Thursday 5 June

Introduction

This morning we have two passages that refer to salvation.

The first one in Acts is an amazing story of salvation, and the second in John is a prayer of Jesus that after he has gone, those who come to believe in him through the message of the apostles, will be one as he and the Father are one. And it is through seeing that unity that the world, Jesus says, ‘will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.’

Acts 16:16-34

Woman predicted the future through a spirit dwelling inside of her

Paul commanded the spirit to leave

Owners could not make money - brought Paul and Silas before the authorities

Crowd gathered against them

Beaten and flogged, thrown into prison

Jailer told to guard them carefully - took them to the moset secure cell and put them in stocks

Earthquake - violent - every chain came loose - jailer fearful and about to kill himself - Paul saves him from himself

What must I do to be saved?

Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household.

Jailer hosted them

34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

John 17:20-26

In John, Jesus prays for those disciples of the future, praying ‘that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.’ This is the type of unity that Jesus desires for his church.

And this language from John sometimes sounds quite cryptic … but I think what he is getting at is this …

I wonder how we see our identity? How do you define yourself? When you introduce yourself, what do you say? … Open up.

So, we find our identity in terms of our relationships.

In these 7 verses, Jesus uses the word ‘Father’ three times, and then he uses I, me, you, them, us, lots of times as well. Jesus is getting at that closeness of relationship between the Father and the Son, it is so close, and it is built on love. And that is the relationship that we have been brought in to and we can know more of.

And it is the relationship that we are all brought into as the church … an intimate relationship with the Father and the Son … when we know them amongst our brothers and sisters.

Unity doesn’t mean a lack of disagreement. It doesn’t mean that we won’t fall out. It doesn’t mean that we won’t find another member of the church family annoying or irritating. And it doesn’t mean that we won’t hurt or offend one another. As part of a broken human race, we make mistakes, we get things wrong. And although we have the Spirit of God living in us, who directs our hearts and attitudes, none of us are perfect, and we get it wrong.

I think the important thing though is how we make things right again.

In the letter from James to the churches, he writes: 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

James expects God’s people to get it wrong, and so we need to be ready to practice repentance and forgiveness. I was chatting to someone the other day and we were saying that sometimes forgiveness is really hard, and it can be a process. Sometimes we forgive, and then we pick up and hold on to the grudge again. So we have to keep forgiving someone time and time again until we have completely forgiven them.

Because the goal is unity - not for the sake of it, not because it’s a nice word or feeling, but because it’s the harmony of life that the Father has with the Son and that we are called into together. And as people see that unity they will be drawn to the God they see in us.