Christian Unity — Sermon by Rev. Canon Bryan Biba

clouds to God's right hand. There we sit

in heavenly spaces. There with thee in

glory

stand. Jesus reigns adored by angels.

Man with God is on his

throne. Mighty Lord in thine ascension

we by faith behold our own.

Indeed,

Lord, by faith through your grace, may

we behold you, the ascended

Lord. And may the words of my mouth and

the meditation of all of our hearts be

always acceptable in your sight, oh

Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

You may be seated.

The ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ

is the forgotten doctrine of the

Christian

faith. We all know and can understand

some of the great mysteries, the

incarnation, the crucifixion, the

resurrection. But the ascension, it

seems, is often left out, lost in the

work of Christ. What's going on in the

ascension? Where did Jesus go?

And why is it a good thing that he has

gone from

us? I was talking this week with our

intern Caitlyn and she reminded me of

something I'd forgotten that in much of

early Christian artwork of the

ascension, uh, it's often depicted in

the same way that the disciples, the

apostles are gathered around looking up

to heaven and and seeing the two angels

in the clouds, but there's no Jesus or

at least not fully. Usually you see two

little feet sticking out of the clouds

and they're looking up at the feet of

Jesus. It may seem a little silly, but

right there in in the feet of Jesus, we

have something very powerfully depicted

as we heard in Ephesians chapter 1 from

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

St. Paul. Here at the ascension, all

things are

subjected under the feet of Jesus. In

the ascension, he ascends his throne as

king at the right hand of the father,

ruling over all things. All things are

subject under his

feet. He rules from heaven, but not as

an absent king. Jesus actively rules

this world through his people, through

his church. At the ascension, Jesus is

made the head of the body. All

Christians are united together under his

authority so that Jesus might exercise

his kingship through

us. This is the church's

vocation to rule and reign with Jesus

here today under our head as his

body. This

vocation depends on our unity. If we are

not united under the head, we cannot

rule and reign with

Jesus. That's why it's wise that the

lectionary gives us this great reading

from John 17 as our gospel reading. One

of my favorite passages in the New

Testament. This is Jesus's final words

at his final teaching, the last supper

with his

apostles. And what does he speak about?

He speaks about Christian unity. So

that's what we're going to focus on this

morning. Christian unity. What does it

mean for Christians to be united and how

can we maintain our unity amidst the

varied challenges of this world? So if

you have your Bible with you, open up to

John chap

17, his high priestly prayer at his last

supper.

If you knew that you would die

tomorrow, what would you tell your loved

ones? What would message would you share

with them? Jesus knows what's coming on

the next day. He knows his passion and

death. And what does he share with his

disciples? Verse

20, he prays, "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."

So on the night before he dies, Jesus

prays that his followers would all be

one. And not just those gathered there

2,000 years ago, he prays for all who

will believe through their word. He

prays for us, the whole church,

throughout all time, in all spaces. His

most earnest desire is that his

followers would be one

people. And this unity is unlike any

other unity in the world. that they may

be one. Verse 21 says, "Just as you,

Father, are in me and I in you that they

may also be in us." The unity of

Christians is grounded in the unity of

the Holy

Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one

God, three

persons. This unity is unlike anything

else in the world.

We have one God of love united in

existence and

essence. As Athanasius wrote, "For the

trinity is not composed of diverse

substances, but is one in the same

essence. It is united and inseparable

and indivisible. And yet this one God is

also three. Three distinct persons.

These persons remain distinct with their

distinct wills and their distinct

actions. Gregory of Nissa the great

Capidosian father wrote that the

distinctions between the persons do not

divide the unity of the

nature. How is it that God can be one

God and yet be three persons? This kind

of unity and diversity it's difficult

for us humans to wrap our heads around

because for many of us unity means

uniformity. To be of the same mind means

that we all think the same

thing. Difference is often a threat to

be managed rather than an asset to be

embraced. This is especially true in our

cultural moment today.

We are all under tremendous pressure to

construct and project our own unique

selves to the world. This is why

authenticity has become the basis of all

moral reasoning. This is why we teach

our children to be true to

themselves. We imply that their

individuality is more

important than other things about

themselves like their family or the

place they're from.

Now indeed friends, it's important as

Plato said to know thyself. But

Christians believe that true

self-nowledge comes as we know

God. Our world wants to split our

individuality and divide us by what

makes us different. But in the church,

in the body of Christ, the people united

in the life of the Holy Trinity, we

remain distinct persons as we seek to

know God together, knowing

ourselves, who God has made us to be

more and

more. In the absence of God, we have

psychologized the self. We've

internalized it, privileging our soul

over our body. We believe the lie that

we are what we think and what we feel

rather than who God has said that we

are. And often we form group

identities like with like people who

agree with us, who see things the same

way as us. And we denounce anyone who

makes claims on our freedom. Our

individuality, friends, is so ingrained

in us, it's hard for us to see how the

doctrine of the trinity transforms what

it means to be a

person. That indeed in God, we have

unity and distinction

inseparable. Jesus is praying for this

unity for his followers. A unity

grounded in the life of the trinity. And

what unites father, son, and holy

spirit? What is the one

essence? It is mutual self-giving

love. The father gives himself to the

son. The son gives himself to the

spirit. The spirit gives himself to the

father. This love is non-competitive.

It allows for difference while

maintaining unity because all three

persons are oriented towards the love of

the other. This love is not a zero sum.

It is abundant, overflowing, always

giving, always seeking the good of the

other. Listen to what Jesus writes in

verse 22.

The glory that you have given me, I have

given them, that they may be one as we

are one, I in them and you in me, that

they may be perfectly one, so that the

world may know that you sent me and love

them even as you loved

me. The good news, friends, is that

Christian unity is given to us.

It's not something that we

do. F. The father gives the glory to the

son and the son gives the glory to us.

Just as the father loves the son, so

does the father and the son love us and

call us to love one

another. This unity comes from God's own

glory. We Christians in the church have

been united as one body under the head.

This kind of unity is impossible for us.

We can't do this by trying harder. We

have to instead receive what God has

done for us

together. This, friends, is why the

ascension matters. It's not just that

Jesus is king overall. It's also that he

has become the living head of his body.

That the mutual self-giving love that

unites the Trinity has been poured into

our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to

us. That's what Paul writes in Romans

that we are all of us caught up in the

life of the God who is one and three

formed into a new kind of community. A

community that can be united in love and

yet be distinct and

diverse. So what does Christian unity

look like practically? Lots of

things. For this morning's purposes,

I'll just pull out two.

The first manifestation of Christian

unity is the oldest and most significant

in the New Testament, which is the unity

of different ethnic groups in the

church. From the very beginning,

Christians welcomed people from all

nations, all languages, all tribes, all

ethnicities. In a few weeks, we're going

to start a summer sermon series all on

the book of Galatians. This is Paul's

main point in that book that in the

church a new people has been created

where there formerly were different

kinds of people opposed to one

another. Christianity has never been a

monocultural or monolingual religion. If

you want that, check out Islam. Uh

that's a great example of a monocultural

monolingual religion.

The gospel does not destroy cultural and

ethnic difference. Rather, all cultures,

all ethnicities find their fulfillment

and perfection in the unity of the Holy

Trinity manifested through the church.

It's not good enough to say, as some do,

well, let's not emphasize our

differences. We're all one in Christ.

Let's not pay attention to the things

that make us distinct. No, the beauty of

God and his love is manifest precisely

in the differences we see in this body

as we are united

together. But the second practical thing

I think that this looks like for us is a

a unity in the church amidst many

different opinions and

experiences. A healthy church is united

together in this mutual self-giving love

of the Trinity. And when that happens,

we can hold together many different

opinions and

perspectives because Jesus is the way

and the truth and the life. We believe

that all truth is God's truth. It

belongs to him. It doesn't belong to

us. We do not behold the truth. The

truth beholds

us. And because none of us have a

monopoly on the truth, all of us can be

open to the perspectives of others, even

those who may disagree with us. And in

this point, I'm happy to say CCA is not

a monolithic community when it comes to

our opinions and perspectives within our

congregation. We have a variety of

opinions and perspectives, theological

opinions, political opinions. Do you

mean to take Father Craig and myself? I

mean, we're pretty different

theologically, different emphases,

different things we care about. But it's

that difference that allows us to work

together so well for the sake of this

community. We're not united by the

different things that we hold. We're

united by the mutual self-giving love of

God that he pours into our

hearts.

Our community can hold together all

these different opinions as long as we

stay centered on the source of our

unity, which is God, his love, a

non-competitive, abundant love poured

out for us.

And as we live together in the

non-competitive love of God, we learn

that our strongly held convictions are

less important than the brother or

sister for whom Christ

died. Just take Paul in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 as a great example of this.

There he's writing about food sacrificed

to idols. What should a Christian do?

Eat the food or not eat the food? Paul

knows that idols have no real existence.

And so he has no problem eating meat

that was sacrificed to idols. But Paul

also knows that there are Christian

brothers and sisters who feel

differently than him. They prefer to not

eat the meat for a variety of reasons.

And so what does Paul do? Does he

chastise them? This is the right

opinion. You should believe what I

believe. No. Paul lays down his rights

for the sake of the other.

lays down his opinions, opinions which

he believes is true for the sake of his

brother who disagrees with

him. So why does he do this? Why is

unity so important to Paul that he's

able to lay down his opinions? Verse 23,

Jesus

says, "So that the world may know that

you sent me."

That's what it's all about, friends.

Christian unity is about Christian

witness. When the world sees us, what do

they see? Do they see a community that's

different, or do they see a bunch of

people who are no different than the

world? We live in a world that is

divided over so many

things. And we might be tempted to think

this is new, but it's not. The world's

always been divided in all kinds of

ways. But from the beginning, the

Christian church has been a community

that transcends worldly divisions.

Because we are meant to be an outpost of

the kingdom of God, the inbreaking of

God's future into the present, a

foretaste of the new creation to

come. Yet, if we Christians are divided

along the same lines as the world, then

we perure

ourselves. We undermine our witness.

We're no different than the world and we

destroy our

distinctiveness. This is why Christian

unity matters so much to

Jesus. In Ephesians 4, Paul urges the

Ephesians to maintain the unity of the

spirit in the bond of

peace. So while we do not create

Christian unity, that's something God

does. We can maintain it. We can

contribute to it or detract from it. How

do we do

that? That brings us to our Old

Testament reading from First Samuel 12.

Turn with me in your Bible if you if you

can. This may seem like a strange

reading for the Sunday after the

ascension, but I think something

important is going on in this text. And

also um many of you said on our annual

survey that uh we should preach more of

the Old Testament. So here you

go. So this is Samuel's final words.

Samuel the judge, the great faithful

judge of Israel. Just as Jesus was

giving his final teaching before

departing, so here Samuel gives his

final teaching. It's his farewell

address.

Israel has asked for a human king so

they can be like the other nations. And

the Lord has relented. They've chosen

King Saul in chapter 9. They've anointed

him as king in chapter 10. He has won

his first great battle in chapter 11.

And here in chapter 12, we have Samuel's

retirement

message. The future seems secure. And

yet Samuel feels the need to warn

Israel. Verse

19, "Pray for yourselves, for your

servants, to the Lord your God, that we

may not die, for we have added to all

our sins this evil to ask ourselves for

a

king." What's going on

there? Having a king is evil. What's

going on? I thought a king was a good

thing, right? We had King David, King

Solomon,

right? People forget that in the Old

Testament, the kingship is really

a ambivalent concept. What the Lord

wanted was for him to be his people's

king, for him to rule directly his

people. But the people demanded a king

for themselves, a human king. Now like

any form of government, a king is a

tool. It could be useful or it could be

harmful. It depends on the intentions of

the one in

power. So what were Israel's intentions?

Why did they want a human king? For that

we have to go back to chapter 8 verse

19. Listen to Israel's

rationale. The people refused to obey

the voice of Samuel and they said no.

But there shall be a king over us, that

we also may be like all the nations,

that our king may judge us and go out

before us and fight our

battles. Why did Israel want a king?

Because they were envious of the other

nations. And they wanted someone to go

and do their dirty work for them. They

didn't want to step up and fight. They

wanted someone to fight on their behalf.

So by choosing a king indeed Israel has

done a terrible thing. They have

forsaken the Lord their God, their true

king, and instead turn to a human

savior. But listen to what Samuel says.

Verse 20. Do not be

afraid. You have done all this evil. Yet

do not turn aside from following the

Lord, but serve the Lord with all your

heart. and do not turn aside after empty

things that cannot profit or deliver for

they are

empty. Friends, I believe that this is

the greatest threat to our Christian

unity. All of us are tempted to put our

trust in empty things, in things that do

not deliver, in

idols. Maybe it's our pride in our

ethnicity or our race. Maybe it's our

own opinions and convictions, the things

that we think we're right about and that

everyone else is wrong

about. But when we put our trust in

empty

things and human kings that promise

deliverance, our hearts are

divided. And divided hearts will

inevitably divide the body of Christ

into those who agree with us and those

who don't.

Each and every day, in each and every

moment, you and I have a choice. We can

trust in the mutual self-giving love of

the

Trinity, or we can trust empty

things. Because literally everything

else we're going to trust in this world

that is not God is

empty. It will fail. It will lead us

astray. It cannot profit or deliver. And

all Christians, which is all of us, all

Christians who trust in empty things are

complicit in undermining the unity of

the church. When we divide our hearts,

we will inevitably divide the

body. The good news, friends, is that

the ascended king, Jesus, is our true

king. He has already delivered us from

slavery and death. He has already

unified us, making us one people. He is

the head of a new humanity, the church,

those gathered into his body by the

spirit. And in those moments when we're

tempted to put our trust in empty

things, we should hear Samuel's

admonition in verse

24. Only fear the Lord and serve him

faithfully with all your heart, for

consider what great things he has done

for you.

That's what this table's all about. When

we gather around this one table, we

remember the good things that God has

done for us in

Christ. We fear the Lord. We serve him

faithfully. At this table, the ascended

Jesus meets us and reminds us of what

he's done for us. Through the

sacraments, the Holy Spirit heals our

hollow hearts that love empty things and

instead fills them with his

love. Here at this table, God gives us

the grace to fear the Lord and to serve

him faithfully with all our hearts so

that our unity in the midst, our

diversity might be manifest to the world

as a witness.

This is how we maintain the spirit of

unity in the bond of peace. This is how

we fulfill the prayer of Jesus in John

17. But when we forget what God has done

for

us, we will serve empty things and not

the Lord.

So let's gather around this one table to

eat this one bread and drink this one

cup and give thanks for the unity given

to us by our Lord Jesus. And now let us

ask the Lord to reveal the ways our own

hearts are divided and how that might

contribute to division in our

body. In the name of the Father and the

Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.