Transcription
Well, today, as we look at God's word for our daily hope, we're in part three of a short series that I'm calling "The Awesome Power of Vision." And I want us to look at Christ's vision for us, Christ's vision for a unified family.
You know, the night before Jesus died on the cross, He took the 12 men that He'd been training for His entire ministry to a place where they could share the Passover meal together. Now, that place was called the Upper Room because it was on the second floor of a building. So, it's an upper room. These 12 men had been with Jesus for three and a half years as they trained to be the leaders of the church.
Now, during the Passover meal, Jesus redefined the Passover with new meaning to become the Lord's Supper. And during the Lord's Supper, Judas left the room to betray Jesus and to have Him arrested. So, Jesus knows that He's going to be dead and buried within 24 hours. So, He knows that whatever He's going to say now would be His last words before death.
Now, you know that the last words of dying people are always extremely important. And Jesus shared His most intimate thoughts in this passage. What Jesus said in His last words before the cross are found in the book of John, verses our chapter 13 to chapter 17. Now, those five chapters in John are called the Upper Room Discourse. And this week, I want to urge you to spend the week reading and re-reading John chapter 13-17 because it's packed with powerful spiritual truth that we desperately need, particularly in these days.
Now, in those five chapters, the two themes that Jesus spoke the most about were, number one, how much He loves us, and number two, how much we must love each other in the church. In fact, love is mentioned 21 times. Let me just show you a couple of examples. John 15, verse 9: "Just as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now you must live in my love." John 15, 12 and 13: "I am commanding you to love each other with the same love, the same kind of love that I've loved you." And here's how to measure that kind of love. He says, "The greatest love you could show is when you lay down your life for friends." And that's exactly what Jesus was going to be doing in the next few hours. John 15, 17: "Again, this is what I'm commanding you to do. You must love each other." You get the point here. He keeps coming back to the same theme: I love you, you've got to love each other.
Now, after Jesus shared His final words, He prayed His final public prayer before going to the cross. And that prayer is recorded in John chapter 17. And I want to start today with it because it shows us Christ lays out His vision for us, His family, the church. And Jesus prays for us in John 17.
John 17, verses 1 and 2, New International: "Jesus looked up to heaven and said, 'Father, the time has come.' In other words, it's time for me to go to the cross. It's time for me to die for the sins of mankind. Glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you.'" And in the first eight verses of Jesus' prayer in John 17, He gives a ministry report to the Father of all that He's done with His disciples in the last three and a half years. Then, in verse 9, He prays for them. And then He prays for all of us who have come to faith in Jesus because of them. Did you know that Jesus prayed for you right before He was arrested and sent to the cross to die for you?
John 17, 9-11 says this: "I'm not praying for the world, but for those you've given me because they belong to you. And now I'm departing the world, and I'm leaving them behind. Father, so protect them by the power of your name so that, so that, listen, they may be united as one, just as we are one."
Now, let me point out that this is the first mention of unity among Christians in Jesus' prayer, but it's going to be the primary theme of the whole prayer. And what was on Jesus' mind the most as He got ready to go to the cross was His own family, the church, and that we would be united in love after He died and rose again. He mentions it several times in this prayer.
In John 17, verses 20 and 21, Jesus prays for you. He says this: "I'm praying not only for these disciples, but all for all who will believe in me because of their testimony." That's you. "And my prayers for all of them that they too, that's us, will be one, unified with each other." Christians, uh, uh, prove that we're, uh, uh, who we are by being one with each other. Jesus said, "Just as I am in you, and you are in, and just as you are in me, and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe that you sent me."
Now, again, just as Jesus is getting ready to die, He's most concerned about what His followers in the church are going to be unified in love. It's uppermost of His mind. This is the primary vision He asked for us. It's what He prayed. It's what He wanted. If something else had been more important to Jesus, believe me, He would have mentioned it in this prayer.
So, what I want to do in our time together today is look a little bit closer at Christ's vision for us, a vision of unity, because it's obviously important to Him. Now, I don't have time to show you all the verses that talk about unity in the scripture, but I will tell you this: that in the New Testament, it has more to say about protecting unity among Christians than it has to say about either heaven or hell. Did you know that the Bible, in the New Testament, has more to say about Christians loving each other than it says about heaven or hell? In fact, God says so much about this, this, uh, concept that I'm going to have to split this message in half and teach it in two parts.
So, today, what I'm going to do is give you a quick survey of what the Bible says about the importance of unity in the church and why it matters so much. We're going to look at what Jesus said, what Paul said, and what the first church did. And then, in part two, we'll look at the specifics of how we're to fulfill Christ's vision for us in the second part.
So, today, I want to summarize what God says about the importance of unity among believers in about a dozen statements. And because of that, I'm going to go pretty fast. And I'm going to cover so many verses that I'm going to limit my commentary on many of them. We're going to just let God's word speak to our hearts. All right, you ready? Here are 12 statements that summarize all that the New Testament says about unity.
Number one: My unity with other believers is the proof that I'm saved. My unity with other believers is the proof that I'm saved. John 13, 34 and 35 says this: Jesus is talking. "I'm giving you a new commandment. You must love each other. You must love each other in the same way that I have loved you. Your love for one another will be the proof to the world that you really are my disciples." You prove that you're a Christian not with a bumper sticker on your car, not by any other action. The Bible says the proof that you really are a Christian is that you love other Christians in the church family. All right.
Number two: Write this down. The Trinity is our model for unity. The Trinity is our model for unity. Jesus explains this in verse 11 of John 17. He says this, when in His prayer: "Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that, listen, so that they may be one with each other, just as we are one." I love God's Word translation. It says it like this: "So that their unity may be just like ours." The Trinity is the model. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in harmony and unity with each other. The three are one. And the Bible says that's the way we're to be in the church. We're to be unified as one.
Number three: Jesus' last prayer, very last prayer before He goes to the cross, was that we'd live in unity. John 17, 21: "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." The world will believe that you sent me. Did you notice that Jesus ties other people coming to Christ with our unity? He says other people will believe when they see Christians loving each other in unity. I love it in The Message paraphrase translation. It says this, verse 21: "My goal for all of them is to become one heart and mind, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you. May they be one heart and mind along with us, then the world may believe that you sent me." This is Jesus' vision, and this is Jesus' goal for you and for me, for anybody who claims the name of Christ.
Now, in the next verse of Jesus' prayer, we learn the fourth principle, and it's this: God gives us His glory so that we'll be unified. God gives us His glory so that we, as Christians, will be unified. John 17, 22: "I've given them," talking to Christians, "the glory you gave me so that," here's the "so that," it's a hint of clause in Greek, "so that they may be one, just as we are one." Now, listen. What this means is this: the purpose of God's presence in your life, the purpose of God's power in our lives, is to make us more loving, not more harsh, not more opinionated, not more stubborn, but more loving. He says, "I gave them your glory so that we may be one, and they may be one, just as we are." Do you want God's glory in your life? Do you want God's power in your life? Do you want to feel God's presence in your life? Jesus says He gives His glory, that's His power, to those who lay aside secondary differences with other Christians, the secondary differences, the things that don't really matter, and live in unity with other believers.
Now, the next verse gives us the fifth truth about unity. Our unity, God says, is our greatest witness to unbelievers. Our unity is our greatest witness to unbelievers. That's verse 23. Jesus prayed this: "May they be brought into complete unity." So that's another "so that." "So that the world knows that you sent me and that you have loved them even as you have loved me." Now, did you notice this is the second time that Jesus connects the unity of Christians to winning the world to Christ? He's saying that the world will not be won to Christ until Christians are one. We will win the world when we're one in Christ. Another way of saying it is this: If unbelievers like what they see, they will listen to what we say. But if they don't like what they see, they don't see us loving each other, they're not going to listen to what we say. Again, I like The Message translation in this verse, John 17, 23. It says this: "Then they'll be mature in their oneness, giving the godless world the evidence that you've sent me and that you've loved them in the same way you've loved me." The evidence for atheists, the evidence for agnostics, the evidence for other faiths is to be the love Christians have for each other.
Now, okay, this is just some of what Jesus says about the importance of unity. But now I want us to look at how the first church in Jerusalem, in other words, the first Christians, implemented and practiced and applied all the verses we just looked at, what Jesus said about unity. And to go to that, uh, see that, we've got to go to the book of Acts, where we learn two more important truths about the power of unity in a church family.
Write this down. Here's the sixth truth we learn from scripture: Unity removes fear and creates boldness. Unity removes fear and creates boldness. What am I saying? That a unified church gives everybody more power and more courage than a divided church. Where do we find this? In Acts chapter 4, verse 24 and 31. The, the apostles, or the disciples, Peter and John, had actually been put in prison. They had done a miracle and they were preaching in the name of Jesus, and then they couldn't hold them, so they, they let them out. And when they came back to the church, it says in verse 24, "Then all the believers united together in prayer." That brings unity. When we pray together, it unifies us. And it says, after this prayer, this unified prayer of all the people in the church, it says, "After the prayer, the building where they were meeting shook." That's power. That must have been a pretty powerful prayer. The building where they were meeting shook, and they were all filled with God's Holy Spirit, and they began to speak God's message with boldness. Would you like to be more fearless? Does fear plague you? Insecurity plague you? Anxiety plague you? Would you like to be more fearless? Would you like to be more bold? Do you wish you were more confident in sharing your faith? Let me give you a little secret: focus on your unity with other Christians. The Bible says when they were unified, they became bold in speaking the word of God.
I want you to write this down: Division creates fear, unity removes fear. Division creates fear. Wherever you find division in a church, it's going to create fear in that church. But unity removes fear. Division destroys vision. But there's another thing that we learned from the first Christians in the book of Acts, and it's this: Write this down. When a church is unified, everybody's needs are met. When a church is truly unified, truly unified the way Christ wants us to be, everybody's needs, all the members' needs are met. And we find an example of this in Acts chapter 4, verse 32. It says there, "The entire group of believers," that's the church, "were completely united in their hearts and in their spirit, and everybody shared their possessions with each other. In fact, they shared everything they had, so nobody had any need." The Bible tells us in Acts 2 that this was impressive to the Christian, to the non-Christians in Jerusalem, that they had the favor of people because they said, "See how they love one another."
Okay, now we've looked at what Jesus said, and we've looked at what the New Testament Christians did in, in Jerusalem. Now let's look at what Paul has to say about Christ's vision for unity in the church. Paul spends a lot of time talking about the importance of unity in both his letters to the Corinthian church in Corinth, the home in Greece, city in Greece, and to the church at Ephesus. He said this: It's a big deal. Write this down. Number eight here's the eighth in summarizing all the Bible says about unity: Baptism and communion are the visible signs of unity. Baptism and communion are the visible signs of unity. Both of them are symbols of our incorporation into the body of Christ. Both of them visualize that we now don't just belong to Christ, we belong to each other. If you've been baptized, if you've taken communion, you don't just belong to Jesus, you belong to others, everybody else in the family of God, everybody else in your church family.
Now, first, baptism is a sign that I intend to protect the unity of the church family that I belong to. You say, "Where is that?" First Corinthians 12, 12 and 13 says this: "For just as your body is a unity, even though it has many different parts, it is with Christ's body the same." He says the church, it's just the same way. He says, "We're all different. Just look around in our church, obviously we're all different, but we form one body. We've all been baptized into Christ's body by the same Spirit, no matter whether we were Jews or Greeks, or slaves or free men. We have now all received the same Spirit." He said, "No matter what your culture background is, your racial background is, your religious background is, your national background is, he said it doesn't matter. He says we've all received the same Spirit. We've been baptized into the body of Christ." He says it doesn't matter what your background is. Now, you are unified with every other Christian regardless of your differences, which means I have more in common, for instance, with an Asian woman who's a believer in Christ than I would have in common with an American male, six foot two, uh, man. We have physical commonalities, but my real commonality is with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Now, Paul points out that not only baptism, but also taking communion is a sign of unity. First Corinthians 10, 16-17 says this: "When we eat the bread that we break together," talking about the bread of communion, "isn't that sharing in the body of Christ? And by sharing in the same loaf of bread, we come one, we become one body, even though there are many of us." By the way, let me point out, the Bible also says that you should not take communion if you're out of unity with anybody else in your church family. The Bible says that you actually eat judgment on yourself. You should not take communion if you're out of fellowship, out of unity with anybody else in your church family.
Now, here's the ninth thing that God says about unity in the church. Write this down: Focusing on our common purpose is what creates unity. Focusing on our common purpose creates unity. We find this in First Corinthians 1, 10. I love this in the New Living Translation: "Dear brothers and sisters, I appeal to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves." He's talking to church members. "Stop arguing among yourself. It doesn't matter what you're arguing about, just stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be real harmony so there won't be any divisions in the church." Paul says, "I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose." If you're taking notes, circle that word "purpose." God says, "I want you to be united in purpose." Paul's saying, "Be purpose-driven in your church, not program-driven, not pressure-driven, not power-driven, not pleasure-driven, not popularity-driven, not personality-driven, not politics-driven." He said, "Be united in purpose." That's key.
All right, just a couple more. Here's the next insight, number 10, summarizing what the Bible says about unity: Unity begins when we realize we're incomplete without each other. Unity begins when you and I, Christians, realize that we are incomplete without each other. We need each other. God wired us in such a way that nobody gets all the gifts. I don't have them all, you don't have them all. That's why we need each other.
First Corinthians 12, 20 and 21, and verse 25 says this: "Yes, we're all different parts in Christ's body, but there's still only one body. Okay, so yeah, we got different gifts, we've got different backgrounds, we're different races, we're different sizes, shapes, we're different gender. Yeah, we're all different parts of the body of Christ, but we're still just one body. So, he says, 'The eye can't say to the hand, I don't need you,' and the head can't say to the feet, 'I don't need you.' He says, 'There must never be any division in the body allowed.'" This is the scripture talking. "There must never be any division in the body allowed. Instead, all the members must care for each other equally." Equally, in other words, showing equal care. The Christian church is the place of all places. There should be equality and justice. We are to care for each other equally, not show preference, not show prejudice, not show bias. "There must never be any division in the body," he says. "Instead, all the members must care for each other equally." By the way, this is your job. It's not just a pastor's job, it's your job as a Christian to protect the unity of your family, your church family. And the Bible talks about removing anybody who creates division or disunity and ensure that your brothers and sisters are treated equally with equality.
Now, related to this is the next verse. First Corinthians 12, 26 and 27. Listen to this. This is another part that enhances unity in the church. "When one part of the body suffers, every other part of the body is to suffer with it. And when one part of the body is honored, every other part of the body is to rejoice with it, together, not individually." You are the body of Christ. You're not the body of Christ by yourself. I'm not the body of Christ by myself. Together, we are the body of Christ. And each one of you is a part of that body, and you're a necessary part. So, he says, "When somebody's suffering, you need to be empathetic. And somebody's going through pain, be empathetic. Somebody's hurting, be empathetic. Somebody's frustrated, be empathetic." Empathy is a key to unity. You might write that down. The more empathetic I am, the more, uh, we're, I'm going to be able to build the unity of the church.
Okay, number 11: Jesus died to unite us, not to divide us. That's why, why it's so important what we're talking about. This is not some minor issue we're covering this week. Jesus died to unite us, to reconcile us, not to divide us. Ephesians 2, 16 says this in the TEV translation: "By His death on the cross, Christ reconciled us and united different races into one body. He brought us all back to God, ending hostility." Ending hostility. That's what Jesus did on the cross. He reconciled us and united all the different kinds of people into one body. In fact, in Ephesians, it says we're a new race together. He brought us all back to God, ending hostility. I love how The Living Bible puts it, this verse, Ephesians 2, 16. It says, "The feud ended at the cross. The feud ended at the cross." There's no place for any kind of bigotry or preferential treatment.
Finally, number 12: Jesus, write this down. Jesus expects me to work hard at unifying Christians. This is not something for somebody else. If you claim to be a Christian, this is part of your job description. Jesus expects me to work hard at unifying Christians in the church family. Ephesians 4, 3 says this: "Make every effort." Circle that. "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit. Bind yourselves together by living in peace with each other." That's a direct statement from God's word. One day, we'll stand before God, and He'll say, "Did you do that? Did you make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in your church family? Did you bind yourselves together with everybody else to live in peace with each other?"
I want to share personal grief with you, and it is this: I am, I'm saddened, actually, I'm heartbroken that today's Christians are known more for other things than our love for each other. We're not known for what I'm talking about today, what the God says in His, what God says in His word. You know, if you were to take a survey, go out on the street and ask a thousand people on the street, "What do you think of first when you think of a born-again Christian?" What do you think the answer would be? The number one answer would be, what do you think it would be? The number one answer. What do you think of when you think of a born-again Christian? I seriously doubt if you asked a thousand people that anyone, anyone would say, "Man, those guys really love each other. They really, really love each other." That's what we'd be known for. It's the one thing that Jesus wants us to be known for. I think the one thing that Jesus wants us to be known for wouldn't even make the list. That's how off-course the contemporary church is today.
My brothers and my sisters, in our family called Saddleback, we need to practice Philippians chapter 1, verse 27-28. This should be one of our key verses this next year. I love it in The Message. It says this: "No matter what happens, okay? COVID or not COVID, politics or no politics, riots or no riots. No matter what happens, live in such a way that you are a credit to the good news of Christ. Stand united, stand united, singular in vision, contending for people's trust in the gospel." In other words, caring about what they think about the gospel more than what they think about anything else. Not flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition. And then he says this: "Your courage and your unity will show them, the opposition, what they're up against. Defeat for them, victory for you, and both because of God." Wow.
In part two of this message, we're going to look at the practical ways that God wants us to implement Christ's vision for us. This is the vision of Christ for you. It's the vision of Christ for our church. So, we'll look at the practical steps in the next message. But I want to close with a couple more verses, and I want to make a statement that you've probably never thought of before. Here's the statement: Jesus is still waiting for us to be the answer to His prayer, 2000 years later. Jesus is still waiting for us to be the answer to His prayer. When He prayed that we would be one, that the world would look at the church, He goes, "Man, those people love each other." The subject that was uppermost in His mind as He's getting ready to go to the cross was this: that we, His children, would be unified. That we would defend each other, not criticize each other. That we would love each other, not argue with each other. That we, His family, would model love. That we, His family, would not be divided over secondary issues, but that we would make our allegiance to each other the priority over any other allegiance.
You know, Satan hates the unity of the church. He hates the unity of Christians. Why? Because the unified church is unstoppable. In the first five chapters of Acts, it talks about Acts and the unity they had in the first church. We will have the power of Acts. We will have the miracle of Acts when we have the unity of Acts. Satan hates the unity of Christians. He's the divider. He's the source of all conflict. Why? Because he knows a divided church is a powerless church.
So, I want to close this message by echoing a prayer that Paul prayed. And honestly, friends, it's my deepest prayer for you. It's my deepest prayer for me. It's our deepest, my deepest prayer for our church family, and by the way, for every other church family, to you. I pray this: Colossians 2, 2 in The Living Bible says this: "This is what I have asked of God for you, that you will be encouraged and knit together by the strong ties of love, by strong ties of love." One day, you're going to get to heaven, and you're going to stand before God, and He's, He's not going to ask you how much money did you make in life. He's not going to ask you, you know, how much education did you get. He's not going to ask you, "Did you convert anybody to your political views? Who'd you vote for?" He's not going to ask that. He's not going to ask, "Did you enjoy retirement?" But it is much more likely that God will ask, "Did you learn? Did you really learn to love your brothers and sisters in my family, even those who didn't agree with you? Did you learn to love the members of the family who were different to you, different background?" You see, my dear friends, what I'm saying today is the bottom line is this: One of the five purposes of life is learning how to really love. And the church is the laboratory for that. It's how we are to practice learning how to really love, because we don't do it very good. Nobody teaches you how to really love. But the Bible says, "Without love, I'm nothing." And the Bible also says, "The only thing that matters is faith expressed through love." So, I have to ask myself, as I look at all these verses we've run through, I have to ask myself, "Is this the top priority in my life? Loving other Christians?" And I have to urge you to ask yourself that question.
Now, in part two, as I said, we're going to look at the practical steps that each of them could take. But I'll end with one other verse. Colossians 3, 14. And the New Century version says this is what God says to those of us who are in the family of God: "Most important of all, most important of all, love each other. Love is what holds you all together in perfect unity." See, unity is just the visible expression of love. I want you to read John 13 to 17 over and over this next week, uh, in your quiet time, because it'll help you understand Christ's vision for you and for our church. We'll cover the rest next week.
Now, if you're not a part of the family of God, then you need to become a part today because it's the only thing that's going to last. Nothing else is going to last. No career is going to last. No education is going to last. No marriage is going to last. No nation is going to last. The only thing that's going to last on this earth for eternity is the church. It's the family of God. God created the universe because He wanted a family. And you need to become a part of God's family today. How? By committing your life to Jesus Christ. If you haven't done that, you need to just open your life to Christ. Say, "Jesus Christ, forgive me and accept me into your kingdom, into your church, into your family. I, I want to be what you want me to be. I want to fulfill your purpose for my life. Let me lead you in a prayer. Let's bow our heads right now, and you can just say this prayer in your heart."
"Jesus Christ, I don't understand it all, but as much as I know how, I ask you to come into my life. Please change me. Replace the fear and anxiety and self-centeredness with your love. I want to learn to love you, and I want to learn to love your family. And I humbly ask you to accept me into your family by grace. I don't deserve it, but I put my faith in your grace. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. Help me to understand that. I pray this humbly in your name. Amen."