The Unity Factor
Notes
Transcript
Intro
We have a prayer sheet that goes into the bulletin each week. It’s a list of ways that you can be praying for each other.
Sharing prayer requests is something many of us are familiar with.
Some of us keep our own list of things that we pray for — things that we ask God for.
One of the things we’ve been praying a lot for around here is for God to breath new life into this church!
For God to advance His Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven through us!
We recently did a 40 Days of prayer for church revitalization together.
Well, in our passage today, we are going to get to see how Jesus prays for his church.
What are the kinds of things that Jesus petitions his father for — for us? This is a really astounding passage.
Most of us think of the Lord’s Prayer as the “Our Father” but that was how Jesus taught is disciples to pray.
John 17 is truly the Lord’s Prayer.
We’re just going to look at a portion of it this morning and we are going to see that Jesus desires for his church to be one.
To really understand what this means we are going to ask 3 questions of this text about the unity that Jesus desires...
What is unity?
How do we get it?
What is it for?
Read John 17:20-23
“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 also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 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.
PRAY
What is Unity? (v. 21)
What is Unity? (v. 21)
The kind of unity Jesus desired was not ORGANIZATIONAL.
Just think about the fact that the early church grew and thrived at a time when there was very little organizational unity.
The church would one day gain favor under Constantine and eventually centralize as an organizational body that covered all of Europe during the Middle Ages.
But was there a deep unity of faith that drew more people to genuine faith in Christ?
Not at all! In fact it had a negative effect. Listen to how Spurgeon described this period of church history...
“The world was persuaded that God had nothing to do with that great crushing, tyrannous, superstitious, ignorant thing which called itself Christianity; and thinking men became infidels, and it was the hardest possible thing to find a genuine intelligent believer north, south, east, or west.”
Now there is some benefit to organizational unity but this is not what the church needs most and it is not the kind of unity that Jesus prayed for.
Sometimes the Christian church is criticized for its disunity because there are so many different denominations. But this critique lacks understanding.
While it is true there are many different denominations each with varying theological convictions, if a church preaches the true Gospel — the message the apostles taught and preached in the New Testament then despite certain theological differences we are all part of the universal church.
This is what the Apostle’s Creed means when it says “we believe in the holy Catholic Church”.
This is not referring to a specific institution or organization such as the Roman Catholic Church.
No, it’s referring to universal church - the church preaches the Gospel of Jesus spread all across the globe transcending denominations.
Fishkill Baptist Church has historically aligned itself with a group of like-minded churches through the Venture Church Network (formally known as the Conservative Baptist Association of America).
But at the same time we have the freedom to aid and partner with other Gospel preaching churches.
For example, we have a church that is part of another denomination that is meeting in our gym every Sunday.
And beginning in June we will be welcoming back Christ Community Church (the Korean speaking church) to our building.
These churches would have no place to meet if it weren’t for our willingness to be a blessing to these churches who preach the same Gospel as we do.
So, the unity that Jesus prayed for was not organizational unity.
Neither was Jesus praying for UNIFORMITY.
The goal of Christian community is not that we should all be exactly alike.
We should welcome a variety of personalities, interests, and styles.
We should be glad even for people who don’t all think about things in the same way.
In fact it’s possible for people who love Jesus and are part of the same church to even vote differently! Because it is not our political opinions that unite us but our faith in Jesus.
The unity that Jesus desires is one that reflects the unity and diversity of the Trinity. We see this in verse 21.
Just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, Jesus says.
Let me just explain briefly what the Trinity is. This in no way exhaustive and there are my attempts by way of analogies that are not helpful because I don’t think it’s possible to fully understand something that truly is not of this world and has no similarities to anything in the created order.
So the essential truths of the Trinity that have been affirmed throughout church history is that God is: One WHAT and three WHO’S OR One BEING, who exists as three PERSONS
Each are equal in power, worth, and dignity.
Each give and receive love from one another.
This makes sense because the Bible says that the eternal triune God IS love...
And if love is the giving of yourself for another, then God must have an eternal plurality of personhood in his one being.
They also give and receive glory to one another. We see this in verse 1 of this chapter. Jesus prays, “glorify your son, that Son may glorify you.”
Yet while each of the members of the Trinity share the same being they are also distinct from one another. They have different roles or functions
Take for example God’s work of creation:
The Father Planned it
The Son Did it
The Spirit sustains it
Or his work of Salvation:
The Father Planned it
The Son Accomplished it
The Spirit Applies it
But while they each play a different role, the Trinity is united in their (orientation, desires, and will) — they are united in mission!
So, the church includes all kinds of different people with unique personalities, interests, and variety of gifts and abilities.
But the thing that unites us is our common bond in Christ because of the Gospel.
In Christ...
We share a unity of orientation in our worship of the one true God.
We share a unity of will and desire in that we all want what God wants!
We share a unity of mission each being commissioned to join Jesus in his work of redeeming lost sinners to himself.
And while we are united in all these ways, we have a variety of roles that we each get to play.
This is the unity that Jesus prays for — a Diverse group of Christians united by the Gospel and for Gospel Mission!
How do we get it? (v. 22)
How do we get it? (v. 22)
We don’t get it — we receive it...
Unity is given to us. If we are in Christ we belong to his body the Church and his body is not divided.
This is a word of caution to many who believe that they can have Jesus without the church. For how can you love Jesus and not love His body!
If this is you, it’s possible that the Jesus you love is a Jesus of your own making and not the Jesus of the Bible.
Look at verse 22 (Jn.17.22)
The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
Our unity is a result of the glory that Jesus has given us. And this is the same glory that God the Father gave to him.
What is this glory?
Glory commonly refers to the revelation of God’s character or person.
And the reason that Jesus faithfully revealed God’s character to his followers was to reconcile them to God.
This work culminated with his death and resurrection — the ultimate display of God’s person and character.
And Jesus has now given this glory so that we can participate with Him in making him known to the world.
This is a unity of mission that Jesus has given us.
Think about how a common goal and mission brings unity in other ways.
The actors in a play are united in the goal and mission of telling a particular story.
The players on a football team are united in the mission and goal of winning the Super Bowl.
The glory of showing the beauty of Christ in the Gospel to the world is the mission that unites the church.
While unity is given, it is also something we must strive for.
One aspect of unity is that because it’s given by nature of the fact that we are adopted into the family of God…we don’t get to choose who are brother’s and sisters in Christ are.
They are likely to be different than you, and as we are probably well aware, it is our differences that are most likely to cause friction and create conflict.
You know it’s easy to love people who are like-able but remember we don’t choose our brothers and sisters.
God may bring a difficult brother or sister in Christ into your life to teach you how to love someone who is hard to love!
So, how can we strive to maintain this unity even with people who can really get under our skin? Listen to Paul’s words in his letter to the Ephesians (Eph. 4:1-3)
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
We maintain our unity in the bond of peace. This is a supernatural bond that we all share.
We have made peace with God by being reconciled to Him through Jesus Christ.
Jesus died for our sins not because we were love-able but because he chose to love us despite our ugliness — this gives us a supernatural strength to love the unlovely...
And not because you are such a loving person but because you have first been loved by God.
Our ability to love comes from God. Remember these words from 1 John 4:19-20
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
Our love is proportional to our understanding of God’s love for us.
So if we really understand God’s love for us, then we can love him and others supernaturally.
However, if we find that we struggle to love God and others, it’s possible that you’ve not yet experienced God’s love and forgiveness for yourself.
Or that you don’t have a deep appreciation or understanding of God’s loving forgiveness.
In fact the majority of your growth as a Christian can be directly traced back to how much you understand what Christ has done for you.
So unity is given to us when we receive Christ’s forgiveness and are made a part of his family.
And unity is maintained by remembering his forgiveness.
What is it for? (v.23)
What is it for? (v.23)
The unity of the church is a powerful means that God uses to make himself known to the world.
There is something about our unity that gives evidence to the world that Jesus is the real deal.
There was a survey done many years ago that asked people why the chose to return to a particular church after visiting.
Do you know what the number one answer was?
It wasn’t the music (that was #3)
It wasn’t the preaching (that was #2)
The #1 reason people return to a church after visiting is because they felt loved by the people.
So, as much as we desire quality preaching and good music as tools to grow our church we must strive to maintain our unity in love for God, each other, and any visitor who walks through our doors.
This something that we must all be a part of.
Not all of you can preach or play music but we can all show love and be a blessing to others.
I can preach but I can’t love for you.
One simple way to do this is to remember someone’s name!
It’s our unity in love that will show how remarkable Jesus is to a lost and dying world. But in order for them to see it we need to work to make it visible. How do we do this?
One way we are doing this is with the free jazz picnic on June 10th. We are doing this in the community at the Hopewell Recreation Park.
You know what would be great is if a bunch of us showed up and got creative about how we could show love to people.
So, we don’t go first for ourselves to be entertained but to think about how to love those who stop by out of curiosity to see what’s going on.
Another way we can make our love and unity visible is by joining a Life Group.
Life Groups are our way of getting people plugged into Gospel-centered communities that are not possible on a Sunday morning.
These groups meet to study the Bible but they are not just Bible studies.
These groups pray together but they are not just prayer meetings.
These groups seek to care for one another and bear one another’s burdens, bu it’s more than this.
These groups strive to be on mission together and to serve together.
One way these groups can do this is by being active together in our community by participating in things like town clean up days or volunteering in other ways.
A group I was a part of once went to wrap Christmas presents that were going to be given to underprivileged children. The organization was not a Christian one so it was really great to go as a group representing our church in our community.
Or a group could have a BBQ at one of their houses and invite some of the neighbors to join. This is a great way to get to know some neighbors and for them to see first hand Christian love and unity.
And one of the remarkable things about our Life Groups is that they are purposefully not affinity based. Any group is open to anyone regardless of age, gender, hobbies, or interests.
We made this decision because we believe that the diversity of these groups reflects the power of the Gospel that does not discriminate and transcends...
Age
Gender
Ethnicity
Culture
Think of it this way...
When you observe groups of people in general there is typically a lowest common denominator that is the thing that unites them.
This could be a common interest or hobby.
I think this is most easily seen in teen culture. Usually a group of teens will have an unspoken dress code, a particular hair style, or music they all enjoy. They probably subscribe to similar YouTube channels.
For those of us who have careers, we know what it is like to go to a job related convention and observe some stereotypes associated with that profession.
My wife and her family were very involved for many years, I think from its inception, in a large home school convention in Massachusetts. It’s no longer like this, but in the early days you would see a lot of homemade denim skirts, and dresses.
So, when it comes to the church our unity is not found in the things of this world.
Our unity is supernatural!
The Life Group I used to lead was really incredible, it included...
Some grandparents,
A college student,
Some parents of younger kids,
A couple who were born and raised in another country and culture.
I’m sure economically speaking we were all over the place too.
Truly, the only thing we all had in common was Jesus!
Now take a group like that out to serve the community in some way and there’s a powerful testimony that points to Jesus.
Because people will wonder…what in the world do all of these different people have in common? What in the world unites them?
We could tell people that…it’s actually something out of this world that unites us!
As we seek to love our community may we reflect the gospel that knows no bounds and not show partiality in our witness.
Because this just makes Jesus look so good to the world!
When Christians love each other well it points others to Jesus. Think of Jesus’ words in John 13:35
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
And what makes our love supernatural is that it’s not based on the fact that other people are so lovable or on the fact that we are such good people…No...
It’s based on the fact that we were un-lovely and Jesus loved us anyway, not because he had to but because he wanted to.
Conclusion
Church we want to see hearts turn to Jesus.
We especially want to reach the next generation.
We want to see people getting baptized and joining our church.
We want to see disciples making disciples.
But we must remember that...
Our ability to reach our community will always be directly tied to the measure of our unity.
So, let us be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Let us love one another well because Christ first loved us!
PRAY
Benediction
English Standard Version Chapter 13
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.