DATE: 16th May, 2021
THEME: THAT ALL MAY BE ONE
SCRIPTURE READINGS
ACTS 1:12-14
1st John 5:9-13
John 17:6-19
Psalter – Psalm 1
PREPARED BY: OSOFO YAW DODD
INTRODUCTION
As we have journeyed through John’s majestic Gospel, we have encountered many GLORIOUS PORTRAITS of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen His heart of compassion on display as He healed the sick, we have seen His power revealed as He raised the dead and fed the hungry, we have seen His grace revealed as He saved the sinner. Every portrait that each chapter has given to us has been an encouragement and a blessing. This chapter is no exception! When we come to chapter 17, we find ourselves standing on holy ground. In these verses, the Holy Spirit of God gives us access into the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus pours His heart out to His Heavenly Father. On this, the last night of the earthly life of Jesus, He is found serving as our great High Priest making intercession with the Father. In fact, the Bible declares Him to be our Great High Priest – Heb. 3:1; 6:20.
In John 17:6-19, Jesus turns His focus outward and prays for those men who have given Him their hearts and lives; HIS DISCIPLES. In this prayer, we can find some nuggets of truth that will help us as well. Jesus prayed for the Unity of the Church. Unity in the church is critical to the fulfilment of it’s mission to reaching a lost world. Indeed, a united church is a force that is terrible to behold against the powers of darkness. Likewise, a disunified church is impotent and ineffective – in fact it can even be detrimental to the cause of Christ because of IT’S tainted witness to the world. Jesus said in John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” I believe that many a sinner has been turned away from Christ because believers in the local church failed to love one another and unite for the cause of Christ.
BODY
I. HIS PRAYER HAD AN OUTWARD FOCUS
a. He Prayed For Their Preservation – In this section, Jesus prayed for His men that they would be kept by the Father. Jesus knew the wickedness of the world and He had seen first-hand the wretchedness of the human heart. He knew that left to themselves, the Disciples would not be able to maintain their relationship with the Father. Therefore, He took that responsibility and placed it squarely upon the shoulders of the Father.
b. He Prayed For Their Protection – Next, Jesus prayed that His Disciples would be protected from “the evil.” Literally, “the evil one!” Jesus is merely praying that they be given strength to face the task at hand and that they be given strength to stand against the attacks that are sure to come from the devil.
c. He Prayed For Their Purity – Jesus asked the Father to set these men apart from the world by the Word of God! His prayer is that they might live their lives against the backdrop of the Scriptures and that they might live lives pleasing to the Father.
II. WHAT KIND OF UNITY?
There is a great deal in this prayer. Every word is packed with meaning. The request ‘that they may all be one does not stand alone’. The kind of unity for which he prayed is included in the prayer, and the purpose for which we should be united is also there.
In one way or another, Christians of all traditions seem to agree that it is God’s will that they should all be one in some sense but believers have different ideas about the nature of the unity to which we are called. There has been much debate over the centuries about such things as whether it is necessary that Christians should have organic unity, being one visible fellowship, worshipping together at one table, etc., or whether it is sufficient that we recognize our spiritual unity, sharing perhaps an invisible unity which we have by virtue of our communion with the one Lord.
What kind of unity did Jesus desire for us? He said, As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us. There you have at least the foundations. We must begin with a spiritual unity: as God dwells in us, we together dwell in him. It is in the first place in our communion with God, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that we have an essential unity. We belong together because we belong to him. But that is not all: the nature of our unity is further revealed in the purpose for which we should be one: that is, according to what Jesus prayed, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
III. UNITY IN GOD
That they may be one as we are one is a prayer that the kind of unity that we might have is the same kind of unity that exists between the Father and the Son. As Jesus said elsewhere The Father and I are one. John 10:30. It is interesting that he spoke of that unity between himself and God the Father when he was speaking of himself as the shepherd and giving his followers eternal life. John 10:27-30
We are called then to be completely one so that the love that is in the very being of God and the love with which we are loved may be shared. Jesus will then himself dwell in us and we in him, as he dwells in the Father and the Father in him.
IV. THE PRESCRIPTION FOR UNITY
Using the word, UNITY, as an acronym, we can identify several characteristics of Christ-honoring fellowship.
▪ Uplift
One way to develop unity within the body of Christ and in your home is to make a commitment to follow the commands of God to uplift one another. Imagine the incredible spirit of uplifting these men experienced in this final phase of Jesus’ ministry with his disciples. He spoke of their great contribution when He said, “Guys, you’re going to take my gospel to the world”. Jesus says, “I’ve chosen you because I believe you can change the world. The world is going to know about the love I have for them.” Can you imagine how that energized them?
▪ Need
God has placed us here so that we can meet the needs of others. My favorite story about meeting the needs of others is about the child who wanted a bike for his birthday. When his dad tucked him in for bed, he prayed with an extremely loud voice, “God, I really want that blue bike from Melcom.” His grandparents were visiting, so the father instructed the boy not to be so loud, “SON, GOD IS NOT DEAF.” The little boy said, “I know, but grandpa is!” That child knew that God usually meets needs through the lives of other saints. Unity becomes possible when we acknowledge our personal needs and our responsibility to help other with their needs.
▪ Integrity
Jesus says, “I have given them glory” (17:22). Glory calls attention to the holiness and the purity of God. Jesus represented the glory and the holiness of God, and we have received the call to represent that same type of integrity or holiness. Unity flourishes when we live holy, clean, and pure lives. The dictionary defines integrity as a state of being that is complete or unified. Integrity means wholeness or completeness.
▪ Trust
When there is integrity, the saints of God are willing to trust one another. The experience of unity is accompanied by a confidence in your brothers and sisters to fulfill their responsibility without being coerced or begged. You can focus on your assigned area because you trust other saints to do their job.
▪ Yielding
Two areas of our lives require yielding. First, we yield to the Lordship of Christ. Because God has exalted Christ, we submit our life to the authority of Christ. Jesus is Lord. Then, having yielded to the Lordship of Christ, we have the capacity to yield to one another in the glorious cause sharing the gospel. The driving call is “that the world may know.” We should be willing to yield our selfish desires to the greater goal of extending the love of Christ to a lost world.
IMPLICATIONS FOR US TODAY
There are personal implications in our relationship with God and in the fellowship of believers both within our own church and in the wider church. The unity for which Jesus prayed will be increased by
▪renewal of our personal relationship to Jesus Christ, in private prayer and devotion;
▪participation in public worship and especially the Lord’s Supper;
▪learning from the teachers of the word, listening and questioning with honour;
▪and recognizing Christ in one another, accepting and serving each other in his name.
Achieving a wider unity will not be possible unless and until we develop more of the essential unity of the church within our own fellowship by such means as these.
If anyone then says that we can have spiritual unity and still maintain visible disunity in our witness to the world, as if divisions in the body of Christ did not matter, then the prayer of Jesus is not being fulfilled. The unity that Christ wills for the Church, for which he prayed and which is his gift for the Church, is a unity that the world can see and so believe.
CONCLUSION
Several centuries ago, ancient China wanted to secure its borders from its northern invaders. They had an ingenious plan. They built a great wall to protect the border. It was so thick that no one could knock it down. It was so long that no one could get around it. They posted soldiers at different places. It was built wide enough on the top for chariots to patrol. If they heard of an attack at distant location, they could easily get to it. They were up high giving them a superior advantage over their enemies. They knew that they had protected their borders sufficiently against all enemies.
But, in the first 100 years of the Great Wall of China, the nation was invaded three times. How? An enemy bribed the gatekeeper and entered into the land undetected.
When we diminish the importance of unity in the body of Christ, we risk being invaded by the enemy. God has called us to divine fellowship. That fellowship is one of the most powerful tools of witness to a lost and dying world. If we don’t protect it, strive for it, and do everything we can to promote it, we open the gate to the enemy. The enemy will attack your family and your church, causing ineffectiveness and destruction. Enjoy the SERVICE. Stay Blessed.
PREPARED BY
OSOFO YAW DODD
CALVARY METHODIST CHURCH
ADABRAKA-ACCRA
