John 17: 20-23

Matt Summerfield

It has been a melodramatic evening! Jesus had predicted His imminent betrayal, denial and death. As the evening came to a close, Jesus took the opportunity to offer a final prayer for Himself, His friends and all future believers. John records that great prayer in Chapter 17. A few verses from that prayer particularly stand out to me today.

"I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me .. My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father--that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are-- I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me" John 17: 20-23

Unity should be a fundamental feature of God's Kingdom, and Jesus was more than passionate about it - He knew it was essential to the impact of the Gospel. Earlier that same evening Jesus told His disciples that if they would love one another in true unity then ".all men will know that you are my disciples" John 13: 35

Hundreds of years earlier, David came to understand the impact of true unity when He wrote in Psalm 133 that, where there is unity "the LORD commands the blessing - life forever".

When Paul came into his ministry there was no doubt that he was equally fanatical about the importance of Christian unity. Infact, almost every one of his letters include teaching on relationship building. Sometimes he begged Christians to be united (1 Corinthians 1: 10, Philippians 4: 2). And why? Because Paul knows, like Christ, that division always ends in destruction.

"If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other" Galatians 5: 15

It seems very evident today that Satan is aggressively seeking to divide and destroy relationships. I've seen more churches, marriages and friendships divide in the last three years than the whole of my thirty three years on this planet. So often this is because issues and grievances have been kept in the darkness where they fester and grow into bitterness and resentment. When these things eventually rise to the surface they sadly can result in gossip and back-biting which, if not dealt with, cause even greater pain than the original dispute. That's why Paul gives us the advice in Ephesians 4: 25-27

"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."

But Paul is realistic that achieving unity is not always easy. Ephesians 4: 3 reminds us that it takes effort to keep the unity, and I love the version of Romans 14: 19 in The Message which encourages us to "use all our energy in getting along with each other".

In his book, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren reminds us that we are all unique people, yet "God wants unity, not uniformity. But for unity's sake we must never let differences divide us. We must stay focused on what matters most"

So why am I labouring this today? The answer is very simple.

If the church is going to seriously impact this nation then it is absolutely essential that we move ahead together as a united movement. United we stand! Divided we fall! As we journey through the difficult cultural landscape trying to do our best, inevitably people will get things wrong and make mistakes. Some of us will feel disgruntled and upset. But let's commit ourselves to the command of Paul to "make every effort to keep the unity" and deal with those issues immediately when they arise, so that everything can remain in the light and the enemy has no ability to cause division amongst us.

As we unite around our goal to win this generation back to Jesus Christ let us throw all our energies into "spurring one another on towards love and good deeds" Hebrews 10: 24.

Can I get an Amen???