Christian Unity
Notes
Transcript
Main Idea: Jesus is calling believers to live in unity as He lives in unity with the Father.
Main Idea: Jesus is calling believers to live in unity as He lives in unity with the Father.
How do I see Jesus: Points to him as the mediator
How do I see Jesus: Points to him as the mediator
As we continue in the High Priestly Prayer this morning, lets remember where we have been, in vs 1-5 Jesus is praying for himself as an offering as he is about to go to the cross and fulfill his calling. Then in verses 6-19 Jesus begins to pray these prayers of salvation for those who are following him, and then this morning Jesus will switch his prayer to something completely different.
This morning we are seeing Jesus call all believers to live in unity, he will pretty much tell us we need to live in unity with each other in the same way he lives in unity with the Father. And this is a a hard concept for us to grasp because the unity of the trinity is a mystery to us.
And in the next few verses Jesus shifts to praying for our unity, lets look
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.
The first step in his prayer for our unity comes as he says “that they may all be one” and it is clear here that Jesus wants us to be unified. And what that means is that many become one harmonious whole….
And this word has been used in ways in the past that were not at all Godly… People have used this idea for segregation in the past to say we should all stay with out kind, an idea that spurred Nazi Germany to do many horrific things.
And I remember a time in my office in Oklahoma sitting with a man who believed the other Gospel that Paul talked about in Romans was the calvinist Gospel. Its what he really believed, we should all preach against the calvinist… he wouldn’t even let his wife grow tulips… thats a joke for the theology nerds. He wanted the church to be in unity and he didn’t think we were, and when I would press and ask where we weren’t he couldn’t bring up an actual place, I think he just wanted us to all share the same message as him that Calvinism would be the death of us.
So the question then you would ask me is what is Jesus speaking of here, what kind of unity, and it would be easy to think maybe he wants us to give up everything and decide we are all going to live a certain way and forsake everything else, perhaps like the amish. Or maybe we think what he means is kind of what my professors in college would talk about with so many different denominations represented, they would say we don’t major in the minors or lets keep the main thing the main thing. And what that meant is we were going to agree on the things that were salvatory and big ideas and talk about those, but when it came to practice and smaller ideas we were going to leave all of those behind. And I think thats a great idea and a good way to look at it, but that isn’t exactly what I think Jesus is talking about here.
What I think he wants us to look at is a unity that is similar to the unity of the trinity and we see that in the next part of the verse…
John 17:21 (ESV)
21 … just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you…
And listen trying to explain the trinity without falling into Heresy is almost impossible and I for one am okay with knowing human words make it almost hard to explain. But what we know is they are one but at the same time distinct, we are to come into the body of Christ as one but at the same time distinct, we are not going to look like mirror images of one another because we are all distinct, but we hold the same as our core and in essence part of the same body.
And he goes on and says
John 17:21 (ESV)
21 …that they also may be in us…
So its not just about unity amongst ourselves, the important part is our unity is what brings us together in Him, that we be united in the Godhead.
Why?
John 17:21 (ESV)
21 …so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
So its not just that we are to be united with each other so we can be united with him, but so the world can see our unity and love for each other and want to be a part of it, because they need to be a part more than anything in the world.
When I think about small groups and how I have seen them grow and be so life giving in the past, its not just the ones that come together around common interest that do so well. Not that it is a bad strategy, its not, but what Jesus is talking about here isn’t just that we get all of our men together and we do life and that is the unity that brings us together. Or we get all of our young people together because that is what we have in common and we can come together because of that, but what we see is the best thing that grows groups and gives them lives is not that common interest but we come together in our unity based on the Gospel and our Love for Jesus and his world. Because lets be honest we could have unity in all of those other things even if Jesus wasn’t a part of it, in fact the world does have groups that grow and meet just because of those things. We need to come together based on our love in Jesus and even the things that make us unique and different become beautiful when we are together based on our love for the gospel and our desire for Jesus.
Some of the greatest things i have ever seen in groups that are cultivated organically this way is how the group members will invest in each other over things taht wouldn’t initially interest them becasue one of the other members is into it. They will give up their time and talents to be a part, because there is a sense of unity there and a love for one another and they want to be for each other.
This is the kind of thing the world takes notice in. Its different than the rest of the world the rest of the world only comes together over common interest and doesn’t care about things that don’t please them, but when our bonds are around Jesus and his love it changes everything and is astonishing to a world looking for hope, and love.
The second step to our unity comes in the next verse
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
And now Jesus is praying about our unity in terms of glory which is a crazy idea when it comes to us, remember all the way back in vs 5 Jn 17:5
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
And when he is thinking about us he wants us to be able to accomplish the same thing, for Jesus the true path to glory is through service. Remember, Jesus came to serve and so now he says this glory he was given he is giving to us, and that way was through the cross so for him it is for us. Our path to glory is through service.
And we have talked about this many times before, for Jesus his path to glory was through his death and resurrection. For us it may not be our literal death, but it may be through our death of self where we lay down our preferences, desires, needs, and even our sin to him.
I love what William Barclay said when he talked about bearing our own cross, “We must never think of the cross as our penalty; we must think of it as our glory…So when it is hard to be a Christian, we must regard it as our glory, as our honor given to us by God.”
And the last thing Jesus is praying for about our unity is in the last verse
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.
Jesus in us, and the Father in him, is growing us into a perfect unity. I think about it much the same way as I think about the process of sanctification. We are always growing in those ways.
I think the question is when can we stop pursing unity and for some, it is easy to think we can stop when everything is good and we don’t have to worry about it anymore, but what we are seeing is we should only stop when it is perfect, and we may never perfect it on this earth so we should constantly be pursing that unity with one another through hin,
And the question is are you living your life this way, do you truly believe the words and the directive of Jesus for our lives that we are to build our lives in unity with him and each other and should beuild our world around it - the idea that Father loves those who believe in Jesus the same way he loved the son, the work that Jesus did is the work we need in our lives, the greatest message of all time that of the gospel is what should draw us together in unity. You and I were sinners… but Jesus…
The question is in Christian circles are you allowing this to bring you together? Are you building unity in Jesus and the work on the cross or in the things of this world and the things you have done and enjoy? We cannot live a life where our unity can be based off the same things the world bases their unity off of but think it is different because we call ourselves the church, the thing that makes us unique, the thing that draws us all together, the thing that brings us into the body, is our belief in the Gospel. Is that what you hold as priority one?
What we see is when this is the priority it changes everything. Look at what the disciples started when they came together around a common cause and began to do what he had called him to. Are you united with your brothers and sisters in the room around the gospel, or are you thinking about your own desires and wants. Can you imagine a capitol C church where the most important thing to us was the gospel. Now that doesn’t mean we had to practice the same way, but what if instead of letting our differences divide us, we let our commonalities unite us?
