One in Christ

John 17:20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: ²³ I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ²⁴ "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. ²⁵ "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Have you ever been people-watching at the airport? The airlines ask you to arrive at least an hour early for your flight. So, there is plenty of time to kill. Once you’ve passed through security, you quickly witness passengers who haven’t flown in at least ten years, those who are confused about checking in their bags, those who are uncomfortable with taking off their shoes and belt, and those who feel so comfortable flying that they are in their pajamas.

But sometimes we people watch – whether it is in the airport, in the grocery store, in church, at school or in our neighborhood – so that we can pick out how different those other people are from us – the clothes they wear, the color of their skin, or their age. “She needs to do something about that hair.” “He could really stand to lose some weight.” “Come on, no one wears a Brett Favre jersey anymore!”

Our sinful nature likes to notice all the differences. We use those differences to further separate ourselves from others. This probably doesn’t come as a shock to you – you’ve done it to others and others have done it to you. And we’ve done it to God. We pit churches against other churches; members against pastors; parents against teachers; Democrats against Republicans; husbands against wives; teenagers against parents. We create disunity, disharmony and discord. This causes us to put distance between us and God and God’s children.

That’s why this prayer of Jesus is so important. He is in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is His final prayer before His arrest and crucifixion. And when time is short, you pray for what matters most. So what is it that matters most to Jesus at this time before He suffers and dies? Us. We are what is most important to Him. “I pray that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. … I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.” Jesus prays that His disciples, His children, His Church, may be one. One, even as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united as one in the Holy Trinity. One, even as “a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and the two become one flesh” (Matthew 19:5). One, as the number that cannot be divided. A true and complete uniting.

But as we look around the world today, we see anything but oneness. Sin divides what God as joined together. It’s like the plea that Rodney King made after the abuse he endured sparked the L.A. riots in the early 90s, “Can’t we all just get along?” Conflict is a sad result of the sin which Adam and Eve brought into the world. Brothers-in-arms became brothers-up-in-arms: Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, the eleven sons of Judah against their brother Joseph.

Disharmony still rules our day. Marriages are marked by bitterness rather than unity. Work-places are filled with a spirit of antagonism rather than cooperation. Families and friends are frazzled by fighting. Even our Christian churches and schools are choked by conflict.

Unity among us is so rare that we try to fabricate it. Some agree to disagree. Some turn a blind eye to sin. We are two-faced and act friendly in front of people, but then tear them down behind their backs. Such tactics may seem to create a unified atmosphere, but the air in there is neither good for mankind nor pleasant to God. We gossip and complain which tears down the walls of unity. We make our feelings and ideas the most important and thus create walls of disunity. We always need to be right. We constantly feel the need to put others down so that we can build ourselves up. We want to act independent so that we don’t have to be dependent on God or anybody else. Our perpetual negativity drives relationships into the ground.

No wonder Jesus prays that we be one. No one knows the sin in this world and its devastating effects more than He who made this world and watched us fall. No one knows the destructiveness and depths of sin more than He who took it all upon Himself on the cross. No one knows the sting of death more than He who was swallowed up by it, so that He could swallow it up in His resurrection. No one knows more about subjecting His will to the will of God than He who prayed, “Your will be done.” No one knows more than Jesus the hurt and pain you feel because of sin and death, because of division and separation, because of isolation and loneliness. No one knows more than Him that it is not good for man to be alone. And so Jesus prays for you. That you may not be alone. That we may be one.

So how is this unity accomplished? How are we one in Christ? Jesus mentions two ways in His prayer - two ways that will not be surprising to you at all. First, He prays: “May they be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.” When did we become one with God and with each other? When did Jesus enter into us? At our baptism. The apostle Paul spoke about this unity in Ephesians 4: “There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called -- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). There in your baptismal waters, Jesus unites you to Himself, releases you from your slavery to sin, redeems you from your empty way of life, recreates you from being the spawn of Satan into a child of God, exchanges the filthy rags of your sinfulness for the white robe of His righteousness. There you are given a new family of faith and we become brothers and sisters in Christ.

Now, as with all families, brothers and sisters sometimes fight – but we dare not lose sight of the unity we have in Christ. You may not like all your brothers and sisters, but you are still their keeper, and we need to pray for them, help them, love them, correct them, admonish them, and encourage them in the truth. Carefully and patiently, not rashly and harshly. Knowing that as one in Christ, if you hurt them you are really hurting yourself; and if you help them, you are helping yourself. And so we are one when we are one in Christ.

Second, Jesus prays for this unity: “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” This unity comes by knowing God the Father.

Where do we come to know God as our loving Creator and providing Father? In His Words contained in your Bible. It is a living and active Word; a Spirit-filled Word; a life-giving Word. A Word that comes to you, works in you and sanctifies you.

You also come to know the Father in the Lord’s Supper. For in the Lord’s Supper, the Word made flesh, comes to you in His body to eat and His blood to drink. In the Supper, the living and active Word comes and forgives your sin. In the Supper, Jesus unites you to Himself in the closest bond of fellowship, and makes you one with Him and one with each other. There is a vertical relationship established and intensified between you and God. There is a horizontal relationship established and intensified between you and those with whom you commune. We come to the Sacrament of Holy Communion as many grains, each with our own lives, struggles, hurts, and problems – and are made one loaf in Jesus. As the apostle Paul wrote: “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:17). One loaf, made holy by the Holy One.

When divisions surface in the church, in the home or anywhere else in our lives, success is hindered, errors increase, quarrels become more passionate, confusion grows, false judgments and a spirit of condemnation ensue. How necessary it is, then, that we within the Christian Church cultivate unity and peace among us.

The now sainted C.F.W. Walther stated it well:

“Christian unity always produces a blessing. If the Church is one in doctrine and life, in faith and love, it shares its gifts and knowledge. It then grows in the wealth of knowledge, the power of faith, the fervor of love, the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and the liveliness of hope. It grounds itself ever more deeply and builds itself ever more gloriously, adorned with all sorts of gifts of the Spirit. It then extends its hands to raise up shepherds and soldiers who pursue the work of converting those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and who struggle against the enemies of the truth.

“Satan knows all too well what kind of power the Church exercises when it is united. It then not only greens and bears fruit, but it also stands invincible against all of its enemies, conquering them and extending its borders. Therefore, Satan’s most important and dangerous strategy, which he employs to damage the Church, is destroying its unity and sowing discord among its members. And how easily he succeeds! How quickly is the holy bond that binds Christians together torn apart! How quickly an ember of discord among the ashes is fanned into a bright flame that seizes and lays waste entire congregations! How necessary it is, then, that the Church carefully cultivate unity, pursuing it as a precious jewel!”

The next time you sit at the airport, in church or in the stands at your school’s athletic events, look around at everyone else. Take a moment and marvel. Marvel at all the different personalities, different gifts, different skin colors, different hairstyles and different fashion sense. Marvel that God has united us together in His Son, Jesus Christ. “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity” (Psalm 133:1)! Amen.