Unity in Christ: A Supernatural Love for All

 

Summary

In John 17:20-26, Jesus prays for unity among His followers, a unity that mirrors the oneness He shares with the Father. This unity is not just a superficial agreement but a profound, supernatural love that transcends differences and divisions. Jesus desires that His followers be one so that the world may believe in Him. This unity is a powerful witness to the reality of Jesus and His love. The love that binds the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the same love that should bind us together as believers. This love is eternal, having existed before the foundation of the world, and it is the glue that holds the diverse body of Christ together.

The world is filled with division and animosity, but the church is called to be a beacon of unity and love. Our unity in diversity is a testimony to the world that Jesus is real. It is not based on mutual attraction or common interests but is a supernatural love wrought by the Spirit of God. This love overcomes divisions and reconciles people who were once contrary to one another. It brings into communion those who have nothing in common except that Jesus gave Himself up for them.

As believers, we are called to pursue this unity in love, engaging with humility and grace with people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. This pursuit of unity is not just a nice idea but a fundamental aspect of our witness to the world. The world should look at the church and wonder in amazement at the unity and love that exists among us. This is the love that Jesus calls us to pursue with one another, a love that binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Key Takeaways:

- Jesus' prayer for unity among His followers is a call to reflect the oneness He shares with the Father. This unity is not just about agreement but about embodying a supernatural love that transcends differences and divisions. It is a love that serves as a powerful witness to the world of Jesus' reality and His love for humanity. [42:09]

- The love that binds the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is eternal and is the same love that should bind us together as believers. This love is the glue that holds the diverse body of Christ together, overcoming divisions and reconciling people who were once contrary to one another. [49:15]

- Our unity in diversity is a testimony to the world that Jesus is real. It is not based on mutual attraction or common interests but is a supernatural love wrought by the Spirit of God. This love brings into communion those who have nothing in common except that Jesus gave Himself up for them. [56:02]

- As believers, we are called to pursue unity in love, engaging with humility and grace with people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. This pursuit of unity is a fundamental aspect of our witness to the world, showing that Jesus is real and His love is transformative. [01:02:16]

- The world should look at the church and wonder in amazement at the unity and love that exists among us. This is the love that Jesus calls us to pursue with one another, a love that binds everything together in perfect harmony and serves as a powerful witness to the reality of Jesus and His love. [01:04:48]

Youtube Chapters:

[00:00] - Welcome
[36:11] - Reading of God's Word
[38:23] - Kev On Stage and Unity
[40:54] - Comedic Disagreement and Mutual Respect
[42:09] - Jesus' Desire for Unity
[44:27] - Jesus' Farewell Discourse
[45:50] - Jesus' Divinity and Unity with the Father
[49:15] - The Eternal Love of the Trinity
[51:21] - Jesus' Prayer for Future Believers
[52:31] - Unity in Diversity
[53:48] - The Image of God and Human Unity
[56:02] - Love as the Binding Glue
[57:26] - Apostle Paul's Call to Love
[01:02:16] - Unity as a Witness to the World
[01:04:48] - The Church's Witness in Unity
[01:09:06] - Encouragement to Pursue Unity
[01:10:51] - Benediction and Closing Prayer

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:
- John 17:20-26

Observation Questions:
1. What specific request does Jesus make to the Father regarding His followers in John 17:20-26? How does this reflect His relationship with the Father? [42:09]
2. According to the sermon, what is the significance of the love that binds the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? How is this love described? [49:15]
3. How does the sermon illustrate the concept of unity in diversity using the example of comedians? What does this example reveal about the nature of unity? [40:54]

Interpretation Questions:
1. In what ways does the unity Jesus prays for in John 17 serve as a witness to the world? How does this unity demonstrate the reality of Jesus? [01:02:16]
2. How does the sermon explain the eternal nature of the love within the Trinity, and why is this important for understanding Christian unity? [49:15]
3. What does the sermon suggest about the role of humility and grace in pursuing unity among believers from diverse backgrounds? [01:09:06]

Application Questions:
1. Reflect on your own church community. How can you contribute to fostering a unity that reflects the supernatural love Jesus prayed for? [42:09]
2. Think of a situation where you experienced division or animosity. How might you apply the principles of supernatural love and unity to reconcile those differences? [56:02]
3. Identify a person from a different background or culture within your church. What steps can you take to engage with them in humility and grace this week? [01:09:06]
4. How can you personally demonstrate the love that binds the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in your daily interactions with others? [49:15]
5. Consider a time when you witnessed unity in diversity. What impact did it have on you, and how can you replicate that in your own community? [40:54]
6. What practical actions can you take to ensure that your church is a beacon of unity and love to the world? [01:04:48]
7. How can you encourage others in your small group to pursue unity in love, especially when faced with disagreements or differences? [01:02:16]

Devotional

I'm ready to provide the 5-day devotional based on the steps outlined. Here it is:

Day 1: Unity Reflects Divine Oneness
Jesus' prayer for unity among His followers is a profound call to reflect the oneness He shares with the Father. This unity is not merely about agreement or uniformity but about embodying a supernatural love that transcends differences and divisions. It is a love that serves as a powerful witness to the world of Jesus' reality and His love for humanity. The unity Jesus desires is rooted in the eternal love that binds the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a love that existed before the foundation of the world. This divine love is the glue that holds the diverse body of Christ together, overcoming divisions and reconciling people who were once contrary to one another. [42:09]

"May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 15:5-6 ESV)

Reflection: Consider a relationship in your life where unity is lacking. How can you actively pursue reconciliation and embody the supernatural love of Christ in that relationship today?


Day 2: Eternal Love as the Binding Force
The love that binds the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is eternal and is the same love that should bind us together as believers. This love is the glue that holds the diverse body of Christ together, overcoming divisions and reconciling people who were once contrary to one another. It is a love that transcends human understanding and is not based on mutual attraction or common interests but is a supernatural love wrought by the Spirit of God. This love brings into communion those who have nothing in common except that Jesus gave Himself up for them. [49:15]

"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling." (1 Peter 4:8-9 ESV)

Reflection: Think of someone in your community who is different from you. How can you show them the eternal love of Christ in a tangible way this week?


Day 3: Unity in Diversity as a Testimony
Our unity in diversity is a testimony to the world that Jesus is real. It is not based on mutual attraction or common interests but is a supernatural love wrought by the Spirit of God. This love brings into communion those who have nothing in common except that Jesus gave Himself up for them. As believers, we are called to pursue this unity in love, engaging with humility and grace with people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. This pursuit of unity is not just a nice idea but a fundamental aspect of our witness to the world. [56:02]

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ." (1 Corinthians 12:12 ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on a time when you experienced unity with someone very different from you. How did that experience testify to the reality of Jesus in your life?


Day 4: Pursuing Unity with Humility and Grace
As believers, we are called to pursue unity in love, engaging with humility and grace with people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. This pursuit of unity is a fundamental aspect of our witness to the world, showing that Jesus is real and His love is transformative. The world should look at the church and wonder in amazement at the unity and love that exists among us. This is the love that Jesus calls us to pursue with one another, a love that binds everything together in perfect harmony. [01:02:16]

"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." (Ephesians 4:2-3 ESV)

Reflection: Identify a specific area in your life where you can practice humility and grace to foster unity. What steps can you take today to act on this?


Day 5: The Church as a Beacon of Unity
The world should look at the church and wonder in amazement at the unity and love that exists among us. This is the love that Jesus calls us to pursue with one another, a love that binds everything together in perfect harmony and serves as a powerful witness to the reality of Jesus and His love. The church is called to be a beacon of unity and love in a world filled with division and animosity. Our unity in diversity is a testimony to the world that Jesus is real and His love is transformative. [01:04:48]

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone." (Ephesians 2:19-20 ESV)

Reflection: How can you contribute to making your church a beacon of unity and love in your community? What specific actions can you take to promote this vision?

Quotes


It is that they would be one, that they would be unified, and the unity that is being described is a unity in diversity such that when people who do not follow Jesus look at the church, their response to what they see is, Jesus must be real. Jesus must be real. Jesus' prayer is that as people look at his followers, they will experience a portrait of supernatural love. They will experience an attractive portrait of supernatural love. They will see a love at work that overcomes divisions and that reconciles contraries, a love that brings into communion and into fellowship people who might have nothing in common. Save this one fact. Save this one fact. That Jesus Christ gave himself up for them. Our focus here, neighbors far, neighbors near. [00:42:22]

The thing that is eternal is love because it is a thing that was present in the life of God before time began. This understanding of who the one God is and what binds his triune life together sets the table for us to grasp the one people, Jesus. This is what Jesus is talking about. [00:49:53]

Three times in these verses, he prays that his people would be one, that in his name, there would be a reversal, a reversal of the fragmentation and the division and the polarization that divides human relationships and communities. The purpose of Jesus Christ bringing us into the glory of God is our unity. [00:52:31]

You ought not miss that this is a prayer of Jesus to his father for our unity in our diversity regardless of our backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, experiences. [00:54:51]

The first thing we hear about humanity from God's word in Genesis 1, 26 and 27 is when God says, let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that is on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. [00:55:08]

And the God who declared us to be his image is unity and diversity. So we were created to image God as unity and diversity, but our sin and our rebellion against him has made fragmentation and division more of our story than unity. [00:56:02]

Jesus says in verse 23 of our passage, 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 if they are not. As you loved me, he concludes his prayer. Verses 24 to 26, 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 love them, you love me rather before the foundation of the world. [00:56:42]

The love that God has within himself is eternal God's beautiful simple love is expressed in perfect agreement between the father son and spirit it is expressed in the way that the father the way the son defers to the father we see it in the way that the father supports the son we experience it in the way that the spirit proceeds from the father and the son God is love in eternal love. [00:57:26]

The testimony of the one God reconciling us into one diverse people serves as the one witness to the world that Jesus Christ is exactly who he says he is Jesus lets us in on a primary problem in our passage there is a book end emphasis in this chapter Jesus says in verse 25 O righteous Father even though the world does not know you I know you and these know that you have sent me the world does not know you father that the problem at the beginning of this chapter he says in verse 3 and this is eternal life that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent how is this world that does not know God going to come to know God. [00:58:30]

The church's most powerful witness to the world that Jesus is real is not science. And wonders and miraculous healings. The witness, the witness itself is miraculous. The witness, our unity is supernatural. It is a supernatural life of God's people united in beautiful, diverse community. [01:02:16]

Listen, to refuse to pursue a unity in diversity as redeemed people is to fundamentally neglect what it means for us to be the image of God. It is to neglect a fundamental aspect of the church's witness in the world. The world. [01:04:48]

Oh! Oh, quite the opposite. It is the Father's delight to give the Son the inheritance of a unified people by the reconciling, redeeming power of the Spirit. So my encouragement to us is to wade deeply into the waters of pursuing this unity in love. In Jesus' name, engage with the love and the humility, the difficult pursuit of intimate communion with people who come from diverse backgrounds and cultures and ethnicities and political positions and economic backgrounds and differences bound together in a supernatural love. It is God's delight. It is God's delight. [01:09:06]

Chatbot

  • I'm an AI bot trained specifically on the sermon from Feb 03, 2025. Do you have any questions about it?

Transcript
What was the most surprising thing in this sermon?
Were there any personal stories shared?