Jesus’ Prayer for Unity of Believers
May 13, 2021
Commentary
The Lord has already prayed about security and sanctity; now the burden of His prayer is unity. In this passage He prays for the whole church down through the centuries, that they all may be unified (vv. 20-26). He is concerned that His people experience a spiritual unity that is like the oneness of the Father and the Son. Jesus was not praying for the unity of a single, worldwide, ecumenical church that disregards doctrinal heresy. Instead:
1. He was praying for a unity of love for fellow Christians.
2. He was praying for a unity of obedience to God and His Word.
One of the things that impresses the unbelieving world is how Christians love each other and live together in harmony. The lost world does not see God, but they see Christians, and what they see has a lot to do with what they will believe about God. If they see hatred and division, it will cause them to reject the message of the Gospel. The spirit of selfishness, hatred, and disunity among born-again Christians and Bible believing churches today must break the Savior’s heart.
However, we must never sacrifice truth for the sake of unity. Truth and love must go together (Ephesians 4:15). Truth without love is brutality, but love without truth is hypocrisy. The mind grows by taking in truth, but the heart grows by giving out love. Jesus makes it clear that truth and love must go together (Eph. 4:15).
Application
How united are the believers I know? Do they exhibit real love for one another or is it just an empty saying? How does this work in my family? How does it work in my life? What can I do this week to show forth genuine love to my neighbor? The first thing that I need to do is to pray for them in a meaningful way.
John 17:20– 26 (NET)
20 “I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, 21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. 22 The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world . 25 Righteous Father, even if the world does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent me. 26 I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them.”
Illustration: Bley The Power of the Electromagnet
One day a professor demonstrated to his class the power of an electromagnet. He placed 2 lbs. of nails on a table with the wires of an electromagnet under the table. When he flipped the switch, the nails came together and he was able to form the nails into various shapes as long as the current was on. When the current was cut, the nails fell back into a pile. This reminds us that as long as the current of God, the Holy Spirit, runs through us, we have unity and God can form us into any shape He chooses for His purposes. (Johnny Bley – Sermons Central).