entrusted His mission to them. What does this tell you about how God sees you and your church community?
- The speaker stressed that the unity Jesus prays for is not forced or decided by a majority vote, but flows from maturity. What might that kind of mature unity look like among people divided by views, status or past?
- What chapter of your life is closing right now or has recently closed, and what can you thank God for in it, just as Jesus began His prayer with gratitude?
- Who is someone you have little influence over today that you can specifically entrust to God in prayer this week, and how will you do it?
