There’s been a lot of discussion lately about unity, between red and blue. But the unity I want to talk about is deeper and fuller than a political alliance – it is a cementing of the spirit, your spirit, my spirit, God’s Spirit. God is very interested in unity, that’s why Paul admonishes Titus to warn a divisive person twice and then disassociate from them (Titus 3:10). This coupled with today being observed nationally as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church I thought it would be appropriate for us to look beyond ourselves for the sake of unity.
Matthew 6:5-14 may contain Jesus’ model prayer, but this is really the Lord’s prayer, Jesus’ prayer from the heart for those of us who would believe on account of the testimony of those who had gone on before. This morning I want to look at John 17:20-26 backwards to highlight the importance and starting place of our unity.
1. Our Unity Testifies To Christ’s Love (Verses 25-26)
- John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- When we get along as a church we show that there is an abundance of love in the body of Christ. If we want to testify to Christ’s love we must love each other. 1 John 4:20 makes it very clear that if we can’t love each other whom we have seen we have no hope of loving God whom we can’t see.
- Some of our hearts are cramped and small – our love is insufficient how do we over come this? Pray, 1 Thessalonians 3:12 Paul prays, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.”
- Our love is dependent on God filling us with his love. Our love is insufficient, often for the people we like. His love is all-sufficient, even for the people we don’t like.
2. Our Unity Celebrates Eternity (Verse 24)
- We will be united in heaven with all believers – we’d might as well learn how to get along now. Revelation 7:9-10, every nation, tribe tongue, denomination…
- Today as we think of the persecuted church. I realize that there are people who are in need here, but we are talking about our brothers and sisters overseas who suffer for their faith. The people are different, but we have more in common with a believer on the other side of the world than we do with our next door neighbor who knows nothing of the things of Christ.
- When we recognize our unity and celebrate it we get a glimpse of heaven. Our communion celebration is a prophetic event looking forward to eating of it in the kingdom of God when Christ will join us forever! (Matthew 26:29) I believe we ought to eat together and celebrate together it is practice for heaven.
3. Our Unity Shines Our Glory (Verses 22-23)
- In Albuquerque N.M. there is the Sandia National Laboratory which operates a reflective solar power plant, using over 200,000 mirrors aligned around a tower they reflect the sun onto one area in order to generate electricity.
- The church is like that, when we are all aligned and looking towards God hen we reflect his glory and show the world his incredible power.
- I don’t look in my rear view mirror to admire the craftsmanship of the hinge and reflective glass that makes it up, I look into it to see something that lies outside of my car. We are mirrors pointed to God, people don’t want to see us they want to see Jesus and that is our glory when people look at us and they see Jesus.
- We should point that back to Jesus Christ, just like the Trinity. Corner any member of the Trinity for worship and they reflect you to another member. The Spirit points us towards Jesus, Jesus points us towards the Father and the Father asks, “Have you met my son?”
- When we unite as a church – not just here but globally we most brilliantly reflect the glory of Christ. We also more accurately reflect his glory. When we forget that we’re not the only Christians God appears very anemic, lop-sided. But when we unite with other believers we fully reflect the glory of God.
4. Our Unity Starts With A Prayer (Verses 20-21)
- Jesus started our unity with a prayer and I wonder – have we let him down?
- Today I want us to take a moment of silence and pray for unity. John Bunyan said it best, “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”
- I want to particularly remember our brothers and sisters who live in the persecuted church. 1 Corinthians 12:26 reminds us that when one part of the body suffers we all suffer. According to Christians in Crisis (www.christiansincrisis.net, last accessed 11/05/2008)
- Since the death of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, 43,000,000 Christians have become martyrs.
- Over 50% of these were in the last century alone.
- More than 200 million Christians face persecution each day 60% are children.
- Every day over 300 are killed for their faith in Jesus Christ.
- According to www.OpenDoorsUSA.org the top three worst countries for Christians are:North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.
If you would like to help the persecuted church I suggest as a starting place visiting The Voice of the Martyr’s website which has many links and articles for ways to partner with the persecuted church.
