"That We All Be One" -- 8/12/07 (The Lord's Church)

Sunday, August 12, 2007

THAT WE ALL BE ONE
John 17:9-11,20-23

I have a little assignment for you this morning. This is not something to be taken lightly. So I want you to listen very carefully. Today I am urging you to guard our treasure chest of gold bars. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that the appraised value of the gold bars is over two millions dollars. You must not let anyone near this treasure. Do whatever you have to in order to make sure that these gold bars are not taken from you. Guard this treasure with your life. Do you all understand your assignment? Do you think you will be able to carry it out?

So why will you not be unable to carry out the assignment that I have given you? Because it is impossible to guard what you do not have. If I had indeed delivered the gold bars into your hands, then you would understand the charge to guard the treasure; but since you don’t have the treasure, you cannot guard it.

Now that we have that straight, let’s turn to John 17. These last few days I have been praying that the Lord would make this passage precious to us this morning, that we would not be able to take it for granted, to read it with a yawn. This is our Lord Jesus speaking. He is not only speaking, but here we have the record of His words just hours before His arrest. Not only were these words crucial because they were some of His last, but Jesus was actually praying to His Father. Here in John 17, we have the privilege of hearing our Lord pour out His heart to the Father. Brothers and sisters, when we read this passage, we are on holy ground! And because of what Jesus has done, we who belong to Him have access into the presence of the Father. Let’s go to Him in prayer right now. Pray.

Let’s read it slowly, letting Jesus’ prayer to the Father sink deep into our hearts and minds. Read John 17:1-26…
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 6. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. 7. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. 12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 24. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 25. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

I. Jesus’ Prayer for Unity

Most of us have been over verses 20 and 21 many times, because it is here that Jesus prays that we might be one. Let’s read it again… (Jn. 17:20-21)
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

Let’s be careful not to restrict Jesus’ plea for the unity of His own to these two verses. Though this theme is not mentioned in every verse, it is never far from the mind of our Lord. It permeates this entire prayer. Let’s go back and read again verses 9-11…
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

Jesus makes it clear that He is not praying for the world. Jesus did not come to make the people of the world one. As a matter of fact, He specifically tells us in Matt.10:34-35, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law." The closest the world will ever come to being one is in its united opposition to God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus emphasizes that He is praying for those whom the Father has given Him. And who are they? Paul speaks of this group in Eph. 1:4, "According as he has chosen us in him (in Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame…" Peter speaks of those same people in I Pet. 1:1-2…
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Jesus Himself has already spoken to the Father about them here in verse 2, "As thou hast given him power [literally, authority] over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." Jesus is praying for all those whom He has received from the Father, and those are the ones to whom He will give eternal life. These are the ones to whom He manifested the name of the Father, the very ones whom the Father has given Him. So we see that Jesus is praying for His own, not for the world in general. Most specifically, He is praying for these eleven men, who are about to be devastated, when Jesus is taken from them.

Now notice again what He prays in verse 11, "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are." Jesus prays that the Father will keep them, guard them, protect them. Again, He specifies that He is praying for those whom the Father has given Him. And why does He ask the Father to keep them? In order that they might be one.

Notice how important this is to Jesus. He speaks of His departure from them. He is going to return to the glory He had known with His Father, but they will be left in the world. That concerns Jesus, and we can certainly understand why. As we read later in verse 14, the world will hate them. We have read in the book of Acts that these men will be persecuted. James, the brother of John, was martyred in Acts 12. No wonder Jesus asks the Father to keep them, to guard them. But the focus of His prayer is not for individuals. He prays that they may be one. The keeping power of the Father will be necessary for this little band of men to become one.

In that context, we now come back to verse 20. Now He specifies again for whom He is praying. While in verse 9, Jesus reduced the people for whom He was praying, now He enlarges the group for whom He is praying. No, He doesn’t decide to include some of the world. Instead, He reaches into the future. As the Father had given to Him that little group of men, the Father would continue to give people to Jesus. How? Through the testimony of these men, many more would believe on Him. Jesus doesn’t limit the future to ten years, or even to a hundred years.

He is now praying for all those who will believe on Him through the testimony of these eleven. Praise God! Many of us here have so believed. Remember that these men were apostles for the very purpose of testifying to the risen Christ. They testified through their words and then through their writings, which essentially became the New Testament. Everyone who puts his trust in Christ owes a debt to these men who walked with Jesus, who saw Him crucified, and who then testified to the reality of His resurrection. So for those of us who truly know the risen Christ, we can take great comfort in the fact that Jesus was praying for us!

The substance of His prayer is in verse 21, "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." He prayed that we may all be one. Notice the word "all." He didn’t pray that 95% of those who believe in Him would be united. No, He prayed that all who trust Him might be one.

But didn’t Jesus realize what He was asking? Didn’t He understand the impossibility of such a request? Didn’t Jesus know how different people would be? After all, we live in a diverse world composed of people who differ racially, socially, economically, religiously, and in every other way you can think of. How could Jesus possibly conceive of believers out of such a world living in unity? Make no mistake about it – this is exactly what Jesus prayed. Of course, He knew what He was asking, but He asked it of the Father anyway. He sincerely prayed that all who believe in Him might be one.

Jesus didn’t stop there. Let’s go on and read verses 22 and 23…
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Notice here, as well as in verse 21, the kind of unity for which Jesus prayed. He prayed that we would be one in the same way that He and the Father are one. The more we examine Jesus’ prayer, the more radical it becomes. Back in John 10:30, Jesus had bluntly stated: "I and my Father are one." And now He prays that all of His own be a part of that oneness.
We will be coming back to this concept, but now let’s go a step further and ask a pointed question…

II. Did the Father Answer Jesus’ Prayer?

Jesus asked the Father that all of those who believe in Him might be one. As we have seen, that is a tall order. Did the Father answer His prayer, or not? Understand that the way we answer this question will have far-reaching consequences. Nevertheless, this is a fair question and it demands an answer. So did the Father answer? Yes, the Father granted Jesus’ request that His own people should be one.

How do we know this is the case? Let me suggest two reasons for this answer. Both come directly out of the scripture. First of all, the Father always answered Jesus’ prayers. Remember what Jesus said to those who were following Him in Matt. 7:7-8, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." What a promise. Surely if Jesus could give such a promise to His followers, He had absolute confidence that the Father would answer His own prayers.

For more direct evidence of that fact, let’s turn to John 11. This is the story of Lazarus. Remember that Jesus dearly loved Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. When Lazarus got severely ill, the sisters sent word to Jesus. But the Master didn’t move; He remained where He was for two more days. After reading the entire story, we realize He lingered where He was to give Lazarus plenty of time to die and be buried. Jesus wanted to do more than simply heal a sick man. When He and His apostles arrived at the town of Lazarus and his sisters, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Now let’s pick up the story in John 11:40-44…
Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

What a prayer, but God answered. Yes, the Father raised this man up out of the grave, though he had been in the tomb for four days. But notice especially the words Jesus spoke to the Father in verses 41-42, "…Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always…" The Lord Jesus affirmed that the Father always answered His prayers. He could say that with absolute confidence. If God always answered Jesus prayers, how could it be any different concerning the prayer of John 17?

But we would like to have even greater evidence that the Father did indeed make Jesus’ followers one, even as the Father and the Son are one. We would like to have it after the fact, written in black and white. That brings us to the hard evidence that those who belong to Jesus are one. Let’s read it in Rom. 12:4-5, "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5. So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." We are one body in Christ and are members one of another. Here the apostle Paul uses the analogy of the human body. He uses this picture extensively here in Romans 12 and again in I Cor. 12. And what a powerful analogy it is, for who can deny that the body is one. Never once has my hand not been a part of my body. Without even thinking about it, my hand remains a part of my body and functions in conjunction with all the other parts. So it is in the body of Christ; we are members one of another.

We see the same basic truth in I Cor. 12:11-14…
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 12. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14. For the body is not one member, but many.

Did you catch the repetition of the word "one"? It is not by accident. We are many members, but we are one body. I have hands; I have feet; I have ears; I have eyes; I have a mouth… but I have only one body. So it is with Christ. He has many members, but we are all one body.
Now let’s come to Gal. 3:26-28…
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

If you are looking for a blunt statement, this is it. If you want it in plain language, without any analogies and pictures, this is it. "For you are all one in Christ Jesus." Though Christ’s followers differ according to race and culture and religious background, they are all one in Christ. Though they differ in social station and degree of privilege, they are all one in Christ. Though some are male and some are female, they are all one in Christ. Jesus prayed that His followers would all be one, and here the very Word of God states in the clearest terms that it is so. "For ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

III. How Did the Father Answer Jesus’ Prayer?

Sometimes we hear the comment or even make the comment ourselves: "Be careful what you pray for." I pray, "Lord, make me a man of prayer." I want the Lord to zap my heart and mind with a deep conviction of how I need to pray. But I find that the Lord isn’t in the zapping business. Rather, He has a way of answering prayer through the fabric of real life. I find that the typical way He answers such a prayer is by putting me in a situation where I am desperate. In other words, I pray that He would make me a man of prayer, and He uses the circumstances of life to drive me to my knees. The answer to our prayers often costs us a great deal. The ultimate example of this is the prayer of Jesus, that we might all be one.

So how did the Father answer Jesus’ prayer? He did not do it by simply planting within all His people a desire for unity. What the Father did goes much deeper than that. Recall that John 13-17 gives us a record of the glorious things Jesus spoke to His eleven apostles just hours before His arrest. And chapter 17 is the most glorious of all, because He was actually speaking to His Father. So what happened when He finished His prayer? Jn. 18:1-2..
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. 2. And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.

When Jesus finished praying, He led His apostles out to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was there that He would agonize in prayer, begging the Father to remove the cup from Him. Finally, He would say, "Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."

You will notice that John does not record that experience, only noting that they went over the book Cedron, where there was a garden. Without including that dreadful session of prayer, John goes directly to the betrayal of Judas and the arrest. In the wisdom of God, perhaps the Spirit leads him to link the prayer of Jesus as closely as possible with the answer to that prayer. Jesus finished praying, and He immediately led His apostles to the place where He would be arrested. And, of course, that arrest would lead to His crucifixion. The crucifixion and resurrection, my dear brothers and sisters, was the answer to Jesus’ prayer that we might all be one.

Think about it. We know that it was through His death and resurrection that He provided salvation. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said, "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God…" (Is. 59:2). We were under the wrath of God because we had broken the law of God. Just this week I was reading these words from Ps. 5:9-10..
For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. 10. Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.

Yes, we rebelled against Almighty God. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, and there was not a thing we could do about it. But God Himself did something about it. "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief…" (Is. 53:10). Yes, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 53:6). God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (II Cor. 5:21). There on the cross, Jesus bore the punishment for our sins. The punishment did not come from those who drove the nails in His hands and feet; the punishment came from God Himself. It was God that we offended; it was God against whom we rebelled. And it was God who poured out His wrath upon the One who took our place, upon His own beloved Son.

Why would Jesus do such a thing? Because He loved us? Yes. Because He was intent upon doing the will of His Father? Yes. Because His desire was that we might be made righteous? Yes. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and life more abundantly" (Jn. 10:10). We have a tendency to put our own slant on those words of Jesus, defining that "life more abundantly" to suit our own purposes. Please allow me to tell you what the abundant life is; it is the life of Jesus. Anything else sells short the death and resurrection of our Lord. Jesus died and rose, that He might give us His very life. We read it recently in Acts 2:32-33, "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." Jesus had sent His own Spirit, His very life, into those who wholly trusted Him.

But what does all that have to do with His prayer that we be one? Everything. That is the answer to His prayer. The way the Father makes us one is by sharing His life with us. Too often we get the idea that believers are one because they believe the same things, because they have the same outlook, because they have the same goal in life. No, that isn’t it. We are one because we share the same life, the very life of the Father and the Son. That is what Jesus meant when He said, "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one…" (Jn. 17:23). The key to the oneness for which Jesus prayed is the shared life. As the Father and the Son share the same life, now all believers share that life. It is ours through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Let me give you a close parallel to this truth. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." But how could the Father forgive those who crucified His Son? Through the crucifixion of His Son. What a glorious paradox this is. Jesus became the answer to His own prayer, but it cost Him more than we can ever fully comprehend. In the same way, when He prayed that we might be one, He became the answer to His own prayer. It was through His own crucifixion and resurrection that He would give us His very life.

Conlcusion

We began this morning by illustrating the simple truth that we can’t keep what we don’t have. We can’t protect what is not already ours. With that in mind, let’s read again the first three verses of Ephesians 4. Eph. 4:1-3…
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2. With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Part of walking worthy or our calling is endeavoring to guard the unity of the Spirit. Paul refers to this unity as the unity of the Spirit, because is in the realm of the Spirit. We are united because we share the same Spirit. As we read from I Cor. 12:13, we have all been baptized by one Spirit into one body. Our unity is in the Spirit.

Paul speaks of keeping the unity of the Spirit, or guarding the unity of the Spirit, because it is something we already possess. We can’t protect what we don’t have. If we were not already one, Paul would have said something like this: "Work diligently to become one in the Spirit. Do all you can to produce the unity of the Spirit." But that is not what he says. Rather, it is, "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit." "Make every effort to guard this unity. Make haste to protect this oneness in the Spirit. Give diligence to protect the unity you have."

So we find again the tension that so often presents itself concerning God’s work and our work. The Lord’s work is creating unity; our responsibility is to guard that unity. It is impossible for us who belong to Christ to become one, because we already are one. Too often we speak as if our goal were to achieve unity. That is to rob the Lord of the glory of what He did on the cross. Surely we wouldn’t speak of trying to obtain our own salvation. Paul said, "I do not frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal. 2:21). In the same way, to speak of unity as something that we are trying to produce is to rob Jesus of the glory that belongs to Him. Let us praise His holy name that He has made us one! Let us join the Psalmist in saying, "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity" (Ps. 133:1).

I am fully aware that we have many questions regarding this unity in the Spirit. If we are all one, then why do we seem so divided? Why do we disagree on so many things? How do we guard this unity? I confess that I don’t have the answers to all those questions, but the Lord is convicting me deeply that the place to begin is not in trying to resolve our differences. Rather, the place to begin is by understanding that we are indeed one and to rejoice in that unity of the Spirit. Surely there is no better place to start than John 17.

You will notice in your bulletin that our passage for memory and/or meditation has been changed from Rom. 8 to John 17. I apologize for not being more sensitive to the Lord earlier, but I don’t see any value in sticking to a plan. It seems to me that John 17 is where the Lord wants us to focus together. I would encourage you to memorize part or all of t his chapter. How can we go wrong in committing to memory the precious words of our Lord Jesus, as he spoke to His Father?

Lord willing, next week we will be looking more closely at John 17. Our focus will be upon how the various subjects of His prayer all contribute to the theme of unity, of being one in Christ.