Scripture Introduction
Whatever Jesus prays for must weigh heavily on the hearts of all true believers. The Beloved Son of the Father in heaven, the second person of the Triune God, the incarnation of Word, the One who lived and died and rose again that those chosen by the Father might know the glory of God’s presence forever – the prayers of this High Priest surely arrest our attention. As we love the Lord Jesus Christ and his appearing, we will pray for and work hard for that which moves him, especially in his last prayer for us. And what is on Jesus’ heart is “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
[Read John 17.20-21. Pray.]
Introduction
[Sometimes I wonder about stories handed down to pastors. I have no way of knowing if this one is true, but the illustration is powerful and the parable is Biblical.]
So the story is told of a little child in an African tribe wandering off into the tall jungle grass and could not be found. Family and tribe members ran and stomped all day, franticly seeking to see into every hidden spot obscured by the thick grasses which rose over their heads. The end of the day brought no news. The next day a thoughtful person suggested every member of the tribe hold hands so they could comb through the grass without missing any area. Eventually they found the body of the child who had died during the cold night. Through tears the anguished mother cried out: “If only we would have held hands sooner.”
Our Trinity Hymnal includes Brian Jeffery Leech’s song, “We Are God’s People.” Verse 4 reads: “We are a temple, the Spirit’s dwelling place, formed in great weakness, a cup to hold God’s grace; we die alone, for on its own each ember loses fire: yet joined in one the flame burns on to give warmth and light, and to inspire.” “Joined in one, the flame burns on….”
Puritan pastor Thomas Manton, in order to press upon his congregation the important of unity among Christians, preached several sermons on this topic from John 17. Typical of their method of starting with an idea then exploring every related thought, Manton begins with the text we are studying, then shows seven ways in which unity in the church is the Lord’s desire. I have pulled from that sermon his main headings so that you might feel the Biblical significance of this goal.
Thomas Manton (324-329): “Observe how much Christ’s heart is set upon the unity and oneness of his members: in verse 11, he prays it for the apostles; in verse 21, the same for all believers. Let us see how much it was in the aim of Christ. [1] Therefore was he incarnate. He united divine and human nature in his own person, that he might unite us to God by himself, and with one another: Ephesians 1.9-10: ‘according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him’…. [2] No one thing is so inculcated in his sermons: John 15.17: ‘These things I command you, so that you will love one another’…. [3] In his prayers, that which he reinforced again and again is unity and love…. [4] Christ died for this end: Ephesians 2.14-16: ‘He himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross’…. [5] This he aimed at in his ascension, and the pouring out of the Spirit: Ephesians 4.3: ‘eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’…. [6] This is the goal of his gracious dispensations, he gives us grace and assurance of glory to this end: John 17.22: ‘The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one’…. [7] It is the purpose of his ordinances in the church. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are to keep the saints together: 1Corinthians 12.13: ‘For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…and all were made to drink of one Spirit’; and 1Corinthians 10.17: ‘Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.’”
Now if Manton is correct, if unity in the church is much on the heart of the Savior of the church, then we would expect this often to be in the Apostles’ admonitions. And so it is. In addition to the verses brought out in the quote, consider these:
1Corinthians 12.24-25: “God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.”
Romans 12.5: “So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
Colossians 2.19: “holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”
Ephesians 4.1-5: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call – one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”
Acts 4.32: “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul….”
Additionally, there are the many “one another” commands: love one another, greet one another, serve one another, care for one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, outdo one another in showing honor, bear one another’s burdens, and so on.
Nor is this only an New Testament idea. We read Psalm 133 today, David’s praise of the pleasantness of unity in the church. His son, Solomon, also taught on this matter: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him – a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4.9-12). The wisest man ever to live ask us to think about the practical benefits of unity.
It should amaze us that something so often urged by God upon his people would be so rarely thought of and labored for by us. May the reality of the oneness of God and his presence in our body move us to make “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” a passion in our lives. To do that, please notice
1. We Must Be Encouraged That Christ Prays For Unity Among Us (John 17.20)
When a woman is expecting a baby, the new mother and father begin early to prepare the nursery. Cleaning, painting, decorating, setting up the changing table and the sleeping area are all part of making the future life of the new baby as wonderful as possible. In a similar way, Jesus prays for those who will believe, preparing comforts and blessings for God’s spiritual children before they are born or born-again.
The problems in the church are legion, not the least of which is our tendency toward schism and division, toward a party spirit and separation. I’m sure that some of you, like me, are tempted to give up. But let us instead dwell on the mercies and graces promised through this prayer. You know that no one bends the ear of Almighty God as his beloved Son – will not his intercession be effective? Do not grow weary now, even of the painful working out of unity in the body, for in due season we will reap blessings, if we do not give up. Jesus prayed for this – how can we fail?
But note well for whom Jesus prays: those who will believe in him through the Word. Two warnings are there:
First, be certain you are his by faith: do you believe? All promises of God are received by faith. Jesus does not pray for those who join the church, or those who take the sacraments, or even those who obey – though each is important in its own place. He prays for those who believe. Gospel promises are received by faith.
Consider Abraham, as Paul did in Romans 4: “If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’.… The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe…. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith…in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring – not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham…. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Are you standing by faith? Just last month someone said to me, “I did not do so-and-so; I’m a pretty good person.” Maybe you are – but only perfection enters God’s heaven. Is your trust in your goodness, or his grace? “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” His blood – his death for my sin, and his righteousness – his good works for my justification.
That leads to a second warning: be certain the God you trust is the Jesus revealed in the Word. People from technological cultures like our own usually imagine that those who kneel before statues are silly and foolish. Yet many will form a god in their minds that is as every bit different from the Jesus of the Word as the beloved elephant-faced deity of Hinduism known as Ganesha [guh-ney-shuh]. Only the Messiah of the Bible saves – do you know this Jesus and is your faith in him?
If it is, then let us accept his prayer for unity and notice…
2. We Must Pursue Unity for Our Own Spiritual Blessing (John 17.21a)
Make no mistake, those united to Christ are also united to fellow Christians. It is a common mistake in evangelical churches to think only of an individual relationship with God. Of course, such is important and real. Each of us must repent and believe the promises of the gospel. God deals personally with you and your soul before his judgment seat. It will avail nothing to plead your parent’s faith or your membership in church or even your baptism – if these outward acts are not married to personal commitment.
But in the Bible, blessing and favor often come from God to us through other believers. God alone brings the soul to a new birth, but he does so through the preaching of pastors. God alone comforts the broken heart, but he does so through the prayers and fellowship of this people.
This forms Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians in chapter 12: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ…. There are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’…. God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”
Bible-believing Christians in the church war too much; we have too many scruples of division. We value truth (as we should), but our preferences too quick run to separation. Reformed people love to read books which place a sharp point on theology; much less familiar are we with writings which challenge us to pursue the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We do so to our own hurt.
Psalm 133 promises God’s favor on those who dwell in unity. O that we would make it our aim to claim his gracious blessings! A. W. Tozer, commenting on that Psalm suggests that we think of the blessings of God flowing into us like electricity coming to our house. The power may be ready and waiting, but if a fuse is blown, the flow is stopped. Unity is the fuse between the power of God’s Spirit and the benefits of electricity. Let us pray and labor for a unity of heart and soul that draws God’s blessings down on our head as the anointing oil on the priest.
3. We Must Pursue Unity for the Sake of Our Witness (John 17.21b)
In Thomas Manton’s day, he was much concerned with why God was not bringing more converts out of the Roman church. He found a reason here: “Our divisions make us a laughing-stock to the enemy, and then a prey. Certainly, if once a peace were settled in the Reformed churches, the prophecies concerning antichrist would soon be accomplished; those relics of God’s election, which do as yet remain in spiritual Babylon, would soon come out from among them, who are now scandalized at our divisions…. They are weary of the idolatry and superstitions of the Romish church, and would soon break the cords wherewith they are now held…. Alas! We have striven long enough, hindered the common salvation long enough; scandals enough have been given: it is high time to renounce all fruits of revenge and ambition, and think of peace and unity” (X, 331).
There is nothing more natural in fallen mankind than to separate from one another. As soon as Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ripped asunder that perfect fellowship with their Creator and King, they immediately fell apart from one another. The same strife characterized their children, as their first-born son murdered his own brother. This is the testimony of fallen people – war, bitterness, strife, resentment, anger, hatred, animosity, offense, slander, bickering, complaints, rivalry.
We prove Christ Jesus is Lord when we exhibit unity, gracious forbearance, love, sacrificial service, compassionate care, humility, sincere looking out for another’s interests – in short, when we in the church believe that the high prize belongs to those who outdo one another in showing honor. Then the world will sit up and take notice! Then people will say, “God is surely in your midst.” This is Jesus prayer and passion: do you believe?
