Jesus’ Vision for the Church:

That We May All Be One

That the World May All Be Won

Good morning. It is good to be back here with you this morning. Today we are going to pick up on our six part series entitled:

Jesus’ Vision for the Church

This is our fourth installment in this series and we are going to look at Jesus’ prayer for the unity of the church from John 17. Most of you know that all of John 17 is Jesus’ prayer for his disciples and for those who would come after them. Isn’t it great to know that Jesus was thinking about Christ the King Church in Westfield Massachusetts way back then?

So let’s look at John 17:20-21. Before we read the scripture, let’s pray:

Father, we are so fragmented both individually and corporately. We ask for Your help this morning in re-capturing Your vision for the unity of the Church. Forgive us for our divisiveness. Heal us of our wounds. Grant that we would grow in our ability to forgive. And now Father, quiet our disquieted hearts and minds. Lord we have been assaulted again this week with non-stop everything. As we pause for these few minutes – speak – for Your servants are listening.

John 17:20-21

20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21That they may all be one, even 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 sent Me."

1.  Jesus’ Unanswered Prayer

There are four things I want to say to lay the foundation this morning.

a.      Jesus is praying for the Church

As we look at this passage we first have to recognize that Jesus is praying for the church even though the word church is not mentioned here. So this passage has something to teach us about Jesus’ Vision for the church.

b.     This is a Prayer

But we also need to recognize that this is a prayer – and Jesus doesn’t waste time asking for things that are given – He doesn’t pray – "That they may all be human."

To pray that we would all be one implies that we are not all one – we are not all unified. Rather than being discouraging – that should encourage us. In are fragmented – disunified state – Jesus is praying for us.

c.      This prayer has not been answered (Yet)

The third thing we need to acknowledge here is - this prayer has not been answered yet. Anyone here see the unified church that so represents the unity of the trinity that the world believes that God the Father sent Jesus the Son?

There are over 20,000 denominations world wide. And it’s growing. Each week, there are 5 new denominations – Not Churches – denominations! The church is far from united.

We shouldn’t be afraid or discouraged by unanswered prayer. In this case it is unanswered – yet. And that should encourage us. If Jesus can pray this prayer and it not be answered 2000 years later, how long should we wait for God the Father to answer our prayers?

Sometimes – unanswered prayer is in the eye of the beholder. Have you heard about:

The preacher's whose 5 year-old daughter noticed that he always paused and bowed his head, for a moment, before starting his sermon.

One day, she asked him why.

"Well, Honey," he began, proud that his daughter was so observant of his messages, "I'm asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon."

"How come He doesn't do it?" she asked.

d.    This is important to Jesus

Finally, we need to remember that this prayer was prayed right before his arrest. This is a priority for Him. Think about the fact that He took time to pray that you and I would be one as He and the Father are one – right before His arrest – right before His painful crucifixion.

Jesus’ Vision for the Church is that we would exhibit a unity that would reflect the unity of the Trinity. He is asking that it be so TODAY.

2. The Unity of the Trinity – What Does it Look Like?

3. Christian Unity – What Does it Look Like?

But what does the unity of the Trinity look like and what does it look like in the Church. There are a lot of descriptions that describe the relationship between the Father and Son in the New Testament which tell us a lot about this unity. Let’s look at just a few.

a.      There is a deep level of love and trust.

that was exhibited by the delegation of power and authority by the Father. Listen to what Jesus says about the Father:

"The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands" John 3:35

"Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power." John 13:3

"Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgement to the Son" John 5:22

"He [the Father] has given him authority to judge…" John 5:27

It takes tremendous trust to delegate something important to another. And this is exactly what we see going on between the Father and the Son.

So what would this look like in the church. If we are going to reflect this kind of unity, we need to begin by being trust-worthy. Worthy of people’s trust.

Several years ago, I was car-pooling with a friend to work. During one of our drives he shared a prayer request with me for something that seemed to me to be very non-private. And then he said, "And please don’t share this with anyone else."

I wasn’t trustworthy with that information as I shared it with someone else and as things move in the body of Christ it quickly came back to him. He told me that somehow others had found out about this. I again failed him by lying to him and said I didn’t tell anyone else.

The next morning the Lord confronted me and I was deeply ashamed at how I had both violated his trust and then lied about it. I needed to confess it. This was painful.

But that day I did. What I learned that day (and needed to learn it several times later until I got it) was that to be a trustworthy brother, I needed to hold things that others give me at the same or higher level as they do. If this is important to my brother, it needs to be important to me. These things can be material things like books or tools. Or they can be information.

And without trustworthy members of the body there cannot be the kind of unity that existed in the trinity – because we will not give to those we don’t trust.

Let’s just take a minute and ask God to show us how we have been untrustworthy in the past – and how He is calling us to remedy that. We are just going to take 30 seconds to a minute in silence. Pray with me.

Father, we want to be part of the answer to Your prayer and be one with our brothers and sisters. Help us to be trustworthy. Show us in this moment of quiet an area where we have been untrustworthy and how to remedy it.

b.     They work together closely

"I tell you the truth…"

The first thing I want to say about this verse is to pay heed to things in the Bible with "I tell you the truth." In the King James Version, these verses begin with Verify, Verily. Now that’s not a term we use around the water cooler or with our kids. But the NIV translates this "I tell you the truth." Jesus spoke these words 79 times in the Gospels. When we see this phrase we need to pay attention.

"I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." John 5:19

For the first fifteen years of my Christian walk, I heard people talk about a "life verse." A "life verse" is a verse of scripture that is particularly meaningful or that is a particular stretch for that person. I never really had one until our pastor taught on this verse 20 some years ago. I was challenged by the close working relationship of the Father and the Son spoken of here. I knew that if I was to be part of answering Jesus’ prayer in John 17:20-21, I needed to work with the Father as Jesus did. Jesus prayer was that we would all be one as the Father was in the Son and the Son was in the Father and we were in them. I needed to learn to only do what I saw Jesus and the Father doing.

This continues to challenge me in every way possible. It puts me on the point daily – minute by minute. What I am continually learning to do is to ask these kind of questions

Father what are You doing in this situation?

How are You working in this sister’s life?

Open my eyes to see this situation as You see it?

We need to see the unity of Trinity – the Son only doing what He sees the Father doing – for us to be one.

c.      Transparency

"For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He does." John 5:20

Notice in this verse, that it is not solely the Son’s responsibility to see what the Father is doing. There is a high level of disclosure and transparency here. "The Father shows Him all that He does."

If we are ever to be one as the Father and the Son are one, we need to learn their level of transparency and openness. Without true transparency there will be no unity in the body of Christ.

In ministering in small groups for over thirty years, nothing brings a small group together more than when there is real and open sharing of life where it really is all. When we can share "all that we do."

I want to say this particularly to the men. It is especially hard for us to share at this level.

Larry Crabb – a counselor and author whom I deeply respect says the following:

"Most people go through their entire life never speaking words to another human being that come out of what is deepest within them, and most people never hear words that reach all the way into the deep place we call soul. But we all have the power to relate to people in such a way that we can say, ‘There’s something within me – and something within you – that, if known, explored, discovered, touched, released, could move you toward the vision and maturity God has for you, whether anything in your circumstances changes or not’" (from his book, SoulTalk).

We need to develop habits of the heart that allow us to speak out of what is deep within. This is how the Father and Son relate.

d.      Shared Possessions

"All things that the Father has are Mine" John 16:15

If we really want to have community and the unity as lived out in the trinity we need to not claim that any of our possessions are our own. Every thing that belongs to the Father belongs to the Son.

"All I have is Yours and all You have is mine" John 17:10

Before I was a Christian, I worked for a guy who was Christian. Some of the other guys at work would jokingly describe him as:

"Old Rudy is so generous. Everything he has is yours. Unfortunately everything I have is his."

Obviously this only works in a mutual relationship. We are not talking about forced redistribution nor even that we don’t own anything. We are talking about stewardship that recognizes that everything I own belongs to God. We are talking about friendships where you can say to one another "All I have is yours and all you have is mine."

Listen to Luke’s description of the early church:

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. Acts 4:32

Do you see the connection between unity and sharing our possessions.

No one said this was easy – remember Jesus is praying for this. Martin Luther once wrote,

"There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, the mind and the purse. Of these three, it may well be that we find the conversion of the purse the most difficult."

Let’s ask God’s help with this:

Father, we desire to have the kind of unity that exists between You and Jesus. Convert our attitudes towards our possessions. Make us stewards of what You have given. Give us the heart of the early church that did not claim any of their possessions as their own.

e.      Honor Each Other

"… that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father" John 5:23

Within the trinity there is a mutual honoring of one another. One of the ways for us to live out the unity Jesus prayed for is to learn how to honor one another. I don’t think we do that very well.

One way to do this is to develop the practice of speaking well of your brothers and sisters in the presence of others. Remember what the Father said about the son to the crowd?

"This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased." Matt 3:17

Father, help us to begin the practice of honoring others with our words as You honored the son. We don’t do this very well.

f.        Deep Knowing

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- just as the Father knows me and I know the Father" John 10:14-15

How well do you know each other here at Christ the King? There cannot be the kind of unity that exists between the Father and the Son without us really knowing each other.

A couple of years ago on a retreat for a small men’s group, Kit McDermott asked the men to tell us what were the dreams of the man on their left. Not one of them could do this. Now this group had been meeting weekly for 3-4 years.

We need to change our meetings to places of real "meeting."

I want to challenge you today to make an effort this week to get to know someone here at Christ the King a little deeper by finding out what their dreams are.

Let’s just take a minute and ask God to put in your mind who that would be.

 

Father we desire to know one another as You know the Son and the Son knows You. Bring to mind one person with whom we can share our dreams with.

g.     Identical in Essential Character and Purpose

"Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father" John 14:9

This unity between the Father and Son gets very practical in this verse and it can seem almost unattainable. Our unity with our brothers and sisters needs to be so full, that when others see the church, they see a family resemblance in our essential character and purpose.

This past week, Barbara and I were visiting my sister and her husband Sam. My sister and her husband are a perfect example of a post-modern "un-churched" couple. As Sam shared about how his brothers and sister were doing, it was clear that the sister was looked down upon. She was on her 6th marriage and had changed her first name so many times in an attempt to re-invent herself that they no longer knew what to call her. Later in the weekend we found that she was a Christian and an active member at Rick Warren’s Saddleback church. My immediate response was to want to distance myself from her.

There is a strong desire for us to distance ourselves from a church that is not perfect. We must resist that challenge.

Jesus is praying for a unity in the church so that when the world looks at you and me, they see the Father. When you and I look at each other we see Jesus – not our weaknesses and our failings.

Father, we need help in this area. You came not for the healthy but for us who are sick. Father shape us so that others would see Jesus when they look at us. And give us Your eyes to You in others.

4. Summary

Gordon MacDonald describes us as porcupines on a cold night. We need each other for warmth – but when we get close we prick each other – It because of those needles that we need to forgive. Without forgiveness all of our attempts at unity will crash and burn on the fires of sin.

Jesus’ Vision for the Church is that we be one even as the Father and Son are one so that the world would be won. It is my prayer for Christ the King Church that Jesus’ prayer would be answered in this place. That you would all be growing in:

    1. Your Trustworthiness
    2. Learning how to do "only what You see Jesus and the Father doing."
    3. Your transparency with each other
    4. The stewardship of your possessions – not counting anything that you own as your own
    5. Knowing each other’s dreams and visions – taking time this week to pursue
    6. Developing a family resemblance to the Father and the Son and with each other