The Heart of God

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. A.W. Tozer

Joni Erickson Tada is quoted as pointing out that we are never commanded to be ONE…because we already are one. We are told to act like we are one though.

As we conclude Jesus’ prayer in John 17, we are confronted with his final words before his betrayal and arrest and deeply embedded on his heart, is a passion for ONENESS and INTIMACY.

Sermon Body

Big Idea: God desires oneness and intimacy for his children.

John 17:20–26 ESV

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Two main passions of God shine at us from this text.

God desires ONENESS and INTIMACY for his children.

Let’s begin with Oneness

God desires oneness for His children.

In fact, God not only desires oneness FOR His children, he desires oneness WITH His children.

Oneness Defined

What is oneness? What does it mean to be one? How would you define it?

The word we translate “one” can be used simply to count items, like one talent. It is also used to indicate the singularity of something, thus emphasizing there is BUT ONLY ONE. It is used to describe the singularity of God.

Point being, ONE means ONE. Singular. One and only one. One of a kind.

As a body, we are to be ONE.

Being one means being singular, in agreement. It means having the same in conviction, character, purpose, will. It means being one in passion, interests, and desires. It means have no discord, disagreement.

Means undivided.

Being one means that there is no division, no discord, no duplicity, no dichotomy among us. We are SINGULAR in purpose, devotion, conviction, mind.

We can also refer to this idea of oneness as unity.

Unity Defined

What is unity? Is it different than oneness?

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition unity

uni•ty \ˈyü-nə-tē\ noun

plural uni•ties

[Middle English unite, from Middle French unité, from Latin unitat-, unitas, from unus one — more at ONE]

(14th century)

1 a : the quality or state of not being multiple : ONENESS

1 b (1) : a definite amount taken as one or for which 1 is made to stand in calculation 〈in a table of natural sines the radius of the circle is regarded as unity〉

(2) : IDENTITY ELEMENT

2 a : a condition of harmony : ACCORD

b : continuity without deviation or change (as in purpose or action)

3 a : the quality or state of being made one : UNIFICATION

b : a combination or ordering of parts in a literary or artistic production that constitutes a whole or promotes an undivided total effect; also : the resulting singleness of effect or symmetry and consistency of style and character

4 : a totality of related parts : an entity that is a complex or systematic whole

5 : any of three principles of dramatic structure derived by French classicists from Aristotle’s Poetics and requiring a play to have a single action represented as occurring in one place and within one day

6 capitalized : a 20th century American religious movement that emphasizes spiritual sources of health and prosperity

Unity - Undivided. Unconflicted. WHOLE. ONE.

Oneness and Unity are two words bearing the same ideas.

They are essentially synonyms.

Now, how does this relate to God?

Oneness of God

God desires us to be ONE with Him

Looking back up a bit further than today’s text…

John 17:11 ESV

11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

Now jump back down to verse 20.

John 17:20–26 ESV

God desires us to be ONE with Himself. What does this look like?

What has been so profound to me about this passage for so many years is this....It is one of the few places that we get a glimpse into the content of God’s conversation with Himself. God the Son speaking with God the Father.

We know that Christ prayed and talked with His father ALOT. And we are given snatches of that conversation from time to time. But here, we are given an extended view of what Christ prayed. And in what Christ prayed, we are given a view to that which was near and dear to His heart.

What mattered to Christ? What mattered to God?

What we pray about exposes that which is of value to us. The same is true of God.

So what does he pray for? Well, quite a variety but the thing I want to narrow in on and focus on for a few moments is found in these verses that I just read.

that they may be one, even as we are one.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you,

that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one

THAT they may be one AS WE ARE ONE.

Said, not once, not twice, but a least three times.

The same thought and passion fills the pages of the NT in the one another statements, the commands to love one another, to live in unity, to keep the unity.

God desires us to be ONE with Him…AND…with each other.

Being ONE with God means being of the same heart, mind, and purpose.

It means not be divided in mission

It means not be divided in goal

It means not be divided in thinking/belief/conviction.

It means not be divided in passion and desire.

Can YOU really say that you are never divided in any of these areas in your relationship with God?

Can WE, as the church, say we are never divided in any of these areas? Can WE say our purpose, agenda, and goal ALWAYS align with His?

The Father and Son and Spirit are…

John 14:9 ESV

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Father and Son are ONE. They are the SAME. They are IDENTICAL. To see one is to see them all.

How are they one? What are the implications of such a statement?

This is MORE than just not being in a state of disagreement and conflict.

We tend to apply this exclusively to this realm of disagreement of preferences, politics, and even theological conviction.

But it is MORE than that....

It is more than just being united in purpose, goal, or desire

Father, Son, Spirit are ONE in character.

They are ONE

in passion and longing for each other.

in community

One in fellowship.

Complete knowledge of one another

No secrets. No mystery.

Complete understanding of what makes the other tic

Complete selfless love that puts the other over themself.

Complete, perfect fellowship with one another

Perfectly One

YES, they are free of disagreement and disunity. YES, they are free of conflict BECAUSE they are ONE in nature, character, and attributes.

They are committed to the same things.

HERE’S THE POINT

Jesus, prays for US to be ONE as HE and HIS FATHER are ONE.

Did you catch that?

Not once, not twice, but at least three times in this single passage.

Do you think it matters to God? Why does he pray for this?

Why does it matter?

John 17:21 ESV

21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

John 17:23 ESV

23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

SO THAT THE WORLD MAY SEE AND KNOW GOD.

In John 13 the point was that, if an individual Christian does not show love toward other true Christians, the world has a right to judge that he is not a Christian. Here (in John 17:21) Jesus is stating something else which is much more cutting, much more profound: We cannot expect the world to believe the Father sent the Son, that Jesus’ claims are true, and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians. Francis Schaeffer

Thomas Manton noted that…

Divisions in the church always breed atheism in the world. Thomas Manton

The purpose and goal of unity and oneness in the church is SO THAT the world would believe the message we preach, the gospel that Jesus came to proclaim.

Our UNITY, our ONENESS is about the glory of God.

It is not even about us…our happiness....our contentment.

The oneness of the Body is about God.

And it matters deeply to Him. Enough to pray repeatedly for it.

Our ONENESS is all about God’s ONENESS.

How is the oneness of God different than how we tend to view oneness amongst ourselves?

We tend to view it more as a mere toleration of one another.

If we are getting along and there is no conflict we are good

With God, oneness means intimacy and fellowship. Community. It means sharing the same likeness and pursuing the same passions.

Oneness with God is a shared passion flowing from a shared likeness that results in unlimited, unrestricted intimacy.

Not only does God want us to be one with Him, he wants us to be one with each other.

Oneness of The Body

How does oneness work for us? What is it supposed to look like?

How do we account for variety, differences of style, preferences, etc?

What truths, scriptures are we given to show us the way to oneness?

Throughout scripture, our oneness and unity is spoken of and we are told how it ought to look.

Scripture gifts us a beautiful picture of this in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26

1 Corinthians 12:12–26 ESV

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Point is, we are ONE. We all TOGETHER, collectively MAKE UP A WHOLE.

Yeah, we have different functions

Yeah, we have different roles.

Yeah, we have different jobs

BUT WE MAKE UP THE WHOLE

We all need each other.

We are dependent upon one another.

Every part of the body has a role and function to play.

What are the implications then for those who are not contributing to the whole of the body?

If part of the body is not performing their function, the body is not healthy, whole or functioning well.

Let’s play this body imagery out some more though, shall we?

What else is significant about the body imagery being used here?

What connection, investment does the body have to itself, to its various parts?

Intimately aware of each other

Fiercely devoted to one another

E.G. - Back hurt after merry go round.

Rest of my body felt stiff, sore.

Rest of my body adjusted to carry load for my back

Rest of my body compensated to ease the burden

The whole body moved more gently and carefully

We protect and care for our body and we do not want to go missing or purposefully injuring our body.

Intensely committed to each other

Passionate desirous of caring for each other

Sacrificially invested in one another

Genuinely interested in one another

Working together

Not burdensome

Now, translate that to the body of Christ, and what do you get?

You get a body that is invested in getting to know each other beyond superficial means.

You get a body that is genuinely interested and invested in building deeper relationships, caring for one another, protecting each other, building each other up, encouraging each other, supporting each other, praying for each other.

And what you get, are meaningful relationships that reflect the Oneness of God and give glory HIS being.

What you get is a church body that is healthy, growing, and reflecting the person of God to each other and to the watching world.

What does this look like practically?

What does this look like for the single mom with restless children?

What does this look like for a body when the same person sits by themselves week after week?

What does it look like when you can visibly tell someone is struggling?

What does this look like for a body when you suddenly realize you know very little about the person sitting in the pew in front of you?

What does it look like on a Monday, or a Tuesday, or a Wednesday when a member of the body expresses on a Sunday their deep grief, sorrow, or struggle?

What does it look like when a member of the body is vulnerable and shares their addiction or sin struggle?

What does it look like when you realize you know no one in your local gathering well enough to answer these questions?

Listen, this is not about obligation or duty. This is about a body CARING FOR ITSELF with tenderness, compassion, and care BECAUSE IT WANTS TO AND GENUINELY CARES ABOUT THE WELFARE OF ITSELF.

WE ARE NOT DISASSOCIATED OR DISCONNECTED from one another. We are eternally bound. How are we reflecting that reality in the context of the local assembly?

But, how exactly is such oneness achieved?

Achieving Oneness

How is the oneness of the Father and Son achieved in our lives?

I am going to tell you, it is not done by merely and only gathering with the church body one hour a week in which we sit in rows facing away from each other.

Awareness, knowledge, time, investment

Be willing to get muddy in the trenches with one another.

Goes below the surface. Goes deep. Spiritual.

Means changing our perspective off temporal, surface things and placing it on eternal ones.

Meaning…instead of asking, how are you doing? Ask..How are you doing spiritually?

How can I pray for you? AND STOP WHAT you are doing AND PRAY right then…I fear too often the prayer requests never get prayed for.

What is God teaching you?

What new arsenal verses have you found?

It means purposefully and intentionally thinking about how you can go deeper in those times you spend together.

What do you really know about the people sitting around you in this room?

And I mean, what do you know about them spiritually?

When was the last personal spiritual conversation you had?

Who in this room is on the outskirts and not connecting well?

It TAKES A BODY to CARE FOR A BODY.

The burden cannot be placed upon a few alone.

What initiative, what effort are we making to care for each member of the body? To connect? To be ONE?

Opportunities

Prayer Meeting

Community Groups

Small Groups

Bible Study

Personally reaching out, not making excuses for busyness and life.

Not only does God care about oneness, he cares about intimacy.

God desires intimacy with His children.

John 17:20-26.

John 17:20–26 ESV

that they may also be in us…

that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me…

I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me, where I am…

I will make it known, that the love with which you have loved me, may be in them and I in them.

Over and over again, Jesus speaks of his desire to be in intimate relationship with us.

What does the word intimate mean?

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition intimate

2in•ti•mate \ˈin-tə-mət\ adjective

[alteration of obsolete intime, from Latin intimus]

(1632)

1 a : INTRINSIC, ESSENTIAL

b : belonging to or characterizing one’s deepest nature

2 : marked by very close association, contact, or familiarity 〈intimate knowledge of the law〉

3 a : marked by a warm friendship developing through long association

b : suggesting informal warmth or privacy 〈intimate clubs〉

4 : of a very personal or private nature

Does it simply humble and awe your heart to know that God WANTS to have a relationship with YOU that is marked by DEEP, CLOSE, PERSONAL contact? That he wants to be DEEPLY familiar with you and us with Him? That he wants to be MORE than surface, that companionable, than associates and acquaintances?

God wants as DEEP and CLOSE relationship with us.

One as a husband and wife might share.

Eph 5:22-33.

Ephesians 5:22–33 ESV

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

The husband and wife relationship on earth IS TO BE a picture of the marriage relationship between

We, the church, ARE IN FACT, the bride of Christ.

God, in FACT, does intend for the intimacy that is supposed to come with a marriage, a husband and wife relationship.

In Revelation 19:6-10, we see the consummation of his relationship with us in marriage.

Revelation 19:6–10 ESV

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Over and over again, scripture exposes the reality that what SALVATION is really about is FORGIVENESS, it is about INTIMACY, it is about relationship.

God wants to be intimate with us.

God wants us to be intimate with Him.

It is not about religion, about a set of religious rules. It is not about doing right to earn God’s favor. It is not about performing to please him. It is not about DOING anything.

It is about TURNING away from sin, seeking forgiveness, and DRAWING NEAR TO GOD in intimate fellowship once again for the remainder of our days and eternity.

Is it any wonder then, that we see the God in scripture as a jealous and angry God when we spurn His advances and run after other lovers?

The Lord very frequently addresses us in the character of a husband… As He performs all the offices of a true and faithful husband, so He stipulates for love and conjugal chastity from us; that is, that we do not prostitute our souls to Satan… Therefore, as the purer and chaster the husband is, the more grievously is he offended when he sees his wife inclining to a rival; so the Lord, who has betrothed us to Himself in truth, declares that He burns with the hottest jealousy whenever, neglecting the purity of His holy marriage, we defile ourselves with abominable lusts, and especially when the worship of His Deity, which ought to have been most carefully kept unimpaired, is transferred to another, or adulterated with some superstition; since, in this way, we not only violate our plighted troth, but defile the nuptial couch, by giving access to adulterers. Institutes II, vii, 18. John Calvin

His anger is driven by His love and passion for us! His anger is driven by his desire to be intimate with us and us with Him.

God WANTS us to be close to Him. He WANTS us to be intimate with Him.

His prayer, here in John 17, reflects the reality of that passion and desire.

Here is the truth, so poignantly revealed to us in this passage…(Big Idea)

Conclusion

Big Idea: God desires oneness and intimacy for his children.

God desires oneness for His children.

God desires intimacy with His children.

Jesus prays REPEATEDLY for oneness and intimacy with the body and with Himself.

Throughout this passage, he has spoken about giving us His glory in order to accomplish this.

And here’s why…when you behold the glory of God, truly behold his glory, you are never the same.

How can you be?

You will forever be changed by it, impassioned by it, and emboldened by it to live for His esteem, making HIS passion yours, with a burning passion for TRUE oneness and intimacy with Him

Church, this lackluster pursuit of Christ…uh oh, no, no, it has to go.

Will Hephzibah be known as the place where real and vibrant intimacy with God is seen in the lives of those who gather there and they are bound with a bond of onenness that is truly supernatural.

Will that be how we are known as we are ever growing together to become more like Jesus for the glory of God?

Application

What is at the heart of the problem in achieving and maintaining the oneness/intimacy with God and the body in practice that we possess in standing?

Pride.

Selfishness.

Lack of understanding regarding what intimacy with God even looks like

How do we achieve oneness with each other?

By achieving oneness with God. If we are all one with God, we will be in tune with each other.

HOWEVER, we can make greater effort to strengthen our oneness by being more intentional about connecting spiritually with one another.

Pray with one another

Share truth with one another

Admonish and encourage one another WITH THE LIVING WORD OF GOD.

Take initiative to reach into one another’s DAILY lives.

How do we achieve intimacy with God?

Eliminate distractions

Guard priorities better

Read, study, memorize, and meditate on the world

Regularly gather with the body with people who will challenge and encourage you with the word, prayer, and their example and passion.

Faithfully sit under the teaching and discipleship of the word.

Repent of sin regularly

What step will YOU personally take this week to step toward oneness with God and with the body? Share this step with someone who can encourage you and challenge you to follow through.