The Prayer for Unity

Lesson #287

Jesus continues with his prayer and expands his view from mainly his disciples to all believers. Jesus prays: “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 also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20 – 21 ESV). It is expected that the disciples would share their faith with others who will believe and who will then share their faith with others and eventually it is you and me who share with others. This sharing may take on various forms: verbal, written material and lifestyle. Think about the disciples who wrote much of the New Testament.  Since then many materials have been written, including these Bible studies. How we live before others, especially when going through difficult times, is an effective witness as it sets us apart from how others behave. A good verbal witness requires a right heart attitude. Consider those who stand before one who is torturing them and is able to love them and forgive them. Not forsaking the Lord and fighting back with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, has won many harden hearts. An argument is not a witness; we don’t argue anyone into being born again. That happens under the timing of the sovereign will of the Father (1 Peter 1:3 ESV).

Those who will believe will come from all parts of the world, all language groups and cultures and over many years of time, but we make up one body in Christ. That oneness is to be like the unity of the Father and the Son, but because of disobedience that unity, among believers, is missing today as it has in the past and will into the future. The command we are not obeying is, we are to love one another as Jesus loved us (John 15:12). Jesus sacrificed himself for us. He looked out for our interest and died that we might have eternal life. In Philippians 2:4, Paul tells us to “look out not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others.” When we see the needs of others and are willing to sacrifice to meet those needs through love, we would have greater unity. Where love abounds there is unity, but where there is sin, love is replaced with anger and resentment and the body breaks down into pieces with conflict between the pieces. The image in my mind is of a stone going through a stone crusher and coming our as crushed stone. The stone is the body, the stone crusher is our sin and the pieces are believers in disunity. It is hard to imagine what it will be like in heaven when we love the one we can’t stand for various reasons now here on earth. Clearly, something is going to happen when we shed this body of sin and our works pass through the fire at the judgment seat of Christ. To have perfect harmony will require the removal of all sin.

When we are born again the Holy Spirit indwells us and installs God’s love in us. The characteristics of that love are: “joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (Galatians 5:22 – 23 ESV). If our walk was totally in the Spirit, then there would be perfect unity, as we will experience in heaven, but since we live in bodies of sinful flesh, our walk will not be pure, but will contain sin which results in disunity.

Out lesson is too long already and we have more to go so we will finish verse 21 in the next lesson.

Prayer

Father, it is clear from the Scriptures that this problem of disunity goes back to the beginning of the church. One of several examples was the conflict between Paul and Barnabas over Mark. The disagreement was so sharp that Paul and Barnabas went their own separate ways with Barnabas taking Mark and Paul selecting Silas. It is no different today. As Jesus prayed for unity, we also need to pray for unity. Father, we need to be more faithful to Philippians 1:21 (ESV): For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Galatians 2:20 needs to be foremost in our walk with the Lord: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (ESV). To have unity, Jesus needs to be in control in the driver’s seat and we need to be observant passengers ready to serve.