It is with simplicity that I begin today's message by saying Jesus prayed for His disciples, including you and me. He prayed for our souls, he prayed for our lives, but he also prayed for each of us to unified. If ever there was a prayer that Jesus Himself gave about unity, we find it in the Gospel of John, chapter 17—rightfully known as Christ’s prayer for us. I urge you to read it at your leisure. Unity is a byproduct of a decision to be together, and yet, mankind has a most serious and difficult time with the word. For some it’s a dirty or obscene word. It disengages people from being who they want to be without any reservations in this fallen, sinful world. Just think, if there was no one to be in union with, how could things get done? How could we even poses love or even give it without being together. As Christians, when we think of unity, we should be drawn to the trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! Three in one! The great mystery of God by whom unity is originated from. God dared not to create the world by Himself, as we find in Genesis, Let us make man in our image and with our likeness. This inhibits unity, togetherness by not just being physically alike but spiritually as well.
Today’s scripture reading from the Gospel of John, we hear Jesus' direct prayer for each of us as being the core principle of His request to our Heavenly Father that His, God’s children, should and indeed be as one in the body of Christ. No division! No separation, but to be known as one! Verse 20 declares “I am not asking on behalf of these alone , but also for those who believe in Me through their word, 21 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 sent Me.”
When you hear Jesus’ prayer to our Heavenly Father, you first hear that we are all called to be in direct obedience, in tune, in love with, and consensus with the one true God. He loves us so much that it is beyond words to a degree. Yet, in 1 John we reclaim God’s thoughts when scripture says “The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” We cannot repay such a price, can we? And secondly, out of God’s love, as a flowing river, we are to be drawn, unified, consolidated, integrated, whatever word you want to use. We are to be as one! God did not design us to be hermits isolated in our own world—even with those not in our own circle of life.
There was once a man in San Francisco walking along the Golden Gate Bridge, and he saw a second man about to jump over the edge to his death. He stopped him and said, "Surely it can't be that bad. You know God loves you." The man about to jump got a tear in his eye. He said, "Are you a Christian, a Jew or a Hindu?" The fellow said, "I'm a Christian."
"Me, too. Are you Protestant or Catholic?" "I'm Protestant." "I am, too. What franchise?" "I'm Baptist." "So am I. Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" "Northern Baptist." "That's a miracle! I am, too. Are you Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?" "Northern Conservative Baptist." "Me, too. Are you Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist of 1897 or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes region council of 1912?" "I'm Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes region council of 1912." And the guy said, "Die, heretic," and threw him over the bridge.
As humorous as this sounds, truthfully it doesn’t take much to make Christians fight, does it? We all realize no one who follows Christ wants to be told they are wrong, right? Especially if you have devoted your life to prayer, study, obedience, service, and much more. I mean, if you have been a Christian for 50 years and a newcomer that has only known Christ for 2 years comes with all that energy, ideas, charisma, and so on, they don’t have the right, do they? This is where I think some Christians get their underwear twisted. What we think we deserve is on the line, whereas God says no one deserves anything, but it’s of Grace we have it. God has called the sinners , the sick, and afflicted to His presence and be healed, not the healthy or just! Did you get that? Being as one needs to include all people regardless of their sin, color, choices! We should no more expect sinless people in God’s house of worship than to visit a hospital expecting to find it full of healthy people! Do you know why we are not unified as we should be? It’s because we, each of us, have separated ourselves from God little by little, day by day! It all starts with an idea.
Psalm 133 tells us Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! Pauls letters’ to the people of Corinth tells us Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Acts chapter 4 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. Last but not least, Paul's letter to the Galatians. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
If we are all on the same team, regardless our sex, creed, color or even our denomination, why are we so distant and separated? Two churches in Martinsburg. The same denomination is just about a block away from each other. The people allowed division to exist so they worship the same God but all because of their spirit of unity was tainted. It doesn’t make sense, does it? God is saying is when we are in perfect unity in mind and thought, then the axe becomes dull that cuts us apart. We are to be bound together by God’s undeserving Grace! It took no less grace for us to come to church today and even though everyone has a different story to tell about their journey with God, we each have been saved by God’s only Son. Amen.
In closing, remember God declares that we will never lack any good thing that comes from Him. Nothing! When we learn to be closer and closer to God, we will start looking at things differently; one of which is unity.
SO let me leave you with this scripture that I’m sure you know. “If you only love those who love you, what reward will you have?” Breathe Unity! Seek Unity! Even to the undeserving or less loved. Give Christ today your whole heart. Let Him liberate you from not just this but all your sins, so you can walk proudly before men, sharing the Gospel, feeling God’s spirit, witnessing of His love and just having Christ ooze from you’re pores. Guess what! You can’t do these things alone! You have to be united with Christ in order to have Him help you in this life. No where are we to go at it alone in this life, but we are to always remain in Christ and with Christ in everything we do. Amen.