MARKS OF THE CHURCH:  UNITY

JOHN 17:20-23

PART II

JUNE 15, 1997

 

The problem with the matter of unity in the church today is that most of us have seen more examples of how not to have unity than how to have unity.  This may have left us with some off-balance ideas on what constitutes unity in the church and the reason for unity.

 

For example, one church which I served as pastor was started as a result of a nasty church split.  It took place over fifty years ago, when the "First Church" in this particular county-seat town had some type of internal squabble that caused a large group to pull out and begin their own church.  I discovered all of this after I came as pastor.  In fact, I found out that the police even had to be called out to quell the skirmish that was taking place with these groups.  Unfortunately, the fighting mentality followed the new congregation.

 

When I began my tenure as pastor, I noticed that there was a lot of talk about "love."  I should have been suspicious, but I did not recognize that what was taking place was more talk than action.  People would tell one another that they loved each other, which is fine and appropriate, if it is true.  There was plenty of neck-hugging and back-slapping going on.  From the way people talked, I thought that this had to be the most loving church in the area!  Shortly, I found that talk is cheap.  Major fault-lines ran through the congregation.  All they needed was a slight temblor to set off the fault-lines.  

 

I remember listening to people in that church talk about unity.  The grave problem was that they tried to have an organizational unity without an organic unity.  Every faction wanted its own way.  There was little thought of the glory of God.  Conditions for unity were assumed to involve only church membership and agreeing with the right group.  The whole foundation of faith in Christ and union with the Godhead was not even considered.  The church never had unity because it refused to begin where Christ begins:  faith in Him and the relational dependence of union with the Godhead.

 

There are no substitutes for the conditions which our Lord established for unity in the church.  His prayer of unity was "for those who believe in [Him] through [the apostle's] word."  That is why I believe the greatest hindrance to church unity stems from the anemic preaching of the gospel and the common practice of easy-believism as a substitute for the apostolic gospel [cf. last week's message] and Holy Spirit-birthed conversion.  You must begin right to have the kind of unity of which the Bible speaks.

 

While unity is a gift from our Lord, it is also a practice to be cultivated.  Our Lord has provided what is necessary for our unity to grow, so that we might be a reflection of the unity of the Godhead, apart from which the world will not believe our message.  Let's see how our unity is cultivated and why it must continually be a focus in our lives.

 

[Part I--June 8, 1997]

I.   Conditions for unity

 

            1.  Faith in Christ

 

            2.  Union with the Godhead

 

[Part II]

 

II. Perfecting of unity

 

Unity is not simply to be our position as believers.  It is to be our practice in life and ministry.  Our Lord's prayer not only granted the gift of unity, but guaranteed the necessary provisions for unity.  We must never take for granted this precious gift of unity!  To imagine that a group of people who had been at enmity with God, darkened in their imaginations, and estranged from any sense of eternal hope (Eph. 2:11-16; 4:17-19), are now brought into a spiritual bond that is everlasting has to be considered divine.  Who but God can bring about such a change in sinners to knit them together in love with one another (Col. 2:2)?  

 

The Lord never gives His gifts so that we might neglect them.  This is true of the whole divine work of salvation.  The writer of Hebrews offers an ominous warning to the professing believers who were taking lightly their salvation:  "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" (Heb. 2:3a).  Along with our salvation comes many gifts, including the unity of the church.  Paul exhorts us, "...being diligent to preserve [guard, maintain] the unity of the Spirit in the bond [lit., bond together] of peace" (Ephesians 4:3).  

 

So, how do we guard and perfect the unity that belongs to those who are in Christ?  Our Lord answers this question in a two-fold manner.  First, "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one."  Second, "I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity."  

 

1.  Gift of Christ's glory

 

First, this prayer of Jesus Christ tells us that He has given to us "the glory which" the Father had already given to Him.  He could not receive more glory than He already possessed as God.  But as God-Incarnate, as the Son of Man, the Father gave Christ glory in His humanity.  What is this 'glory' which He gave to Christ and Christ in turn has given to the church?

 

Glory is a word that really describes the whole being of God.  It has an aura of mystery about it, yet it is also wonderfully descriptive.  In our context, glory is the revelation of God's character and person.  It is the summation of Who He is.  We could say in answer to the question, 'Who is God?', that 'God is the one being in the universe who is full of glory'.  By this we would imply that all of the wonderful radiance of divine character is found in God.

 

For instance, in Romans 3:23, the Bible states, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  In describing the helpless condition of man, the apostle Paul says that when you look at all of the attempts at righteousness by man, he falls short of the glory of God.  Paul uses glory to express God's perfections, God's personal goodness, God's own inherent righteousness.  It is this glory that is the divine standard for humanity.  Man the sinner falls short in his self-effort at achieving the kind of goodness and righteousness that belongs to God.

 

Keeping this in mind, we come to another instance of "glory" being used in reference to God and man.  This time it refers to glory being a possession of a man in Christ.  Paul describes the mystery of the new life and standing before God given to sinners through faith in Christ by the proclamation of the gospel.  "To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27).  "Glory" is used of our new, right standing with God due to the righteousness of Christ on our behalf.  Glory is equated with His life, character, and fullness.  Now Paul states, this glory belongs to those who are in Christ, because Christ is in the believer.

 

Now, let's go back to the words of our Lord in our text.  "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them."  When Christ became a man on our behalf, the Father bestowed the fullness of His glory upon Christ, so that all of the divine character, perfections, righteousness, and goodness of God dwelled bodily in Christ.  Because He indwells us, Christ has now given this radiance of divine character and goodness to those He has redeemed.  In other words, when we are saved, we receive a deposit of Christ's glory.

 

This giving of His glory to us is tantamount to the application of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ in our lives.  What Christ has done in taking away sins (I John 3:5), in delivering us from bondage to sin (Rom. 6:6-7), and in giving us a new disposition, created in righteousness and holiness of the truth (Eph.4:22-24), is to manifest the radiance of His glory within us.  In practical terms, glory shows up in our character, speech, and behavior.  Glory is not meant to be viewed as a nice, religious term.  It has the practical implications of a holy life due to the work of Christ imputed and applied to us.

 

When the glory of Christ has been given to a person, it has a radical effect upon his personal life and consequently upon his relationships.  This is where we can begin to see its application to unity.  When the life of Jesus Christ is being worked into and out of a believer, how do you think it will affect his relationships?  It will sweeten them because he is turning away from his pride, arrogance, greed, stubbornness, and all the other things that divide believers.  It is increasing his love, fellowship, and pleasure in being part of God's family.

 

If we look back at the matter of sanctification which this section of John 17 addresses, we see that if we are to go on in unity as a church, then we must press on in our sanctification.  For in doing so, the glory of Christ is manifest in us in greater measure.  As His glory radiates through us individually, it has a residual effect upon us corporately.  That effect is called unity.

 

This gift of Christ's glory is a permanent gift to the church.  "The glory which...I have given to them," is structured in the Greek text to demonstrate permanency [perfect tense].  It is our gift, our right and privilege, to grow in our unity by the manifestation of the glory of Christ among us.  More so, it is our responsibility to avail ourselves of this provision of Christ for our growth in unity.

 

I think this helps us to see the great harmony of the Christian life.  While there are many different components to our salvation and Christian living, we are never to pick-and-choose what may suit us, leaving the rest behind.  That is why Paul wrote, "We are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ" (Eph. 4:15).  We are to seek to develop as believers in every way.  We are to seek to understand more of what is ours in Christ.  We are to be satisfied with nothing less than living in the fullness of Jesus Christ.

 

2.  Gift of God's Spirit

 

The second provision our Lord mentions in our text for being perfected in unity is the gift of God's Spirit.  "I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity."  When He mentions perfecting us in unity, He refers to the ongoing process of developing unity within local congregations.  With all of our differences, Christ has taken on the task of doing everything necessary for us to experience the vitality of unity.  He does not stop developing unity in the redeemed.  To perfect something is to bring it to a point or goal of completion.  His desire is that our unity might reflect the union of the Godhead (cf. v. 21).  How does He bring this about?  We have noted that it begins with the right conditions, faith in Christ and union with the Godhead; then it continues by the gift of Christ's glory or the radiance of His own character being applied to each believer.  Now He explains the provision of the Holy Spirit for perfecting our unity.

 

The phrase, "I in them," is one that we must consider.  How can Jesus Christ, God-Incarnate, dwell in us?  This does not mean that another human being dwells within each of us.  That would be an impossibility.  Nor does this mean that Jesus is somehow with us in thought.  He is not using figurative speech.  He speaks in literal terms.

 

Jesus had already spoken of His indwelling the disciples by the Holy Spirit.  In John 14 we have the beginning of the most detailed teaching in the Gospels on the Holy Spirit.  What He says about the Spirit in His "upper room discourse" will help us understand the gift of God's Spirit for the unity of the church.

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another [Gk. another of the same kind or substance] Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you....In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you (John 14:16-18, 20).

 

Jesus makes the incredible statement that the Holy Spirit is "another of the same kind" as Himself.  To have the Spirit is to have the Son.  For the Spirit to indwell you, He was saying, is to have Me indwelling you.  The Oneness of the Godhead becomes apparent in such a statement.  The One God in Three Persons dwells within every believer in the Third Person of the Trinity.  Our Lord and the Holy Spirit are so one in substance, equality, and being that for the Spirit to indwell us is to have Christ dwelling in us.

 

He says that we will know the Holy Spirit because He abides with us and dwells in us.  He who bears witness in our spirits that we are children of God is not an "unknown guest" (Rom. 8:16).  He is the permanent resident of our hearts!  The Spirit reproduces the character of Christ within us (Gal. 5:22-23).  He is grieved over our sin (Eph. 4:30) and quenched at our disobedience to the Word proclaimed (I Thes.5:19).  He fills us and gives us power and boldness to testify of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8; 4:31).  In filling us, the Holy Spirit controls us so that our speech, thoughts, relationships, and actions manifest the life of Christ (Eph. 5:18).  Jesus calls the Spirit the "Helper" or Comforter, for He is 'the One called alongside to help' us in our need (John 14:16).  

 

Notice how Christ describes the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer, then says of Himself, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you....In that day you shall know that I am in the My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."  He has no hesitation to interchange Himself with the Holy Spirit.  It is quite appropriate, therefore, to say, Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20) or to say, the Holy Spirit lives in me (Rom. 8:9).  

 

But why does He live in us?  That is the great mystery that the prophets looked into and we experience, Paul stated.  It is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27).  Here we have the bridging of the gift of Christ's glory and the indwelling of the Person of Christ.  While there is a distinction in terms of description, there is a union in terms of experience.  To be indwelt by the Spirit is to know the glory of Christ being manifested in your life and character.  Again, we see the great harmony of the work of God in the soul of man throughout salvation.

 

The Holy Spirit dwells in us that He might give us strength, power, grace, and enablement for living out all the demands of the Christian life.  He dwells in us to comfort us in our weakness, to fill us with joy in knowing Christ, to satisfy us with the peace of God that surpasses all comprehension.  You can see this illustrated throughout the book of Acts when the believers faced trials, tests, and opportunities; the Holy Spirit would grant what was necessary for them to be strengthened and enabled.  Sometimes it was courage to stand before accusers (Acts 4:5-30).  Other times it was boldness to proclaim the gospel in hostile situations (Acts 2:14ff; 4:5-12).  On other occasions the Holy Spirit stopped believers from making wrong decisions and then led them into the will of God (Acts 16:6-10).  The Holy Spirit opened their eyes to their own sin and prejudices that they might go on in obedience and ministry as instruments of Christ (Acts 10).  By the Holy Spirit, the believers were strengthened when the intensity of persecution pressed upon them (Acts 12).

 

When believers are walking in the power of the Holy Spirit they cannot help but walk in unity.  He will direct the church to lay aside the sins that divide and then walk together in obedience to the Word of God.  He will ever press unity upon the saints.  By the gift of Christ's glory and the provision of the indwelling Spirit, believers will be perfected in unity.

 

III. Reasons for unity

 

Why is unity so important?  We can be assured that everything God demands of us has a rationale to it.  We may not understand the rationale, but that does not change the fact that it exists.  Unity clearly has God-given reasons.  The church cannot function as it should internally nor in external ministry in the world apart from unity.  That is why the Adversary constantly threatens and attacks the church's unity.  Therefore, we must guard the unity of the church, not by compromising our doctrine or our methods, but by attention to the conditions of unity and the perfecting of unity.

 

Our text offers two clear-cut reasons for unity.  As we see them, it encourages us to pursue unity in the strength of the Holy Spirit.

 

1.  To know the Oneness of the Godhead

 

Christ stated the whole idea of knowing the oneness of the Godhead in verse 22. "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them...," then He explains why, "that they may be one, just as We are one."  We must not slide over this direct explanation of oneness.  Our Lord wants His church to know the glory of divine oneness.  He wants us to experience, as much as is possible in our finite condition, the oneness that the Godhead enjoys.

 

There is never division in the Godhead.  The Father never has cause to complain about the Son, nor does the Son have a critical word about the Holy Spirit.  The members of the Godhead never have different agendas, so that they are pulling away from each other or acting deceitfully toward one another.  The Godhead's oneness expresses the whole thrust of what oneness can be for the church.  It is seen in Their nature, will, character, purpose, actions, and cooperation.  Even so, the church is to know by experience this sense of divine oneness.

 

Obviously, we have different personalities and background, as well as levels of maturity.  So there is an impossibility in this life to know divine oneness in its perfections.  However, the emphasis of this text is that in our regenerate natures, our growth in godliness, our development of Christian character, our purpose and direction in ministry, our cooperation in spiritual labors, our submission to one another, our actions of love and compassion, we are to know the oneness that has its roots in the Godhead's oneness.

 

All of us are different, yet we are all partakers of the same nature (II Peter 1:3-4) in the new birth, so that there is a kinship of minds and hearts.  This has to be one of the great challenges of Christian maturity; local bodies of believers growing in all areas of spiritual oneness.

 

Our oneness in the local church is really a reflection of the oneness of the Godhead.  That is why any acts of divisiveness in the church are direct sins against God.  Is it no wonder that one of the first things we see instituted in the early church is the whole matter of church discipline?  It is necessary from time to time to deal with those whose sin threatens the unity of the church according to the pattern stated in Matthew 18, I Corinthians 5, II Thessalonians 3, and I Timothy 5.  Church discipline helps to keep the body pure and unified.  One of the major roots of contention in the church today is due to the gross neglect of discipline.  

 

To get a good example of this you need only look at Acts 5 to see the seriousness of divisive sin in the church.  Ananias and Sapphira, members of the Jerusalem church, thought that they could pretend spirituality without others knowing.  Because of the nature of unity in the church as a reflection of the oneness in the Godhead, their actions would have wounded the church's unity.  It took place over a gift they gave to the church which they stated was the total price of a piece of land they had sold.  As it turned out, they gave part of the price of the land and kept the rest for themselves.  There was nothing wrong with doing this, as long as they did not lie or offer pretense about what they were giving.  But they did.  The Scripture shows us the serious nature of breaching the unity of the body by lying to the Holy Spirit, as He struck both of them down on the very day they made their gift.

 

Unity is something to be enjoyed.  In the same way that our Lord immensely enjoyed His unity with the Father, we are to enjoy the unity that is ours as a church.  The whole prayer of John 17 is really a classic example of the unity between the Father and the Son.  As I've read through this prayer again and again, I continually see the delight of Jesus Christ in the Father's love, His pleasure in walking according to the Father's will, and His joy in the glory that the Father had given to Him.  There is nothing more miserable than disunity in a church, while on the other hand, there is nothing sweeter than God's people walking in unity.

 

This sense of oneness that is ours in Christ enables us to maintain our passion as a church.  When disunity invades a church, then all energy and attention is focused upon those things causing the disunity.  There's no time left for ministry.  That is why the Devil constantly assaults the unity of the church!  When believers walk as one, they have an incredible sense of focus and passion as a church.

 

2.  As a testimony to the world

 

The second reason for unity given in our text has more of an external purpose:  "...that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me....that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me."  Here we find unity affecting those outside the church.  Our unity is a testimony to the world of the reality of Jesus Christ and the experience of the Father's love.

 

How will the world know that Jesus Christ was truly sent by the Father?  Will the typical unbeliever pick up a Bible and begin reading it without any motivation?  Typically, it is the lives of believers that arrest the attention of an unbeliever so that he begins to think about the message of the gospel.  Our Lord ordained this process.  Twice, Jesus states that the work of unity must take place so that the world may believe that the Father sent Him.  How will the world know that Jesus Christ is indeed God who became a man for the purpose of redeeming sinners?  By seeing the evidence of the saving work of Christ in the lives of the saints.  The arena that best displays this reality is found in local bodies of believers.  As a variety of people can come together, not merely as an organization, but as a living body, it startles the unbeliever.  He is not accustomed to seeing the displays of redemptive life in people.  It arouses his attention to see us loving one another, standing together in the faith of the gospel, moving in the same direction, focused on the same purpose.  Unity delivers a message that Jesus Christ has been sent by the Father to save sinners!

 

Our Lord continues by saying that He wants the world, with all of its enmity toward God, to understand that we--as the church--have been loved by the Father.  How the Father has poured out His love to us in Jesus Christ!  We were just as belligerent against the things of God as others in the world.  We had no delight in spirituality or holiness or true righteousness.  We had no hope in this world nor hope for eternity.  But the love of God was shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  This redeeming love was applied by the Father so that He has taken us who were His enemies into a relationship as sons and daughters.  This is the incomparable message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And it is this message that Jesus wants the world to see through our unity.

 

Conclusion

 

Do you see how precious a gift we have from our God in unity?  We cannot, we must not treat it lightly or as if it was unimportant or even optional.  It is through unity that we have the right to declare the gospel to the world.  For apart from unity, we have veiled the reality of the redemptive work in the gospel.  Let's rejoice in our God-given unity!  But let's also be diligent to guard this unity as a precious treasure from heaven which becomes a platform to deliver the gospel to an unbelieving world.

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