Worshipping Jesus in unity

Our common faith in Jesus unites us to Him and to each other, and in John 17, Jesus prayed for us to grow spiritually mature and to demonstrate that maturity through our love and unity.

Some refer to Christ's prayer in John 17 as His "High Priestly Prayer" in view of the intercession He makes on behalf of believers. This prayer may have been prayed in the Upper Room after Jesus instructed His disciples or may have been prayed en route to the Garden of Gethsemane. Some refer to this prayer as the greatest prayer ever prayed on earth and the greatest prayer recorded anywhere in Scripture (Wiersbe, 367).

In the portion of His prayer that we're about to look at, Jesus prayed for the church of every generation and He gave us a clear glimpse of how He desires to bless His people for all eternity.

Belief is a blessing

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,"  (John 17:20)

This prayer Jesus was praying followed a logical pattern. He began by praying for Himself, then transitioned to praying for His disciples. From there, He began praying for all believers of all time in a similar fashion to how He was praying for the disciples who were present for His earthly ministry. In fact, it seems to me that the things He prayed for the disciples were also being prayed for us based on the fact that Jesus begins this section by stating, "I do not ask for these only..."

Jesus was praying for those who would believe in Him through the word or the testimony of the disciples. His disciples were first hand witnesses to His teaching and miracles. They were pillars of the early church. Jesus blessed them with helpful experiences and wisdom. Later, He did miracles through them to confirm that the message they were preaching was of divine origin. People came to believe in Jesus through what these men communicated.

In fact, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that virtually all people who have ever become Christians have believed in Jesus through the testimony of His disciples. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these men wrote down the New Testament Scriptures. With the guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit, they planted the churches of the first century. The legacy of what the Lord did through them extends throughout 2000 years of history and has reached you and me right where we are.

What a blessing it is to believe in Jesus Christ. What a blessing it is to be included in God's plan of redemption. I refer to our belief as a blessing because if you believe, that wasn't something you conjured up in your own mind. You didn't come to believe in Jesus by an act of your will. You didn't come to understand the need for salvation on your own. God impressed that need upon your heart and He opened your eyes to enable you to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

"that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,"  (Ephesians 1:17-18)

If you truly believe in Jesus, Don't take your faith for granted. The message of the gospel traveled through many generations and cultures over the course of many years to come to you, and when it did so, God opened your eyes so that you would believe. This is a blessing and Jesus prayed that it would be so.

Our unity points people to Jesus

"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."  (John 17:21-23)

A while back, we invited a friend who isn't part of a church, nor is she a professing Christian, to come and visit our church's Sunday morning worship service. She made a few assessments while she was with us.

•  1. She could tell that those who were there wanted to be there.
•  2. She loved hearing voices sing in unity.
•  3. She was amazed that people took notes during the preaching of the Word.
•  4. She wants to change her typical Sunday schedule so she can be here again.

She said she could tell that the faith being expressed in our church was genuine.

I'm thankful that was her experience because she was being given a taste of what Jesus prayed for in these verses. He prayed that the church would experience unity just as there is unity between the Father and the Son. And as Christ-centered unity is lived out among believers, the unbelieving world will see it, experience it, and also come to believe in Him.

But sometimes, even among believers, there can be divisions. What causes division among people? Isn't it selfishness and a spirit of taking rather than giving?

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.  (James 4:1-3)

We become selfish because some part of us struggles to understand that we are loved. We convince ourselves, just as the world does, that for us to be valued, we need to have something that someone else has or take something at someone else's expense. We convince ourselves that to be loved, we need to be esteemed greater than someone else or valued more visibly by this world's standard of value.

But unity is what Christ desires for His people. Our unity becomes visible through love, obedience, and commitment to Jesus Christ. Our unity is rooted in the love of God because we don't need to strive for worldly things once we're fully convinced that we are deeply loved by our Creator.

In fact, Jesus made a point to remind us in this prayer that just as the Father loves the Son, so too does He love the church, "so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." When this reality becomes fully entrenched in our hearts and our perspective toward life, then our unity can abound because we aren't trying to upstage or outdo each other. We're content to be loved and to see ourselves as deeply loved. This love then becomes lived out among God's people, and by God's grace, points the world to Christ.

We will see Christ's glory

"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."  (John 17:24) 

This will sound silly because it is, but as a child, I was a huge fan of professional wrestling. (I'm still a closet fan, but deeply spiritual people can't admit that publicly, so I'll keep that to myself.) I'll never forget going to my very first wrestling match. When I walked into the arena, my eyes practically bugged out. For the very first time in my life, I was seeing one of the wrestling rings up close, and then just a short while later, I saw some of my favorite wrestlers compete in it. In all sincerity, I was in awe.

Awe is a little easier to inspire in a child than an adult, but Jesus reveals here that there are things that our eyes have not yet witnessed that will inspire a sense of awe in us that is beyond anything we have ever seen.

Jesus prayed that His followers will be where He is and that we will see His glory. While Jesus was on this earth, He veiled His glory. Now, His glory is not veiled. It isn't hidden and He has promised us that He is preparing a place for us in His presence where we will see and experience His divine glory.

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."  (John 14:3)

I don't know what you're looking forward to in this world; a wedding, a birth, a vacation, dinner..., but whatever it is, it pales in comparison to this blessing that Jesus is eager to share with His family. He shares His glory with us and lets us live in His presence where that glory is eternally on display. That's the future He has in store for those who trust in Him. That's the future He has in store for those who love Him and have come to believe in Him.

The love of God is within us

"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 17:25-26)

I wish this world knew Jesus and cared about what matters to the heart of God the Father. Jesus stated that sadly, the world does not know God. Ever since Adam rebelled against God in the garden, this world has been trying to live at a distance from Him. But through Jesus, the church knows the Father.

Jesus was revealing God to the world. Being one with the Father, He made God's name and His very nature known.  Likewise, through His followers, He continues to make those very aspects of God's character known. His desire was that the very love that the Father has for the Son would thrive within the church. And following that up, Jesus referenced the fact that He personally would live within the church. Therefore since Jesus lives in us, the very love of God is present within us.

I believe the love of God should be the motivation for what we do with the brief life we have in this world. Love is the greatest source of motivation. Love is a greater motivation than obligation. Many believers treat their relationship with Christ as one of obligation more so than love, but I believe that as we mature in knowing Him, our love for Him deepens and becomes a greater source of motivation than obligation.

a. Why do we serve others? Because we love Jesus who loved us first.
b. Why do we speak His gospel? Because we love Jesus who loved us first.
c. Why do we care for and honor our families? Because we love Jesus who loved us first. d. Why do we work with integrity? Because we love Jesus who loved us first.
e. Why do we maintain hope in this world? Because we love Jesus who loved us first.
f. Why do we suffer for the name of Christ? Because we love Jesus who loved us first.
g. Why are we joyfully sacrificial? Because we love Jesus who loved us first.

Jesus loves His church. We are His body, and He prayed that we would believe in Him, live in unity, see His glory, and that the love of God would be within us.

© John Stange, 2024