A Prayer for Unity

Our Old Testament reading comes from 1 Chronicles 17, verses 20-27.

1 Chronicles 17:20–27

! This is a section from David's prayer, so verses 20-27.

There is no one like you, Lord, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.

And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people

for himself and to make a name for yourself and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out

nations from before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt. You made your people Israel, your very

own, forever, and you, Lord, have become their God. And now, Lord, let the promise you have made

concerning your servant and his house be established forever. Do as you promised so that it will be

established and that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, the Lord Almighty,

the God over Israel, is Israel's God, and the house of your servant David will be established before you.

You, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him,

so your servant has found courage to pray to you. You, Lord, are God. You have promised these good

things to your servant. Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant,

that it may continue forever in your sight. For you, Lord, have blessed it, and it will be blessed

forever. Amen.

Well, good evening, everyone. It's good to be with you. I've been preaching away the last four weeks in a row,

and while it's a pleasure to be with other congregations to encourage them and be encouraged by them,

it's really good to be back with my own church family. So,

a pleasure to be with you this evening.

We continue our series in the Gospel of John today. We took a break last week. We were back

looking at finishing up this high priestly prayer taken from John 17, and

this evening we reached this final section in verses 20 through 26. So, if you have a Bible, you can

turn there with me. Obviously, many of us here are familiar with the Bible, and you may be

familiar with different passages which speaks of Jesus going off

in private to pray. There's times where he may, in the morning, go off to a solitary place, or when he's in a

crowded area, he retreats from the crowds in order to pray, and

very rarely do we actually get a look inside what Jesus is actually praying. I wonder if you ever thought,

what is this conversation that Jesus may be having with the Father?

Father. And that's what makes this passage this evening so unique and so important, because we're

actually given the opportunity to see and to hear what's on Jesus' heart. And here in this passage,

it really serves as kind of like a last will and testimony, because this is the last prayer that we

have recorded before Jesus is going to the cross. So, we hear what is on his heart. We hear what he is

burdened with. And the focus in this final passage of his prayer is his burden for the church.

And it may be surprising at first, if you don't know this passage, about what he would actually

be praying for. He's praying for the unity of the church. And you may be thinking, well, if Jesus

were to be praying for the church, you may think, okay, he might pray that they have deeper faith,

or that they read their Bibles more, or they have more boldness in sharing the gospel.

But Jesus is talking about unity. And so, this is what I want us to unpack this evening. Why Jesus

would make this prayer? What does it mean for us? And ultimately, how does it bring glory to God?

So, this is our passage, John 17, starting in verse 20.

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,

that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us,

so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me,

that they may be one as we are one, I in them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete

unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Father, I want those you have given to me to be with me where I am and to see my glory,

the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.

I have made you known to them and will continue to make them known in order that the love

you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. This is the word of God.

Let's begin with prayer.

Lord, we do thank you for this privilege to come together again to the preaching of your word.

And so we ask, Lord, that while we may come with distractions or various burdens or heavy hearts,

we ask, Lord, that you give us clarity of mind, that we may listen to your word and may receive it,

that it may sink down deep into our hearts, that we may be encouraged and corrected by it,

that you may receive the glory from our time together. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, as I mentioned, we've been going through this high priestly prayer, and I think it's,

we can kind of think about it in three parts, almost as if it's concentric circles.

Because we started by looking at verses one through five, and it's this innermost circle

where Jesus is praying for himself. He's asking God for his own glorification.

And then we kind of move out to that second ring, verses six through 19.

This is Jesus praying for his own disciples, that the Father would protect them,

that he'd fill them with this full measure of joy.

And we get to this outermost ring this evening, where Jesus is praying for those who will believe in me

through the message of the disciples. And so we need to recognize who those are in this passage.

It's not simply the contemporaries of the disciples. It's not simply the New Testament church

that is soon to come about. It's Jesus looking far into the future

to include all the believers down through the ages.

And so if you are a follower of Jesus, Jesus is praying for you in this passage.

And so of course we recognize that prayer is our means of communication with God,

but I think the beautiful thing that we see in this passage is that Jesus is also praying for us.

And this isn't simply just a one-time prayer that he prayed in the upper room before he went to the cross.

Jesus is an ongoing pattern of prayer for his people.

We have to only turn to 1 John 2, where it explains this,

that he continues to speak to the Father in our defense.

And so sometimes when you get deep into passage, you may think,

okay, how do I actually apply this passage to those who are hearing?

This is a really easy passage to apply,

because Jesus is speaking directly to us in this context.

And he's praying that we may have unity.

And he says so three times in the first three verses.

And so this is what I want us to consider tonight,

this unity that Jesus prays for.

And I really want us to consider in three points.

I want us to first consider the nature of our unity,

the means of unity,

and the goal of the unity.

The nature,

the means,

and the goal of this unity.

So let's consider this first,

the nature of this unity,

and think about what is Jesus referring to here?

What does this look like in the church?

And it actually may be better to ask this question in the negative at first.

What is he not referring to here?

Because he's not,

when he's speaking about unity,

he's not simply talking about union,

or some form of uniformity.

I think oftentimes this passage can be mistaken,

and you think about this big picture of the ecumenical church.

We just need one big church.

We need to do away with denominations altogether.

That's not what Jesus is talking about here.

He's not talking about organizational union.

He's talking about relational unity.

And so we don't have to go very far after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection

when we get this really beautiful picture of the oneness of the church that he's praying for.

If you think about the religious landscape before Christianity,

there were certainly a number of religions across the world,

but they were largely defined by ethnic groups and cultures.

And so in this case,

we see something very different come about

when we have this New Testament church spring up,

because it's not defined by ethnicity any longer.

Christianity is truly the first multi-ethnic religion.

And so it begins,

this message is proclaimed by this New Testament church

that ethnicity is no longer a barrier.

It no longer determines covenant access to God.

There is neither Jew nor Greek,

Paul says.

There's neither Jew nor Gentile.

We are all equals under the gospel of Jesus.

And so this is what we see played out very early in the book of Acts,

that this New Testament church,

they're eating together,

they're worshiping together,

they share their possessions,

they are inviting others into this faith community.

We see it even expands,

it goes,

it spans across class.

If you think of the book of Philemon,

Paul is writing to this leader in the church,

Philemon,

and encouraging him to forgive and to receive back his former slave,

Onesimus,

not simply as a slave,

but as a beloved brother in Christ.

And so we see in the church,

the rich and the poor,

the slave and the free,

all being welcomed into this fellowship that's rooted in Christ.

And it's not just the joy of fellowship that's shared in this New Testament church,

but also the sorrow and the hardship,

the growth of the church,

it comes about through great persecution,

great suffering,

imprisonment,

executions.

Yet we see the church endure by bearing each other's burden.

And so I think we can look at this New Testament church and think,

wow,

this is such a beautiful picture of the unity that Jesus prayed for.

But I think actually when we look in this passage,

Jesus is taking this idea of unity even a step further here.

Because if you look in verse 21 again,

it says,

I pray that all of them may be one Father,

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

May they also be in us.

And so Jesus is praying that the believers may be united to the same degree as the Father and the Son are united.

And so I think it's important.

Sometimes we throw around these theological terms.

We talk about Father,

Son,

and Spirit.

We talk about the Trinity.

That term Trinity is not used in the Bible.

What we see played out in the Bible here is the Bible very clearly describes three persons of the Godhead.

The Father,

Son,

and Spirit.

These three persons are one God,

the same in substance,

equal in power,

and glory.

And so when we talk about the members of the Trinity,

we see they have one essence.

This is what Jesus is praying for,

that we may have the same degree of unity as the Father and the Son.

But in actuality here,

we see the believers,

we can't literally attain,

you and I attain the same essence with one another that Jesus is praying for here.

But what he's saying is he wants this perfect unity of the Godhead to serve as a model for the intimate loving bond that you and I should share together.

And he actually goes a little bit further because not only should it be a model,

but it should actually serve as the foundation for our Christian unity.

Because look at how verse 21,

well,

verse 22 begins,

may they be one in us.

And so he's highlighting unity between the Godhead.

He's also highlighting unity with the Godhead.

And so we see this beautiful picture of oneness in this passage.

That the Father is in the Son,

the Son is in the Father,

and the Son is in us.

We are in the Son.

Is there not a better picture of relational harmony that we can see?

If we go to 1 Peter 1, verse 4,

1 Peter 1:4

it says this,

it says that we participate in the divine nature.

Now,

that doesn't mean when we become Christians,

we become divine in any way,

but it's speaking about how our life becomes hidden with Christ in God.

And so this is why Paul always uses this phrase,

the same phrase to describe Christians.

He always calls them as being in Christ.

The Father and the Son are united in the Godhead.

Believers,

we are united with the Godhead.

Therefore,

we can be united with one another.

And so this is the nature of the unity that Jesus is praying for here.

And so in one sense,

I hope this gives us great comfort

that the all-powerful creator of the universe

wants to be in intimate relationship with you and me.

that in an age of isolationism and loneliness,

we are encouraged to have unity and fellowship as a family of Christ in the church.

But while it gives us comfort,

it may also bring us fear because we say this is a really high bar.

If he's talking about the same unity as the essence of the Godhead,

how in the world are we supposed to attain this?

How is this supposed to be brought about?

Well,

that brings us to our second point

because we're going to be thinking about what is the means of this unity?

How is this intimate bond brought about and how is it maintained?

I've got four kids at home.

And as is common,

when you have lots of kids,

lots of things break very often.

Often toys or things that they're playing with.

And so oftentimes the fix is they come to me and say,

well,

can you fix this?

And sometimes I can.

You get out your super glue,

you get your tape and you can fix something.

But that doesn't mean that everything can be fixed every time.

And so as a child,

it's sometimes hard to determine,

well,

when can something be fixed

and when can something not be fixed?

And sometimes there's disappointment

when they come and say,

fix this toy

and there's nothing I can do.

There's no amount of super glue

that's going to fix this little piece on the transformer.

There's no amount of tape

that's going to fix this badminton racket.

It's going to break again in five minutes.

I think this is often the case

when we think about the church

because we want to think about,

what is the glue?

What's the man-made glue

that's going to unite the church?

That's going to prevent division in the church?

Ultimately,

there's not a man-made solution.

We think about many things.

We may think about structure.

Presbyterians love structure.

Right?

We've no,

have,

we have elders and deacons

with very clearly defined roles.

We have different church courts

with different jurisdictions.

We have committees

and we have boards

and we have special processes

for doing things.

We think,

well,

that's going to bring us together.

All we have to do

is think about the history

of Presbyterianism in Scotland

to see the history of divisions.

You look at those charts

and it just looks like

this massive flow chart

of all the different churches,

all Presbyterianism

that are broken away.

The Church of Scotland,

the Free Church

and the Free Church Continuing,

the Free Presbyterians,

the United Presbyterians,

the Reformed Presbyterians.

All the same structure,

but there's a lack of unity.

Sometimes we may look

to something like shared interests.

We want,

we think shared interests

are going to bring unity

in the church.

That if it's just,

I want to go to church

that people that are

the same age and stage as me,

that have the same interests

and the same hobbies,

that are,

and there may be

a similar profession

of the same socioeconomic status.

That's going to bring unity

within the church.

And while we may be

naturally gravitate

to those who are similar

to us or share

common interests,

it's really superficial,

superficial in nature.

It's not going to be,

give us the grounding

or the foundation

that we need

for true unity

within church.

Uniformity,

commonality,

those things aren't going

to be the lasting glue

that bring oneness.

I think oftentimes

we think about doctrine,

doctrine,

doctrine is going to be

the glue that we need.

And so we can spend

all our time

trying to nail down

what the Bible says

and fine tune our theology

and hone in

on the intricacies

and details

of what God

is all about.

But if we think about it,

if we go to the book of James,

James is speaking

to the church.

He says,

you believe in one God.

Well, that's good.

But even the demons

believe in God

and they shudder.

Think about it.

Demons have good theology.

In the book of Mark,

when Jesus is casting out demons,

he prevents them

from speaking

because he knows

that they know

who he is.

They recognize

his divine identity

and authority.

So even demons

have good doctrine.

And it may scare them

to death,

but it doesn't change them.

And so in the same way,

that can be true of us.

But honestly,

if you look over

church history,

some of the most

theologically minded

people in the church

have also sometimes

been some of the most

divisive

because their head knowledge

doesn't actually

transform the heart.

And so therefore,

it doesn't lead to unity.

And so the reality is

that there's nothing

that we can do

to manufacture this unity.

There's no human means

of gluing us all together.

What Jesus is talking about here,

true means of unity

comes through

the transforming work

of the gospel.

And so look at verse 20 again.

He says,

I pray also

for those who will

believe in me

through their message.

He's saying,

I'm praying for those

who will come to faith

in the gospel

through the message

of the disciples

that's going to be

transmitted down

through the generations.

And so you think about

how a telegram works.

Maybe some of you

actually were around

and actually sent a telegram

or telegraph back in the day.

But you'd actually go

to a telegraph office

to send your message

and that would be relayed

via Morse code

to another office

and that office

would receive it

and store it

and then retransmit it

until it gets

to its final destination.

And originally,

the original telegraphs,

they only had a range

of about five or six miles.

And so you think about

this message,

if it had to be sent far,

it had to be retransmitted

and resent over

and over again.

I think the spread

of the gospel,

it really occurs

in a similar fashion.

And so I wonder

if we really marvel at this.

If we think about

how the gospel

has been transmitted

and relayed to you,

who told you about the gospel?

And who told them?

And who told them?

Generation after generation,

person after person,

if we were to trace this back,

would it not come

from the mouths

of the apostles themselves?

This is what Jesus

is talking about,

this apostolic message.

It's this unchanging good news

preached by the apostles

down through the generations

received by you and me.

And so this message,

we need to remember,

it's not a message

of trying harder.

It's not a message

of self-improvement.

It's not a message

based on legend

or made-up story.

If it was best

on those things,

it would simply

fizzle out over time.

But Paul tells us

in Romans 1

that the gospel

is the power of God

for salvation.

Man was created

in the image of God

that we were supposed

to live in perfect union

with him,

but because of the fall,

sin separated us

from God.

And as a result,

we are justly deserving

of his wrath.

But it says that God

demonstrated his love

for us in that

while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us.

And so this message

that Jesus wants

proclaimed by the apostles,

it's playing out

in real time

in front of him.

Because it's only days later

that he's going to be

arrested and beaten

and crucified

and buried.

He willingly

taking the punishment

for our sins.

But we know the good news

that he doesn't stay

in the grave,

that he rose from the dead

conquering sin

and death forever.

And so some of us

have been around the church

our whole lives

and we've heard this message

of the gospel

over and over

and over again.

And sometimes

we just become numb to it.

Or sometimes

we just kind of think about it

in the abstract or generalities.

We've heard,

yes, God loves the world.

But in this prayer,

Jesus is personalizing

this message.

Jesus loves you.

Jesus loves you.

He's praying that we

as his people

will know

that God loves them

the same way

that God loves us

the same way

that he loves the Son.

And so this is really

an incredible reality

to get our heads around here

that God the Father

loves you

as much as he

loves his Son.

In our sin

and in our filth,

in the depth

of our rebellion,

he has chosen

you and me

to love us,

to cleanse us,

to give us

the righteousness

of his Son,

to bring us

from death

to life

that we may be called

sons of God.

God.

We go back in time

to 1572.

John Knox,

the Scottish reformer,

he became ill

with pneumonia

and his condition

began to deteriorate.

And as he lay

in his deathbed,

he turned to his wife

and he said,

Go.

Go where I cast

my first anchor.

And she immediately

knew what he was

talking about

and she went

and got his Bible

and she opened

it up to John 17

to this passage,

the high priestly prayer

and she read it

over him.

And after she was finished,

he commented,

Oh,

what a comfort

this chapter is.

See,

the truth

of God's love

for him

is what was his anchor

in his life

and ministry.

In the same way,

should God's love

not be our anchor?

that the love

of God

may move us

to relationship

with others,

move us

into deeper

relationship

with him.

The gospel,

it's not merely

good news

for us to know,

it's good news

for us to experience.

And so,

when God's love

so permeates

our hearts,

it's going to transform

the way that we live,

it's going to transform

the way that we relate

to other people.

So,

think about how Paul

talks about this again

in Philippians 2.

He says,

we have this encouragement

in the fact that

we are united to Christ.

We have this comfort

in his love.

We get to share

in his spirit.

We get to experience

the tenderness

and compassion

of the Father.

Therefore,

we need to be like-minded.

We are called

to have the same love

and be of one spirit

and one mind.

This is the means

of unity.

It's rooted in Christ.

So,

that then brings us

to our final point.

What is,

what's the purpose

of this unity?

Think about that

telegraph illustration again.

I think it's really good.

It's a comfort for us

to think about

how the gospel

has been transmitted

generation over generation

from person to person

and how it reached us.

The illustration,

it breaks down

if we think that

we're the final destination,

that we're the terminus

of that message.

The gospel message

was never meant

to end

with you and me.

It's our duty.

It's our command.

It should be our pleasure

to relay it.

And so,

look at what it says

in verse 21 again.

Why does Jesus pray

for unity?

So that the world

may believe

that you have sent me.

Verse 23,

what happens

when believers

are brought into unity?

Then the world

will know

that you sent me

and have loved them

even as you have loved me.

The purpose

of our unity

is for others

to come

to the saving faith

in the person

and work

of Jesus.

If we think back

of this past weekend,

I think we see

a beautiful example

of that.

And we have

our friends

from South Carolina

with us

from a church

that has supported

Rachel and I

for more than six years.

A church

that has given

to the renovation

of this church building.

They want to send

a group

to be able to see

what Christ

is doing in us

and through us

and they want

to be able

to participate

in that.

We see how this

played out this week.

The point

of this relationship

is not simply

so we can just

make some friends

across the ocean.

We can eat pork together.

Think about this partnership.

It's so that we may

see people

come to know Jesus.

And those of us

who were here

just yesterday

for this community

hall gross,

I hope you saw this.

I hope you saw

the unity play out

amongst us.

That people just

coming off the streets

who were just curious

about what was going on

with these people

gathered in front of the church.

People who

didn't maybe un-church,

maybe never even

stepped foot in a church,

that were experiencing

the love of Christ

maybe the first time

in their lives.

And so what a joy it is

to see this church

gather together

different ages,

different backgrounds,

different nationalities,

all for the sake

of the gospel.

And I think we need

to recognize it.

It's wonderful

to do events like this,

but something like

a hog roast

is not the beginning

and the end

of what ministry

looks like in the church.

I think it's good

to have a big picture

of the need,

but oftentimes

our mind just stays here.

We recognize,

yes,

there's darkness

in our society around us.

We see this need

for the gospel.

We long for revival,

but we often fail

to personalize this message.

Think about,

we just had the Scottish

parliament elections

just a few weeks ago.

We heard no shortage

of politicians

talking about

the change

that they want

to bring about.

They speak in big platitudes

about needing

to improve education

or eliminate,

we need to eliminate poverty

or we need to end racism.

And again,

they're speaking

on a very high level here.

They're saying,

this is what the government

needs to do.

This is the government's

responsibility.

But I wonder

if we were to ask them

individually,

you want to improve education,

when was the last time

that you tutored a student?

You want to end poverty,

when was the last time

you fed the homeless?

You want to end racism,

when was the last time

you had someone

from a different race

inside your home

for dinner?

I think oftentimes,

this is what we see.

We see,

they see the need

in society,

but they call on

government to fix it,

shirking any sense

of personal responsibility.

This is what often

plays out

when we think

about the gospel,

right?

We claim that we want

to see the gospel spread,

but really,

I'd rather someone else

go through the hassle

of having to spread it.

We talk about

the role of the church

and the responsibility

of the church

but we don't always

think about what

our role in the church is.

The clue is,

this is not meant

to be a place

where we just kind of

collect warm bodies

on a Sunday.

We need men

and we need women,

we need children,

we need married

and single,

we need students

and graduates,

young and old,

to be committed

to the spread

of the gospel.

And Jesus says

that the spread

of the gospel

is going to come

when the world

sees our unity.

It's really hard

for the world

to see our unity

when we only sit

next to each other

for two hours

on a Sunday.

The world

is going to see

our unity

when we are committed

to the gospel,

when we are willing

to sacrificially give

of our time

and our energy

and our resources

to see the love

of God

be spread in this community

so that the gospel

becomes so undeniable

and irresistible

to those around us.

Because this is

what the ultimate vision

of what Jesus

is praying for here

when we turn

to verse 24.

Father,

I want those

you have given me

to be with me

where I am

and to see my glory.

This desire,

it's not a mere wish

that Jesus has,

but it's an expression

of will

founded upon

acknowledged right.

Man was created

to live

in perfect harmony

with God

and behold

his glory.

Sin prevented

that from happening.

But Jesus

has now come.

He has,

through his completed work,

he now allows

for this unity

to be found

and possessed

once again.

And so while we can

get a glimpse

of this glory of God

in our lives now,

our longing

should be

for when we,

that day,

when that veil

has been lifted

and we can see

the full glory

of the Father,

when we may

behold the glory

of Jesus

and we do so

in perfect unity.

This is what we get

when we read

in Revelation 7.

It speaks of this

great multitude

that there's

no one can count

from every nation

and tribe

and people

and language

standing before the throne

and before the Lamb.

And they cry out

with a loud voice,

salvation belongs

to our God

who sits on the throne

and to the Lamb.

This is a picture

of the church

in perfect unity

beholding

the perfect glory

of the Son.

This is ultimately

what we should be

striving for

as a church.

That as we draw

nearer to Jesus,

we're drawing nearer

to one another

that we may behold

the glory of God.

That we may see it

and share in it.

May it be so.

Let's pray.

Lord, we do thank you

for the encouragement

from this word

that we know

that the Son

is praying for us.

That he continues

to intercede

on our behalf.

We thank you, Lord,

that in all your glory

and your might

you desire

to be an intimate

relationship with us.

and so may that

be the foundation

for our unity.

Lord, we desire

to be united

to one another

and may it not be

just based on goodwill

or much effort

but may it be rooted

in the gospel.

That the unity

that we display

may be seen

by an outside world.

That the gospel

may go forth

with power.

Lord, may it be

our deepest

and most earnest

desire

that you may be glorified.

And we thank you

for the opportunity

to share in that glory

as you are a united people.

And we pray this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.