20-26) “Neither pray
I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe in me through their
word. That they all may be one, as thou
Father art in me, and I in thee; that they also maybe one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. And the
glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we
are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and
that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast
loved me. Father, I will that they also whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou
hast given me for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. Oh righteous Father, the world hath not known
thee, but these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared thy name, and will
declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them and I in
them.”
Jesus prays for the whole church
“All who will believe in me through their word”. He looks down the generations of time and
sees the vast harvest of souls who will respond to the word of the
apostles. This immediately establishes
what is later called “the apostles doctrine”-Acts 2v42. We realise, today, that in coming to Christ,
we are following the teaching of the apostles.
It is in this sense they are foundation on which the church is built-Ephesians
2v20.
He prays for their unity His request is that they all
may be one, that is united in thought, and deed, and in operation. The extent of this is declared to be “as thou
Father art in me, and I in thee.” This
unity is to be as that which exists between the Father and the Son. Any reference to scripture will reveal the absolute
oneness between the Father and the Son-this is to be the standard for the Church. This standard was declared to the church at
Corinth, in the depth of its meaning when he appealed to them to cease their
divisive, cliquish behaviour, and come together in the excellence of what God
had done for them. It is as if he is saying that the things which
bind us together far outweigh the relatively minor things that divide us. This is the word of the Apostle, and he makes
his appeal by the name of the Lord Jesus, “…that ye all speak the same thing,
and that there be no divisions (schisms, cliques) among you; but that ye be
perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”-1st
Corinthians 1v10. This is the standard
the Lord prayed for here, and which was repeated by the Apostle. In days of a divided church we do well to
strive to what the Lord wants for us. It
is the prayer of our Lord, it is the desire of the apostle. There are a number of things that come out of
this.
Note that our Lord linked Christian unity to
world evangelism. He says “that the world may know that thou hast sent
me”. It is obvious that the world will
be confused by a divided church, and attracted by a united one. Division in the church is characterised as
wearing rent garments in public-something that does not commend itself to
doubters. How can the ungodly world be
expected to focus on the truth of Christ, when we are operating in different
directions. Unity is not uniformity, and
so there is no thought of robotic behaviour here. There is vast diversity in the Church, but
that diversity has to be publicised in unity for the integrity of the
message. Disunity hinders the effectiveness
of the message, and is a dishonour to our Lord.
The issue of unity in diversity is expounded in Ephesians 4.
Of course such unity is not natural among such a
diverse group; human beings, as they are, will always tend to divide, so some
help is required. This, the Lord Himself
provides; He says “The glory which thou gavest me have I given them that
they may be one, even as we are one.”
What does this mean? We are not
dependent on our own reserves to achieve this, we have been given something to
help us-He calls it glory, the same glory the Father gave to His Son. Obviously He does not mean the inherent glory
of God for He will not give His glory to another-Isaiah 42v8. Also Christ inherently had that glory,
eternally, as He said in the prayer in v5.
So what is the glory that God gave Him, which He also gives to us? It is the glory of humanity to live a humble
devoted life that will lead to shame and suffering, but which will culminate in
glory. The way up, with God, is the way
down, and it was that pathway trod by our blessed Lord, the same pathway He
wants us to tread that will lead to eternal glory. Rather than live out our lives in arrogance
and pride, and self-righteousness, which is the basis of all sectarianism, it
is to live as God intended for us, as the prophet Micah said “What doth the
Lord thy God require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God?”-Micah 6v8. This
was the life our Lord lived, and He gives us the same glory, to live a life of
honour, and not one of shame. Verse 23
makes it clear that this is very much a process, it is not something that
happens instantly-“…that they may be made perfect in one; and
that the world may know that thou hast sent me.” This process of true unity is described in
Ephesians 4, where the Apostle speaks of the unity of the Spirit in v1-12,
leading to the unity of the faith in v13-32.
It is in that second section he says “Till we all come in the unity of
the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” The whole chapter begins with the need for a
worthy walk in humility “…that ye walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye have
been called, with all lowliness and meekness with longsuffering, forbearing one
another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace.” The chapter ends with this, “And be ye kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake hath
forgiven you.” This is the glory that
was given to Christ, and is the same glory given to us, to humbly walk with our
God on the earth. The ever present love
of the Father will be with us in this task of growing into unity for the sake
of world evangelism.
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