© Eric M Schumacher – Preached March 21, 2010 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
The Creation Purpose.God’s purpose in creating mankind was to have a sanctified, unified people to engage in the mission of displaying God’s glory to the ends of the earth.
Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Here we see a people sanctified. As we saw last week, to be sanctified means to be “set apart” by God and for his purposes. Man is a special creation, created in the image of God. Man is therefore holy, sanctified—set apart by God from all other created things.
Here we see a people unified. God created man male and female. The man and the woman, though distinct, have one nature and one purpose. And, the husband and the wife will be made “one flesh.” They are to be united—created for the good of one another.
Here we see a people who are to engage in mission. To be created “in the image of God” is to be created as God’s representative, made to “image forth God.” God assigns this sanctified, unified mankind a mission. That mission is to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion [over all that lives in it].” They were to spread out over all the earth and exercise God’s rule as his representative, according to the instruction given through his word. In short, man was to show the glory of God to all the earth.
The Fall.
As the story goes, Adam and Eve reject this mission. They disobey God’s word and sin. And this sin brings alienation, separation and division into the storyline.
Sin brings alienation from God. Adam and Eve are sent out of the Garden, where God walked with them. They would no longer enjoy the fellowship of God.
And, sin brought alienation from man. In the fall, man was divided. When God approaches Adam about this sin, Adam’s response is to throw Eve under the bus—“It’s her fault!” he declares.
And this division amongst men only grows worse as the storyline of the Bible continues. Adam and Eve have two sons, brothers, Cain and Able—one of whom grows up to murder the other and to have a great-grandson who brags about being a murderer. So mankind gets to the point of boasting about how it mistreats one another. It even gets so bad that God destroys all of mankind, except one family, in a flood.
But the descendants of Noah do not do any better in becoming a sanctified, unified people on mission to display the glory of God.
In fact, post-flood mankind finds unity—but a unity that God hates and opposes, because it opposes him. Mankind finds a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. Instead of spreading on mission throughout the earth for God’s glory, they decide to make a tower with its top in the heavens so that (a) they will not be spread out and (b) they can make a name for themselves.
Instead, God foils their plans, confuses their languages, and scatters them throughout the earth. It would seem that God’s purpose of a set-apart, unified people on mission to display his glory is lost. But, not so.
The Redemption Purpose.
If God is to bring redemption, it must mean redemption of all that was lost. It must mean restoration of unity—man’s unity with God and man’s unity with man. And this unified people must be set-apart from the world for the purpose of God’s original mission—to display his glory in all the earth.
God chooses a man named Abraham. He promises that Abraham’s descendants will become a great nation. Therefore, this nation is sanctified—they are set apart by God from the rest of the world, and are to be sanctified by God’s word—to be unified as one people, to be a people on mission. Their purpose is to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. They are the chosen people who are to show the nations who the Lord is.
But, just as Adam and Eve and as with Noah’s descendants, the nation of Israel both rejects and fails in this calling.
Israel rejects their sanctification and their mission. They persistently refuse to walk in God’s word—and so refuse to show the nations the glory of God. Instead of showing the nations what the Lord is like, they chose to become like the nations.
Israel ends up a divided people. Whether it was Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery, Absalom plotting against his father David, or the kingdom divided into two kingdoms—Israel was not a unified people.
So, if a sanctified, unified, missional people were not to be found in Adam and Eve, in Noah’s descendants, or in Israel—from where would it come? All these failures show us the need of Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah.
Reviewing the Lord’s PrayerSo, we should not be surprised that Jesus’ earthly ministry—and his final prayer here—are filled with overtones of sanctification, unity and mission.
We saw last week, in verses 18-19, that Jesus prayed for the unity and sanctification of his people. “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” And yet, this sanctification, this “setting apart” of his own people, is not merely for the sake of personal holiness—rather, it is for mission. Jesus says, “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” “For their sake I sanctify myself (I set myself apart to be a sacrificial offering to reveal the Father’s glory), that they also may be sanctified in truth (set apart in the Gospel for the sake of mission, to reveal the Father’s glory).”
Jesus Prays for the ChurchBut Jesus does not stop with praying for the band of disciples who believed in him at that time. He prays in verse 20 for the church. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in my through their word.”
The Petition: UnityJesus’ main petition is the unity of his people. “I ask,” he prays, “that they may all be one…” Unity is the greatest burden of Jesus’ prayer.
That should not surprise us. The unity of God’s people is the purpose for which he came, lived, and died. In John 10:16, Jesus said that he, the Good Shepherd, calls his sheep from every fold and lays down his life for them, “so there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
And in John 11:52, John comments that Jesus would die, not only for the nation of Israel, but “to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”
What is this unity?But everyone—from hippies to communists to atheists to Buddhists—talks about unity. What exactly is this unity that Jesus prays for? What is Christian unity?
Jesus prays for unity…
1: …that begins with belief in the Gospel. Christian unity is founded upon acceptance of the revelation of the Father in the Gospel of the Son, passed down by the Apostles. Jesus prays for those that believe in him by the Apostles’ word.
That is John’s purpose in writing this Gospel—so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing may have life in his name.
Jesus is God’s anointed King. He is God’s Son—fully God—who became fully man. He lived a perfect life of obedience and submission to his Father. And then, he willingly offered himself as a sacrifice for sin when he was crucified, died and was buried. On the third day, he rose from the dead, showing the world that he had conquered death and made satisfaction for sin.
Those who believe in Jesus are those who understand that this is who he is. They confess that they are sinners in need of such a Savior. And, repenting of their sin, they trust in Jesus Christ alone. On the basis of their faith, by grace and not according to works, God pronounces them to be forgiven and grants them eternal life.
Only by believing may anyone be reconciled to God. And, therefore, only by believing may a person be joined with the people of God. That is why we require you to profess faith in Jesus Christ, to demonstrate an understanding of the Gospel before you become a member of Northbrook Baptist. Unless you believe in Jesus Christ, you cannot become one with us—for you are not one with us.
So, before we go any further, let me exhort you to believe in Jesus. Coming here, singing with us, listening with us, praying with us and eating with us does not make you one with us—only believing in Jesus Christ does that.
2: ...that is like the unity of the Father and the Son.Jesus prays that they may be one, “just as you, Father, are in me and I in you.” The model for the unity of believers is the unity of the Father and the Son.
The Father and the Son, though distinct, are one in their purpose, one in their love for each other, and one in their mission. So, believers, though distinct persons, are to be one in purpose, love, and action—all of this as they submit together to the revelation of God they have received in the Gospel.
Jesus says, “as you Father, are in me.” This is a statement about the Son being the agent and mediator of the Father. The Father is doing something in and through the Son, speaking and working through the person of the Son.
Throughout John’s Gospel we have seen that the Father created all things through the Son (John 1:3) and that Jesus only speaks and does what the Father tells him (14:10). The Father is doing his works through Jesus.
And, Jesus says, “I in you.” For Jesus to be “in” the Father means that the Son is dependant upon the Father and obedient to the Father as the one through whom the Father works.
Again, through John’s Gospel, we have seen Jesus depending upon the Father for his mission, for instruction, for authority, for words, for works as he completely obeys the Father (4:34; 5:19, 30).
Jesus wants them to be unified “that they also may be in us” He desires that the unified believers in Jesus will be in the Father and the Son, just as they are in each other.
This means: (a) Like the Son was the focal-point of the Father’s work in the world, believers are the focal-point of the Father and the Son’s work in the world (dependant upon the Father and Son for life and fruitfulness).
The Father and the Son will accomplish their mission in the world through the believing people of the Messiah. This is what Jesus meant when he prayed, “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
This also means that: (b) the believers will depend upon the Father and the Son (as they dwell in the believers through the Spirit and the word) for direction, for instruction, for authority, for words and works to speak and perform, just as Jesus was dependant upon the Father (14:12; 15:4).
What was the purpose of the unity between Father and Son in the Son coming into the world?
3. …that is for the purpose of mission. (21b)That discussion on the relationship between the Father and the Son and Christian unity has already hinted at the idea of mission. But, now Jesus makes it explicit that the purpose of Christian unity is mission.
He prays that his believers might be one, “so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Jesus is praying for a unity that is so great it can only be explained and understood if the Gospel is true—that is, if God the Father sent Jesus Christ the Son.
First of all, this means that this unity, in some way, must be observable. It cannot be merely unity in the same faith (though it is that). It must be a tangible, visible unity. Something the world can observe and be astonished by, convicted by, convinced by.
Second, unity is a prerequisite for mission (along with love – 13:34-35; 15:12-13; 17:26). Mission cannot happen outside Christian unity. Jesus has already said that the world will know whether we are disciples by the way we love each other. Now, Jesus says our unity speaks the same truth.
Therefore, third, this means that mission may not be divorced from the local church—because that is where such unity occurs and is seen. The place where Christian love and unity is lived out, experienced, and put on display is in the local gathering of committed, accountable believers—what we call a local church.
You cannot refuse church membership and think that you are missional. A refusal to unite yourself with the body of Christ is a refusal to put the Gospel on display to the world.
Mission, evangelism is not the special task of an elite gifted portion of the church. It is the task of the whole body, together.
This is good, especially in a post-modern society, where abstract truth is not valued but people are hungry for love and relationships. People need to believe abstract truths to be saved. You must believe certain facts about God and Jesus and yourself to be saved.
Nevertheless, we live in an age when many will not be interested at all in debates about the historicity of the resurrection. In fact, some will say, “Yes, it is a fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Who cares? It doesn’t effect me!”
And so, we must show them something more than logical, historical deduction. We must show them the Gospel. We must put the Gospel on display for them. We must bring them out of a dog-eat-dog world, where every man fends for himself, into a Gospel-shaped community, a Gospel-centered unity, where believers in Jesus lay aside their own rights and defer to the preferences of others for the good of their brothers and sisters. We must show them a community that looks like Jesus on the cross—so that they can become convinced of the facts of the cross.
That—a mission to display the Gospel to the world—is what unity is about.
Unity Defined—for MissionJesus goes on in verse 22 to pray, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them” That is a startling comment. After all, the Lord says in Isaiah 48:11, “My glory I will not give to another.” What is Jesus speaking about?
Jesus is not speaking about his preexistent glory as God, which he had before he became man. We know that, because Jesus began this prayer asking the Father, “glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” In asking for this glory to be restored to him, it is implied that it has not yet been given to him.
So, we need to ask, what glory did the Father give to the Son? And, the first place we see “glory” mentioned is in John 1:14, where we read about the Son becoming a man:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
We read in John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.” So, the purpose of Jesus’ life and ministry on earth was to reveal the Father to the world. The glory that is seen—the glory given to Jesus—was the revelation of the Father.
This is confirmed in John 2:11, when Jesus turned water into wine. John writes, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” Jesus showed what the Father was doing in and through him, manifesting his glory—with the result of believing disciples.
Later, as Lazarus was dying, Jesus said (John 11:4), “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” What Jesus did in raising Lazarus from the dead was to show that he was the resurrection and the life, so that those who believe in him will never die. The resurrection that the Father had promised had come in the Son, Jesus Christ.
And, of course, Jesus repeatedly refers to his crucifixion as his “glorification.” In John 12:23, Jesus, referring to his crucifixion, said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” On the cross, the Son was glorified. There he revealed the Father to be just and forgiving, righteous and merciful, wrathful and loving, jealous for his glory and gracious to sinners. The Son’s glorification was the task of revealing the Father in self-sacrifice for the good of God’s people, when he died for their sins on the cross.
So, the Son’s glory was the task of revealing the Father to the world—revealing the Father’s character, person and work by being an obedient, suffering servant, who sacrificed himself for the good of God’s people and God’s glory.
So, for Jesus to give us this same glory means that we are given the mission of revealing the Father to the world by being a dependant, suffering people who, in self-sacrifice pursue the good of God’s people and the glory of God. And, that is impossible outside of unity with God’s people.
4. …that is not self-generated, it is the work of God by drawing his people into relationship with himself.The right application from this prayer is not first to work harder for unity (though we should do that). It should tell us something that Jesus is praying for this unity. Evidently, it is something that God the Father does and produces in his people, or else the Father would not be asked to do it.
And we see that in verse 23, where Jesus prays, “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one.” Unity happens as a result of us being draw into the relationship of the Father and the Son.
The Father is in the Son, revealing himself to the world. In the same way, the Son is in believers, so that they might reveal the Father and the Son to the world. And as all believers are in the Son, they become perfectly one.
Jesus has two purposes for his petition. “So that the world may know that you send me and loved them even as you loved me.”
First, as earlier, their perfect unity is for the sake of mission—so that the world might know that the Father sent the Son.
His second purpose is that their perfect unity will convince the world that the Father loves them (believers) even as he loves his Son. The Father loved the Son by setting the Son apart to reveal him to the world, after which he would receive him into eternal glory. And, in the same way, the Father has set apart believers—the people he has given to his Son—that they might reveal the Father to the world and afterward be received into glory.
Their unity of believers shows the world that they really are the people who are loved by God. Their unity proves that the Father has loved them and changed them and made them one.
5. …that is not an end in itself, but is for the glory of God in the Gospel.Do you ever wonder why prayers for unity in the church fail? After all, unity seems to be the will of God, and Jesus promised that if we ask according to his will, he will answer!
I would suggest it is possible to pray for unity amongst believers, and be praying outside of God’s will. Do you remember what reason James gave his readers in James 4:3 for why their prayers went unanswered, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
I wonder how often Christians work and pray for unity for all the wrong reasons. It would be possible to pray for unity in the church…
…because it would be more comfortable for us. Division is inconvenient and painful.
…to have growth in numbers.
…to keep what we’ve worked for and what we’ve built.
…to see growth in finances.
…to see success in programs.
…to have better organizational efficiency and productivity.
…because that is what good leadership brings.
…for sake of unity itself.
All of those things can be idols—things we worship and pursue, mainly because they make us comfortable and happy. But, Jesus is no idolater—and he does not pray for unity for the sake of any of those things.
Rather, Jesus is praying for the same thing at the end of this prayer that he prayed at the beginning—the glory of God. Jesus began by praying that the Father would glorify him, so that he could glorify the Father. And, now he gives the church glory and prays for unity so that the church might display God’s glory.
Unity is for the sake of revealing the glory of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That means that we must always be asking the question with every Christian relationship we have—particularly within the local church—of how our behavior in the relationship reveals the glory of God the Father in the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son.
Our unity reveals the Gospel we preach. Our disunity denies it. When the Gospel is at stake, we should always divide. But, whenever we think about dividing, we should always remember that the Gospel is at stake.
- When we part ways with other believers because our pride has been offended, our behavior denies the Gospel we proclaim. But, when we lay aside our rights, suffer shame and mistreatment, humbly forgive, and continue to love, we reveal the Gospel.
- When we divide with believers because our preferences have been overlooked, we contradict the Gospel. But, when in humility we count others more significant than ourselves and look to the interests of others, we reveal what Jesus did in the Gospel.
- When we severe relationships with believers because we are not able to show off how great are spiritual gifts are—we deny the Gospel, because Jesus did not come to glorify himself. But, when we use our gifts only for the strengthening and building up in love of the entire body, we reveal the Gospel.
- When we leave Christian community because relationships are difficult and inconvenient, we deny the Gospel. But, when we inconvenience ourselves to pursue relationships with others, we show what Jesus did in the Gospel.
- When we shrink back from fellowship and eventually leave because no one in the church seems to notice us, to value us, and to pursue us, we deny the Gospel. Jesus was not esteem and was counted as nothing, overlooked and scoffed at, but continued to serve even those people. And so, when we pursue, serve, love and remain committed to those who seem to have forgotten us, we show the world what the Gospel is.
Put aside your selfish pride! Church unity is not about you! So often, we divide from other believers, end relationships, or simply give the cold-shoulder to other Christians—we quit attending and then count the days until someone contacts us—because our pride (our glory) has been offended. But what we are doing when we refuse to humbly, self-sacrificially forgive and serve other believers is not to protect our glory—but to hide and deny the glory of God in Christ.
Jesus Christ was hurt, offended, mistreated, hated, rejected, and wronged by the people the Father gave to him. And his response was to love those very people and generously give everything he had—even his own life in an agonizing death—for their good! When the world rejected God, his response was not to move away from the world. Rather, he pursued a relationship with them all the more strongly.
So, what does the glory of God look like in Christian unity? It means that when we are offended, mistreated, hated, rejected and wronged by other Christians, we do not withdraw. We do not pout. We do not slink back and lick our wounds and throw a pity-party. Rather, we pursue. We inconvenience ourselves. We prefer our offender. We forgive. We sacrifice for their good. We love to the point of death.
And we do this because we love the glory of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ more than we love ourselves.
Remember, Jesus prayed.What a calling! This is scary. This is hard. This is painful. This is impossible with man.
But just as Jesus prayed for Peter before he denied him, Jesus has prayed for us. And that is why such unity will be a reality.
The Father has chosen us to be a set-apart, unified people on mission. The Son has prayed that we would be set-apart, unified people on mission. And the Son has died that we might be a set-apart, unified people on mission.
If that is true, then we can pursue such unity and mission in the confidence that God will give us grace. And, he will. For he cannot deny His Son.
