Christian Unit

John 17 and the Prayer for Christian Unity

We'll dive right in. John 17, beginning at verse 20. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just 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 have sent me.

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me, and love them, even as you loved me.

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.

I made known to them your name, and will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.". And that is the end of John chapter 17. We had gotten to the point where we had noted the transitionary statement, verse 20, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

And so, you have the understanding on the Lord's part, the church is not a mistake, it's not a contingency plan, it's not, well, this is the best we can do given the circumstances, it is a part and parcel of the intention of God from the beginning, that there is going to be this body, and that there is going to be the work of evangelism, and so there are going to be those who will believe in me through their word.

So, whatever else the church is supposed to be doing, the word of them, the message of the church, has pretty much one purpose, and that is to lead people to believe in Christ, not some bare general theism, not some basic do-goodism, there is something very specific here, that those who are mentioned, those who will believe in me through their word, there is a propagation of the Christian faith.

And we have to emphasize that today, because sometimes people lose sight of that. And so, Christ prays, not only for the disciples that are his at that time, that have been given to him by the Father, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, through their message, the word that they are going to preach, which we see is the message of the cross, 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

And he prays for them, and he prays for those who will believe in Christ, that they may all be one, just 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 have sent me.

The Meaning of Christian Unity

Key text on the issue of Christian unity. And it is often a text that is utilized to, in essence, say there should not be divisions amongst Christians, that we should all get together. And as a result of that, the next natural step, unfortunately, on the part of many, is that, well, if there are divisions, then we need to de-emphasize those things that cause divisions.

And what are the things that cause divisions? Well, it's theology, it's doctrine, it's the specificity of the faith. If we're all to be one, then what we need to do is boil it down to the least common denominator.

So, what we want is a Christianity that's extremely basic and extremely shallow. We don't want to get into questions about, you know, as long as you believe Jesus is Lord, that's great. Don't ask questions about what that means.

Don't talk about what the application would be. None of that. And we see a lot of that in our world today, unfortunately. But at the same time, those folks will say, yeah, but Jesus said that if there's not unity amongst Christians, then the world won't believe that Jesus was sent by Christ to cause division.

Then you are, in essence, opposing the mission of Christ. Well, let's remember that this is the end of a prayer that began with statements like, you have given me these men out of the world, I do not pray for the world, I pray for them.

There is a clear distinction that is made in the text itself. And this is not some other text. This is not some other discussion going on here. Normally, it is presented sort of as a discussion unto itself.

But this is the same continued discussion. And so, the idea that is here is that these are people who are being sanctified in truth. Sanctify them in truth, thy word is truth. That was just a few sentences earlier.

And if you start trying to create entire theological concepts out of a few phrases at the end of a prayer, without allowing the beginning of the prayer to determine your context, well, you're not being fair with the text and you're not really engaging in a scriptural study.

You're just trying to use scripture as a pretext for presenting your own perspectives. And so, at the same time, there do seem to be people who really like divisions and dividing over. There is something frightening about a Christian that basically thinks that you have to mind meld with them.

You know, do the Vulcan thing, for those of you that are Trekkies. And think identically and speak the same words all the way down the line. There's just absolutely no place for any disagreement or anything else.

And obviously, finding the balance is the issue here. And people are going to and have, down through the years, disagreed. We can look at people that we have learned a lot from. You know, in one area there, I would say, a little too fluffy.

Another area over here, this guy, put too much emphasis on this particular issue. And you know what? We're all going to stand before the Lord and be judged on those matters. But it is a matter of Christian maturity to think through what is definitional and what the foundation of unity is.

And what is the foundation of unity that is found here? Well, we've already heard the idea of God giving of individuals to the Son, the distinction from the world, and sanctification in the truth. And so the truth has already been presented as a central aspect of these things.

So what is this oneness? Well, it's not a sameness. It is not a sameness. As we look around the world today, we can see Christians in other lands. We must remember that the gospel had to be able to transcend the cultural categories and linguistic categories of its day if it's going to be a faith that is going to go to the ends of the earth.

And we have Acts chapter 15. We have that important text where the apostles meet in Jerusalem and say, no, we're not going to make people become Jews before they become Christians. We're not going to make them get circumcised.

We're not going to make them follow the old covenant. There are certain fundamental things that we need to ask for so that there would be peace in the church. But we're not going to encumber the gospel with a social context that has to take with it so that you've got what you've got in Islam today, where you've still got people running around dressing like Muhammad did in the 7th century, and that's supposed to be a good thing.

And then we're going to take the laws of 7th century Arabia and force them on 21st century America. Well, a lot of that stuff, especially given the extensiveness of Sharia law, just is not going to work and it results in all sorts of problems as we're seeing all around the world today.

So Islam didn't have Acts 15. We did. And so the gospel is able to cross all of those barriers. And so when we look at the church today, I've ministered in churches where I think some of you might be just a little bit uncomfortable just because of the cultural context and things like that.

But the reality is that Christ will be honored, glorified, and his gospel preached in many languages and in many contexts across the world today because the gospel is not encumbered by those things. So this unity is not a sameness.

This unity is a unity of truth and it is a unity that is brought about by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now, the Holy Spirit is not specifically mentioned in John chapter 17 here. But how is it that in John 14, the Father and the Son manifest their presence in the lives of believers but by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit?

And the unity, what is the thing that binds all Christians together? Well, it's a common confession that Jesus Christ is Lord and it's the common possession of the Holy Spirit of God. No one can say, Jesus kurios, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit of God.

And that Holy Spirit is given as the arabon, the down payment, where God the Father is saying, I have begun a work in this person and I'm going to finish it. And so, no spirit, no Christianity. No confession of Christ, no Christianity.

And so, that they may all be one, just as you Father are in me and I in you. Now, a lot of people think that the use of kathos, just as, in this text means that the categories of the relationship of the Father and the Son are identical to the categories amongst us.

So, that our unity is identical to the unity of the Father and the Son. That's self-evidently not the case. It's self-evidently not the case for a number of reasons. First of all, the relationship of the Father and the Son is eternal.

Our relationship with one another can never be eternal because we are not eternal beings. We are creatures. Our relationship with one another will always be marred, in many ways, by imperfections and ignorances and the abiding presence of sin and so on and so forth.

So, the just as, it is inappropriate to translate that over as, and of course, the cults do this all the time. Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and others will look at this and go, See? See? The unity between Father and Son is, He's a creature, the Son's a creature in unity with God, just as we are creatures in unity with God, as best as that can be type of a situation.

That obviously is not what is being referred to. What is being referred to is, what's the emphasis? That the world may believe that you said, what's that referring back to? Well, beginning of John chapter 17, we have to see how John 17 is sort of like the knot in the middle of the Gospel, where you have all of these different threads coming together in one place and being tied up.

And if we think about the relationship of the Father and the Son, what are some of the threads that we have seen in the Gospel? Well, especially John chapter 5, the unity of the Father and the Son, the fact they have the same purpose, same goal, they're differentiated from one another, they've taken different roles in salvation, and yet we're to honor the Son, even as we honor the Father, etc., etc.

And so, the idea is, so that the world, in verse 21, you have, so that the world may believe that you sent me, and verse 23, so that the world may know that you sent me. And then, in verse 25, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.

And then there is an idea that there's also revelation to the disciples of the oneness of the Father and the Son that's important as well. So, what is this, what is the desire that is on the part, being expressed here on the part of Christ?

Well, obviously, unnecessary Christian division never assists in the proclamation of Christ's truth. Seeing Christians immaturely arguing about things that don't matter is not helpful, but I don't think that's what Jesus is talking about here.

I mean, it sort of falls under the general topic, but that doesn't seem to be the focus upon what the Lord is saying. This is a very, very positive thing, and that is, when it talks about, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you have sent me.

That's sort of what I'm looking at now, in the sense of what is this unity, first of all, because the assumption on the part of the objection is that this is a unity that is not based upon a common confession and a common belief in regards to who God is, who Christ is, what Christ has accomplished, and what we're to be doing in the world.

That's pretty much the sum and substance of theology itself, and so to say that this unity is to be a sameness that does not have any content to it is really the problem. I mean, that phrase, henopontes hen osin, or they might be one, comes right after the idea of people believing through their words.

So, there is a preaching, there is a proclamation, and there is a content to that word because it results in belief in Christ rather than just some general theism. And so, there is specificity right in the sentence that hasn't been broken, that the Hinnah Clause is coming after this.

So, to say that the Hinnah Clause and the oneness takes on its own existence at the cost of the fact that there is a message that leads people to believe in Christ over against all the other religions in the world is to obviously ignore what the sentence itself is saying.

But, as far as a brief response, it would have to be focused on what I'm getting to here, and that is that the unity that Christians are to reflect is a unity that comes from the unity that is seen of the Father and the Son.

And what have we seen? See, the problem is, when you have people quoting a verse of Scripture, but they don't know where that verse is, they've not read the chapter it's in, they've not read the book that it's in, in a short space of time, it can be extremely difficult, especially when it happens to be in that part of the Scriptures that's tying together all sorts of themes that have come before it, the brief response may end up being a significantly less than satisfying response.

And the reality is, Christian truth, Christian truth was not developed on Twitter. Now, I use Twitter, but I'm going to tell you something. It, at times, is the bane of my existence, because 140 characters normally just ain't enough.

And so I have, I even have a link in my browser, right at the top, TweetShort, and I can hit that, sign in, I have to get the URL that I'm responding to, but then I can respond for as long as I want to, to a tweet, and it'll come up as a whole page, or more, if I want to, which sort of defeats the purpose of Twitter, thankfully.

But there are times when you have to do that, because what they're doing is they're quoting a verse at the summary of a high priestly prayer, and are inserting concepts into it, rather than deriving concepts from the surrounding context.

So, I'm afraid I can't give you a brief response, because of the nature of the misuse of the biblical text. And I realize the person you're talking to doesn't know that, but you have to, as best you can, say, well, you do realize that you're quoting the final words of a summary statement of an entire book, but you're not taking into consideration all the stuff that came to that.

And, you know, if you and I were sitting in an English class, and you treated Chaucer or Shakespeare that way, the professor would say, no, you're not following what either one of those authors intended.

And my statement to you is, you're doing the same thing to John. You're reading concepts in here that just simply are not a part of the intention of the author at all. That's a basic statement to anybody at almost any time who's misusing the text of Scripture.

But for us, I suppose what is necessary is to really think through the relationship, as I was saying in John chapter 5, of the Father and the Son. They're distinguished from one another, just as we're distinguished from one another.

We're not all called to the exact same thing. The Father and the Son are not doing the exact same thing in the sense of their role in salvation. And yet, there is an absolute perfect unity in the intention and the accomplishment of the Father and the Son.

And even though Christians may differ from one another and look differently and have different callings in life, the focus upon the glorification of God and the death with Christ, taking up a cross and following Christ, is what provides meaningful unity across even denominational boundaries, certainly across geographical, temporal boundaries, language boundaries, and everything else.

And so, I would say that I have unity with sisters in Christ, with whom I have great disagreements. For example, my Presbyterian brothers and I have disagreements on baptism and church polity. And yet, when it comes to a presentation of the world of who Jesus Christ is, what the cross was, what the resurrection is, what it means to live in Christ, there is a tremendous unity that exists between us, which is why I can go and am frequently invited to speak from the pulpit of Presbyterian churches, Anglican churches in Sydney, Australia, where they happen to be very conservative and still believe the Bible.

And I'm not limited to just Reformed Baptist pulpits, because some of them I wouldn't be invited to either. So, that unity has to be a unity that is reflective of the unity of the Father and the Son in the sending of the Son, because that's what keeps coming up here, in seeing the unity that exists between them.

And that then, I think, answers a lot of the questions, because a lot of folks have tried to say, well, this destroys the essential ontological unity of the Father and the Son and the Spirit and the Trinity and all the rest of the stuff, because we have it the same way.

And Brother Porter was asking me about verse 23, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. And so there are people who say, see, there's no differentiation in God's love at all.

No differentiation in God's love at all. God's love for Pharaoh is identical to God's love for the Son and for you and for Satan. There's no differentiation in God's love. And I go, wow, that's amazing.

Where did we get this ability to differentiate in our love if it's not found in God Himself? That's strange. But that would mean that I shouldn't love my wife any differently than I love anybody else's wife.

That could even be stranger. So they'll actually go there, and we were discussing this Wednesday night that some Arminians had thrown this out here, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

And so they take that katholos and say, ah, see, the kind of love that the Father has for the Son is identical to the kind of love that He has for His people. Now, certainly in the sense that Christ becomes the focus of our experience of God's love, there would be some relevance to pointing that out.

But the point is a demonstration to the world that the kind of love that God has for His people is just certain at the love that He's demonstrated for His Son. It's not making any statement about the nature of that love.

How could it? We are creatures. We came into existence at a point in time. The love between the Father, Son, and Spirit is absolutely eternal and did not come into existence at a point in time. There is never an issue of imperfection, the necessity of forgiveness, all the rest of that kind of stuff that is necessary in the redemption of sinners in regards to the relationship between the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Just a quick question. Okay, we go. Them is the disciples. And their idea is that the love for the disciples and the love for the Son cannot be differentiated from one another. It's not so much one scripture as it is one concept.

In this issue, it's the Arminian emphasis that the defining attribute of God is love. So that trumps everything else. And so everything else has to fit in with... And what they're really doing is they're coming up with a particular definition of love that is not biblical and then forcing that upon the scriptures.

And therefore, you end up with... Well, this is the origination of universalism. It's the origination of post-mortem evangelism. It's love wins. All that kind of stuff. I know they don't live their life that way.

There's no question about that. Of course, their argument, though, is that from their perspective, when you make distinctions, that can end up resulting in abuses. And God... It'll never result in abuses in God because God is perfect, etc., etc.

But the point then, again, I want to point out here because it's sort of nice to actually finish this up today. Then I don't know what we'll do. We'll actually have to go back to the Synoptic Gospels.

Remember those? Sort of hard to remember after all this time. But notice verse 22. The glory that you have given me I have given to them that they may be won even as we are won. Again, that's... What does that mean?

We don't appear to be overly glorious. The world certainly doesn't see us as glorious. It's not like Peter, James, and John started glowing in the Mount of Transfiguration. So, what's that all about? And if it's the exact same glory, the glory that you have given me I have given to them, then what does verse 24 mean?

I desire also that they whom you have given me may be with me where I am. Why? To see my glory that you have given me. Well, if they've already got it, why would they need to see it in Christ? So, this raises all...

And then, to see my glory that you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world. Now, how does that love, which is before the foundation of the world, which in an earlier verse is said to have been you've loved me just as you have loved them, so, was the love of the Son the same love before the foundation of the world that we experience?

Well, I would say if it is, it's only in the sense that we are in Christ and that union is so real in God's sight that you could make that kind of a statement. But, the reality I think that you're seeing here is that what you're supposed to be doing in this text is seeing the perfect love that exists between the Father and the Son.

The fact that the Son perfectly reflects the Father's glory. These are all themes that have already been developed in the Gospel of John. Now, they're coming together as the foundation of being able to say this is what marks the true body of Christ over against anyone else.

This is what marks that body. It's not external stuff in the sense of buildings and prelates and apostolic successions or any of the rest of that stuff. What is this that they might be, verse 23, perfected in one?

What does all this have to do? It's not about obscure discussions of ontological sameness or anything else. It's the fact that God has a people in Christ Jesus. And that people will have a common confession and by the Spirit of God will have a common passion for Jesus Christ and for His truth.

It doesn't mean amongst us in this life it's going to be an absolute unanimity or a sameness. Just as you do not have a sameness between the Father and the Son, they've been distinguished from one another.

We are distinguished from one another. But, what you find in the Christian church is that focus upon who Christ is, what Christ has done, what the message of the Gospel is, and that unity that exists between true believers in Christ that transcends the understanding of the natural man.

And I've given testimony to this before in talking about my travels, in meeting brothers in the Lord in other lands. And within the first few moments after landing, there is a connection that just simply defies all understanding, sometimes defies language.

But, just a common passion for the things of the Kingdom of God that the world cannot begin to understand. And it says that glory has been given to us. I don't think that means that we become glorious.

The world sees glory in us. But, we certainly handle glorious things, believe glorious things, experience glorious things. When you see a heart changed, when you see a rebel become a saint, when you see that heart of stone taken out, a heart of flesh given, that's a glorious thing.

It's a glorious thing to handle the Word of God, possess the Word of God, to meet the people of God, and to experience His presence by His Spirit. And so, it's not an equative concept to where, well, now the disciples are as glorious as I was when I was the object of the adoration of the saints and angels as we see in Isaiah chapter 6.

That's not what is in view here. Instead, the unity that is to be ours is a unity that finds its essence in what God has done, not in and of ourselves, not in who we are or what we build or any type of external thing at all.

It is the common possession of the people of God, of the Spirit of God, the Gospel that glorifies Christ. And so, that can be done very simply. That can be done in great halls in England years ago, or it can be done in the backwoods of Uganda today.

It's still just as glorious, not from the world's perspective, but the fact that all those people, all those years later, in all those different languages, are handling the same glorious Gospel and it's all to the what?

Ephesians chapter 1, all the praise of His glorious grace. That is how I understand this glory because Jesus is about to be glorified. How? By brilliantly shining out and by dying on a cross. That's the very next, what's the very next chapter?

The betrayal of Jesus. So, when you talk about these ideas of glory, that they may say, glory that you have given me because you love me for the foundation of the world. There in verse 24 is my answer to Jehovah's Witnesses, by the way.

When they say, where do you think you're going to be? Because, you know, they've got the 144 ,000 living on earth and the 144 ,000 living, the anointed ones, then the great crowd living on earth and so on and so forth.

Where are you going to be? Where do you think heaven is? They want a geography. They want a GPS fix or something. And my response to them is always the same thing. Heaven is where Jesus is. Because Jesus prayed that for His disciples that His desire was that they may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you love me for the foundation of the world.

So, that's where heaven is. Beyond that, I can't give you a GPS fix. But I know one thing. Your theology tells me that's not where you're going. And so, that means you must not be one of those whom the Father has given to the Son.

So, that's how I answer the heaven location question with Jehovah's Witnesses, is John 17, 24. And then, interestingly enough, verse 25, you have the continued theme from the beginning, O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you.

Once the world comes back in and the world is in opposition to God, even though the world does not know you, I know you and these know that you have sent me. So, there is the relationship. The perfect revelation of the Father is always found in the Son and through the Son and in no other way.

And so, for us to know that the Son knows the Father is enough grounding for our confidence that what Christ has told us will be absolutely true and is absolutely trustworthy. I have made known to them your name and I will continue to make it known that the love of which you love me may be in them and I in them.

Is that the name Yahweh or something? No, I don't think so. Especially because John's going to identify Jesus, already identified Jesus as Yahweh in John chapter 12. The name that he has made known to them is the character of God.

He is the perfect revelation of the Father. And again, no mere creature can make that kind of a claim. Oh, okay. I sort of feel like I rushed there at the end, so if I feel like there is a need to recapitulate next time around before we go back to the synoptics, if we can even find them.

Any of you even remember? Well, I see that Brother Ricketts still has his Parallel Gospel, but we still have a few up here. They've been with the Son and been equal, but we haven't been able to pass them out.

Some of you weren't even around the last time we used them, but you weren't around last time? Oh, you're kidding. That's pretty sad. I apologize sincerely. But, wow, okay. Let's close on that high note.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Father, we do thank you for your Word, and we do pray for unity amongst your people, unity focused upon your truth, unity that is born by your Spirit within our hearts.

We do pray that you would help us to act this out, that we would be such as would extend grace in regards to those areas where we disagree, and yet understanding as to know where that line has to be drawn between legitimate areas of disagreement and areas where there cannot be any compromise.

We live in a day where we need much wisdom from you, for we live in a day where there is much confusion on this subject. We thank you for your Word. We ask that you would be with us now as we go into worship.

Lift up our hearts and our minds, we pray in Christ's name.