Unified for a Purpose

One of the many ways my parents blessed me as a teenager was to encourage me during the summer before 10th grade to join my high school’s football team.

I’d never been very athletic, and I didn’t really have any great love of football at the time. So, nobody was under the illusion that I’d ever be good enough to earn a scholarship or anything like that.

I think that what they had in mind was — first of all — to get me active and doing something other than reading books. But I think there were some life lessons that they also hoped I’d learn on the football field.

And they were right. There were many important lessons I’d learn as part of that football team for my last three years of high school.

I’d learn about persevering when the job seems too hard. I’d learn about sportsmanship — how to be gracious, both in victory and in defeat. And I’d learn about being part of a team, a lesson that was especially important for me as an only child.

In fact, when I look back on my short and undistinguished football career, the lessons about teamwork are the ones that resonate most clearly for me now.

There’s really something quite beautiful about a group of people working together toward one goal, and the high school football field was the place where I first came into contact with this beautiful thing.

Certainly, there is an element of individual achievement, even in team sports. I had to lift weights and run sprints to improve my own athleticism. And as I became stronger and ever-so-slightly faster, I was able to be a better offensive lineman.

And friends of mine on the team were doing the same things I was doing in order to be better in their own positions. Offensive linemen, receivers, running backs, quarterbacks, linebackers, defensive linemen, cornerbacks and safeties.

All of us were training individually so that we could do our best in the positions we played. But all of those positions were designed to work together in various ways to advance toward our common goal: a winning football team.

When things are working right within a team, there’s a sort of flow that takes place. Everyone’s pushing toward the same goal, and everyone knows they can count on one another.

When one person excels, he or she raises the performance level of everyone else. And when someone is injured, everyone comes together to lift them up and to help close the gap.

I had experienced community before I joined the football team, but I’d never experienced this sense of unity before then.

And I hadn’t experienced it before then, because it’s actually pretty rare among people.

Maybe one of the reasons professional sports teams are so popular in our society is because — when they’re working the right way — they give us a glimpse of something important, even something divine: unity.

We know that unity is a divine quality, in part, because of what Jesus says in the portion of the High Priestly Prayer that we’ll be looking at this week.

Indeed, we’ll see that unity isn’t just a divine quality, but also one that one body of the Church is intended to reflect. And we’ll see that unity within the church is both a reflection of divine unity and ENABLED by divine unity.

Let’s see what Jesus has to say about this as He turns the focus of His prayer in John, chapter 17, toward US — toward all those who would come to saving faith in Jesus Christ through the teaching and writing of the Apostles.

We’re going to pick up this week in verse 20. And as you turn there, let me remind you that Jesus has so far prayed that His impending death, burial, and resurrection would glorify God.

And He has prayed that His disciples would be kept safe from the attacks of Satan and that they’d be sanctified — set apart in holiness for God’s work.

As we saw during the past couple of weeks, portions of Jesus’ prayer for His disciples can be applied to us today.

But He had a special concern for His disciples, knowing they’d be responsible for the early work of spreading the gospel and that much of this work would be done in the face of severe persecution.

But it’s encouraging to me to know that, even as He prepared for the terrible events of that Thursday night and the following Friday, Jesus was also thinking about you and me.

Let’s take a look together at the first part of this portion of His prayer. We’ll study verses 20-23 today.

John 17:20–23 NASB95

20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me. 22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

Now, I mentioned that I consider it an encouragement that Jesus was thinking about US in the hours before He was murdered on the cross. But we shouldn’t miss what an encouragement verse 20 also would have been to the disciples.

They were being sent into the world to spread the good news of a savior who brings forgiveness and hope to all who turn to Him in faith. But they’d be going into the world without the physical presence of Jesus.

And none of the 11 disciples who remained in that Upper Room in Jerusalem for this prayer were particularly well-qualified for the task, at least from a worldly perspective.

But Jesus had promised to send a helper, the Holy Spirit, and now the words of His prayer suggested that they’d have success in the task He was giving them — that others would come to saving faith because of their witness.

Indeed, every one of us here today who has turned to Jesus in faith can trace our salvation back to the teachings of one or more of those disciples. And their faithfulness to Jesus and to the task He’d given them continues to bear fruit today.

You’ll recall that God’s word is a significant theme of this prayer. Through the words that God had given Him to speak and through His life AS the Word, Jesus revealed to His disciples the glory of God.

And having passed along God’s glory-revealing word to them, Jesus now expected the Apostles — the sent ones — to pass along HIS words to others. HIS word had now become THEIR word.

HIS glory — as we see in verse 22 — had become THEIR glory. And THEIR glory is YOUR glory if you are a follower of Jesus.

Remember that the glory of God in this prayer refers to the full revelation of God’s person and nature.

Jesus had glorified God by revealing to His disciples and all who heard His teaching what God is like and what He desires from people. And He’d glorified God in His life of perfect obedience and faith.

Now, with Jesus about to be arrested, crucified, resurrected, and taken back up to heaven, it would fall to the apostles to glorify God by telling others about His Son and by their obedience and faithfulness to this calling.

Today, with the Apostles all gone, the responsibility falls to us. Each one of us who has turned to Jesus in repentant faith has a responsibility to share the glory that has been handed down to us from Jesus.

Indeed, the glory of God within us should result in a oneness, a unity, that ITSELF is one of our most powerful tools of evangelism.

That’s essentially what Jesus is talking about in verse 22. He’s given us His glory so that we followers of Jesus might live together as ONE.

Remember that real unity is hard to find in the world. That’s why we give a special trophy to the TEAM that makes it through the playoffs and wins the Super Bowl.

Certainly, there’s an award for the Most Valuable Player, as well. But it’s the TEAM’S accomplishment that we celebrate.

During my newspaper career, I wrote lots of stuff that I thought was pretty good. But I was just part of a team that was focused on all the little, individual tasks necessary to produce a whole newspaper each day.

We all had our own individual jobs, but we united toward the same goal: to produce the best newspaper we could produce.

I think it’s significant that oneness is the primary thing Jesus prayed for regarding His Church. He didn’t pray that we’d have good offerings. He didn’t pray that the music would be flawless or even that the pastor would get his beard trimmed.

He prayed that we would be one, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one.

Indeed, our oneness — our unity — is only possible BECAUSE of the unity among the Trinity.

All of this language of indwelling in these verses helps us to understand why that’s true.

Look at the connections. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. The Son is in the believer, and the believer is in the Father and the Son.

Perhaps it is no surprise that Father and Son indwell one another. Jesus said He and the Father are one, after all. So, it shouldn’t surprise us that they would glorify one another. God glorifies Jesus, and Jesus glorifies God.

But what MIGHT be surprising is that Jesus suggests here that our position as believers IN HIM means that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all within us, too, glorifying US by their presence within us.

As one commentator says: “The oneness for which Christ makes request is more than an ethical unity. It is a oneness so intimate, so vital, so personal that it is patterned after, and based on, the relations which exist between the persons of the Holy Trinity: it is a oneness not only of faith, hope, and love but of life itself. Together, believers constitute one Body, of which Christ is the exalted Head.” [William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Gospel According to John, vol. 2, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 365–366.]

So, if we want to understand what unity should look like within the church, we need to understand what it looks like in the trinitarian God whose oneness empowers and demands it from us.

Each of the divine Persons of the Trinity knows the others completely. In John’s Gospel, we see the Father testifying about the Son, we see the Son testifying about the Father and about the Holy Spirit, and we see the Spirit testifying about both Father and Son. There are no secrets among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Similarly, we who are brothers and sisters through faith in Jesus are called to be so close that James tells us we should even confess our sins to one another.

James 5:16 NASB95

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Each of the Persons of the Trinity also freely chooses to be in relationship with and submission to one another.

Jesus submitted to His Father’s will in His life of perfect obedience. God submits to His Son by giving Him the authority to rule His kingdom. The Spirit submits to Father and Son by drawing God’s chosen people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And Father and Son submit to the Spirit by giving Him the power to make believers new creatures in Christ Jesus.

It won’t come as a surprise to you that we who follow Jesus are also called to submit to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But we’ve ALSO been called to submit to one another.

We see this, among other places, in Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church.

Ephesians 5:21 NASB95

21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Closely connected to this idea of mutual submission is the self-giving love demonstrated by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Father demonstrates His love for the Son by giving Him a life, a name, words and works, rule in the messianic Kingdom, all authority, all judgment, honor and glory, the disciples, believers and the revelation of Himself.

The Son demonstrates His love for the Father by delighting in Him, revealing Him, redeeming and reconciling us to Him, doing all the Father tells Him and shows Him to do, glorifying Him and, giving all things back to Him in the end times.

The Holy Spirit demonstrates His love for the Father and the Son by glorifying them, by revealing them to mankind, by indwelling those who have been redeemed and by mediating between the Godhead and redeemed mankind.

For the Church to demonstrate this kind of mutual submission and self-giving love requires us to let go of our personal preferences and agendas and seek what’s best for one another, regardless of what it might cost us to do so.

The Apostle Paul talks about this at great length in Romans, chapter 12, where he states that we are “one body in Christ and individually members one of another.”

Significantly, the core of Paul’s argument there focuses on love. Look at verse 9.

Romans 12:9–11 NASB95

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

Serving the Lord, Paul says here, REQUIRES being devoted to one another in brotherly love. It REQUIRES giving preference to one another in honor. And it requires these things, because these things reflect the character of our trinitarian God in whom we have new life as believers.

And, just as — UNITED IN LOVE — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit remain distinct from one another in their roles, we who make up the Church all have different roles to play according to the spiritual gifts we have received. Paul talks about this in the same passage.

Romans 12:6–8 NASB95

6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

So, the oneness of the Trinity is characterized by, among other things, uncommon intimacy, mutual submission and self-giving love, and a shared purpose.

Similarly, when Jesus prayed that we who would follow Him in faith through the words of the Apostles would be one, He wanted us to experience unity of mind, effort, and purpose — all of which must be underpinned by self-giving love.

This isn’t the external unity we show, for instance, when we sing “Blessed Be the Tie that Binds” after we’ve had the Lord’s Supper.

Instead, this is an INTERNAL unity that’s makes itself evident externally. It’s an internal unity that has such power as to draw people to Christ.

That’s what Jesus is saying in verse 23. He’s praying that the oneness of His Church will become stronger and stronger — that it’ll be perfected, brought to completion — so that the world is attracted to it.

When the New England Patriots were winning all those Super Bowls, they were loved by some and hated by others. But nobody could ignore what they were doing.

That’s how unity within the body of Christ should work, too. Some will come to love Jesus because of it, while others will hate Him for the same reason. But none will be able to ignore how DIFFERENT the church is from the world.

Sadly, we’re often better at preaching and listening to this message than we are at living it.

Which is kind of surprising when you notice what Jesus says at the end of verse 23 — that God loves US even as He loves Jesus.

This is a breathtaking statement! To know that God loves we sinners the same way He loves the Son who never sinned, who never lost faith — that’s a claim that we’d have a hard time believing if it hadn’t come from the mouth of Jesus Himself.

And given the fact that we ARE so loved — given the fact that because of this great love, we are now part of the one body of Christ, His Church — how is it that we can ever sit idly by and watch as it’s torn apart by pettiness and selfishness?

Even worse, how can we ever justify TAKING PART in tearing the body apart?

We’d be shocked and scandalized if someone on our favorite sports team suddenly switched jerseys and started playing for the other side.

But when effectively the same thing takes place in the church, we make excuses for it and minimize it and even put the rabble rousers in positions of authority.

“The Puritan preacher Thomas Brooks wrote: ‘Discord and division become no Christian. For wolves to worry the lambs is no wonder, but for one lamb to worry another, this is unnatural and monstrous.’” [Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 371.]

And what makes such a thing monstrous isn’t just that fellow lambs are hurt by discord and division within the Church, but that the WORLD is hurt by it.

The oneness experienced among the Persons of the Trinity results in an overflow of love and community to the benefit of mankind.

It was BECAUSE of the Father’s great love for the Son that He sent Jesus to live a sinless life and then die a sacrificial death on the cross to atone for our sins.

It was BECAUSE of the overflow of this love that we can be saved through faith in Jesus.

Similarly, it is BECAUSE of Christ’s love for His Church that the Church can be the conduit of salvation blessings to the lost world.

It is BECAUSE Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell within us and BECAUSE we are in them through faith in Jesus that we can experience unity of life together — that we can experience unity of mind, effort, and purpose.

And it is THROUGH that unity and the great love of God it reveals that the Church will help draw new believers to Jesus.

Friends, I want to tell you that I’ve seen this fellowship of believers make great strides towards unity during the time I’ve been your pastor. And I’m humbled to have been able to see the Holy Spirit at work in this congregation.

But I think it’s safe to say that we haven’t yet been perfected in unity. The Lord’s not done with us yet.

And so, let me challenge you today to reflect on what a wondrous statement it is, indeed, that God loves us even as He loves Jesus.

Let me challenge you to consider what that should mean in regards to your sanctification and to your relationships with other believes.

Let me challenge you to think hard about whether your life in the body of Christ reflects the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit or whether it reflects the divisiveness and discord of the lost world.

And let me encourage you this morning to make a fresh commitment to knowing one another, to loving one another, to submitting to one another, to serving one another, and to pursuing the same goal together.

We celebrate those characteristics when they bring our favorite sports teams success. How much more would we celebrate when those same characteristics help to shine the light of Jesus into the darkness of a lost world?

Let’s commit to one another this morning to be fully and unreservedly selfless in our pursuit of perfect unity.

This is how we can bring glory to the God who gives us HIS glory.