A Prayer for Unity

Alright John chapter 17 is where we are. Good morning, everybody. If you haven't turned there yet turn to John 17 I'm gonna begin reading in verse 20 and Today we're going to conclude our series Through the what is referred to as the upper room discourse which spans five chapters from John 13 to 17 This is that private conversation that Jesus has with his disciples just before he is crucified and in chapter 17 Jesus concludes this private conversation with his disciples by praying this is his longest recorded prayer in the Bible and Chapter 17 his prayer is divided into three sections He first prays for himself and he prays to the father that the father would glorify the son and That the son would glorify the father Then section 2 of chapter 17 Jesus prays for his disciples who were there in the room now Judas has already exited. So it's just the 11 now and Jesus takes time to pray for them and He prays for them that they might have his joy and that the father might protect them from the evil one The last section that we're going to look at today is when Jesus prays for those who will later believe on him That's us he actually prays for us in the 17th chapter and it's a it's a wonderful prayer because he looks down the span of time and He prays for the church. He prays for those who will later believe in him and he specifically prays for us to have unity Unity, so look at chapter 17 with me. I'm gonna read verse 20 down through the end of the chapter Verse 20. Jesus says I do not pray for these alone meaning the 11 disciples in the room But also for those who will believe in me through their word that they all may be one as You father are in me and I in you that they also may be one in us That the world may believe that you sent me and the glory which you gave me I have given them that they may be one just as we are one I in them and you and me that they may be made perfect in one and That the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory

Which you have given me for you loved me before the foundation of the world Oh Righteous father the world has not known you but I have known you and these have known that you sent me and I have declared to them your name and Will declare it that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them Let's pause there and pray Father we thank you for this Upper room discourse this private conversation Jesus has with his disciples and It's a very tender time with them before he's crucified and he takes time to pray and as he prays For those who will later believe in Jesus. We thank you Lord that he had us in mind and Here we are today almost 2,000 years later And most of us are probably believers here and there are some who are not And I pray those who are not believers in Jesus will come to that personal faith in Jesus and We just thank you Lord that you had us in mind that you would pray for us and we do pray for unity Lord, we want to understand unity and we want to experience unity as you intended Thank you Lord for loving us for dying for us and for praying for us We commit our Bible study to you now in Jesus name and everybody said Amen Unity is a precious Commodity and like most good things that we take for granted We notice something when we don't have it When there is disharmony and disunity within families among friends in a church That's when unity is noticed that it's missing It is such a cherished commodity that King David actually spends an entire chapter. It's a small chapter. It's a tiny chapter, but the entire chapter psalm 133 Devoted to the subject of unity. It's only three verses. Let me read psalm 133 to you This is what David wrote behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity It is like the precious oil upon the head running down on the beard the beard of Aaron Running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of her mom

descending upon the of Zion for there the Lord commanded the blessing life forevermore. It's a short psalm but David wrote it specifically on the topic of unity and he says there in the first verse that unity is both good and pleasant. It is good because it reflects the character and nature of God and it is pleasant because well life is so much more enjoyable when people are living in harmony. There's nothing worse than bickering and conflict and fighting and here we are in the holiday season get ready friends Christmas is around the corner and so is your family and friends. So we got to take these things to heart because Jesus meant this for us that we would live in unity and David there in Psalm 133 he compares unity to two things. He says it's like anointing oil that is poured over the head of Aaron running down over his beard onto his garments. Now Aaron was the very first high priest in Israel. He was the brother of Moses and God prescribed a way that the high priests should be set apart for God's purposes which was that they should be anointed with olive oil and so this was a way of symbolically representing the person and the power of God coming upon them in the fulfillment of their duties and so David says you know unity is like the anointing oil poured over the head of Aaron descending down his beard onto his garments and then he also says there that unity is like the dew on Mount Hermon which is the highest point in Israel up north. He says it's like the dew from Mount Hermon descending on the mountains of Zion around Jerusalem which is down south. So it's interesting that he makes these comparisons to try to describe unity and here's his point because both of those examples speak to the fact that there was something higher that flowed down lower. The oil flowed down over the head and beard onto the garments. The dew of Hermon the highest point in Israel flowed down descended down to the mountains of Zion and the idea is that unity is something that comes from above. Unity is something that God designs for us to experience but it cannot be humanly contrived or manufactured. We can try but the ultimate unity the best kind of unity that we are to enjoy is what descends from above and comes down from heaven and pours over us

in a very wonderful miraculous and spiritual way. God is a God of unity. He is a God of unity not of division. I mean consider a few things. Consider what he did in Genesis chapter 2 when he took two completely different people male and female Adam and Eve and he united them and he says about marriage that the two shall become one flesh. Two very different people unified together under the Lordship of Jesus because God is a God of unity not division. A similar thing we see in the New Testament in Ephesians chapter 2 where Paul writes about how there's a wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles until Christ came dies on a cross and by his sacrifice he knocks down that wall of hostility uniting the two into one family through faith in Jesus Christ. God is about unity not division and so in Jesus's prayer for us here in John 17 verse 23 he says that they may be thinking about us that they may be one just as we are one. Again that's a reference to the Trinity it's only one God but God reveals himself in a plurality Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So Jesus says Father I want people to experience through me the same kind of unity that the very nature of the Trinity experiences. I mean this is an amazing thing that he prays for us. In other words he wants us to experience a closeness, a spiritual connection that comes only in this heavenly way and not in some earthly manufactured way. Look God is a God of unity and his objective is to unite and complete us. Satan's objective is to divide and conquer us. Two very diametrically opposed objectives. God's objective is to unite us and complete us in him. Satan's objective is to divide and conquer us. Division within any organization or family or marriage or church is its downfall and God hates divisiveness. Several things in the Bible that specifically say God hates. In Proverbs chapter six, there's a list of some things. Starting in verse 16, Proverbs 6, 16 says, there are six things that God hates, a seventh thing that is an abomination to him. And then it lists those seven things.

You know, the last on the list, number seven, one who sows discord among brethren. People who are sowing division, who are divisive, who enjoy, almost sometimes seem to feed and relish on conflict. That's not the Lord. In fact, in Titus 3.10, Paul instructs the church, warn a divisive person once and then warn him a second time and after that have nothing to do with him. And so the reason Jesus prays for us to be in unity is because we are naturally divisive. And the reason that we are naturally divisive is because our sin nature is naturally self-centered. Self-centeredness leads to division. Others-centered leads to unity. And the one who was the most others-centered in human history is, of course, Jesus. He was so others-centered that the Bible says, Paul writes in Philippians chapter two, that he made himself nothing. He took on the very nature of a servant. He humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. He laid down his life because he had all of us in mind. He was and is very others-oriented and that is what you need in order to have unity because self-centeredness brings division. Others-centeredness brings unity. And so here in John 17, Jesus prays for us to have that kind of selfless, others-centered unity

that he demonstrated for us. And this is why Jesus prays for us to be one, to be one. Now, notice that word in the passage I read at the beginning of our Bible study. Jesus uses the word one five times in four verses. He wants us to be one. Now, before we go on any further in this whole discussion of unity, there's some important things that need to be said here at this point because unity is a loaded word. And so the question becomes unity for what cause or for what points of agreement? And when is it okay and is it okay to not be in unity with others? A few weeks ago when we started into this Upper Room Discourse beginning in chapter 13 of John, our whole Sunday morning study was on the topic of love because Jesus talked about love there in John 13. In fact, he said in John 13 35 that by this will all people know that you are my disciples if you love one another. And we had to talk about, well, what is really the definition of love in a biblical sense because the world has a completely different idea of what love is. And so when we were in John 13, I mentioned at that time that love is not just some syrupy emotion that the world conflates with tolerance. You know, the world's idea of love is just tolerate, which is this false notion that love means you tolerate anything and everything

because not to do so would be unloving and judgmental. Well, that's not what the Bible teaches. That's not biblical love. You know, by the way, Jesus didn't tolerate our sinful lives. He died for our sinful lives. And he was very intolerant of our sinful lives. That's why he had to call out sin for what it was. But then he dies on a cross so that we won't have to suffer the consequences for our sinful lives. If he just had tolerated sin in the world, then there would have been no reason for Jesus to die on a cross. He would have just looked at all of us and said, you know what, you be you, I'll be me, it's all good. Well, it's not all good. And that's why Jesus loved us enough to say, you're not good. And that's why you need a savior. And that's why he died on a cross for our sins, to make us right with God. Well, love therefore needs to be qualified because there are a lot of competing definitions in our world. And so it is true when we talk about the word unity. That needs to be qualified a little bit. Because biblical unity does not mean that we rally around anyone or anything. Unity is not some big umbrella that we all gather under and talk about tolerance and sing Kumbaya and hold up signs that say, can't we all just get along?

Okay, that's not the umbrella of unity that Jesus was talking about here. Things about biblical unity for you taking notes number one biblical unity is centered on Christ and his word Okay. Now further up in John 17 when Jesus was praying for his disciples there in the upper room He prayed this in verse 16 They are not of the world just as I am not of the world which is true for all of us who are followers of Christ we don't belong here This is not our home. We're passing through we're to influence it for the glory of God were to make a difference in the kingdom We're to be faithful to be used by him, but we're not of this world We don't belong here and Jesus praying for his own disciples. He says there in John 17 16 They are not of the world just as I am not of the world Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth and Then further down in verse 22 when he's praying for the future church He says that they may be one just as we are one and so there has to be this Common understanding of what truth is in order for us to have unity It just can't be this vague umbrella where everybody just gathers together We can just believe whatever we want embrace whatever we want and then say that that's unity now Listen in saying this there is some room, of course for differences under that umbrella I'm not saying that we are all That we all have to be the same. I Mean that's not even realistic. Look marriage is about oneness, but look at your spouse right now. You are not the same Just look at it right now. Let's say to them. You are not the same. Okay, I Married my complete opposite. I Did I married my complete opposite and and therefore she's wrong every single time No, no that isn't true But sometimes you can think that can't you because even though you have oneness in marriage You're still very different people and you can look at each other and go, you know Why do you think that and why did you why did you think I meant that and what were you meaning when you said that? And did you did you really honestly think this and think that and how could you think this how could you think that? Have you ever had a conversation like that?

Driving here to church, didn't you? Yeah Now two people who are one in Christ and one in the bond of marriage, but yet you're two very different people you have different perspectives and That's the beauty of marriage because marriage was intended to be a complimentary thing Because your strengths may not be your spouse's strengths. Your spouse may have strengths that aren't yours, but together it's complimentary You know, look there's a sister there who gets that. Amen Some of some you know, some of you are like you would say to me Well, you know, we actually married each other and we're very very similar We think the same things we'd like the same things we each finish each other's sentences. Well, that's boring. One of you is not necessary Fight for a change about something No, that's fine if God is knit you together and you're very similar but you know the phrase that really defines friendship is birds of a feather flock together But the phrase that describes marriage is opposites attract and there's a reason because God knows that you and I are Deficient in certain ways so God can bring along a spouse to help complement now Look, it doesn't mean we are incomplete without being married. There are singles here. I'm not saying that you're incomplete I'm saying when you do get married oftentimes what happens is there's a complimentary relationship Where the things that you're not as good at are made up by your spouse and vice versa, but there are differences there So listen to me on this oneness That Jesus is praying for us to be one oneness is not sameness Okay, oneness is not sameness listen the very definition of unity assumes that there are Differences that need to be brought together in harmony under Christ That's a very definition of unity You don't you don't even need to describe unity if not for the fact that there are Differences and those differences need to be brought together in harmony under Christ, but here's the problem Too many Christians and or churches in an effort to pursue unity Have forsaken integrity and doctrinal purity And That's not the kind of unity that Jesus is talking about Martin Luther once said this peace if possible, but truth at all costs

and We have unfortunately compromised the truth in many ways for the sake of we just all want to get along Well, I want us to all get along too I hope everybody wants us to get along but it better be for the right reasons and it better be for the right causes And it better be around the issue of truth. And so therefore there are certain essentials of the historic Christian faith that we must never compromise in order to maintain true biblical unity. Essentials like, for example, the inerrancy, veracity, and reliability of scripture, okay? The virgin birth, the sinless nature of Christ, that salvation is through grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone. Okay, there are certain non-negotiables. And then there are other, what we would call, non-essentials, that are beliefs or practices that would fall under that category of non-essentials that Christians can disagree about and still have unity under that umbrella. You know, things like modes of baptism, you know, do you dunk or do you sprinkle? Okay, well, you know, we dunk around here, but if you're Presbyterians, you're welcome to be here too, but we're gonna still dunk you. But the operation of spiritual gifts, the timeline of end time events, what about drinking, dancing, chewing, and going with girls who do? I mean, there are some things that we can debate

and discuss and have some disagreements about, but you can still be under that umbrella. The early church fathers followed a motto hundreds of years ago that I, in fact, we incorporated this when we first started our church into our bylaws. And it just goes like this, in essentials, unity, in non-essentials, liberty, and in all things, charity. It's a good motto to live by. Jesus's prayer for unity is not just important for the church, which it is, but for every area where relationships exist among friends, in a family, in a marriage, even in a business, wherever the possibility exists for disharmony and disunity, there is the need for unity. So, number two, unity is diversity with harmony. Again, like in a marriage, oneness assumes differences. The question is, how do we make our differences work in a complementary way instead of a competitive way? You know, think, for example, of like an orchestra. An orchestra would be boring if every person played the same instrument and the same note, okay? That would be boring. The diversity of instruments and musical notes are what make for a beautiful sounding symphony, so long as everyone in the orchestra is playing in harmony. You know, if the brass section just decides,

we're gonna play a whole different melody line, and the string section says, and we're gonna play our own musical notes, and percussion says, you know what, we're gonna beat out a cadence however we want. Well, nobody's gonna wanna listen to that because that's gonna sound terrible. It's gonna sound awful. Nothing is together. Nothing is congruous, okay? But when all these different parts in an orchestra play in harmony off the same sheet of music using their different instruments, it becomes a sweet sounding symphony to our ears. And this is like the church. There are a lot of people with different backgrounds, different talents, different ethnicities, different perspectives, and gifts. How boring the church would be if we were all exactly the same. There is richness in diversity. However, all those differences must be brought into harmony under the Lordship of Jesus Christ for the common cause of the kingdom of God. You see, Colossians 3, 13 to 15 says this, as the Lord has forgiven you, you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. You know why people don't have harmony? Because they don't wanna forgive.

That's just one example. Why don't we have harmony? Because you haven't forgiven each other. That's why Paul writes that. You know, we have to work on harmony, and part of harmony means you have to be other-centered. You have to forgive, he says there, as the Lord has forgiven you. Also, 1 Peter 3, 8, finally, all of you live in harmony with one another, be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. That's being other-centered. There is richness in diversity, and that diversity with harmony is what makes unity. Number three, unity is based on a mutual relationship with Christ. Now, let me explain this. You can have unity with non-believers, all right, as long as you find some common ground or similar interest. You can have unity with people who don't know Christ. This is also true in a secular company or organization. People can have unity in a secular company, for example, when all the employees are striving for the same goal or the same objective of the company. And people get paychecks every day for doing just that. And they don't even necessarily have to agree with the objective of the company. Just come in, do your work, be faithful, show up on time, keep your mouth shut, get a paycheck, and go home. But that's very surface unity.

You know, it's around some common objective or common goal or common interest. Fine. OK, you can have unity on some level with people who don't know Christ and people who don't know Christ within and among themselves. But it's very surface. Because what Jesus is talking about here is a deeper kind of unity that is centered on Christ. And when we know Christ as our Lord and Savior, there is a richness in a family, there's a richness in a marriage, there's a richness in a business, there's a richness in a church that cannot be manufactured, humanly speaking. It's the reason why you can meet someone who's a believer and you're a believer for the very first time, and you have an instant camaraderie and connection with them, unlike your family members who aren't believers. You know that to be true. And why is that? Because you found this commonness in Christ that transcends all the other differences that we might have as people, as human beings. And so around Christ comes this deeper sense of unity and friendship and camaraderie and love. This is why, quite honestly, and I don't mention this to shame anybody if you're in this situation, but just as a matter of pointing it out, this is the reason why the Bible warns against a believer

marrying an unbeliever, and why the Bible says that's being unequally yoked. Why? It's not because the believer is sanctimonious. It's because God knows that this deeper unity comes in the common relationship with Jesus. And when that is not mutual, then there's going to be more friction. Now again, you might be married as a believer to a nonbeliever and say, well, I have unity with my spouse. Sure. In certain categories, in certain areas, you can find unity. Maybe you both like to travel. Maybe you both like rooting for the same sports team. Maybe you both are foodies and you like the same restaurants. OK, fine. But when it comes to the deeper values, if you don't have a shared value system that is rooted in Christ and his word, there's going to be friction. I mean, when you start having to talk about things like how generous are you going to be with your money, and one of you realizes it's not really our money. We should be extra generous. And the other one thinks, no, it is our money, and I earned this. And you're going to have some conflict there, or conflict on what the children can and cannot do, or conflicts about how to resolve conflict, or how to pray together in a marriage

because there will be struggles and conflicts and difficulties. But one of you doesn't even want to pray. So this is the reason why the kind of unity that Jesus is praying for is really best experienced when there's a mutual relationship in Christ. Because then, see, all the other differences don't really matter. All those other things are just complementary or adds to the richness of the relationship, but it's deeper when we know Christ. And then number four, finally, unity is obtained from God but maintained by us. I started out by quoting from Psalm 133, where David says, listen, the kind of unity that he's saying is good and pleasant is what comes from above and descends down to us, like the oil on the head of Aaron descending on his garments, like dew on Mount Hermon going down to Jerusalem. So God is the author of unity, and God is the one in Christ who gives us this spirit of unity. In fact, Paul says this in Romans 15, verses 5 and 6. He says, may the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul says there, as he prays for the church, he says, may God give you that spirit of unity, because this kind of unity and this oneness, this kind of closeness and camaraderie and connection

can only come from above. But then, interestingly, Paul also says in Ephesians 4, 2 and 3, he says, bear with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. So he says in Romans 15 this unity comes from above but he says in Ephesians 4 But now you and I have to maintain it we have to work hard at this and the reason we have to work hard at unity is because again, it's not part of our Nature not our flesh nature when you get saved and you come into a relationship with Jesus Your spirit is regenerated, but your flesh is not and there's this constant war Paul describes it there's this constant war and tension between what you're what your flesh wants because your flesh just wants to please the flesh and what your Spirit wants because your spirit wants to please God and there's this constant tension and friction and There's enough in all of us in our flesh That we have to crucify daily That wants to be self-centered instead of others centered and this is the death of unity when we are self-centered and And so this is why Paul says we have to work hard at maintaining this Because it's easy to allow our differences to cause disunity and disharmony But when we realize hey, we serve the same Lord. We have the same Savior We have the essentials of the doctrine of the Christian faith according to the Word of God. That is uncompromising Now there's room for all these other kind of non essential differences, but we have got to work hard at Maintaining this because the enemy is the author of division He wants to divide and conquer Jesus wants to unite and complete and I close with this verse write it down If you're a note-taker, it's Romans 12 verse 18 Romans 12 18 if it is possible as far as it depends on you Live at peace with everyone If it is possible as far as it depends on you, you're not responsible for somebody else's reaction But we are responsible for our own So if it's possible as far as it depends on each of us Live at peace with everyone in Jesus name

Father we thank you for your word and we thank you Jesus that you had us in mind when you prayed in John 17 for unity And I want to pray right now Lord for every family represented here in person or watching online Where there is strife and bickering and conflict where there is disharmony and disunity I Pray in the name of Jesus for a spirit of unity to fall from above and descend on that family descend on that home descend on that marriage Satan loves to divide and conquer and he's working hard to destroy marriages and to destroy families and to destroy churches But we thank you Lord that you've prayed for us That we might be one in Christ But that spirit of unity which comes from above and descends down upon us We want to safeguard we thank you Jesus for your peace and your unity for oneness that comes through Christ Minister your peace and your unity to every family that is hurting right now Lord To every marriage that has bickering Unite them in Christ Help them to forgive as you have forgiven us Help them to accept one another as you have accepted us That by this will the rest of the world know Lord That we are your disciples because of the way we love one another and because of the way we are united in Christ and We thank you Lord that after 31 years there's been no church split here and we pray that there never would be that you would maintain and Bring upon us and we would work hard to keep a spirit of unity among us loving each other Accepting one another welcoming one another in The bond of peace So that as far as it depends on each of us we would live at peace with all men For your glory in Jesus name and everybody said amen and amen. God bless y'all