Rick Warren - Christ’s Vision A Unified Family Part One

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Warren.

Today we continue in a series called the Awesome Power of Vision. In

these lessons, Pastor Rick shows us how to pursue God's amazing vision for each

of our lives so that we can see our future with faith and not fear.

But first, do you ever feel like you've lost your spark your joy?

In just a few moments, We're going to tell you about an exciting

new resource that will deepen your relationship with God and restore your joy. You

can take a sneak peek right now by going to Pastororick dot com while you

listen, and if you want, you can just text the word Daily to

eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four to find out more. Right now,

here's Pastor Rick Warren with part one of a message called Christ's Vision a

Unified Family. You know, the night before Jesus died on the Cross,

he took the twelve men that he'd been training for his entire ministry to a

place where they could share the Passover meal together. Now, that place was

called the Upper Room because it was on the second floor of a building,

so it was an upper room. These twelve men had been with Jesus for

three and a half years as they trained to be the leaders of the church.

Now, during the Passover meal, Jesus redefined the passover with new meaning

to become the Lord's Supper. During the Lord's Supper, Judas left the room

to betray Jesus and to have him arrested. So Jesus knows that he's going

to be dead and buried within twenty four hours. So he knows that whatever

he's going to say now would be his last words before death. Now you

know that the last words of dying people are always extremely important, and Jesus

shared his most intimate thoughts in this passage. What Jesus said in his last

words before the cross are found in the Book of John Versus Our chapter thirteen

to chapter seventeen. Now, those five chapters in John are called the Upper

Room Discourse, And this week I want to urge you to spend the week

reading and rereading John chapter thirteen through seventeen, because it's packed with powerful spiritual

truth that we desperately need, particularly in these days. Now, in those

five chapters, the two themes that Jesus spoke the most about were a number

one how much he loves us, and number two how much we must love

each other. In the church, in fact, love is mentioned twenty one

times. Let me just show you a couple of examples. John fifteen,

verse nine. Just as the Father has loved me, so as I have

loved you. Now you must live in my love. John fifteen twelve and

thirteen. I am commanding you to love each other with the same love,

the same kind of love that I've loved you. And here's how to measure

that kind of love. He says. The greatest love you could show is

when you lay down your life for friends. And that's exactly what Jesus was

going to be doing in the next few hours. John fifteen seventeen. Again,

this is what I'm commanding you to do. You must love each other.

You get the point here, He keeps coming back to the same theme.

I love you. You got to love each other now. After Jesus

shared his final words, he prayed his final public prayer before going to the

cross, and that prayer is recorded in John chapter seventeen. And I want

to start today with it because it shows us. Christ lays out his vision

for us, his family, the church, and Jesus prays for us in

John seventeen. John seventeen, verses one and two New International, Jesus looked

up to heaven and said, Father, the time has come. In other

words, it's time for me to go to the cross. It's time for

me to die for the sins of mankind. Glorify your son, so that

You're son may glorify you. And in the first eight verses of jesus prayer

in John seventeen, he gives a ministry report to the Father of all that

he's done with his disciples in the last three and a half years. Then

in verse nine he prays for them, and then he prays for all of

us who have come to faith in Jesus because of them. Did you know

that Jesus prayed for you right before he was arrested and sent to the cross

to die for you. John seventeen nine to eleven says this, I'm not

praying for the world, but for those you've given me because they belong to

you. And now I'm departing the world that I'm leaving them behind. Father,

So protect them by the power of your name, so that so that

listen, they may be united as one, just as we are one.

And let me point out that this is the first mention of unity among Christians

in jesus prayer, but it's going to be the primary theme of the whole

prayer. And what was on Jesus's mind the most as he got ready to

go the cross was his own family, the church, and that we would

be united in love after he died and rose again. He mentions it several

times in this prayer. In John seventeen, verses twenty twenty one, Jesus

prays for you. He says this, I'm praying not only for these disciples,

but all for all who will believe in me because of their testimony.

That's you, and my prayers for all of them. That day two,

that's us will be one, unified with each other. Christians approve that we're

who we are by being one with each other. Jesus said, just as

I am as in you and you are in and just as you are in

me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and

the world will believe that you sent me. Now again, just as Jesus

is getting ready to die, he's most concerned about what his followers in the

church are going to be unified in love. It's uppermost in his mind.

This is the primary vision he has for us. It's what he prayed,

That's what he wanted. If something else had been more important than Jesus,

believe me, he would have mentioned it in this prayer. So what I

want to do in our time together today is look a little bit closer at

Christ's vision for us, a vision of unity, because it's obviously important to

him. Now. I don't have time to show you all the verses that

talk about unity in the scripture, but I will tell you this that in

the New Testament, it has more to say about protecting unity among Christians than

it has to say about either heaven or Hell. Did you know that you're

listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope Rip will be back in just a moment with

the rest of today's lesson. You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email

emotional at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com. How do you feel

spiritually right now? Maybe you feel spiritually dry, like you're in a desert,

or like you're just going through the motions. Maybe you've lost your spark

your joy. God knows how you feel right now. You are not alone.

He knows even David and the Bible felt like that and Jeremiah twenty nine

thirteen. God says you will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me

with all your heart. When you seek God intentionally, it leads to a

renewal of your relationship with Him. That's why Pastor Rick created a very special,

brand new resource called Going Deeper with God, a personal renewal Retreat,

and it He'll personally leave you on a spiritual journey to help you seek God.

Together, you and Pastor Rick will go through a series of audio lessons

and after each set ession, you'll take a little time to complete exercises in

the Companion workbook. You can do this at home in short sessions, or

you can get away for a day and do it in one sitting. Through

this retreat, you'll experience a renewal of life within you. God will restore

your joy. As he renews, refreshes, invigorates, and revives your spiritual

life. You'll never be the same again. Will send you Going Deeper with

God, a personal renewal retreat, as our way of saying thanks. When

you give a gift today to help daily Hope share the hope of Jesus with

a hurting world. Just call eight hundred and six hundred at five zero zero

four or go to Pastorick dot com to get your copy of this great resource.

That's eight hundred at six hundred five zero zero four or Pastorick dot com.

Once again, here's Rick. Now, I don't have time to show

you all the verses that talk about unity in the Scripture, but I will

tell you this that in the New Testament, it has more to say about

protecting unity among Christians than it has to say about either Heaven or Hell.

Did you know that the Bible in the New Testament has more to say about

Christians loving each other than it says about Heaven or Hell. In fact,

God says so much about this concept that I'm going to have to split this

message in half and teach it in two parts. So today what I'm going

to do is give you a quick survey of what the Bible says about the

importance of unity in the Church and why it matters so much. We're going

to look at what Jesus said, what Paul said, and what the First

Church did, and then in part two. We'll look at the specifics of

how we are to fulfill Christ's vision for us in the second part. So

today I want to summarize what God says about the importance of unity among believers

in about a dozen statements. And because of that, I'm going to go

pretty fast, and I'm going to cover so many verses that I'm going to

limit my commentary on many of them. We're going to just let God's word

speak to our hearts. All right, you're ready. Here twelve statements that

summarize all that the New Testament says about unity. Number one, my unity

with other believers is the proof that I'm saved. My unity with other believers

is the proof that I'm saved. John thirteen, thirty four and thirty five

says this, Jesus is talking. I'm giving you a new commandment. You

must love each other. You must love each other in the same way that

I have loved you. Your love for one another will be the proof to

the world that you really are my disciples. You prove that you're a Christian,

not with a bump sticker on your car, and not by any other

action. The Bible says, the proof that you really are a Christian is

that you love other Christians in the church. Family, all right. Number

two, write this down. The Trinity is our model for unity. The

Trinity is our model for unity. Jesus explains this in verse eleven of John

seventeen. He says this in his prayer, Holy Father, protect them by

the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that listen,

so that they may be one with each other, just as we are

one. I love God's word translation. It says it like this, so

that their unity may be just like ours. The Trinity is the model.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in harmony and unity with each

other. The three are one, and the Bible says that's the way we're

to be in the Church. We're to be unified as one. Number three.

Jesus' last prayer, very last prayer before he goes the cross, was

that we'd live in unity. John seventeen twenty one. My prayer for all

of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are

one. Father, that just as you are in me and I am in

you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe the

world will believe that you sent me. Did you notice that Jesus ties other

people coming to Christ with our unity. He says, other people will believe

when they see Christians loving each other in unity. I love it. In

the Message paraphrase translation, it says this verse twenty one. My goal for

all of them is to become one heart and mind, just as you Father

in me and I in you. They may they be one heart and mind

along with us. Then the world may believe that you sent me. This

is Jesus' vision, and this is Jesus' goal for you and for me,

for anybody who claims to the name of Christ. Now, in the next

verse of jesus prayer, we learn the fourth principle, and it's this,

God gives us his glory so that we'll be unified. God gives us his

glory so that we, as Christians will be unified. John seventeen twenty two.

He says, I've given them talking to Christians, the glory you gave

me, so that here's the so that it's a Henna clause in Greek,

so that they may be one just as we are one. Now listen what

this means. Is this the purpose of God's presence in your life? The

purpose of God's power in our lives is to make us more loving, not

more harsh, not more opinionated, not more stubborn, but more loving.

He says, I gave them your glory so that we may be one and

they may be one, just as we are. Do you want God's glory

in your life? Do you want God's power in your life? Do you

want to feel God's presence in your life? Jesus says, he gives his

glory, that's his power to those who lay aside secondary differences with other Christians,

the secondary differences, the things that don't really matter, and live in

unity with other believers. Now, the next verse gives us the fifth truth

about unity. Our unity, God says, is our greatest witness to unbelievers.

Our unity is our greatest witness to unbelievers. That's verse twenty three.

Jesus prayed, this, may they be brought into complete unity, so that

there's another, so that so that the world knows that you sent me and

that you have loved them even as you have loved me. Now, did

you notice this is the second time that Jesus connects the unity of Christians to

winning the world to Christ. He's saying that the world will not be one

w n to Christ until Christians are one in e in unity. We will

win the world when we're one in Christ. Another way of saying it is

this, if unbelievers like what they see, they will listen to what we

say. But if they don't like what they see, they don't see us

loving each other, they're not going to listen to what we say. Again,

I like the message translation of this verse John seventeen twenty three. It

says this, then they'll be mature in their oneness, giving the godless world

the evidence that you've sent me and that you've loved them in the same way

you've loved me. The evidence for atheists, the evidence for agnostics, the

evidence for other faiths is to be the love Christians have for each other.

Now, okay, there is just some of what Jesus says about the importance

of unity. But now I want us to look at how the first Church

in Jerusalem, in other words, the first Christians implemented and practiced and applied

all the verses. We just looked at what Jesus said about unity, and

to go to that, see that, we've got to go to the Book

of Acts, where we learn two more important truths about the power of unity

in a church family. Write this down. Here's the sixth truth we learn

from scripture. Unity removes fear and creates boldness. Unity removes fear and creates

boldness. What am I saying that a unified church gives everybody more power and

more courage than a divided church. Where do we find this? In Acts

Chapter four twenty four and thirty one, the apostles or the disciples, Peter

and John had actually been put in prison. They had done a miracle,

and they were preaching in the name of Jesus, and then they couldn't hold

them, so they let them out. And when they came back to the

church, it says in verse twenty four, then all the believers united together

in prayer. That brings unity. When we pray together, it unifies us.

And it says, after this prayer, this unified prayer of all the

people in the church, it says, after the prayer, the building where

they were meeting shook. That's power. That must have been a pretty powerful

prayer. The building where they were meeting shook, and they were all filled

with God's Holy Spirit, and they began to speak God's message with boldness.

Would you like to be more fearless? Does fear plague you? Insecurity?

Plague you? Anxiety plague you? Would you like to be more fearless?

Would you like to be more bold? Do you wish you were more confident

in sharing your faith? Let me give you a little secret. Focus on

your unity with other Christians. The Bible says when they were unified, they

became bold in speaking the word of God. I want you to write this

down. Division creates fear. Unity removes fear. Division creates fear. Wherever

you find a vision in a church, it's going to create fear in that

church. But unity removes fear. Division destroys vision. But there's another thing

that we learned from the first Christians in the Book of Acts, and it's

this, write this down. When a church is unified, everybody's needs are

met. When a church is truly unified, truly unified the way Christ wants

us to be, everybody's needs, all the members' needs are met. And

we find an example of this in Acts, chapter four, verse thirty two.

It says, there the entire group of believers that's the church, we're

completely united in their hearts and in their Spirit, and everybody shared their possessions

with each other. In fact, they shared everything they had, so nobody

had any need. The Bible tells us in Acts two that this was impressive

to the Christian to the non Christians in Jerusalem, that they had the favor

of people because they said, see how they love one another. Okay,

now we've looked at what Jesus said, and we looked at what the New

Testament Christians did in Jerusalem. Now let's look at what Paul has to say

about Christ's vision for unity in the church. It's Paul spends a lot of

time talking about the importance of unity in both his letters to the Corinthian Church

in corinth Home in Greece City and Greece, and to the Church at Ephesus.

He says, it's a big deal. Write this down number eight.

Here's the eighth. In the summarizing all the Bible says about unity, Baptism

and communion are the visible signs of unity. Baptism and communion are the visible

signs of unity. Both of them are symbols of our incorporation into the body

of Christ. Both of them visualize that we now don't just belong to Christ

we belong to each other. If you've been baptized, if you've taken communion,

you don't just belong to Jesus. You belong to others, everybody else

in the family of God, everybody else in your church family. Now,

first, baptism is a sign that I intend to protect the unity of the

church family, that I belong to. You say, where's that one?

Corinthians twelve, twelve and thirteen says this, For just as your body is

a unity, even though it has many different parts, it is with Christ's

body the same, he says the church. This is Pastor Rick's daily hope.

We're so happy that you've chosen to study along with us today. If

you'd like to receive ris free daily devotional, go to Pastorick dot com and

sign up right now. Rick will be right back to close out our time

today. But first, how do you feel spiritually right now? Maybe you

feel spiritually dry, like you're in a desert, or like you're just going

through the motions. Maybe you've lost your spark, your joy. God knows

how you feel right now, and you're not alone. He knows. Even

David and the Bible felt like that, and Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen. God

says, you will seek me and find me when you seek Me with all

your heart. When you seek God intentionally, it leads to a renewal of

your relationship with him. That's why Pastor Rick created a very special, brand

new resource called Going Deeper with God, a personal renewal retreat. Right now,

here's Pastor Rick to tell you more. Let me ask you a very

personal and serious question. Would you truly like to have a deeper relationship with

God? Not a superficial one, a deep one Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen.

God says this, you will seek me and find me when you seek for

Me with all your heart. When you seek God intentionally, it leads to

a renewal of your relationship with him. You're as close to God as you

want to be, and if you want to be closer, it's up to

you. That's why I created a Going Deeper with God Personal Renewal Retreat.

Yeah, Going Deeper with God Personal Renewal Retreat. It's retreat just meant for

you where you can get alone with God and you can connect with Him in

an intimate way that's going to refresh and renew and revitalize your relationship with God.

It's going to give you a deeper understanding of His love, and it

will also prepare you to be used by God God in the days ahead.

Now, as I lead you through this Going Deeper with God Retreat, my

hope is that God will use it to completely revitalize and re energize your spiritual

life. Together, we'll go through a series of audio lessons and after each

session you'll just take a little bit of time to complete the exercises in the

companion workbook that I've prepared for you. And you can do this. You

can do it at home, you can do it at school. You can

do it in short sessions, or you can get away for a whole day

and do it all in one setting. My goal is to strengthen your relationship

with God, deepen your commitment, and surrendered Him in affirm your commitment to

live for His glory. You know, maybe you've never thought about this,

but God, You're ready to go deeper with you. He's just waiting on

you. Now. I want to help you get started by sending you a

copy of Going Deeper with God today, and when you partner daily, hope

to take the word of God. These positive messages to people all around the

world. My team is going to send you this very special spiritual growth tool

just to say thanks. I hope you'll take advantage of this. Today we'll

send you Going Deeper with God, a personal renewal retreat, as our way

of saying thanks when you give a gift today to help Daily Hope share the

hope of Jesus with a hurting world. Just call eight hundred six hundred five

thousand and four or go to Pastororrick dot com to get your copy of this

great resource. That's eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four or Pastorick dot

com. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God's word

for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and

your generous financial support.