| October 28, 2001 | Revival and Unity | John 17 |
If you have your Bibles with you today, and I hope you do, turn
to John 17:20, or use the handouts. In the first part of the 17th
chapter, Jesus prays for Himself. From verse 6 to verse 19 He
prays for His disciples. Starting in verse 20, He prays for those
who would become Christians down through the ages, so this prayer
also includes us. If you want to know what Jesus thought was the
most important, here it is.
"Neither pray I for these alone," -referring to His
disciples- "but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word;" -that's us-
"That they all may be one; as
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be
one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me.
John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them;
that they may be one, even as we are one:
John 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast
sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."
The Lord's prayer here is full of wonderful things for us to ponder
over, but today I want us to focus on one specific aspect of it;
His request for a oneness, a unity among His people.
Lately we have been thinking about revival. A revival at the school,
hoping that the outreach would be blessed and that more people
would receive Christ as Savior. We also want a revival here in
the church, that those of us who are already saved would be stirred
up by the Holy Spirit and draw closer to Jesus. Become more like
Him. Exhibit Him more perfectly to others. Look at these verses
and you will see the relationship between true spiritual unity
in a church and revival. The relationship between church unity,
and the world recognizing, and receiving, Jesus Christ as the
Savior.
We have a testimony before a watching world. The world is hungry,
the world has a thirst for something that will satisfy spiritually,
and sometimes it looks at the church. What does it see? Does it
see a group of people that are bound together with supernatural
power, so that they reflect the glory of God, or does it see a
religious social club?
Old Abraham knew. Look at
Genesis 13:1. "And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his
wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south."
Verse 5:
"And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds,
and tents.
Gen 13:6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might
dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could
not dwell together.
Gen 13:7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's
cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and
the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.
Gen 13:8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray
thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen;
for we be brethren.
Gen 13:9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself,
I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I
will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then
I will go to the left."
There is a lot here that we could learn from, but two main things
stand out: we are brethern, and the heathen are watching.
That's still true. Both at church and elsewhere. What are they
going to see? Strife? Or peace?
Psalm 133:1 says: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity!"
In verse 2, the Psalmist likens the blessing of unity to the oil
that Moses used to anoint Aaron as the first high priest of Israel.
In verse 3, he compares it to the dew on Mt. Hermon, the tallest
mountain in Palestine. The last part of verse 3 is the punch line.
"For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore."
God blesses when brethern dwell together in unity.
We all know II Corinthians 6:14-18 which speaks of the unequal
yoke, that Christians should not be yoked together with unbelievers.
We all understand, correctly, God cannot bless that kind of union,
that is true. However, we need to remember that the Bible speaks
as much, perhaps more, about unity than about separation, but
we don't hear it emphasized very often, and the church as a whole
tends to have a lot of petty divisions. Since Jesus prayed to
the Father that His people might be one, just as the Trinity is
one, don't you suppose it grieves the Holy Spirit when we have
unnecessary and petty divisions in the church?
Revival is connected with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 admonishes
the Christians in the church at Ephesus to stop grieving the Holy
Spirit. Paul says; "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, by
whom ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." We cannot
grieve Him so much that He leaves us, but we can grieve Him. When
we grieve the Holy Spirit, what will that do for revival? Not
anything good. How do you grieve Him? It tells us in verse 31:
"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and
evil speaking be put away from you with all malice." Those
attitudes and behaviors grieve the Holy Spirit.
The Bible sometimes pictures the Holy Spirit as a dove, and when
we have bitterness and anger and malice, we act like it is spiritual
dove season. There will be no revival. That Heavenly Dove will
stay out of your range.
Verse 32: "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you." Notice that once again there is a reference made here
to the Trinity. In these three verses, we see the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit.
That takes us back to the Lord's prayer that we read first in
John 17. I want us to notice something that is very remarkable
in verse 22: "The glory which you gave Me,
I have given them, that they may be one,
even as we are one." What was it that was given?
And who was it given to? To do what?
Read that verse again. Now sit and think for a minute about what
it means. That's awesome. The longer you think about it, the more
staggering it becomes. The glory that God the Father
gave to God the Son, the Son has in turn given to His disciples,
and by extension, to us. Now you sit there and look at me, and
I don't look too glorious. I stand up here and look at you, and
you don't look that glorious either, so what is He talking about?
How does this work out?
Jesus did not glorify His Father by being the most handsome, or
the strongest, or any of the other criteria that the world uses
to give people brownie points, Jesus glorified His Father by desiring
to do His Father's will perfectly. Psalms 40:8 speaks of Jesus
when it says: "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy
law is within my heart." Psalms 119:16 says: "I will
delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word."
and Psalms 119:47 says: "And I will delight myself in thy
commandments, which I have loved."
Jesus Christ was a man who loved to do what God the Father wanted.
He loved the law of God, He loved the will of God, and He had
the love of God for man in His heart, and it could be seen in
His actions.
So when Jesus says that the glory which the Father gave to Him,
He has given to us, what is that glory?
It is the desire to glorify and magnify God, to do the will
of God, a desire to have that full and complete relationship with
God, having a desire to have God's will perfectly in our lives.
That is the glory that Jesus speaks of. And He has given it to
us. What are you doing with it?
Right now you are probably sitting there kind of uncertain, because
you know that sometimes you want God's will in your life, and
other times, you want your will in your life, and
you get all tangled up.
Things that you want to happen; don't, and things that you don't
want to happen; do. And you fall short of what you want to be.
It's frustrating.
How do you resolve that problem? How do you deal with that shortcoming?
Not by yourself. You need help. God uses the other
members of your local church to help you. God uses all the different
members of the body - the local church body- working together
to make it work. That is why God tells us in Hebrews 10:25 "Not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner
of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more,
as ye see the day approaching." We all need mutual
encouragement to become what we ought to be.
Probably you have noticed in your Bible that God does not have
a church of individuals, He has a church that is a body
of believers. You can look through your Bible from Genesis
to Revelation, and you will never find the phrase; "Hi yo
Silver, away...!" - that's because God has no provision for
Lone Ranger Christians. We cannot reveal His glory in ourselves
as individuals, we can only reveal it as a corporate body of believers,
we can only reveal His glory to the world as we come together.
And when we come together, we can only reveal His glory in our
unity. If the unity is not there, then the glory does not appear.
If we are pulling in a dozen different directions, if there is
no spirit of Christ directing and guiding, but only a bunch of
individual agendas, then the world will not see the Glory
of God in us. Amen?
Read the Lord's words again, because they are so plain and obvious.
Verse 20: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them;
that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may
be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou
hast loved me."
Unless I am really missing something here, and I don't think I
am, the Lord is praying that we are to have the same sort of relationship
with each other, and with Him, that the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit have with each other. Is that
not what He is saying? That's how it reads to me.
Let's talk about patterns again some more. One of the major patterns
that God has shown us is that the husband/wife relationship is
something that God invented and intended to teach us about what
kind of relationship that He wants with us. God created us male
and female to teach us certain basic truths about our relationship
with him. He created marriage and love between men and women to
point us and teach us about a greater and more wonderful love
relationship that we will have with Him in glory. As a husband
and wife come together, as the two become one, from that union
comes new life, a child, expanding into a new and marvelous opportunity
for love and affection, for companionship and even more potential
for love as the relationship gets wider and more complex.
Why does God do this? Because God is love, God is grace, God is
merciful and generous, and because God likes fellowship.
Before God created anything, God had perfect fellowship within
the Trinity. The Father could have fellowship with the Son, the
Holy Spirit could have fellowship with the Father, there was within
that unity of God, a diversity of personality. Different personalities
that interact with each other are part of God's nature, Who and
What He is. God had the ability within Himself to enjoy all that
He ever needed or wanted, but because of His gracious nature,
He wanted to share what was good. He is good, and He wanted to
share Himself with others. The old Presbyterian Catechism says
that the chief end of man is to know God and enjoy Him forever.
That's true. God is generous.
So just as we see one aspect of our relationship to Christ reflected
in the pattern of marriage between husband and wife, we can also
see the church, a collection of two or three or more gathered
together in Jesus' name, as a pattern based on the interaction
of the Trinity, within the Trinity. The relationship between husband
and wife should pattern the believer's relationship to Jesus.
The relationship between the members of the local church should
pattern the relationship between the members of the Trinity.
Within the Trinity there is unity. A unity of purpose, a unity
of will, a unity of planning and accomplishing, a unity of working
together to glorify God. When you think of the Trinity there is
no disagreement, there is no disharmony, there is no squabbling.
There is no desire for one part of the God Head to be above another,
Jesus had no problem with humbling Himself to become a man, even
humbling Himself to the place of death on the cross. Completely
like minded. Complete agreement. Absolute unity. And that is what
Jesus desires for His church. That is what He desires for you
and I to have with each other and with Him.
Is it likely that we will ever attain that level of holy interaction?
I don't know. But I do know that unless we set our sights
as high as possible, we will never even come close. Unless
we make His priorities our priority, we will miss it completely.
Amen?
That is the big picture, that is the doctrine, that is the teaching.
How do we bring it down to where we live? How do we make it work
on a day to day basis? How should we behave toward each other?
How should we act or think toward each other? Is there a place
in the Bible that gives us any good guidelines?
Absolutely; the book of 1 Corinthians. When Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, they were having all kinds of problems; immorality, Christians in lawsuits with other Christians before heathen judges, eating meat offered to idols, the behavior of women in the church, disorders at the Lord's table, even a doctrinal matter concerning the resurrection.
Which of those problems did Paul tackle first? Unity. Church unity.
In the first four chapters he deals with a lack of unity.
The church was divided. Some said that they followed after Paul;
others to Apollos; still others to Cephas, or Peter. And then
there was the Christ party. Maybe they boasted about gathering
"only around Christ," but in a way that was a put down
of all the others. It wasn't doctrinal matters that divided them,
it was petty preferences. It was gathering around human leadership.
"My preacher's better than your preacher." Childish
stuff.
Paul had to deal first of all with the lack of unity because that
problem aggravated all the other problems.
In I Corinthians chapter 3, Paul accuses the Corinthians of carnality
and childishness because of their envying, strife and divisions.
They were carnal, walking after the flesh and not the Spirit.
They were like little children. This probably shocked the Corinthians
since they thought of themselves as super-spiritual. After all,
they had all the gifts, right?
Paul told the Christians there at Corinth that they were walking
as men. That means to behave in such a way that the church looks
just like the world. It's bad when the world looks at the church,
and can't tell any difference between us and themselves. That's
bad.
Before He went back to heaven, the Lord gave His disciples a challenge.
John 13:34-35 says, "A new commandment I give unto you, that
ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another." The early
church must have got it right at least sometimes, because those
outside the church said of them, "Behold, how they love one
another." Not only did they talk the talk, they walked the
walk.
Would it be possible to take the Lord's words and turn them around?
"By this shall all men know that you are not
my disciples, if you don't have love for one another."
Probably.
Something that I have mentioned a few times recently is that there
is a tension and a balance between Christian liberty and Christian
responsibility. There are some grey areas in the Christian life
where some people have strong convictions about something, other
Christians don't see it as any big deal, and the Bible is silent.
How do we deal with that? How do we keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace?
There is a good example of how in Acts 15. Acts 15 records the
council at Jerusalem which wrestled with the question of whether
or not circumcision was still required of Christians. All those
people were converted Jews, circumcision had always been the sign
of God's covenant with them for salvation, so was circumcision
still a requirement for salvation now that Christ had come and
died and risen again? This was an important decision.
The Holy Spirit led them to understand that circumcision, the
ancient sign of the covenant that God gave to Abraham, was
not essential to salvation. It was not a
requirement. It was no longer of any value for being
saved.
But just as important is the freedom that went along
with that decision; neither did they require that
the men quit being circumcised. As long as it was
made clear that it did not affect salvation, there
was liberty to do what seemed best. Once they established that
circumcision was not essential to salvation, and
they made that a part of the Christian faith, circumcision became
a matter of individual liberty. The council also decided several
other things, they said that the Gentiles should also abstain
from eating meat that had been offered to idols, abstain from
blood, abstain from things that had been strangled, and from fornication.
Did Paul agree with all their decisions? He certainly agreed about
circumcision, and he certainly agreed about fornication, but his
writings in I Corinthians and Romans indicate that he did not
necessarily agree with them about eating meat offered to idols.
Is that disagreement OK?
There is an old saying, "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials,
liberty; in everything, love." Paul believed and taught that
circumcision was not of any value for salvation, and that fornication
was unacceptable for a Christian. Those were essential teachings
of Christianity, and Paul and the elders at Jerusalem were in
absolute unity. How about the other items?
The Christian life is not a simple check list of do's and don'ts,
a legalistic set of rules that appeals to our Pharisee nature.
It's not like that. There is a tension between having the liberty
of freedom in Christ, and the responsibility of living a holy
life. And also the responsibility of not offending a weaker brother
or sister. A list of Pharisee rules would make things simpler,
but that is not what the Christian life is all about. Jesus said
that when the Son of Man would make us free, we would be free
indeed. With freedom comes responsibility. Responsibility
involves making decisions. Life's like that.
In essentials; unity. In non essentials; liberty. In everything;
love. As far as salvation was concerned, the council had taken
a clean cut stand on circumcision relative to salvation. Totally
unnecessary. That was essential to the gospel of grace. No compromises
needed, required, or accepted. And Paul agreed with them. In the
same manner, the council at Jerusalem said that fornication was
unacceptable. Period. Paul does not allow for any compromises
there either. Period. Some areas really are black and white. Period.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul deals with eating meat offered
to idols. Was it right or wrong? Paul did not give them a yes
or no answer. He gave them some principles, and then told them
that sometimes it is right and sometimes it is wrong.
Paul is teaching that it is a non essential secondary thing. Liberty
was available, the important principle was to maintain Christian
unity. Not stumbling up a weaker brother was more important
than eating or not eating.
In Romans 14, Paul tackles the same problem and speaks about strong
and weak believers. Who are the strong believers here? Anybody
with nerve enough to raise their hand? OK, who are the weak believers?
Honesty and humility are surfacing, that's good...
But the point of the passage is not to identify strong or weak
brethren, or sistern, but to say that we should live together
in unity. All of us are strong in some areas and weak in other
areas. Romans 14:4 reminds us that we are God's servants and are
responsible to Him. In Romans 14:10, Paul says that we are to
quit criticizing each other since everyone of us will one day
stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
As the pastor of the church, I have to walk a fine line. On the
one hand, I am required to watch out for the souls of those whom
the Lord has charged me to shepherd. On the other hand, 1 Peter
4:15 tells me not to be a busybody. That is a balance. Liberty
and responsibility.
I am becoming increasingly convinced that there are some things
that are probably not my business. There are some non essential
things that I may have convictions about, that you do not. On
these matters, I am going to practice my convictions, and give
you the liberty to practice your convictions. I will try not to
nag. We'll see how it goes...
There are probably some non essential things that you may have
convictions about that I do not. That's great. Talk to me. We
will do like Paul says and keep the unity of the spirit in the
bond of peace. A major cause of division in the church is having
too high an opinion of our opinion. Let's agree that although
we have an infallible Bible, we do not always have infallible
opinions about what parts of it say.
There are certain fundamentals dealing with the person and work
of Christ that we all have to agree on, but there
are other matters over which honest and sincere Christians will
disagree. And that's OK. Elder Steve Norris and I agree on all
the basic Bible doctrines, and there are a few areas of secondary,
non essential doctrines where we disagree. And the same thing
is probably true of everyone here. That does not affect our unity
as a body of believers because our basic fellowship is around
the person and work of Christ. Other matters are always
secondary to this. We do not have to agree on the identity of
the toenails on Daniel's image in order to fellowship and work
with one another. That is not what unity is all about.
John 17 is the true Lord's prayer in which Christ prays to the
Father in heaven. He is about to leave his disciples, having finished
His work on Calvary. He prays for unity in His church.
In verse 21, that unity is related to conveying the gospel to
the world. Why should the world believe that we are from God if
we act like the Devil? Our wrong attitudes and divisions embarrass
God.
In verse 22, unity is related to the matter of the glory of God.
When we are divided and divisive, we deny and hide the glory of
God.
In verse 23, unity is related to the perfection of the body of
Christ. Our outreach to the unsaved becomes more effective when
the Spirit can point to our genuine unity in Christ.
The glory of God is manifested in His church when we are one,
united, and the Holy Spirit is not grieved. The church grows as
we have a unity in the body of Christ through which the Holy Spirit
can minister to other members of the body through the gifts that
we are given.
In the song; "Onward Christian Soldiers", there is a
phrase that goes; "We are not divided; all one body we."
Really? May the Spirit of God make it a living reality in us.
What can we do to encourage and promote this unity? First; recognize
the need for unity. The problem with a message like
this is personal application. "Somebody else needs that message,
there's no dirt on me." Psalm 139:23 says; "Search me,
O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see
if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
Ask God to show you how you are doing in this area.
Second, pray for unity. Christ did. Pray for other
pastors and ministries. The kingdom of God is bigger than our
church. Sometimes we pray for revival, but we want it to come
with us walking in the front of the parade. We should pray, "God,
send revival. Use me, ignore me, overlook me. But let it come.
And I will rejoice when it does come even if I am not at the center
of it." Amen?
Third, work for unity. Make an effort. The devil
is working for division, don't let him do all the work. Be conscientious.
Fourth, assume the attitude of a servant. Many divisions
come because we have a desire to be great or to have our own way.
Philippians 2 says that Christ voluntarily gave up His rights
in heaven to become a servant. He humbled himself.
Matthew 20:28 says that Christ came to minister. John 13 witnessed
the Sovereign Lord Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. That
ought to give us something to think about.
It is easy to be proud of ourselves and content with ourselves
just like we are. Humility is a whole lot harder to get a handle
on.
Jesus said: "I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be
made perfect in one." Humanly speaking, that is impossible.
It would take a miracle for that to happen. How many would like
to see that miracle happen here? How many will work and pray for
it to happen? How many will believe God to see it take place?
If you are serious, if you mean business with God, then you better
get your affairs in order, because you will see the glory
of God. God will do a work among us that will turn this
old place upside down. I can't think of anything that I would
rather see happen. And if we are obedient, it will. Let's pray.