We Unite at the Feet of Jesus

TENSION NEEDING REDEMPTION:

We miss the beauty Jesus intended for the church to live united and interdependent because of our idol of independence

CENTRAL TRUTH EXPRESSED (MAIN POINT):

We are meant to be a community united at the feet of Jesus

GOD'S HEART REVEALED:

We would experience intimacy with Him as we experience intimacy with one another, and that the world would see Jesus through our love for one another

OUR RIGHT RESPONSE:

Renews our minds on loving God and loving one another

1 | How have I experienced the tension?

Up until now, we have focused largely on personal one on one intimacy with Jesus, and only touched on the realities on Biblical Community.

But if we are not careful we can easily begin to believe that the journey with Jesus is exclusively an individual and personal one… where we think it’s about “Revive Me” rather than Revive Us…

Now that does not really “feel” like a problem in our culture…

Our culture prizes the individual. An orientation around the self. Self-discovery. Self-actualization. Self-help.

But this has only made our culture more isolated and lonely than ever…

In a recent national survey of American adults, 36% of respondents reported serious loneliness—feeling lonely “frequently” or “almost all the time or all the time” in the four weeks prior to the survey. This included 61% of young people aged 18-25 and 51% of mothers with young children.

here is what the sociologists from Harvard explained, “In this age of hyper-individualism, the degree to which Americans have prioritized self-concerns and self- advancement and demoted concern for others in many communities has left many Americans stranded and disconnected”

2 | How have you experienced this tension?

Now neither this study nor am I saying that all loneliness is caused exclusively because of our self-focus, but the individualistic cultural waters we are swimming in and we each embrace in our own way is doing nothing to help this reality.

The reality is this the culture we live in… individualized, fractured, and hurting.

The question is does God provide a real answer to this pain that is better than what the culture around us has attempted to provide?

3 | What do the Scriptures say about this tension?

Over the last two weeks we have meditated on two prayers, the Shema from the Old Testament and the Lord’s Prayer from the New Testament, both meant to be prayers that would guide God’s people into renewed minds and hearts toward Him. And notice that both are communal prayers…

But there is another, not one meant for us to pray, but Jesus’ prayer that he prayed for us.

We find it in John 17.

Did you know that? Jesus literally prayed for us?

It was the night of his arrest.

He takes the opportunity to chat with his followers and preach to them a message filled with reassurance… to abide in Him, to trust the coming Holy Spirit, that they will experience hardship but trust that He will overcome the world for them…

As he closes the message he prays for himself, then for his disciples, and finally for all who would come after them…

Would you close your eyes and allow this prayer from Jesus in John 17 to wash over you?

Read John 17:20-26

John 17:20–26 ESV

“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. 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. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 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.”

Main Idea: We are meant to be a community united at the feet of Jesus

Read John 17:20

John 17:20 ESV

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

First off, Jesus makes it clear WHO he is praying for, not just the disciples. He didn’t just have this hope for just like his inner crew… but for THOSE who would come after.

This includes those who would respond to the Gospel when Peter would preach at Pentecost and 3,000 get baptized THAT DAY!

The churches that would be planted within the first 100 years of the early church throughout Asia, India, Africa, and Europe.

The church over the last 2,000 years across the globe.

Christians in China, Africa, the Middle East Where today Jesus is calling to himself a chosen people in the midst of difficulty and heavy persecution.

The church that is gathered in this space now. Jesus was praying for us.

The covering of Jesus prayer spanned from that moment all the way to this present moment in time.

Notice Jesus is not praying about individual Christians on their solo journeys… he is talking about a collection of individuals.

But we are quick to individualize Scriptures.

Read 1 Peter 2:9

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

When you read that word you in our modern English translations it is often fairly misleading. In the King James Version the translation is the word Thou… which is a second person plural phrase… it is about a group of you’s not just a single you. The best modern American translation comes from the great state of Texas… y’all. You ALL, all of yous.

We read through our individualistic lenses and personalize the Scriptures too quickly, and miss out on the beautiful realities of community that are being unearthed.

Maybe you grew up with this phrase that was used a lot when I was growing up, “If you were the only person on earth, Christ would have still suffered and died for you.”

That is an interesting thought experiment, and in theory yes it is true, but do you see where it puts the focus? The self.

Jesus didn’t die for a person, he died for a people.

He didn’t die just for you. He died for an us. He died on the cross not to save a bunch of isolated individuals but to bring each of us into a forever family.

It is not that the individuals are irrelevant. You and I are absolutely relevant. The individual person matters because the person is a part of a people. And he came to save for himself a people, a holy nation, a forever family filled with beautifully unique and diverse people!

That quote is likely believed to be a misquote of Augustine who was quoted as saying it this way, ““God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.”

This is speaking to our belovedness. You are uniquely and beautifully loved children.

I love my family. In my family there are four creatures I love I love Ali, Asher, Abi, and Duffy. But I do not love them the same. I love Ali in a unique wife/Ali way. I love Asher in a unique Son/Asher way, I love Abi in a unique Daughter/Abi way, and Duffy in a unique pet/Duffy way.

God loves his historic, global church his forever family as a whole AND he loves each son and daughter within that family in a uniquely beautiful and personal way.

What is Jesus’ desire? What is his prayer for yall?

Read John 17:21

John 17:21 ESV

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.

God’s desire is that we would be one. United. People.

The centuries have shown divisions and brokenness within the church. Church splits, fractured friendships, denominational brokenness. Those do not match Jesus desires.

So why don’t we live in this?

Read John 17:22-23

John 17:22–23 ESV

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.

We will get to the part about the watching world in a minute but first let’s focus on what Jesus is saying is foundational for unity.

Experiencing the love of the Father…

A few weeks ago we talked about a secure attachment with the Father. That only out of true intimacy with the Father can we trust Him to listen and obey His voice.

Now Jesus is connecting experiencing God’s love with our ability to live in unity and oneness with one another.

Humans are not exactly safe. We hurt one another. Misunderstand one another. Think differently from one another. Constantly.

So how can we possibly be safe enough to truly engage in oneness and intimacy with one another the way Jesus is praying here?

Because we are a people who discover how loved we are, that our Father wants us to be so rooted in his affection toward us, that we can rest in the shelter of his wings not believing that his shelter means we will never experience difficulty, but in the midst of difficulty we can trust the only one who is unmovable.

That we are truly lacking in NOTHING.

We are safe to seek unity and oneness with one another not because we will always get it right but because we are connected with a good Father who desires to draw us near to Himself and remind us that we are a safe people.

We usually move toward Independence or Codependence. Independence is no one tells me what to do or how to live or who I am. Codependence is a complete reliance on someone else for all those things and more.

But we discover in the Scriptures that as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, this holy nation we are meant to live interdependent.

Interdependence is a bond that is made up of persons who live as a healthy and whole people.

This is the version of relational health that is consistently advocated in the Scriptures, whether it is in the picture we get for a healthy marriage relationship, friendship, or community relationship, even in the difficult realities of life…

Look at the way Paul writes about how we are to handle when we see one another falling into sinful patterns…

Read Galatians 6:1-5

Galatians 6:1–5 ESV

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.

Restore one another / Bear one another’s burdens…. Communal responsibility

Test your own work and bear your own load … personal responsibility

It is a both / and reality

This interconnectedness and interdependence flies in the face of our cultural norms and your personal bend right?

According to Harvard and the Scriptures, it is not working.

But Jesus offers us a better way… to see us as a united holistic whole.

Which means we impact one another more than we know.

Our sin affects one another.

This is what Paul is writing about in Galatians 6, we bear one another’s burden. We don’t fight sinful patterns alone, we engage with each other. We go deep. Because I need you to remind me of my desperate need of Jesus, and you need it from me and one another.

We like to think that our sinful patterns only affect us, but the reality is we affect one another all the time, throughout the Bible we see that sinful patterns are so quick to become contagious in a community, because our hearts are looking for confirmation toward choosing our own way.

So whether it is sin of action, inaction, word, or thought it has a real effect on a community. Because we are one. So each of our sinful pattern carries a real effect on me and the entire community.

Our successes affect one another.

BTW, you want to stab jealousy in the face? Celebrate with those who celebrate. This is how when someone gets a raise or an awesome new job or marriage proposal or whatever the cause for celebration is, we have the ability to genuinely join them in celebration. Because we are one, so your successes are my successes.

Our grief affect one another.

This is why Jesus said grieve with those who grieve. Because we are interconnected. It is not so much of a command as a true reality. Empathy comes from sharing the realities. So when someone loses a loved one, a job, a relationship, or a pet. They are not a burden. We are one. So your grief becomes my grief.

We are meant to live interdependent and interconnected lives.

toward the end of the pray Jesus reminds us again where all of this starts, not in our striving for unity, but us uniting at His feet.

Read John 17:26

John 17:26 ESV

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.”

In the Scriptures, whenever we read about being revealed God’s name it always is pointing to a deepening of intimacy.

We can only be truly united when we are united at the feet of Jesus.

We are surrounded by other imperfect humans, so if we are holding out on the perfect church to truly be vulnerable in and be united to, you are going to hold out until Jesus returns.

But if you realize that our source of unity with one another is rooted in our intimacy with God everything changes.

We unite because we have each approached the feet of Jesus and while we are there we look to the left and to the right and see one another, share with one another, begin to truly love one another.

4 | How can the Gospel bring resolution to this tension in your life?

The Harvard Research study offers an interesting insight, ““We need to return to an idea that was central to our founding and is at the heart of many great religious traditions: We have commitments to ourselves, but we also have vital commitments to each other, including to those who are vulnerable.”

This is true, but Jesus offers the best version of this. A vision of truly belonging to a forever family where you are safe, known, cared for, and seen.

But not only are you all of those things so is everyone else in the family, and because they are and you are you can enter into the beauty and brutality of life together.

5 | What would the world see if the church embraced this resolution?

The world is watching. They watch the way we live and love one another. They want to see if our family is dysfunctional or is living in a hope that is different to the world.

Here is how Jesus ultimately expresses it as he prays for us…

Read John 17:21

John 17:21 ESV

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.

Our unity and oneness is literally a living proof of the Gospel. Only with a risen savior can such different broken people be united.

Imagine if this was our reality?

Tonight we are going to enter into a spiritual rhythm together as a practical response for how we live in unity.

We are called to pray for one another over and over again…

So we wanted to invite each of us into the space to take 10 minutes to pray for one another by breaking up into groups of 3. Not about anything in particular but whatever is on your heart and mind tonight.

If you are here tonight and you either don’t feel comfortable praying with others or you still don’t know what you think about Jesus in the first place feel zero awkwardness in either just sharing a prayer request OR simply listen and observe, may you discover in this moment the wonder of Jesus as we seek to be one together.

So turn around or look in front a maybe divide into groups of 3 people and spend a moment praying with one another remembering Jesus prayer that we would be unified.