John 17:11-12 (A Prayer For Unity)

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon. We pray that as we declare the

Word of God that you would be encouraged, strengthened in your faith, and that you would catch a greater vision of who

Christ is. May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you.

When the Bible says that we're called to be salt and light, it is saying that we have been called to tame and preserve the world.

When God calls us to be light, it's because the world is living in darkness and we are supposed to shine so that the world sees the truth and comes not to stay in their darkness, but comes out of it to the light.

We are salt in the sense of that the world is dying and decaying and it's our job to pack them so full of salt that they don't rot.

The same way that meat in the Old Testament times was preserved through much salt, we are to be quite salty.

We are called to disciple the nations, which is not God calling us to a sort of passive, lazy, apathetic unengagement.

When it says that we are to disciple the nations, I think that Jesus meant highly technical thought here to disciple the nations.

I think that he meant for us to teach them how to obey Jesus so that the entire world would obey

Jesus. From the largest to the smallest nation, from Russia, geographically the largest, to Vatican City, geographically the smallest.

The Great Commission that Jesus gave is not an invitation to sanctified passivity.

We do not and we are not called to sit back and let the governments of the world dictate rules and culture.

We are not called to sit back and let pop icons and celebrities dictate trends.

We, the church, have been called to steer the ship, to point the world as light to the light of the world, to shape the world by being salt to preserve it from its decay, to disciple the world through every facet of reality, to teach them how to obey

Christ. That means in the entertainment industry, teach them how to obey Christ there. It means in the government.

That means in the education system. That means everywhere. We are called to steer the ship, not to sit idly by and watch it crash into a iceberg.

But what's happened in the modern world is we've forgotten that job.

When we grumble and when we shake our fists at a swampy Washington, we have to remember that it was our job to disciple them and we can't complain about how swampy they are if we're not doing our part in actually showcasing the law of Christ.

Instead of trend -setting and instead of building culture like the church used to do when it was at the height of classical music or art or everything else, we've abandoned culture wholesale and as a result culture has died and we should not be surprised.

There is a one -to -one correlation with such a thing. Culture dies when the church abandons culture, but it's worse than that.

We have not only abandoned our role to disciple them, the church in America has been discipled by them.

We've allowed them to teach us how to be the church. And in many ways the church has become quite worldly in the modern world, not discipling the world, but being discipled by it.

And because of that, the world is in absolute disarray. It barely needs mentioning that I don't need to give you a lecture on this, but our country, one aspect of its dysfunction is that it's riddled with Marxism.

The intellectual elite have bought into a system that says progressive values are built upon increasing dysfunction and disunity.

Socialism's paradise that it brings about is through more and more division. And that's how it started, with the proletariat always at war with the bourgeoisie.

The rich are always being attacked by the poor. It's a class war that Marx envisioned, and yet it grew larger and bigger in an

Italian jail cell by a man named Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci, this is a little bit of a history lesson on why we ended up where we're at.

Gramsci wrote in his letters that Marxism was good, but it was incomplete. It should not be just a class warfare.

It needs to be cultural warfare, so that what, instead of just the rich fighting against, or the poor fighting against the rich, it should be every institution should be overcome this way.

There should be this long march through the institutions, and Marxism came to Columbia University in America, that it infected every aspect of our society through our modern -day grandchildren of Marx, which is called critical race theory and intersectionality.

These things have infected every aspect of American life, to entertainment, the free press, education, all of it.

Critical race theory and intersectionality, we're going to move past this in just a moment, but I have to tell you what it's predicated upon.

It is predicated upon division. Intersectionality says that you are the intersection of a lot of different identities, and the identities of you that are in the majority culture are your oppressor status, and the identities of you that are in the minority culture are your victim status, and the sum total of your victim versus oppressor status dictates where you're at on the social pyramid, so that if you're a white male

Christian, you are the ultimate oppressor in this country, and if you're a three -spirited porcupine who is in love with a lesbian from Zambia, well, you are probably at the top of the social pyramid.

The gospel of CRT is that oppressors must be punished.

If you are white, if you are male, and if you're a Christian, you have inherent power according to this silly worldview, and you must be squashed, and if you are not those things, if you are, for instance, transgender, or a one -legged lesbian, or whatever you want to make up, if you're in a minority status in any way, you must be artificially elevated.

It has nothing to do with your character, has nothing to do with your aptitude, or your merit. It has all to do with the fact that you're in the minority, and you should be elevated.

So the gospel of critical race theory and intersectionality is that you must be punished if you're in majority culture, and you must be blessed if you're not, and again, it's a worldview completely and utterly dependent upon division, and that's what it does.

Intersectionality chops us up into little fragments of pieces until none of us are actually in a group anymore, because, for instance, let's divide me up.

I'm a male. Now, there's 50 % of the world I don't relate to according to this view. I'm six foot two, so now there's 10%, 20 % of the world that I don't relate to.

I'm blue -eyed, brown -haired, and I love Duke basketball, and I'm from the South, and you can continue on until finally, there's just one of me, and I'm standing all by myself, being attacked by whoever would say that I am in the majority, when the whole point of this view is to get us all in the minority so that we have no friends, we have no support, we have no nothing.

This sort of continued hyperactive divisiveness is how the world works.

This is how America works. This is where identity politics come from. This is why the Democrats are always kneeling on one knee with African dress wear in the

Senate chamber, because they're trying to virtue signal that they're somehow not the oppressors. This is why the

Republicans are always apologizing for their white fragility. This is critical race theory.

It is a feature of the world, and what has surprised me so much about this is that the church not only has not spoken out against this and not tried to disciple the world into the gospel of Jesus, which talks about how we're all made one in Christ, no matter what color you are, no matter how tall you are, no matter what gender you are, we're all one in Jesus.

Instead of the church doing that work, the church has actually let the divisiveness of the world creep in, so that the church now is as divisive as the world in many ways.

In some sense, we can't even use the word Catholic anymore, which just means universal.

It just means the whole church. It just means the church past, present, and future. From the time Jesus ascended to heaven until now, we can't use the word

Catholic now without feeling like we've stepped on a landmine because we're so divided. Now, don't hear me wrong.

Doctrinal purity is important. Roman Catholic apostasy is just what

I just said. They have a different gospel. They have idolatrized Mary.

They have a different salvation plan. It is not the true gospel of Christ.

Their way that they practice communion is akin to cannibalism. It's not the true gospel of Christ, and yet there are

Christians in the Catholic Church. God has elected men and women from the Catholic Church to be his own.

The seeker -sensitive church. Purity of doctrine is important. The seeker -sensitive church. I gravely disagree with them.

I think that they're pimping out the church to the culture, to make the world love the church more than it does by masquerading her in a way that she was never intended to be masqueraded.

I disagree entirely with their ecclesiology, but they're Christians in the seeker -sensitive church.

Evangelicalism today is a shallow version of what it used to be. A movement that was built upon the

Word of God and and it being inerrant and sufficient and beautiful and perfect for our life and our godliness.

This hollowed -out movement now called evangelicalism is a shadow of what it used to be, and yet there are

Christians in the evangelical world. Lots of them. Millions of them. What bothers me about this is that this has moved beyond the purity of doctrine to where we have used our distinctions and our differences in order to say that maybe they're not a part of the kingdom.

And this has crept its way into the Reformed Church who prioritizes doctrine over any other movement.

It's the one group of people who, if their doctrine is not hammered out, they will not sleep at night.

They're the Christian nerds of the church. They're the ones who study big dusty theological books, and yet disunity and division has come into the

Reformed world as well. When you meet with someone who is Reformed, they might ask you, are you high church or low church?

They're dividing you up. If you're not high church or if you're not low church, maybe you're on the wrong side of that debate.

Are you Reformed Baptist or Presbyterian? Maybe you're on the wrong side of that debate. Do you baptize babies or do you not?

Do you give your children communion or not? That's a big one. That one's divisive. Are you amillennial or postmillennial?

Ron can identify with me there. Do you hold the two kingdoms or do you hold two theocracy?

Are you old earth, young earth, round earth, or flat earth? The last two I just added in for fun.

Intersectionality has crept into the Reformed movement to where it's chopped up the church. I was on Facebook this week, and there was a woman on there who said something about a

Reformed pastor that she doesn't agree with, and she said, I don't think he could sincerely apologize for anything.

And I said, really? He doesn't have it. I text back on the post. I said, he doesn't have the ability to apologize over anything?

No. The level of frustration in her heart for this pastor, who's a brother in Christ, was so real and palpable.

I was on Twitter this week. Someone said that they were a Christian nationalist, and another person said they must not be a

Christian. Are you kidding me? Why are we like one of the only armies on earth that attack each other and think that that's going to be how we win the battle?

We have the same party spirit as Corinth, where instead of saying some are of Apollos and some are of Paul, we say, well,

I'm of MacArthur. Well, I'm of Sproul. Well, if we're really rowdy, I'm of Wilson. And it's not just in the internet realms.

It's in real life. For instance, at this church, there's been people who've left this church for silly, stupid reasons, and I'm not trying to be rude or mean.

I'm saying that the gospel is what's important. Us declaring the gospel of Christ, us feasting at the table and doing the sacraments is primary.

Us practicing church discipline in a good and godly way is primary. And yet there have been people who've left this church because our children are too loud.

And I say leave. Because they're part of the covenant, too. We've had people leave because we sing psalms.

We've had people leave because we play a guitar in worship. We've had people leave because the sermons are too long and because the sermons are too short.

We've had people leave because the sermons were so long they couldn't get to their golf appointment on time. We've had people leave because we join the

CREC denomination, because we have wine at communion, because we talk about family worship too much, because we have a bible study at a cigar bar.

I could keep going on and on and on. But one of the most exhausting parts of ministry for me,

I've been in ministry for 10 years, is that. That we can't focus on the big picture, the war that's going on, and instead we pull out our weapons and we shoot each other over stupid and foolish things.

I'm thankful that division has not taken hold in this church. I'm thankful that division doesn't feel comfortable in this church and that it leaves fairly quickly.

Because I would rather people leave in peace than stay and cause division, because the Lord hates it. And I would rather that for you.

I don't want the Lord to be opposed to you. My experience of American Christianity for 10 years has been that it's a lot like Burger King.

Everybody wants to have it their way. The church is responsible for providing a menu item that is dedicated to the church's interest.

And if you don't do that, well, we'll go to the restaurant down the street. And we treat each other like we're paying customers.

When you and I go to a restaurant and we sit there, I don't have a relationship with anyone else in that restaurant. I have a relationship with the person sitting across from me and my burger.

That's the way we treat fellow Christians. They're just men and women who sit in the same room with us, but we have no attachment to them whatsoever.

That attitude's sin. That's not the way Jesus designed his church. The church doesn't exist to please people.

The church exists for the pleasure of God. The saints are called by God to come here and worship him, not to argue and quibble over carpet colors or whatever else that churches have been divided by for hundreds of years.

Where did we get so lost? That we stopped making the main thing the main thing and we allowed the world to disciple us into this hyper divisive attitude.

And then put on a badge of self -righteousness to say, wow, that church just they just don't do things the way that I see in the scriptures.

It's sin. It's sin. Especially when

Christ himself prayed for unity. Especially when Christ prayed to the father that they would be one as he and his father have always been one.

And it's dishonoring to Christ. Because it is not God who's the author of division.

It's not God who's the author of confusion. It is Satan who is the author of these things. When division creeps into the church, it is not because God has led us there.

It's a spiritual attack that we must not persist in. Now with that introduction, that's the problem.

I want us to focus on what Christ said is the solution. Turn with me to John chapter 17 verse 11 and 12.

We will conclude our series on John for a few weeks. We're going to be in Christmas series next week and throughout

December. This will be where we end and I think it's a good place to end for us. John 17 verses 11 through 12.

If you will read along with me. You don't have to read out loud just you know silently where you're at.

I am no longer in the world and yet they themselves are in the world. And I come to you holy father keep them in your name.

The name which you have given me that they may be one even as we are.

While I was with them, I was keeping them in your name which you have given me and I guarded them.

And not one of them perished but the son of perdition so that the scripture would be fulfilled.

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, I pray that we would see a passage that I think has been quite neglected in the

Christian church. Lord, I pray that we would see it that we would understand it that we would that we would see your heart in praying it and lord

I pray that that this church would reflect the unity that that you have prayed for.

Lord, I pray that this church would be an example to other churches in the area of what union in Christ works itself out into the people of God what that looks like.

Lord, I pray that that unity that you work in this congregation would spread to marriages, families, neighborhoods, and lord

I pray that it would overtake the world. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Now the background of this passage as we know is

Jesus is leaving. He's going back to heaven. He says so in verse 11. I'm no longer in the world. He's saying that it's a foregone conclusion.

I am leaving, I am going, and I'm leaving my disciples here. But I think what is so fascinating is the state in which he leaves them.

He does not abandon them. He leaves them to the father who is going to keep them in his name.

The passage or what we're going to look at today is four things. We're going to see how God will keep us in unity. That's a specific word that I'm excited to tell you about.

That Jesus commands this unity for us as a church that there's an extent to that unity which infects all of our life and then there's an effect to this unity that we will discover at the end.

So number one we are kept for unity. We are kept by God for unity.

Jesus says holy father keep them in your name the name which you have given me. He begins with God's sovereign power.

He calls him holy father because God is holy other. He is transcendent above all things.

He's majestic in everything. He's infinite in all his power and glory. He's saying that God is the God who's going to keep us the infinite

God. Jesus does not ask God with all his infinite power and goodness to keep them in wealth.

He does not ask God to keep them in good health. We have back issues.

We have bum knees. He doesn't say keep them in health. He doesn't say keep them in popularity and influence.

He says you'll be hated. But he does say with your infinite power father would you keep them in unity together?

Notice how the prayer develops. Holy father keep them in your name the name which you have given me that they may be one.

There's a causal relationship here. Keep them and as you're doing that then it will transpire that they become one.

It's an if -then relationship. If father you keep them then they will become one.

God's keeping of them produces something and the production of that thing is unity.

Jesus here not only suggests it he commands it. The word here is a greek word, which we call an imperative.

It's in the imperative tense. In greek they have different endings on the ends of their verbs and on the ends of their nouns.

So, you know what that word is doing like a subject has a different ending than a predicate nominative.

Maybe you don't remember those terms from english. It's okay. Ask your fifth grader. But verbs also do the same thing.

There are verbs for past present future. There are verbs for perfect past and perfect future and there are verbs for suggesting things like might could that we talked about subjunctive.

Those verbs are marked out. Well, the imperative verb is also marked out as well so that you know when someone is giving you a command.

This is not a suggestion. This is not a verb for asking. Will you father keep them in your word?

It's not a matter of subjective nature where God if you keep them in your word, it's keep them in your word.

Jesus is not being fresh when he says this. He's using the command word with his father in the same way that we use it today.

Like for instance when a parent looks at their child and says go to your homework. That word go is not a suggestion.

It's go. It's the same word when a general says gentlemen, i'm so proud of you go take that hill.

He's not suggesting he's telling it's the same word when a coach says go go go and the player's running down the sideline.

The player does not get to the end zone and say I cannot believe how he just talked to me. How dare he tell me what to do?

No, he walks over to his coach and he gives him a hug and they celebrate. The coach is commanding him continue.

Go. Jesus is commanding here not in a way that's fresh but in a way that expects action that the father will keep them.

Jesus had every expectation that the action of the father would be that the father actively keeps his people.

If anyone had an expectation that their prayer life would work that something that they pray would actually be answered by God and done by God it was

Christ. He says father keep them not as a hopeful prayer but as knowing that God will do this prayer that God will keep his people.

Second thing that happens here is that as he looks at that action as he talks about that action he knows that the father is going to accomplish it.

Keep them in your name. That's the action the name which you have given me so that they may be one as we are one.

Jesus is saying this is certain it is going to happen with my people in the same way that a farmer when he plants a seed waters it and puts it under the sun has every expectation that it will grow.

Jesus is saying father you keep them in your word and they will have unity. That's what he's talking about an expectation that he has and the word itself is a fascinating word in Greek.

His expectation for how God is going to keep them. What does that word keep mean? It means imprisoned.

The word tereo in this passage to keep them means to lock them up. This is the word a prison guard would use when he slams the door and puts the key in his pocket and walks away.

Jesus is saying father lock them up in your character in your goodness in your holiness in your love so that as you've locked them up in your kindness and in your character they will be changed.

And what does it say about us that we needed to be locked up in order to sit with God and grow in God because guess what?

If you could have escaped you would have he locks us up in his grace so that over time over years even you become more gracious you become more patient you become more kind you become more in unity with God and with his people we don't become the kind of people who tank marriages in the church as we sit with God and are locked up in his grace.

We don't become the kind of people who start endless fights like the Hatfields and McCoys and our families.

We don't become the kind of people who leave a church because they don't have a good coffee bar or because we don't like the thickness of the carpet or because we're trying to avoid church discipline because we're in sin.

We become the kind of people who rest in his grace and his goodness and pursue unity for the good of the church.

That's what Jesus is saying here and I don't want to I don't want to be too strong on this to over communicate some there are good ways to leave a church and there are good reasons to leave a church.

If a church is preaching heresy leave but leave like a Christian.

If a church is administering the Lord's table in a way like first Corinthians 11 where they're drinking judgment upon themselves leave.

But leave like a Christian. If they're not practicing church discipline and sin is running rampant in the church leave but leave like a

Christian. We are not called to stay in in apostate churches but the bar is actually quite high.

If your church I think we are is preaching the gospel is administering the sacraments and is trying our best to do church discipline in a godly way there is no biblical reason to leave.

And I'm not saying you're locked up here that you can't leave. I'm just saying if you do leave make sure that it's a godly reason.

Because we will be held accountable for how we approach the church. The church doesn't belong to any person in this room.

It belongs to Christ and we will be held accountable in how we approach it and treat it and interact with it.

There's all sorts of sinful ways to leave a church we've talked about some of them. When I see those things it breaks my heart for people because they have no idea or they're purposely avoiding what

Jesus has called us to do here. It breaks my heart for their soul to leave a church over silly reasons says something about our state and where we're at and who's our

Lord. If the church prioritized unity like Jesus did the world would be in terror of the church.

The Lord would tremble over the church, but as a result of it the world does not fear the church anymore.

And it's not because we're strong and it's not because we have great weapons. No, the church snuck up to the border of the church and it heard great impressive things about the church.

It snuck up to the border with its weapons in tow and it watched as we were shooting each other and it said they're no threat to us and it went away.

The world would fear the gospel of Christ and the world would fear the church and the world would would see that this church is doing something in the world if we would prioritize the things that Jesus told us to prioritize which is being unity with one another.

As a result we are a bunch of little factions that are fighting a big empire and we have no power at all.

If churches would unite together in the gospel and serve Christ in the way that he has called us to we might not agree on everything.

We're not called to agree on everything. There's in this room, we don't agree on everything but if we do what

Christ has told us to do we would see the world probably attack the church because it would be afraid that the church has finally got its act together.

I think the church is not being attacked and persecuted because we're no threat. Now again,

I need to clarify I'm not talking about the Joel Osteen's of the world. We don't have unity with him.

I'm not talking about the Bethel of the world. We don't have any unity with them. I'm not talking about Rome or Constantinople. I'm talking about the church of Christ united in the essentials united in the gospel.

We should pursue unity with that bride of Christ. Again, we talked about the

Proverbs 6, 16 through 19 example earlier that God hates that action of sowing disunity and discord in the community.

He doesn't just hate it when it's active when we're actively being a disunifier.

He also hates it when we're passive and we refuse to do the kinds of behaviors that would bring unity to the church.

Now let's talk about the extent of this unity. We know that Christ prayed for it, that he commanded it, that we must pursue it.

It's right there. It's not a suggestion. It's an imperative verb. What's the extent of it?

Well, he's praying for his 12 disciples, the apostles. But he's also praying beyond those 12 apostles. He's praying to every single

Christian because the apostolic message of the gospel has come down through the centuries to us. He is praying that his church would be one as God and Christ and the

Holy Spirit have always been one in heaven. What an astounding picture of unity.

You can't get more in unity than that. That's what we are called to be as the church.

Now, what does that look like? How is that going to work itself out in the church? I want to do a quick tour of the

New Testament and go through all of these. Ephesians 4, 5.

How are we supposed to be in unity? We belong to one Lord. One Lord, Jesus Christ.

We don't have unity because we have the same worship music. We don't have unity because we're in a distraction -free environment, whatever that means.

We don't have unity because we believe all the same things about tertiary and quadruciary doctrines. We don't have unity because of minor little points of division.

We have unity because we have the same Lord. One nation under God.

And I'm not talking about America. I'm talking about the church who is a kingdom of priests and a holy nation unto

Christ. It goes beyond that. Ephesians 4, 5 also says one Lord, one faith.

That means that our faith is the same faith, even though we disagree on minor things like communion, paedo -communion versus credo -communion, all of it.

It's one faith. Christians in various denominations. Let's just go with the reformed for a second.

The OPC, the PCA, the CREC, the RPCNA. Maybe not the PCUSA. Maybe there's some in the

PCUSA. But if we are elect of God and we are in the faith, we have the same faith.

We're brothers and sisters in Christ. Our superficial differences might be many, but there's one

Lord. If they're in Christ, I don't care if they're in the

Roman Catholic church. I don't care if they have found themselves in the Mormon church. I know

Mormons are heretics. I know that their gospel is false. I know that.

But if God has elected someone in the Mormon church that somehow, some way, against all odds, the cult that it is,

I believe that they will grow. I believe that they will leave that abominable church. And I believe that they're my brother or sister.

If they're truly elect, you hear my qualification. Anyone who is elect, anyone who belongs to Christ will be in eternity with you and I in heaven.

We are to work for unity with that group. We're also to work for purity.

The Mormons are, they need to be rejected entirely for their doctrine. The Roman Catholic church venerates

Mary. That's wrong. Jesus labored for purity of doctrine, but he also labored for unity.

And we must care about these things too. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. I think about my Baptist brothers who

I used to be one. Brother, if you're a Reformed Baptist, we're in the same group.

Stop being schismatic about it. We didn't immerse.

Okay. We poured. We're in the same faith. That's what the word says.

One faith, one word, one baptism. Your immersion baptism is the same as baptism is mine. Actually, I was immersed too.

That doesn't make sense. But you know what I mean? Unity involves the way that we love one another.

Colossians 3 .14, beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. If you're filled with anger, resentment, you need to repent because unity is demonstrating the way that we love one another.

Philippians 2, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in the same spirit intent on one purpose.

That's what the church is for. 1 Corinthians 12 .12, we have unity in the body. For as in the body, there are many parts and all the parts of the body, though they are many, they are one in Christ.

Matthew 18, we all worship together in unity on the Lord's day. Again, I say to you, if two of you on earth agree about anything you may, they may ask, shall be done for them.

My father, who is in heaven, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst. Unity in doctrine, we should grow in that.

Romans 16 .17, now I urge you, brothers and sisters, keep your eye on those who create dissensions and hindrances, contrary to the teaching which you learn.

He doesn't say keep an eye on those who are Baptist, who spread their idea of immersion onlyism or KJV onlyism for those who believe in that.

He says, keep an eye on those who cause divisions because that's not according to the faith that you've heard and the doctrine that you've heard.

Unity and spirit and peace. Ephesians 4 .3, be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit of the bond of peace. 1

Corinthians 1 .10, now I exhort you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Galatians 3 .28, there's neither Jew nor Greek, but all are one in Christ. Do you see what the New Testament is telling us?

That we are to have total, radical, pervasive unity with one another as believers in Christ.

A deliberate unity. A hardworking unity. A unity that is so proactive that it infects every cell of the church.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one mind, one heart, one spirit, one purpose, one direction, one prayer, and one new status is given to us by Jesus.

Now, let's admit for a second that that is far from where we're at. Jesus prayed for it.

How do we get there? This is where we'll end. The eschatological nature of unity.

Jesus prayed that his church would be one as he and his Father have always been one in heaven.

We're not there. We haven't been there for 20 centuries so far. But brothers and sisters, we have to believe that Jesus never prayed a prayer that he did not intend on accomplishing.

Jesus did not pray a superfluous prayer. He did not pray, Father, would you let them be one, but I would care nothing at all if you accomplish it.

No. One day, the divisions in Jesus' church will be gone. One day, there will be no more denominations because there will be one church.

One day, the Roman Catholics will repent and join with the Protestants. Jesus prayed for it.

It's going to happen. One day, the East and Constantinople will repent and join the true church.

One day, the church will be one as Jesus prayed for it to be one. And in the meantime, we are to pursue unity.

We are to pursue unity and love, unity in mind, unity in heart, unity in thought, unity in doctrine.

We are to pursue these things because they honor the Lord Jesus Christ and that is the direction that he's taking human history.

And I, for one, want to be a church that gets there before the rest of the churches get there. I'd like for us to be a church that leads the way in unity in this region.

I'd like to be a church that as we reach out to other faithful churches in the area that we can work together to see

King Jesus made much of in this land. I don't want us to be the kind of church that is so proud of our distinctiveness we can't get along with anyone.

God forbid that. I want to work with Baptists. I want to work with Pentecostals.

I don't agree with them, but I want to work to see King Jesus made much of until they repent and join the

Reformed church. Today, brothers and sisters, if you have division in your life and in your heart, if you participated in division in any way, whether it be in this church, whether it be in your home, the little church that God has called you to, repent of those things.

Those things are not befitting of you as a Christian. You're a unity seeker and a unity maker.

You're not a divisive person. You're not like the world. You're different. If you have disunity in your marriage, repent of that.

If you have disunity in your relationships, repent of that. If you have disunity with your children, children, if you are out of alignment with your parents, repent of that.

Because what we believe about unity says something about what we believe about Jesus, and Jesus himself has installed us to this purpose.

I'll end with one verse, two verses in 2 Corinthians 5, 18 through 19.

All of this is from God who reconciled us. We were out of unity with God. He reconciled us to himself through Christ, and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

Did you hear that? He didn't just bring us in union with Jesus. He told us to bring others in union.

He told us to be union makers. He told us to be reconcilers. He reconciled us and told us to be about the ministry of reconciliation.

He's the one who does the work, absolutely, yes and amen, but he told us to not be divisive in the process, but to be about unity.

Because he brought us in union with Christ, now we work for unity with others. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, there's so much here. The New Testament has so much to say about unity.

I think, Father, all of it is saying something about the state of our health. If we are causing disunity or division in our health, our relationship with you is sick.

A healthy church, a healthy family, a healthy Christian is one who pursues deeper and deeper union with you, unity with you, and unity with one another.

Lord, I pray that you would be especially gracious to this congregation called Shepherd's Church, that you would cause us to be healthy, that you would cause us to pursue greater unity with you, and Lord, I pray that you would cause us to pursue unity with one another.

And Lord, I do pray that when the nations look in and peer in at us, when they crawl up to the border of our gates, they would not see infighting and brokenness.

They would see a people who are in union with one another, attempting to accomplish the great mission that you have given us, to see the nations one to Christ.