Out Of Many, One - [John 17:20-26]

Well, I would invite you to open your Bibles to John chapter 17, John 17. We'll be in here at least this week, maybe next week, who knows, can't really tell yet. You know, I began because the message this morning, out of many, one is about unity.

And so this week I was researching different debacles in history that were defined by their lack of unity. I came up with one that I thought was great. This battle and I was going to go through the whole thing and I had charts and maps and all that.

Okay. Maybe not maps. I had charts, but then I came across this, sorry. How many of you are familiar with the great Emu war? That's what I thought. I figured, I figured this would not, you know, be a well-known battle 1932 and it's on Australia, mate, a lot of men served in the war and they came back and they got acreage.

They build farms, they're growing wheat primarily, and they've got big wheat farms. Then they have a problem in 1932 and their problem is at a, as the depressions really cranking up is the Emus have decided to come in and eat their grain.

There are like 20 ,000 of these things just running around, eating up all the wheat. They tried shooting them. They tried doing different things and it wasn't working. So they called on the army. I mean, they, they tried scarecrows, all kinds of things.

So Emus, in case you don't know, they range from like five, seven to six feet tall. They don't fly and they're on TV a lot now with commercials. So I thought it was timely. But the situation quickly escalated to the point where you could barely see these fields of wheat for all the Emus out there eating the wheat.

So they bring in the army. They first tried herding the Emus using vehicles and that didn't work because they just scatter. As soon as the vehicles got there, they would just run every which way. And so they'd fire a few bullets and they hit a few Emus, but it didn't do any good.

So then the commander said, you know what, I'm going to put a machine gun on the back of a truck and I'm going to drive around and I'm just going to shoot all these Emus. So he gets to the truck or he's in the back of the truck.

Well, the Emus take off through this field, over this rough terrain, and he's bouncing up and down. And guess what? He can't shoot the Emus. He's trying to shoot, but it's not working. So another time they tried to get them and they've got them on the run.

Well, the Emus escaped through a hole in the fence. Another time that a gun jammed and they had all these problems. They finally gave up. And here's what the commander of this unit said. He said, if we had a military division that could take bullets like these Emus, it could face any army in the world.

They could face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks. And I thought, well, what is that a good illustration of? I'm glad you asked. Of unity, because they stuck together, these Emus. It's a stretch, sure.

But I just love the story. Sorry. The great Emu war. Well, you learned something today. There is strength in unity. There just is. The more united you are, the more strength you have. And we come to our text here in John chapter 17, not having looked at the Battle of Tannenberg, which we originally were going to look at, but we're skipping over that.

Let's go to John chapter 17. And we're in this great high priestly prayer where Jesus is interceding for his disciples. The evening before he's about to be put to death. John chapter 17. I'm going to read verses 20.

I'll just read through 23. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will 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 may also or 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 am them and you and me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Now we're towards the end of what's commonly called the Last Supper or the Upper Room Discourse. And it's been a dramatic and rather revealing evening. I mean, it's almost like there's just all these, I guess you could just say reveals.

For example, we know that Judas Iscariot is the traitor. Now, not all the disciples know that, but we know that Jesus taught his disciples many things during the course of the evening. From what humility is, if you remember when he washed their feet, all this happens during that last evening.

He also gave them great insights into the work of the Holy Spirit. If you recall when he was trying to, and I'm going to mention this again, that he was trying to comfort them. Why? Because he'd also revealed to them that he was going to be leaving them and he was going to be leaving them soon.

They thought he's just taking off. He's just going to physically leave us. But he was telling them of his death. They just didn't get it. And so there was a kind of mood of melancholy, just a sadness that overshadowed the evening.

And he spent much of the evening trying to comfort them. And we would do well to remember that Jesus, while fully God, is also fully man. And that these men, including Judas Iscariot, were his friends.

They were his best friends. They were the men that he had chosen at the beginning of his ministry, and that he'd spent every single day since then with. He taught them, he ate with them, he did everything.

He went camping with them. I guess we could say, listen, these were his dearest friends. And knowing that he was about to be separated from them, even if it was only a physical separation, was painful.

And he also knew what they were going to go through. In fact, he told them. He said, listen, he told Peter, you're going to deny me. Remember, Peter didn't believe him. He told the others that they were going to scatter after he left them.

And at the end of this sobering evening, when he's giving them all the seemingly bad news, even though he's comforting them at the same time, he prays for them. And in the last two messages, we saw how Jesus prayed for their protection.

He prayed for them and them alone, for these disciples, not for the world, he says. Interesting, right? That he even stresses that. I'm praying for these and not for the world. That he prayed for their unity.

Why? Because he knew what sort of chaos and trouble was in front of them. And finally, he prayed for their protection from both the world and from Satan. This morning, I have several questions I'm going to ask about the text.

And my goal is to show you that Jesus places a priority on unity, unity of the body of Christ, unity of believers. I almost titled the message E Pluribus Unum, but I thought, you know, that's a little pretentious.

So, but that's what it means in English, out of many, one. And that is really a fitting opening thought because that's what Jesus is praying for. First question is, who is prayed for? And we'll get it out of the text here in a moment, but you know, Pastor Mike often talks about where's Waldo preaching, which I never really understood because he never really explained it, sorry.

Our habit when we look through scriptures, and I see a lot of, you know, there are even like guides to tell you how to do this, to find yourself in the scriptures, right? Oh, there I am in the third row.

That's not you folks. Most of the time when we do where's Waldo in the Bible, trying to find ourselves, we're not there, but we are in here. It's amazing. I'm going to tell you, we are in here. Look at verse 20.

He's praying for the 11 disciples. Yes, but also for every believer here today, verse 20, I do not ask for these only. In other words, not just for these 11, because remember, Judas is gone doing his nefarious deed.

Not for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That's us. That's everybody who's meeting all around the world today who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, where's Waldo preaching works, right?

We're here. There's one body of Christ and those are the people who believe in the Lord. We just think back to John 10, verse 16, after Jesus talks about himself as the good shepherd, what does he say?

He says, and I have other sheep that are not of this fold, not of this group, not of Israel. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. There's going to be people from every kindred, tribe, and tongue.

Hedrickson said it this way, he said, engraved upon the breastplate of the great high priest are the names, not only of those chosen out of the tribes of Israel, but also of those drawn from the world of heathendom.

I just wanted to read that quote because I want to say heathendom. What does that mean? It means all the kind of unbiblical, un-Jewish world, right? Those that we would seemingly think are beyond the reach of God.

Those who were, as Paul writes in Ephesians 2, far off, right? Jesus prayed for all that he came to redeem. People from every nation, tribe, and tongue from all time periods. And look again, for those who will believe.

Now it's a present tense participle here, but it's expressing certainty, not just for those who are believing, but those who will believe. It's not like the disciples were rabid evangelists at that point.

They would become rabid evangelists, but they were still trying to piece things together. This expresses a future certainty, the future salvation of many was sure. And God incarnate knows this as he's praying that evening.

Now how will those for whom Jesus prayed that night come to faith? Well, how did you come to faith, right? How do people come to faith? How are people saved? And the answer, you know, if we think confessionally, if we think theologically, is by grace through faith, right?

And faith comes by hearing. Now I'm kind of paraphrasing Romans, but what do you think Paul was doing? I think Paul was paraphrasing what Jesus said that night. Listen again, for those who will believe in me through their word, right?

How will they hear? There must be a preacher, right? There has to be somebody who tells them. We have to believe. Nobody believes for us, but we know that faith itself is a gift. It's given by the grace of God.

We have to be regenerated. Now, what instrument does the Holy Spirit use to regenerate us? How is it that we come to repentance? How is it that we come to understand that we are sinners? Well, the answer is the word of God.

As I said, as I was kind of hinting at in Romans 10, how are they to hear without someone preaching? We hear the word. We hear the gospel. Finally, we have our ears unstopped. We hear it for the first time.

I mean, we might have physically heard it dozens of times, hundreds of times. But there's one time where finally God says, okay, it's time for Steve to believe. It's time for Flo to believe. It's time for Mark to believe.

Your ears are unstopped. Your eyes are uncovered. You see who you are. You understand that there is a means of salvation and you flee to the cross. Now, we know here at this time, there's a relatively few believers.

In fact, when Jesus comes back after the resurrection, Paul says that there were 500 that he gathered together. But over the century, there have been millions, maybe more, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, billions.

Well, how did this happen? We know the divine part. We know that God grants spiritual life. But here, the Lord tells us the human side through their word. Now, what does he mean? Through the spoken word?

Well, yes. Peter and the other apostles beginning at Pentecost do what? They preach. But their word, as he says here, is more fully explained by the written word, our New Testament. We often say that the New Testament is written by whom?

The apostles and their close associates. This is it, through their word. Now, I have to say something about there are people who want to put, and I've mentioned this before, but want to put an emphasis on the red letters.

In other words, the things that Jesus said are more important than what? The things that other people said, the black letters. Like the Old Testament isn't that important except for when Jesus shows up.

The New Testament isn't that important except for when Jesus is there. But what does Jesus say? Jesus is endorsing the black letters through their word, right? It doesn't say through my word. It doesn't say through my preaching.

He says through their word. Even the gospels, even the gospels where we have Jesus, what he said, were written by the apostles or their close associates. So this argument, this idea that somehow Christianity is to be divided into, well, there's what Paul and those other guys said, and there's what Jesus said.

The words in black versus the words in red is nullified by the very words of Jesus. Put it this way, the red letters affirm the black letters. And it's not only here, but also in John 16. Listen again, John 16 verses 13 to 14.

When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority. But whatever he hears, he will speak and will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

In other words, he was going to inform them of things to come. But also in 1426, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit, when he comes, will bring back. There were things that he was saying to them they couldn't handle.

But he said, when the Holy Spirit comes, he's going to bring to your remembrance, cause you to remember things that I'm saying now that you can't handle. Why? Because they're important and people need to know them.

The Holy Spirit superintends the work of the apostles so that we have the very words of Jesus. The Holy Spirit guided these men into all truth of the New Testament. And make no mistake about it, the triune God, including the Son of God, affirm and approve the Bible from Genesis 1 -1 to Revelation 22 -21, from beginning to end.

Black letter, red letter, all the letters. Some of you might have colored in some letters. Those are okay, too. Now let's think about the means of salvation. In other words, he says they're going to believe through their word.

People are going to believe through their word. How is it that God draws someone to faith in Christ? We hear today about people coming to faith in Christ. How? In the Muslim world, we hear about it in dreams, in visions.

They had a dream about Jesus and therefore they came to faith. What about church attendance? People stress that as a means of coming to saving faith. How about subjective feelings? How about a repeated prayer?

Again, what does Jesus say? Through their word. Saving faith has to have as its object the Lord Jesus Christ. It has to contain the truths about Jesus. It has to be through their word. So our first question is who is prayed for?

And that is to say every single person who will ever come to faith in Christ is who Jesus is praying for. For those, 11, for us, and for everyone in between, and for those beyond us. For the little ones who have not yet come to faith and will.

Second question, what is prayed for? What is prayed for? And the answer we're going to find out, unsurprisingly, is unity. And then we're going to talk about why unity. Look at verse 21. That they may all be one.

Every single believer from that moment forward. The 11 disciples in that room, the other believers that were scattered about Jerusalem and maybe up in Galilee, wherever. And every subsequent Christian until this very day and until the Lord returns are to be united.

Are to be one. That's what the Lord of the church prays for the church. And look again in 21. Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you. So what sort of, you know, how would we quantify this unity that he's talking about?

How are we to be one as he says? Oh, it's just the standard of the oneness that the father and the son have. That's all. It's just perfection. That's all right. It's just the same as the Trinity. What does that do?

It immediately eliminates this idea that somehow, you know, like I hope this doesn't offend anybody. But sometimes we pretend to be better than we are. We put on airs. We put on a show, you know, I can remember being a kid.

And if you watched our family, not talking about my dad, but my stepfather, my mom and and us two kids, you know, from the outside. We look like a perfect little Mormon family, maybe not so perfect at home.

Not at all. What he's saying here is there can't be this kind of pretense. Father and the son never have that kind of false unity. We are to emulate them. We are to follow them. The son reveals the father to us, right?

We look at him and we see the father. We see the works of the father. We see, we hear the words of the father. There's perfect harmony between the two. The father, meanwhile, lavishes praise on the son.

This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And we know there's perfect harmony in the Godhead. The father, the son, and the Holy Spirit always work in perfect unity. There's, I mean, if we get theological for a moment, we know that there's one will of God that all three persons of the Trinity are working.

They're working out in time, right? Imagine a church with one will. One united will. That's what Jesus is talking about. Now, if we take it a little further, if we think, okay, what is the goal of the father, the son, and the spirit?

What are they working toward? What is their end? Let me just pause at a theory here. Random guess. They're working out their glory. They're working toward their glory. The glory of God, right? Do you know our confession of faith?

How many of you read the 1689 London Baptist confession of faith, 1689? Okay, I appreciate the honesty of those who didn't raise their hand. You know the word glory is used 26 times, and every time it applies to the glory of God.

It's an important topic. The glory of God is an important topic. The Westminster Shorter Catechism. First question. As soon as I say it, you're going to go, yeah, I know that question. Right now, probably a few of you could give it to me.

What is the chief end of man? And the answer, of course, is man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Now, if God's purpose is to glorify himself, and I could show you that in Ephesians 1 and other places.

If that's his purpose, is it wrong to think that a united church ought to seek to glorify God, especially since Westminster Confession says that's our chief end? If it's the chief end of individuals, then ought not it be the goal of a united church to glorify God?

Absolutely. Now, I want to propose to you this morning that the church glorifies God by obeying him and his purpose for the church. And we can summarize the purpose for the church this way. We gather on Sunday mornings.

We gather during the week. Why? To edify, that is to say, to build up the church and to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Why? So that we can evangelize the world. The three E's, equip, edify, evangelize.

In kind of cool speak, I could say we want the saints to evangelize the aints, right? Now, as unity happens, as we have this unity, as we emulate the Father and the Son, there are two results. The first is we are united with the Trinity.

Look at the text here. The text only says this in verse 21, that they may also or that they also may be in us, referring to the Father and the Son. But I'm going to propose to you that we're also in the Holy Spirit.

And I'm going to not just propose, I'm going to demonstrate that by going to John chapter 14, verses 15 to 24. Just turn back a few chapters, John 14. I'd like to thank whoever turned on the heat this morning.

It's amazing in January when summer breaks out. John 14, verses 15 and 24. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever.

Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for, listen, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans.

I will come to you yet for yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day, he's talking about after the resurrection, you will know that I am in my Father and you in me, in Christ.

And I in you, Christ in us. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father. And I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?

Jesus answered him. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him. And listen, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.

And the word that you hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me. What does it mean that the father and son take up residence in you make their home in you again? This idea, father, son and spirit take up residence in you, which is exactly what Jesus is describing in John chapter 17.

You can go back there, says that they may also be in us. They're in the father and son. Spirit are in us. And we are in them. Well, how is it that we are in the father and in the son or even in the spirit?

What does that mean? You know, if you think I am in the spirit, does that mean I'm floating above things? You know, does that mean I'm having a mystical experience? John, no, it means that we are yielded to them to be filled with the spirit means what?

That I've put off dissipation, right? That I'm yielded to the Holy Spirit means that we are submitting ourselves to them. We're submitting ourselves to the revelation that the triune God has given us as a body of believers.

We are to reflect the father, the son and the spirit to the world. Now, we're not going to do that perfectly. But when we do this, there are going to be some things that come about a couple of results.

We're going to have an impact on the world. That's one of the results. How do we have an impact on the world? Well, one way is doctrinal unity, doctrinal unity. And I'm going to have you flip over to Ephesians chapter 4 for a moment.

This is such a key passage. I love Ephesians 4, 5 and 6. But here there are a number of truths. I mean, I could wax eloquent about the fact that, you know, the Lord has given us gifts. And one of the things he's given us is throughout history, men who've had insights into the word that we can still use today.

In fact, when somebody comes up with something new, what do I say? Flee, right? I want to hear about a new perspective on Paul. Like I want to hear, you know, that I've got bubonic plague. I don't want to hear about that.

Or that I need knee surgery. You laugh, but I'm the one who limped up here and I've got good knees. Doctrinal unity. Listen to Ephesians 4, verses 11 to 16. And tell me what, you know, Paul's talking about here.

Well, I don't want you to tell me. I'm going to tell you. But verse 11, and he gave the apostles talking about Jesus, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers. Why? To equip the saints, the believers, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.

Listen, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, until we have perfect knowledge of the Son of God. Well, when is that going to be? When he returns, right?

To mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every word of doctrine. Again, doctrinal unity, maturity, unity of the faith.

We're not to be thrown around by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ.

From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Love without truth is not love.

We speak the truth in love and people just think, well, that means you have to be really nice and kind. Well, I want to be nice and kind, but unless my message is in truth, then I'm no better than the people who want to deceive.

Speak the truth in love. Why? Because we want to have unity of doctrine. It says so right there in Ephesians 4. Now, this unity that he talks about in Ephesians 4 is akin to spiritual maturity, he says.

It's depth of doctrinal knowledge. Why? Because he says we want to be guarded against any wave of doctrine. These wild little fads that come in, you know, that wind up being board games. And I'm not kidding, you know, the prayer of Jabez board game or whatever.

These things happen, you know, you're just like, what? I want more land, so I'm going to buy park place and boardwalk and whatever. We can't separate truth from love. Children or immature believers are taken in by false doctrine.

But by hearing the truth in love, correct doctrine properly applied, the whole body grows together, which then does what? Makes us useful to the master. Now, somebody will say, well, do we have to agree on every doctrine?

Do we have to get everything right? Do we have to have, you know, agreement across the board? No, that's doctrinal purity. What we have to have is doctrinal harmony, which means agreements about the gospel and about the essentials.

We can disagree with our brothers and sisters in Christ who want to baptize infants, for example. But we agree with them on the essentials of the gospel and on many other issues. But we don't have any unity whatsoever with those whose lead phrase seemed to be or seems to be something like, has God really said?

I mean, it's like going back to the garden and dealing with people who want to undermine the veracity of scripture. Did God really say that women can't preach? Did Jesus ever say that homosexuals can't get married?

These are questions that are settled. But if you start taking these false little ideas like, well, the red letters take priority over the black letters and et cetera, et cetera, and you start doing those kind of dances, you know, did God really say?

Would God really not change his mind over the last 2000 years, et cetera, et cetera? When you start playing human logic and reason to what scripture says, you wind up in trouble. The Bible is sufficient, and it's not only sufficient, it is inerrant and infallible.

Our reasoning is errant and fallible, right? So we will have unity of doctrine, unity of mind as we pursue Christ in this way. We'll also have something else, something that is very current. How about, I'll say, ethnic harmony, ethnic harmony.

Back in Ephesians 4 again, verses 1 to 6, Paul says, I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Right, because of the gospel truths in chapters 1 to 3.

With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the hope that belongs to your call.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Every single believer, without regard to his or her ethnicity, his or her gender. And by the way, there are only two.

There are a multitude of ethnicities, there's only one race, right? And there are only two genders. But how can we doubt that if individual Christians in the body live humbly, gently, patiently and lovingly with each other, that there will be unity in the body?

We'll not have the sort of ethnic divisions that have really plagued not just our country, but many places around the world. Those things ought not be. Galatians 3 is still true. There's neither June or Greek.

None of those things apply. We're all one in Christ. Now the purpose for this unity, back to our text in John 17. The purpose for this unity, verse 21. Second half of it. So that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Now keep in mind, Jesus is praying to the Father, right? He says, Hinnoklaws, purpose. So the world, everyone, all the unbelievers, may believe that the Father has sent the Son. Wasn't that what we're to proclaim?

Right? When we go out, isn't that what we tell people? These things, I mean like John 20, 31. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus Christ is, or Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

We tell people that God so loved the world that he sent his Son. Unity is not about stopping the many social ills that surround us. It's not, you know, so that we can somehow lower the bar of doctrine, so that we can link arms with all sorts of people.

We don't lock arms with Rome and march against abortion with them. Why? Because Rome proclaims a false gospel. We don't march with Muslims about social injustice. Why? Because they deny the deity of Christ.

We don't lock arms with liberals, so-called Christians. Why? Because they deny the scripture. Unity of the body of Christ can only come about in truth. We build each other up in truth. The Father sent the Son into the world to redeem sinners, and that is the message that unites us.

The details of that message, listen, is what matures us. The details of that message about the Father sending the Son of the world to redeem sinners is what matures us. People say, well, I don't care about doctrine.

Just give me Jesus. What's the perfect answer to that? Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? As soon as somebody answers that question for you, what do they have to do? They have to give you doctrine. Doctrine is nothing but truth about God or His Word.

This whole idea, you know, I just, I don't care about all that stuff. I just want to know Jesus. Okay? I want to know Jesus too. How can I know Him and not learn doctrine? I can't. When we proclaim God saves sinners through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, there's so much implied in that.

We have to tell people about their sin. Why do they need redemption? Because they're sinners. Doctrine. Right? Well, what's the big deal about sin? It's the holiness of God. Doctrine. Doctrine abounds, right?

Doctrine surrounds the message. It's in our message. D .A. Carson said this. Unity is not achieved by hunting enthusiastically for the lowest common theological denominator. You know, I could just see that.

Just hunting for the lowest we can possibly go. But by common adherence to the apostolic gospel, by love that is joyfully self-sacrificing, by undaunted commitment to the shared goals of the mission with which Jesus' followers have been charged, by self-conscious dependence on God Himself for life and fruitfulness.

This is the unity for which Jesus prayed. So, who is prayed for? What is prayed for? And finally, how does God or how does the church have glory? And I know you all are thinking, well, he's gone so long.

How's he going to wrap this up? Well, because, like Mike says, the last point is short. That's how. How does the church have glory? Verse 22. The glory that you, the Father, have given me, Jesus, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.

Now, what is this glory referred to? What glory is Jesus giving them? And that's my question. How does the church have glory? If he was talking about his preexistent glory, that would be really something.

Right? But we don't get that. That's not ours. He's talking about the fact that he's come to redeem his people by living a perfect life, dying a sacrificial death on a cross, and being raised from the dead.