Pursuing the Unity of the Gospel - John 17~21-23

Pursuing the Unity of the Gospel October 25, 2009

Rob Wilkerson 1 Church in the Boro

Pursuing the Unity of the Gospel

John 17:21-23 Sunday Morning October 25, 2009 Church in the Boro Rob Wilkerson

Introduction One of the most fascinating things in sports for me is the interpersonal aspect. How one man is able to get so many different people, with different issues and personalities, together, on the same team, on the same field, using the same ball, using the same plays…it’s all very fascinating. It’s teamwork. It’s great coaching and leadership. It’s so many awesome things combined at one time in one place. I used to coach girls basketball. And any coach will agree with me when I say that the single most difficult part of coaching is teaching a bunch of people who are very different from each other to learn to like, depend on, and trust one another. The typical athlete has an attitude, an air of superiority. They come on the team with a chip on their shoulder, trying to prove something. And when you get a bunch of guys like that together, you’ve got a recipe for a disaster…unless there’s a great coach. The coach is the key to the game…not the quarterback. The quarterback simply carries out the plans of the coach. He provides leadership to the players on the field. But the coach provides leadership to the whole team. In his mind the strategy for the entire game is already figured out and is being applied play by play. In the end of every single game, only one coach can win. And his victory is a reflection of his ability to get those players to learn to depend on each other…to be unified…to play as one person…with one mind…with singularity of focus, vision, and purpose. The coach who does that usually wins most of the games. What’s always been odd to me in my twenty years of church leadership ministry is that you can get a bunch of guys or girls together on a sports team, and accomplish a victory together in a much shorter time span than the average church leader can get a bunch of Christians together in a local church, and accomplish something great for the kingdom. I coached for just one season. And I was able to get a bunch of girls to play well together and take home some wins, but I was never able to do that with the Christians who attended the church I pastored. How weird is that? A lot of it has to do with the object. In basketball, the object is to score baskets and win the game. In the local church the object is to win souls, make disciples, and expand the kingdom. And here’s the point. The goal of the local church has eternal consequences which brings with it supernatural forces of wickedness as our opposition. In basketball, the game has consequences that last only one season, and each opposing team are simply human beings. Yet with this singular, massive difference, we get more excited about our sports team than we do about our local church. The devil has successfully distracted our attention away from the most important place on earth to arguably the least important place on earth.



In the “game” of the kingdom, the single most difficult aspect of quarterbacking, or pasturing, is getting Christians to play together. And not just play nicely in the sandbox. But play together on the field as one man, with one purpose, one strategy, one goal, one vision. No doubt the apostle Paul had the same issues, as we derive from reading both letters to the Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, etc. Division in the church is the enemy’s most oft-used weapon to degrade the effectiveness of the local church. But when I come to John 17 I see a different picture that gives me the greatest hope for what I desire. I see the coach, King Jesus, praying to the Father, the owner of the team, asking Him for the unity of His team. I see Him getting the answer to His prayer, because after all He is the Son of the Father! I also see myself, as the quarterback of this team, answering to the coach, using HIS plan, His strategy, His vision, His mission, His empowering, His Spirit, His everything to “win” the game by maintaining our unity. That’s why here at Church in the Boro one of the things I want to envision you for when it comes to our love for and commitment to the gospel, is the unity of that gospel. Unity is the natural and necessary outflow of the gospel of Christ, as I’ll explain later. And by God’s grace we will pursue that unity wholeheartedly until we die or until Jesus comes back.

Intro to John 17 John 17 represents the last recorded prayer we have of Jesus. This chapter is often referred to as “The REAL Lord’s Prayer” and “The High Priestly Prayer.” It’s significant then to see just what it is exactly that Jesus prays for as He prepares to meet His death, burial, and resurrection. 17:1 provides basis for seeing the prayer of Jesus as a sort of conclusion or consummation on everything He had taught in the preceding chapters of the Upper Room Discourse, in chapters 13-16. It could also be seen as the prayer concluding His entire earthly ministry. What this means is that everything He had told them before in the Upper Room, while eating the Passover together, finds its source in heaven:

The love they were to have for one another (13:34-35).

The comfort they would need when Jesus left (14:1-14).

The promise of the Holy Spirit (14:15-31; 15:26-16:14).

The ability to continue abiding in and with Jesus (15:1-17).

The perseverance needed to endure persecution (15:18-25).

The joy that Jesus promised would fill them (16:16-24).

The victory to overcome the world (16:25-33). All of the things Jesus taught them about would come only from heaven, from asking the Father, a phrase or concept Jesus repeats throughout the discourse. Then He ends His teaching by Himself asking the Father for something specific. And what HE asks the Father for is the consummation of everything else He just taught. That is, Jesus asks the Father for that one thing that will tie all those things together: the unity of His people. Unity is the atmosphere in which love works, in which comfort is given and received, in which the Holy Spirit’s presence is most felt, in which the ability to abide is made possible, in which the ability to persevere is made certain, in which the joy Jesus promised is most enjoyed, and in which the victory over the world is most celebrated. Without unity, the disciples could have enjoyed none of this.



As I’ve studied this prayer of Jesus, and more particularly His prayer for the unity of His people, there were several traits about the nature of true unity that began to unfold to me. And I want to spend the rest of the message today expositing these from the text, and applying them to us here at Church in the Boro so that we get a clear vision of what it means to pursue the unity of the gospel. The gospel is the good news that God has provided a way of escape from His judgment and into His loving embrace through the complete forgiveness and cancellation of all our sins. Everything that separated us from Him has been completely removed so that we are friends with God and He with us. All of this happened through the death, burial, and resurrection of King Jesus. But included in this good news is equally the inherent proclamation that all of those who have been forgiven of their sins by God through the blood of Jesus are now as united to each other as they are to Him. Whatever separated us from God is forgiven and gone, and whatever separated us from each other is also forgiven and gone. THAT is good news also because this world and almost every relationship in it since the history of the world has suffered some sort of conflict or fissure at one point in time or another. And none of this is the intent of God when He created the world and humanity. Peace was His goal, and He will, of course, achieve it yet just as He has promised throughout the Scriptures. So when we talk about pursuing the unity of the gospel, here at Church in the Boro, what we mean is that we are pursuing one of the necessary outcomes, results, and even purposes of the gospel, which is to unify God’s people. You’ll recall some weeks ago in our 2nd sermon on our mission – “Reconciling People to Each Other” – that we coined the phrase: “If you’re reconciled to God, you’re reconciled to me.” Making every effort possible to believe it, embrace it, love it, AND put it into action, no matter what the cost, is what it looks like to pursue the unity of the gospel. I believe that this is what Jesus intends when He prays for this unity in John 17. He put that effort into action, and it cost Him His life to accomplish it. In like fashion, we are to put our effort into the action of unity, even if it costs us ours. So let’s turn our attention to John 17 for a closer look at this unity that Jesus prays for. And with that introduction let me read the text to you. I’ll be reading it from the ESV and then from the NLT.

English Standard Version New Living Translation 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 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. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know

20 "I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. 22 "I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! 25 "O righteous Father, the world doesn't know you,



you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them."

Verses 21-23 contain the thoughts on which I want to focus this morning. Back in verse 11, Jesus prayed, “And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” So the appearance of this concept of being “one” appears four times in Jesus prayer, in verses 11, 21, 22, and 23. Obviously the repeating of the theme makes it stand out to us as important. And this brings me to my first observation about the nature of this true unity that Jesus prays for.

True Unity Has a FOCUSED Nature. Notice the focus of Jesus’ prayer. While the focal topic is unity, the focal group of people for whom He prays for this unity is His people. Look with me at the references in the text.

V. 6 – “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me…” It is this definite group of people to whom Jesus refers throughout the rest of His prayer.

V. 7 – “Now they know that everything you have given me is from you.”

V. 8 – “For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them…and they have believed that you sent me.”

V. 9 – “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.”

V. 11 – “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

V. 12 – “I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

V. 14 – “…these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”

V. 15 – “I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”

V. 16 – “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”

V. 17 – “Sanctify them in the truth…”

V. 18 – “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”

V. 19 – “And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

V. 20 – “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word…”

V. 21 – “that they may all be one…that they also may be in us…”

V. 22 – “that they may be one even as we are one.”

V. 23 – “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

V. 24 – “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am…”

V. 25 – “O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.”



V. 26 – “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

So what is ultra clear from the outset then is that the focus of everything Jesus prays for – and I stress everything – is on “the people whom you gave me out of the world”, according to verse 6. This “people” refers first to His disciples, and second to everyone else who believes in Him, as verse 20 says so clearly. Here at Church in the Boro one of the doctrines we hold dear is particular redemption, which teaches that Jesus Christ laid down His life for the sheep. The Bible teaches that He died for His church, for His people. The intent of the atonement in the Bible seems to have a bullseye, and it is those who were elect or predestined before the foundation of the world. To be sure, the atonement, in my mind at least, is very much like a target. Just as there is a bullseye with other circles around it, the atonement has a bullseye – the church of God – with other circles around it which are the ripple effects that were inherent in the design of the atonement. In the text here, Jesus says that the revelation of the Son of God has been given only to them. They alone are the recipients of His words and the spiritual meaning intended by them. They alone have believed in Jesus. They are the reflections of His glory. They are the ones whom the Father will keep to the end, with none being lost. They are the ones who will be filled with the joy of the Father. They are the ones who will be kept from the evil one. They alone will be sanctified and consecrated. And what is more, they are clearly and undeniably contrasted over against the world in verses 9, 21, and 23. The reason they are contrasted is because the Father has loved THEM just as He has loved Jesus. God doesn’t love the world that way, and herein is the doctrinal distinction between the love God has for the world in John 3:16, and the love God doesn’t have for the world here in John 17. In John 3:16 His love for the world in general – all He created and everything in it – compelled Him to send His Son to die so that anyone in the world who believed could be saved from God’s coming judgment. This is a general love of God extending an invitation to special love. In John 17 the Father’s love is specifically that special love, concentrated especially on “the people” He had chosen out of the world, according to verse 9. The “love with which you have loved me” in verse 26, is a special love given only to that special people, and not to the rest of the world. Now, my desire is not to get too deeply into this doctrine. But I do raise it to emphasize the point that the atonement was not the only work Jesus did just for His people. Here in John 17 it is self-evident that His intercessory work was also just for His people. In fact, He makes it plain that He was NOT praying for the world, in verse 9. I don’t know how it can be anymore plain than that. I share this with you not to beat on some doctrinal drum of particular redemption, but to draw out the special love and emphasis that Jesus Himself places upon the group of people He prays for and came to die for. He is pouring everything He has, is, and will be into these particular people, and not into the rest of the people in the world. And if Jesus is emphasizing that particular group of people who will be recipients of the answer to His prayers to the Father, they must be an especially important group of people. They are especially important NOT because they are inherently important, in and of themselves. Rather, they are especially important because the Father has loved them in a very, very special way, unlike the way He loves the rest of the world. So then, the unity for which Jesus prays applies specifically and especially to “the people” the Father gave Jesus from out of the world, that is the elect, the church. This means the focus is NOT only the rest



of the world, because Jesus isn’t praying for the world. And this in turn means that any idea of true unity as Jesus prays for it, at least, is has only Christians in view, and not the world. True unity, as Jesus prays for it, is focused on the saints. Which means then that true unity can only happen among saints, and never among those of the world. Why? Because it is the love of the Father that creates this atmosphere of true unity. And since only Christians have that special love of the Father, only Christians can enjoy true unity. This prayer blows out of the water then the theology of Unitarian Universalists. You literally have to rip this chapter out of your Bible if you want to be of that denominational stripe. In their theology everybody’s united together in God’s love and everybody’s gonna be saved by God in the end. That’s a load of crap, when compared to Jesus’ prayer here. And that theology is dangerous because when it groups everybody into their theological categories, nobody needs the atonement of Jesus, which means no one goes to heaven. So you have a group of people who are duped into a belief which will send them to hell, because they ignore the necessity of this special love of the Father. Ignore the special love of the Father for a special group of people, and you ignore the special group of people. Ignore the special group of people and you’re not part of them. If you’re not part of them, you are part of the world. If you’re part of the world, Jesus doesn’t even pray for you! I don’t know about you, but I want to be prayed for by King Jesus Himself, and that means I wanna be a part of the group He prays for, which means I wanna do whatever He commands to be a part of that group for which He prays. It’s not rocket science, folks. Now, if this unity is something that exists only among Christians, among the saints, among those who are truly a part of the church, why doesn’t it look like we’re all unified today? There are many reasons for that, and I don’t have time to go into them all. Perhaps the biggest reason is that local churches may be filled with many people who truly don’t belong to God. And as a result, they are a part of the world. And as a result, they introduce and bring into the church all the worldly baggage they have so that the church may operate more according to the principles of this world than the principles of Jesus. That’s one reason why. That’s probably the biggest reason why, in my estimation. That’s another sermon altogether. But suppose everyone here in this building is converted, and suppose everyone in the Lutheran church down the road is converted. Suppose we’re all part of that special people for whom Jesus prays for unity. Why don’t we see the unity Jesus prayed for? Well, it’s possible, first of all, that we might be misunderstanding what kind of unity Jesus is referring to here. You see we hear unity and we immediately assume we know what Jesus means when HE uses the word. We might be right in our assumption. But we’re foolish if we don’t try to figure that out first before assuming. After all you know what they say about assuming, don’t you?

True Unity Has a HEAVENLY Nature. I’ll address that issue in just a few minutes, but for now I’ll say that the true unity Jesus prays for is a heavenly sort of unity that can only be granted from above, by the Father. You see, this unity comes from heaven, like all the other things Jesus taught about. And that’s because true unity can only come from there. Mankind has tried for thousands of years to produce a unity that in the end is temporary at best. But from heaven the Father sends a kind of unity that is not only a certainty, but will also last for eternity. The Father is the only One who give, generate, stimulate, and motivate unity among His people.



This is the source of the unity we seek at Church in the Boro. The kind of unity Jesus prays for is a unity based on the revelation of Jesus Christ, who He was and what He did for us. It is impossible to have any kind of real unity unless people are unified on the person and work of Jesus Christ! This kind of unity only comes from the Father who gives revelation and understanding about the Son to begin with. And this in turn necessitates prayer. Prayer is seeking the Father to do something we cannot do. Even Jesus Himself recognized this, which is why He prays in John 17 here. Likewise, Paul recognizes this fact and writes to the Ephesian church,

“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him…” (vv. 16-17).

The FATHER is the One who grants wisdom, knowledge, and revelation about Jesus Christ whom every Christian claims to worship and follow. If we fail to go to the Father enough, we fail to get this revelation of Jesus, who is the glory of the Father. When we fail to get this revelation of Jesus, we cease to know Him. When we cease to know Him, we cease to be unified with those who DO know Him. True unity can only come from the Father, and it will never be something people can manufacture, no matter how good they seem to be. Prayer, then, is the most essential element here in pursuing the unity of the gospel! Now, when we pray there is an understanding we ought to have about this unity. I believe that if and when we understand what all is involved in it, we will be able to pray and believe and act more intelligently. Allow me to break down for you four important components of the heavenly nature of this true unity. I wanna show you the essence, reason, model, and practice of true heavenly unity. The Essence of Unity The Godhead is in heaven right now. According to sound doctrine, God is a trinity, which means He is three distinct persons who all share the same essence and substance. They are three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But they are one. And this is what Jesus talks about in this passage, specifically with reference to He and the Father. They both are “one.” They are united inseparably. There is nothing that can come between the persons of the Godhead because they are so interwoven together in their relationship. There is never even the slightest possibility that anything could ever separate them. The Reason for Unity The reason why nothing can ever separate the trinity is because they are in each other. Jesus uses the Greek preposition en an incredible number of times. This tells us that His concept of what it means to be “in” someone else is extremely crucial and important to understand. Because if one doesn’t understand that, they don’t have the basis to understand the other things He’s teaching. For example, Jesus prays… “Holy Father, keep them in your name…” in verse 11. He follows that up by praying, “While I was with them, I kept them in your name…” (v. 12). This is rooted in a oneness between Jesus and the Father that makes Jesus pray, “just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also be in us…I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one” (vv. 21-23). The fact that the Father dwells within the Son, and the Son dwells within the Father provides the basis for our unity together as Christians. How does it do that? Because of two truths. First, because of the



glory that the Father has given to Jesus. Jesus also gave it to us. God revealed Himself in Jesus. And Jesus revealed the Father to His disciples. Second, because Jesus said that He was in us, in verse 23. If the Father is within Jesus, and Jesus is within His disciples, then we are just as united to Jesus as Jesus is the Father. And if we are all united to Jesus and the Father, then we are all united to each other! The Model for Unity Jesus’ prayer essentially makes the trinity the foundation for understanding Christian unity, as well as the model for putting it into action. Jesus prays that Christians will be united in the same way He and the Father are united. He prays that Christians will be inseparable, indivisible. He prays that nothing will be allowed to come between them. He prays that we will be so united with the presence of God that nothing can deter us or distract us. The Practice of Unity And He expects that this will have the result of putting that unity in action, the same way He and the Father put it into action. In short, the unity of the Trinity makes them inseparable, and the unity of the body of Christ will be inseparable. The unity of the Godhead was put into action through love, and the unity of the body of Christ will be put into action through love. God sent Jesus into the world out of love for it. And Jesus sends us into the world out of love for it. Unity is rooted in and permeated with love. “…you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (v. 23).

True Unity Has a SPIRITUAL Nature. Jesus prays that Christians would be “one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you…” (v. 21). The unity Jesus has with the Father is a spiritual unity. It is invisible by nature, because the Father is invisible. It is based on “the glory that you have given me” (v. 22). God’s glory, while sometimes having a visible manifestation in the form of fire or cloud, is almost always invisible to the human eye. This is because it cannot be seen with the human eye. It must be seen with supernatural eyes. According to one commentator, “glory refers to the revelation of God in all his beauty of being and character. But, also like the other terms, glory is a manifestation of God himself--not just a revelation about him, but his actual presence (cf. Ex 33:18-23).”1 God is spiritual in nature. God’s glory is spiritual in nature. His revelation is spiritual. His presence is spiritual. The oneness Jesus and the Father share is spiritual in nature. The glory He shared with the disciples was spiritual in nature. And Jesus applies the nature of these things to the nature of Christian unity. It too is spiritual, revelatory, presence, invisible.

True Unity Has a VISIBLE Nature.

1 Whitacre, Rodney A. John, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series at

http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/John/Jesus-Concludes-Time-Alone.



But like the glory of God it will have visible manifestations at times, as it did in the OT in the wilderness, tabernacle, and temple scenes, as well as in the NT when it was manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. This must be the case because Jesus specifically says two different times, “that the world may believe that you have sent me…that the world may know that you sent me…” (vv. 21, 23). For the world to believe and know, they must inevitably see. Seeing leads to believing, then. And what do they see except the oneness Christians have both with Jesus and with each other. So while the essence of our oneness with each other is spiritual in nature, the results are visible. And it is these visible results that will bring the lost to come to be loved by Jesus like the Father loves Jesus. These visible results are primarily the way in which believers live out their lives with one another, toward one another, and in the world. And what does the world see when they look at unified Christians? Love. They see people loving each other fervently. This is why Paul urges the churches so strongly from Ephesians 4.

“…walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (vv. 1-3).

And why does he urge this? For the same reason Jesus prays for it in John 17. Visible unity is a result of spiritual unity. As Paul continues…

“There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all…” (vv. 4-5).

Listen to what one commentator said.

“The main points in the text seem to be that this oneness is a spiritual reality, derived from sharing in the divine life of the Father and the Son and embodied in a particular community of human beings such that it can be evident to unbelievers. In other words, it is a sacrament, a reality in the human sphere participating in the divine sphere. So this is not simply some invisible church…”2

The fact that we’re dealing with people here, makes this true unity visible. People are tangible, temporal bodies housing intangible, eternal souls. They are the object of the Father’s love. They are important to Him, as His creatures, created in His image. And as such, they are targets of our love. And as arrows of the kingdom we are sent out by the bow of King Jesus to strike each of those targets in love, with the Father’s love. This makes true unity missional.

True Unity Has a MISSIONAL Nature. The fact that this true unity must have a visible result turns our attention to the nature of that visible result. In short it is missional. The visible result entails Jesus’ disciples being sent out into the world to win the world to Him, by means of their unity. Jesus uses the hina clause in the Greek in verses 11, 21 and 23. You can see that translated in most English translations through the phrase “so that.” This means that the unity Jesus is praying for has a

2 Ibid.



“so that” or a purpose and a result. The purpose and result of Jesus prayer, according to verse 11, is “so that they may be one, even as we are one.” Unity of the people of God is the content of Jesus’ prayer. Then, according to verses 21 and 23, the purpose and result of His prayer – the purpose of that content in verse 11 – is “so that the world may believe that you have sent me…so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” The first word in the purpose/result clause is “world.” It is the same word used way back in John 3:16, and it’s the Greek word kosmos. God loved the world so much He sent Jesus to save those in it who believe in Him. It would appear then that if God loved the kosmos and saved people in it who believed in Him, according to John 3:16, then God’s plan for bringing people to believe in Him in the future after He’s gone, according to John 17:21 and 23, is the unity of those who already belong to Him. This much Jesus makes crystal clear when He prayed, “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (v. 18). This means that the very function and purpose of their lives as a unified group of people is to bear witness to the Father and the Son. In short, the world can’t come to know or believe that Jesus is the Son of God, lover and savior of the world, without those who are already following Him being unified. God loved the world and sent Jesus, with whom He was closest and unified. Now Jesus carries out the Father’s mission of love for the world and sends His apostles, with whom He was closest and unified. Loving people, then, is rooted in mission. And mission is rooted in going. And mission and going both happen in an atmosphere, environment, and context of true unity. When WE are one, the world will believe JESUS is God and Savior.

“In other words, the amazing transcendent love evident between the Father and the Son is not an exclusive glory that humans must be content only to admire from afar. The love the Father has for Jesus is the same love he has for believers, indeed for the whole world (3:16). For "God is love" (1 Jn 4:8, 16), and "there is only one love of God" (Brown 1970:772). The believers are to embody this love and thereby provide living proof of God's gracious character, which is his mercy, love and truth. They will be an advertisement, inviting people to join in this union with God. The love of God evident in the church is a revelation that there is a welcome awaiting those who will quit the rebellion and return home. Here is the missionary strategy of this Gospel--the community of disciples, indwelt with God's life and light and love, witnessing to the Father in the Son by the Spirit by word and deed, continuing to bear witness as the Son has done.”3

This work of “continuing to bear witness” is an ongoing work. It doesn’t stop. It’s about the gospel which produces true unity, when truly embrace and truly obeyed. Jonathan coined a term a couple of weeks ago which has become especially precious to me: ecumissional. It is coined from the word for ecumenism, which is another word for unity, and missional. We are on a mission to unite people to King Jesus and unify them with other believers. That’s inherent in the mission statement of our church: Reconciling Sinners to God, and People to Each Other. Church in the Boro is an ecumissional church, as all local churches are to be.

3 Ibid.



But this necessarily means that being ecumissional is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. All processes have progress. It’s built into the DNA of a process. You’re going through motions in a particular order to achieve a particular outcome. Our mission at Church in the Boro is no different. It is about progress. Jesus makes that pretty clear in His parables of the Kingdom in Matthew 13. I’m thinking specifically of the Parable of the Mustard Seed, where the seed is planted and the tree grows so huge over time that eventually all the birds of the air build their nests in it. This represents the slow, progressive growth of the kingdom which eventually becomes a resting place for all of God’s people. And this brings me to the final point about the nature of true unity.

True Unity Has a PROGRESSIVE Nature To show this to you, I’m gonna have to dive down a little deeper into the Greek, so you’re gonna have to strap on your Bible study scuba gear and let me take you on a tour of what’s going on beneath the surface of the English here. First, I want you to look at verses 20-21, where Jesus refers to “those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one…” The Greek verb usage beneath “will believe” is Present Active. This means that the action is an ongoing occurrence in the present time. Yet Jesus is making a distinction in this verse from the eleven apostles for whom He’s been praying all along. Verses 1-19 has contained prayers centered on the eleven. But Jesus isn’t just concerned about them alone. They merely represent everyone else whom the Father loves and has given to the Son. So if all the other people whom the Father has given to the Son will be one with Him, and most of them haven’t even been born yet, then He must be speaking of a future day when this will happen. And this is where the verb tense beneath “may all be one” comes in. That is Present Subjunctive, as we’ve already noted, which means Jesus is speaking of the certainty of an event that is happening in the future and will eventually come to pass. Jesus is referring to all the rest of the believers who will come to Him in the future and eventually be unified with Him. This means that the Present tense verb in verse 20 is actually a special usage of the present tense called the “Futuristic Present” which “describes a future event, typically adding the connotations of immediacy and certainty.”4 The rest of His people WILL believe in Him, according to verse 20, and they WILL be unified with Him, according to verse 21. As one famous commentator wrote,

“The eye of Jesus scans the centuries, and presses to His loving heart all his true followers, as if they had all been saved even at this very moment…*T+he standpoint of the prayer is ideal, viewing future events as if they had already happened.”5

Now I want you to look second at verse 23, where Jesus prays, “that they may become perfectly one.” The verb usage in the English doesn’t seem show any change from the other occurrences of the verb “may.” But in the Greek, there IS a significant change. As I just said, iIn verses 21 and 22, the phrases

4 Wallace, Daniel. Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House,

1996), p. 752. See further pages 535-537 for further explanation. It would seem that the context points to a “Mostly Futuristic” or “Ingressive-Futuristic” usage of this special present tense, since Jesus is praying for “an event begun in the present time, but completed in the future” (p. 537).

5 Hendrickson, William. John, Vol. 2. New Testament Commentary. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book

House: 1953), p. 362.



“may be one” are in the Present Subjunctive, which essentially means that there is this ongoing present probability of what Jesus is praying for. And since JESUS is the one praying, and the FATHER is the One listening to HIS OWN SON, I think the percentage of probability is 100%! But in verse 23, the verb tense changes to a Perfect Passive. This change of verb tense in Jesus’ language, I believe, points to two crucial truths. For one, Jesus is using the Perfect tense to ultimately envision a future day and time when the unity of believers will be a permanent final result of His prayer. Normally, a Perfect tense verb refers to action completed in the past, yet has results or ripple effects that continue on into the present. But to what action would He have in mind that would have happened in the past? He doesn’t explicitly refer to anything. BUT…and this is a very important but… if the previous Futuristic Present in verse 20 showed us anything, it was that Jesus looks at time as a whole unit and sees all of His sheep united under His care. Could it be then, that Jesus has in mind the “past” action of electing those saints before He ever created the world? Perhaps He has in mind the fact that He once had His sheep in His mind before He created the world, and He knows that ALL of His sheep would eventually be united under His care and in His love. It may be speculation, but there’s a great deal of probability in it given the way Jesus talks in other places like John 10:16 where He says,

“And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be ONE flock, ONE shepherd” (emphasis mine).

At least one commentator agrees with this view when he wrote,

“[Jesus] is speaking, in part, about the oneness that is further perfected as the "other sheep" (10:16) and the "scattered children of God" (11:52) are gathered in.”6

So the Father elected the sheep before He created the world. And Jesus is prophesying that they WILL BE ONE flock, with ONE shepherd. Since there are still many “other sheep” who have not yet been born in time and brought to Christ and listened to His voice, not all are unified yet. So the work of unity that is being done by CHRIST HIMSELF, is not yet completed. But it’s on its way to being completed. Which means there’s progress. Always! The mission of God in uniting all Christ’s sheep in Him and under His care is a progressive work. In short, there seems to be great significance behind Jesus’ verb usages here. He reaches into the future in verses 20-21 and pulls it back into the present. And then He refers to a oneness His people will have with Him and the Father, in verse 23, and pushes the results out in the future. The references, again, to “may all be one” refer to the certainty of the unity Jesus is praying for here. So this time span between Jesus’ prayer and the day when all of His people will be unified is one in which we are progressively experiencing a growing unity toward that final day when it will be accomplished once and for all. There are still people being gathered into the flock. This means, again, that true unity is missional. The fact that this unity has a missional nature, necessarily makes it a progressive then. The mission will continue until Jesus returns. And therefore, so will the prayer of unity and its accompanying answer by the Father.

6 Whitacre, John.



Now, if you’ll allow me, let me move your attention back to the second part of the crucial issue in Jesus’ usage of the Perfect Passive in verse 23. Again, Jesus is talking about the saints becoming “perfectly one” which is a result of His electing work before He created the world. But Jesus also uses the Perfect tense with the Passive voice. As many of you know, the Passive voice indicates that someone else is performing the action here. And who is that? Who is performing this action of unifying the sheep of Christ? Obviously, it seems to be the Father, if for no other reason than that the Father is the One to whom Jesus is praying and asking for unity. He’s praying to the Father because the Father is the only One who can enable and enact that kind of unity, reminding us again that true Christian unity has a distinctly heavenly nature. And this sort of brings us back full circle, doesn’t it, because I believe that’s where we started initially, with true unity having a heavenly nature that can only be accomplished from the Father in heaven.

Conclusion I wonder if that’s why Jesus taught us to pray the way He did. Do you think? Jesus taught us to pray,

“Our Father, Who is in heaven, holy is Your Name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done,

on earth as it’s done in heaven.” Jesus begins by asserting that prayer is necessary for several reasons, not the least of which is that we’re asking for things over which we have no control, like food, the devil, and the sins of others, which are all mentioned in the prayer as well. Therefore, we HAVE to go to the Father for these things. I wonder if unity could be included in those things? I think it’s necessarily implied, personally. You see, in the kingdom of God and the will of God are always manifesting and taking place in heaven. That’s why Jesus teaches us to ask for it to be done on earth just like it’s already being done in heaven. Jesus is teaching is to ask that the Father would send heaven to earth. And what do we see happening in heaven? Here’s what a man named John saw.

“Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the vice of many angels, numbering myriads and myriads and thousands and thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’ And I heard every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped” (Revelation 5:11-14).

Did you see that? John said that he saw, “every creature in heaven and on earth” worshiping King Jesus. And just two verses before he tells us who were included in that group specifically. He saw a group of people,

“ransomed for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (v. 9).



THAT’S what the kingdom of God looks like and the will of God looks like in heaven, right now, this very second, people! And Jesus wants us to pray for THAT kingdom and THAT will of God to be done on earth right now just like it’s being done in heaven. This means Jesus WANTS a unified people from every people group, nation, and language to be worshiping TOGETHER around Him, right now…today!!! I wonder if Satan wants to stop that sort of thing from going on. I wonder if many of the denominations and groups we have out there today are a result of Satan’s efforts to stop this unity we see in the kingdom of God being carried out here on earth. But Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His plan for the church! And precisely how does that happen? I’ll share two ways we here at Church in the Boro will pursue that true unity here. First, we pray more. What’s been made plain in my study of this text is that the FATHER is the ONLY ONE Who can bring about the true unity we want, that the gospel demands, and that Jesus prays for! It simply will not come without doing what Jesus did…and PRAY! Oh, I feel the weight of my failures in this area. I preach and teach and envision for unity, but have prayed so little for it. May there be an atmosphere of repentance here today starting in my own soul for not pursuing true unity through pursuing prayer to the ONLY One who can make it happen! Allow me to read for you a clip from an incredible book that has deeply challenged me on this issue recently. It is Mark Johnston’s book You in Your Small Corner, a book that those in leadership development will be required to read. Listen to Mark’s understanding of the importance of looking to God for unity.

“True and meaningful unity must of necessity begin with God and not with men – even those who are redeemed. So much fragmentation has been caused and so many attempts at reunion have floundered because that order has been reversed. The unity of the church, as much as any other aspect of its life, comes under the sovereign lordship of the Triune God. The ultimate purpose of God the Father, the ultimate achievement of God the Son and the end-point of God the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work is that in the corporate life of God’s people they shall be perfectly one. Despite all the failures, frustrations and disappointments we experience in this world and in this present age, the future oneness of the church is guaranteed by divine decree and accomplishment. But insofar as the church is comprised of those who ‘have tasted…the powers of the age to come’ (Heb. 6:4-5), that future certainty only becomes present possibility and reality the more we look to God. By making God, as opposed to unity, our focus, we are not only encouraged in the face of what appears to be the impossible, we are also impelled, in dependence upon Christ and his Spirit and obedience to God and his command, to pursue this enriching fellowship of the saints which is bound up with the very essence of salvation. The God to whom we look and upon whom e depend will then lead us by the means he has provided to make that union and communion an experimental reality in the life of the church.”7

7 Johnston, Mark. You In Your Small Corner: The Elusive Dream of Evangelical Unity (Great Britain:

Christian Focus Publications, 1999), pp. 64-65.



Second, we work harder. What’s also been made plain to me in studying this passage is that God’s sheep are responsible for the lack of unity. WE are to be blamed for not being an answer to Jesus’ prayer. We can’t go about our lives merrily and assume that because Jesus is praying and the Father is listening that all this will just come to pass without any of our involvement. That’s hyper-calvinism! It’s an exaggerated view of God’s sovereignty that ignore, reject, or neglects the responsibility of man! No, WE must work harder at becoming an answer to the prayer of Jesus for true unity among His people. We’ve got to dispense with the notion we’ve got lodged somewhere in the recesses of our brain that tells us, “We can’t do it! It’ll never happen on this earth!” That’s just another load of crap that’s become embedded in our shoe, and we’re too used to walking around with that disgusting odor. We’re going to have to do the tedious, laborious, heart-rending work of taking off our shoe and digging out the crap so that we can walk unhindered in our efforts toward unity. As Johnston writes,

“Too many disputes and differences have been left unresolved on the pretext of there being ‘nothing we can do about it’. Such excuses simply do not hold water in the sight of God and he will hold us accountable for our unwillingness – as opposed to inability – to do what he expects of us.”8

And I’ve already committed to repent by working hard in the primary area, which is prayer. But how else do we work hard for this unity? We do so by forbearing with one another in love, in all humility and gentleness and with patience. This is what Paul said in Ephesians 4:1-3. We lovingly put up with one another, treating them as more important than ourselves, their issues as more important than our own, their concerns as more significant than our own, as Paul also taught in Philippians 2:3-4. That’s what humility looks like. It’s becoming subservient to the needs, issues, and concerns of others. And we also treat each other with gentleness, which means we’re not hard on each other. We don’t look for places to correct each other and rebuke each other. We correct and rebuke when necessary, but we don’t look for places to do that. There’s that constant spirit among Christians, especially of the reformed stripe. If the Pharisees loved the praise of men, many reformed Christians love the condemnation of men. There’s little difference between them both when people are not loved, but instead seen as a support system for their personal ambitions. That’s not gentle. It’s not kind-hearted. It’s not tender-hearted. It’s not dealing with each other wearing “kid gloves.” We also handle each other with patience. This means remaining up under the stresses and strains of relationships without walking away and letting the whole friendship collapse. We do that so quickly. Christians are TERRIBLE about this. Somebody says something that offends us, and so we initiate the cold shoulder. Or we work hard and pour much time into someone else, and they do something wrong just one more time, and we’re finished! We wash our hands and walk away from it. The truth is that we are simply too lazy, I believe. We’re too lazy to walk not just the “extra mile” but the “extra marathon” to bear with others and help them along. But how get mad when someone isn’t patient with us!

8 Ibid, p. 54.



Humility, gentleness, patience, love, and forbearing are all very, very, HARD WORK! This means none of this is EASY! We’re carrying crosses here while we follow Jesus, remember? We’re denying ourselves while we follow Jesus! Denying ourselves is equal to affirming OTHERS! Love is the foundation for unity. Fervent, genuine, authentic, patient, humble, gentle, marathon love. Or, if you’re a real athlete, a tri-athalon love for one another, willing to swim, bike, and run any distances in any conditions to maintain our relationships and love one another. THAT’s what Paul means in Ephesians 4:3 when he uses the Greek word spoudazo for “make every effort.” Spare nothing! Hold nothing back! Go all-out in making sure that you maintain your unity with other believers in the bond of peace. So we pursue true unity at Church in the Boro by praying hard and working hard at it. It will not be easy. But it’s necessary. Because if other people are reconciled to King Jesus, then they’re reconciled to us. And if they are truly reconciled to us, then we must reflect it, show it, manifest it, make it so, make it visible, make it lasting, and thereby make a difference, bringing the kingdom of God to earth as Jesus taught us to pray. This is the natural and necessary outflow of the real gospel of the real Jesus Christ. And those who desire to make their home with us at Church in the Boro are those who desire it and commit to make it a reality using all their energy, possessions, finances, family members, and life callings. Jesus poured out His blood to make this unity happen. And we at Church in the Boro in turn gladly and joyfully submit our blood, and everything lesser, to the same cause. Amen.

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Pursuing the Unity of the Gospel - John 17~21-23