Unity in Christ: A Prayer for Believers

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In John chapter 17 beginning at verse 20, we come into the last section of this amazing prayer of Jesus on the night that he was betrayed, the night before he would go to the cross. Jesus gathered his disciples for a Passover meal and for a heart-to-heart talk with those twelve men. [00:00:07]

Jesus recognized something that his work would not end with those eleven disciples in the room, but his work would go beyond. That's why he says in verse 20, also for those who will believe in me through their word. Ladies and gentlemen, that's something thrilling right there in verse 20. [00:02:46]

When Jesus thought about the work as it would echo forth from those eleven disciples and as it would go out through generation and across the whole world, he could pray one thing to begin with. What do I pray for all those who would later believe? I pray, Father, that they would be one. [00:04:41]

It's as if Jesus envisioned the great multitude before the throne of God, of every nation, of every tribe, of every tongue, of every class, of every social level, and he prayed that they would rise above all of their differences and be joined together as one group, as one body of the followers of Jesus Christ. [00:04:55]

When we look out among the community of Christians, you could say just in our own city or in the Western world or in the world in general, sometimes it seems like Christians don't get along very well. Do you understand what I'm talking about? Why is it sometimes that if Jesus prayed for this great unity, why is it that sometimes Christians don't get along so well? [00:06:39]

Notice in verse 21, Jesus says not only that they would be one, but that they would be one after the pattern of the unity of the Father and Son. Did you notice that phrase in verse 21, that they all may be one as you Father are in me and I in you? [00:08:12]

We are not together, Christians across the world, going to have a unity of, let's just say, language. We're not gonna have that. We're not gonna have a unity of culture, but neither are we going to have a unity of institution. I don't think God wants us to have one. [00:08:53]

The father shared the glory with the son before the world's war. Now Jesus wants to share that glory with his people. And friends, let me tell you, where the glory of God is evident, unity is easy. It's where there's a lack of the sense of the presence or the glory of Jesus, that's what Christians tend to squabble a lot. [00:12:39]

Jesus here takes an idea that he introduced back in verse 21 and he expands upon it again. And what's the idea? The idea is simply this, that the world would know that Jesus was sent into the world by the father and that the world would know that his people are truly loved by the father. [00:13:49]

Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. You see that first line in verse 24, he says I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me. [00:18:22]

I don't understand this completely, but there is something about the glory of Jesus that is so captivating, that is so amazing, that is so layered and textured, that has so much to it that it will occupy the attention of his people throughout all eternity. We are going to behold his glory and that will be a large part of what heaven's experience is all about. [00:21:22]

Jesus summed up his whole life's work by simply saying verse 26, I have declared to them your name and will declare it again. My friend, so once you understand that Jesus went to the cross full of absolute confidence in what he had accomplished and what he would accomplish. [00:23:46]

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