Christian unity is an interesting topic; I think it’s especially relevant in our contested, fragmented, and polarized time. To some Christian unity is a cute idea, to others it’s a pipedream, and still to others it’s just irrelevant–I’m right, you’re wrong, end of the story. I think the Scriptures teach, however, that our posture towards brothers and sisters in Christ is of moral, ethical, and spiritual consequence in and of itself.
A unified church is something Jesus prays for, something he longs for, and something he asks us and helps us work for. We see in John 17 (I encourage you to go read the whole chapter) this great and climactic prayer that Jesus prays for the unity of his church.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17:20-26 (ESV)
Jesus does not anchor Christian unity in our ethnicity. He doesn’t anchor it in a shared language or a culture. Truly Christian unity does not have a superficial source; it has a divine source.
God himself is the source of Christian unity. We see that in Jesus’ prayer.
He prays that all who believe in him through their (the disciples’) word will be one in the same way that the Father and the Son are one. Let’s explore that idea. It’s significant.
Jesus envisions his relationship with the Father being sort of paradigmatic for the way Christians relate both to God and one another. Put more simply: He’s letting us in on the life of God – the life God has enjoyed in himself from the very beginning. In the same way God is one within himself, we would be one with him and with one another.
This is a theological unity. This is a theological reality. When we are joined to Christ, we are joined to his body on Earth–the Church. The Church is not just this optional part of the believer’s life, in many ways it’s an intrinsic part of the believer’s identity. Jesus doesn’t just pray that you’d be one with him, but that we together would be one with him. That’s a simple, but subtle and powerful distinction. It pushes back on our Western and American individualism. And I think it provides a helpful gospel witness.
Jesus cites two things specifically that he has shared with us that will make us one. So he prays that we would be one, and leaves us with that which we need to be one. It’s almost like he wants us to make a peanut butter sandwich and has left us with the peanut butter and the bread. Jesus has shared with us his glory and his love.
Look at verses 22-23…
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Jesus says: I have given them the glory that you have given me. Jesus, in his life and ministry, has revealed the glory and majesty of God to us. He has shown us his greatness and invited us all to behold it. Together, in the gospel, we have seen the glory of God. We experience his goodness and holiness together, and that binds us together for a lifetime.
We are the people in the world who, in the face of Jesus, have beheld the glory of God. Jesus has revealed the way, the truth, and the life of God. We know that the way of glory is the way of the cross. And it’s the way of the cross that we journey together.
Jesus has given us his glory that we may be one, that we may be bound together by the glory of God, that we would be a people who love not for ourselves, our comforts, our causes, but together for our Christ.
He’s given us his glory, and he’s given us his love.
Look at verses 25-26…
25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
This is remarkable stuff. Jesus has made God known to us. He will continue to make him known to us, that the love the Father has had for the Son may be in us – and that Jesus himself may be in us.
The perfect love that existed within the Godhead before there was time and space has been given to us.
In the person of Jesus Christ, God has come to dwell with us. This is the fulfillment of the ancient hope that God would dwell among his people.
Through the person and work of Jesus, we get in on God’s plan from the beginning. As Jesus walks into Gethsemane, he escorts us home to Eden. The love that we share, Jesus says, that they have forfeited by their sin, they will soon taste again. This love, our love, will be poured into their hearts.
In Adam, we ran from God’s love. In Christ, God’s love runs toward us.
The glory of God has been given to us in Christ.
The love of God has been poured into our hearts in Christ.
Friends, the glory of God and the love of God are the source of Christian unity. These are the things Jesus has given us so that his prayer may be answered. May nothing loom larger in our lives than the glory of God and the love of God.
You think Jesus gets what he prayed for? Oh, I think so!