What Did Jesus Give Up to Save Us? John 17 Explained

The Year of Letting Go

We’re living through something none of us expected, aren’t we? It’s June 2020, and for the past three months, we’ve all been forced to give up things we never imagined we’d have to surrender.

Some of you are watching this service from your living room instead of sitting in your usual pew. Some of you haven’t hugged your grandchildren since March. Others haven’t been to work, haven’t celebrated a birthday the way you wanted, haven’t attended a funeral for someone you loved.

I’ve heard from so many of you over these weeks—the tears in your voices when we talk on the phone, the frustration in your emails, the exhaustion in your texts. One of you told me last week, “Pastor, I feel like I’m grieving, but I don’t even know what I’m grieving.” I get it. We’re all grieving the loss of normal, the loss of freedom, the loss of precious moments we can never get back.

Today, I want us to look at what Jesus gave up to save us. Because when we understand what He surrendered—what He walked away from, what He endured, and why He did it—it changes how we view our own sacrifices. It doesn’t make our pain disappear, but it gives us perspective. It gives us hope. It reminds us that our suffering has meaning because His suffering had purpose.

Here’s what we’re going to discover today: Jesus knew exactly what He was giving up, and He gave it up anyway—for you and for me.

We’re going to walk through three powerful truths from Jesus’s prayer in John 17, recorded on the night of His arrest. This is intimate, sacred ground. Jesus is talking to His Father, and we get to listen in. And what we hear should absolutely wreck us in the best possible way.

Defining Glory: What Jesus Actually Left Behind

Before we dive into the passage, we need to understand what we mean by “glory.” In our world today, glory means fame, recognition, achievement. It’s the glory of an Olympic gold medal or a promotion at work. It’s applause, Instagram followers, your name in lights.

But biblical glory? That’s something entirely different.

Biblical glory is the radiant, overwhelming presence of God’s perfection. It’s the weight of His majesty. It’s what made Moses’s face shine after being in God’s presence. It’s what made Isaiah cry out, “Woe is me! I am undone!” It’s what caused the disciples to fall on their faces when they saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain.

Here’s our working definition for today: Glory is the visible manifestation of God’s infinite worth and beauty—it’s experiencing the fullness of His presence without barrier, without limitation, without end.

And Jesus—get this—Jesus had that. Before time began. Before the world existed. Before sin entered the picture. Jesus existed in perfect, unbroken, face-to-face communion with the Father, radiating and receiving infinite love, infinite joy, infinite glory.

And He left it. For us.

Jesus Knew Where He Came From

Let’s turn to John 17, starting at verse 5. Jesus prays:

“And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”

After these things—and this matters—after what things?

After the Last Supper. After Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. After Judas left to betray Him. Jesus knows what’s coming. In a few hours, He’ll be arrested. By morning, He’ll be beaten. By afternoon, He’ll be dead. And here, in this moment, He’s praying.

And what does He pray about? He prays about where He came from.

Jesus came from eternal glory. Before Genesis 1:1, before “In the beginning,” Jesus was with the Father in perfect, unbroken fellowship. John 1 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Philippians 2 says Jesus existed “in the form of God” and didn’t consider equality with God something to be grasped or held onto.

Stop and think about that for a second. Jesus went from the throne room of heaven to a feeding trough in Bethlehem. From being worshiped by angels to being born in a barn that probably smelled like manure. From eternal glory to dirty diapers.

Like us, some of you had plans for 2020 that got completely derailed. You were going to take that dream vacation—cancelled. You were going to celebrate your anniversary surrounded by family—postponed. You were finally going to start that business, have that surgery, visit that place you’ve always wanted to see—all of it put on hold.

And it hurts. I know it hurts. I had to cancel our Easter service. Do you know how hard that was? Easter! The most important day in the Christian calendar, and we couldn’t gather to celebrate the resurrection together.

But Jesus? Jesus didn’t just postpone His plans. He didn’t put His glory on hold. He set it aside completely. Philippians 2:7 says He “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

Jesus knew the glory He had, and He walked away from it anyway.

It’s easy to preach about Jesus’s sacrifice from the safety of my home office. But your preacher still struggles with giving up far less. I still get frustrated when my plans get disrupted. I still want my comfort, my convenience, my control. And Jesus gave up everything.

Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 8:9:

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”

Jesus traded infinite riches for absolute poverty so that spiritual paupers like you and me could become children of God.

Amen.

Jesus Knew What He Was Walking Into

Let’s look at verses 1-2 now:

“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.” John 17:1–2 (ESV)

“The hour has come.” Jesus talked about His “hour” throughout the Gospel of John. Back in John 2, at the wedding in Cana, He told His mother, “My hour has not yet come.” In John 7:30, people tried to arrest Him, “but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.” In John 12:23, He said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

And what was this hour? It was the hour of His death on the cross.

Jesus knew exactly what was waiting for Him. He knew about the beatings. He knew about the mockery. He knew about the crown of thorns, the flogging, the nails, the cross. He knew He would be spit on, stripped naked, and hung up to die in the most humiliating way the Roman Empire could devise.

And here’s what gets me—He also knew something worse was coming. Something we can barely comprehend. On that cross, Jesus would experience separation from the Father for the first time in all eternity. The One who had existed in perfect fellowship with God from before time began would cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Many of you are experiencing separation right now. You’re separated from loved ones. Some of you can’t visit your parents in care homes. Some of you are quarantined alone. Some of you are grieving deaths where you couldn’t even attend the funeral to say goodbye properly. That separation is real, and it’s painful, and I don’t want to minimize it.

But Jesus experienced the ultimate separation. He who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). He experienced the full weight of God’s wrath against every sin ever committed. And He did it willingly.

Why? Look at verse 2 again: “to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.”

Jesus walked into His hour of suffering so that you could have eternal life. He knew the cost, and He paid it anyway. Romans 5:8 tells us:

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Think about that. Jesus didn’t die for people who had their act together. He died for rebels. For people who ignored Him, rejected Him, even hated Him. The soldiers who nailed Him to the cross? He died for them. The crowd that screamed “Crucify Him”? He died for them. Judas who betrayed Him? He died for him too.

Amen

Jesus Knew Why It Was Worth It

Now look at verse 3:

“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

This verse always stops me in my tracks. Because when we think about eternal life, we usually think about duration—living forever. And that’s part of it. But Jesus defines eternal life differently here.

Eternal life isn’t just about how long you live; it’s about knowing God.

The word “know” here isn’t intellectual knowledge. It’s not like knowing facts about God—His attributes, His names, His deeds. The Greek word is “ginosko,” which means intimate, experiential knowledge. It’s the same word used for the relationship between a husband and wife. It means deep, personal, loving relationship.

Jesus gave up heaven’s glory, walked into betrayal and torture and death, so that you could know God personally. So that you could have a relationship with the Creator of the universe. So that you could call the Almighty God “Father.”

In Romans 8:15, Paul says:

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!'”

That word “Abba” is intimate—it’s like “Daddy” or “Papa.” Jesus suffered so that you could have that kind of relationship with God.

And here’s the amazing thing—verse 4 tells us Jesus accomplished it. He says, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” Past tense. Done. Finished. When Jesus cried out “It is finished” on the cross (John 19:30), He meant it. The work of your salvation was complete.

I know some of you are struggling with feeling like you’re not doing enough for God right now. You can’t serve at church because we’re not meeting. You can’t participate in outreach because of social distancing. You feel spiritually unproductive.

But here’s the truth: Your relationship with God was secured by what Jesus did, not by what you do. Ephesians 2:8-9 is crystal clear:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Jesus gave everything so that you could receive everything as a gift. You don’t earn eternal life. You don’t achieve it. You receive it through faith in what Jesus has already accomplished.

This doesn’t mean we sit around doing nothing. James 2:17 reminds us that “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” But our works flow from gratitude for what’s been done, not from desperation to earn what we could never deserve.

Amen

What Does This Look Like in Real Life?

So we’ve seen that Jesus knew where He came from, what He was walking into, and why it was worth it. Now what? How do we live in light of this?

This week, you can:

Remember daily what Jesus gave up. When you’re frustrated by what you can’t do or where you can’t go, pause and thank Jesus for what He left behind for you. Set an alarm on your phone if you need to. Every time it goes off, pray: “Jesus, thank You for leaving heaven’s glory to save me.”

Stop complaining about small sacrifices. I’m not saying your struggles aren’t real. They are. But perspective matters. When we remember Jesus’s sacrifice, it doesn’t erase our pain, but it does give us strength to endure it with grace. Philippians 2:14 says, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.”

Don’t waste your suffering. Jesus’s suffering had purpose—our salvation. Your suffering in this pandemic can have purpose too. Romans 5:3-4 says, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Let God use this season to shape you into the image of Christ.

Look forward to glory. Jesus prayed to return to the glory He had with the Father, and He promised we’d join Him there. John 14:2-3 records Jesus saying, “In my Father’s house are many rooms… I go to prepare a place for you… I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” Our temporary sacrifices lead to eternal glory.

The God Who Knows Sacrifice

We’re living in waiting rooms right now, aren’t we? Waiting for vaccines. Waiting for normalcy. Waiting for answers. Waiting to see loved ones. Waiting for life to feel manageable again.

And Jesus meets us in our waiting rooms. He’s not a distant God who doesn’t understand sacrifice. He’s the God who gave up everything. He knew where He came from—eternal glory. He knew what He was walking into—betrayal, torture, death, and separation from the Father. And He knew why it was worth it—so that you could know God and live with Him forever.

The next time you’re tempted to think you’ve given up too much, remember: Jesus gave up infinitely more. The next time you wonder if your sacrifice matters, remember: His sacrifice accomplished your salvation. The next time you feel alone in your struggle, remember: Jesus endured the ultimate loneliness so you would never have to face eternity without Him.

In this season when we’ve all had to give up beautiful and precious things, let’s lift our eyes to heaven and thank God for our glorious salvation.

Amen

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This article is an expanded version of the sermon delivered via video on Sunday, June 14, 2020, at Christ Church Woodford during the COVID-19 lockdown. Based on John 17:1-5.