John 17:20-26: Unity Among Believers…

Anytime I turn to John 17, I can’t help but think about my friend Naomi.
I have a friend from my Jacksonville State days (Naomi) that thinks this chapter is the most amazing thing she has ever read. I met Naomi when she was a freshman in college. We were in a student Bible study group together. She would bubble up with excitement, whenever we talked about this chapter, and exclaim “Jesus is so awesome.”

Tonight we are going to explore the final verses (20-26) in chapter 17, and hopefully we will discover the same thing that my friend Naomi discovered, that “Jesus is so awesome.” Jesus is our only hope. Jesus is our Savior. Jesus is our Leader. Jesus is awesome, magnificent, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. Jesus is worthy to be celebrated, embraced, and worthy to be placed on the throne of each of our lives.

verse 20 My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,

This beautiful and challenging prayer was not just for the disciples of Jesus’ time. It was not exclusively for the 1st century followers of Jesus. Jesus was praying for those who would believe through the 1st disciples’ message.

Put another way, the intercessory prayer was prayed by Jesus for:
The disciple Peter told someone in the book of Acts about Jesus. That guy told someone else, and that guy told a lost person, and that new believer told his brother, and the brother told his sister, and she told her children, and her children told their friends, and one of their friends told another person, and another person told another person, and so on and so on, and then not too long ago someone told you.

So it’s easy to see that our faith family at first baptist church in fort payne, AL is a part of something much larger than we can even comprehend most of the time.

Jesus prayer was for his first disciples, first century converts, first baptist fort payne, or whoever, the guy that lives down the street, the lady you see at work each day, it’s for your greatest friends, and it’s for your greatest enemies, and it was for you and me.

So when we read this prayer, study this prayer, and begin to get a firm grasp on what Jesus is praying, we can know that this prayer is for us as much as it was for Jesus 12 closest followers and friends.

Knowing that Jesus prayed for you should give you the joy and confidence that God intends for you to have.

verse 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Unity among believers – not the easiest concept. Unity among the many believers throughout the world is not easy when we try to bring about the unity through our own efforts.

Keeping all of the different personalities, perspectives, and attitudes that make up the Christian population together and headed in the same direction may be a lot like the students that are involved in our church’s youth ministry… costumed students take to the floor.

Unity within the church is achieved just as the unity between our heavenly Father and his Son Jesus. The unity is sometimes difficult to understand. The unity doesn’t really apply to natural laws of life that we know. This type of unity is supernatural.

Keeping a group of believers united as God is to the Son is a miraculous feat that only God can perform. One Baptist preacher I know made a reference to this idea of “herding cats” as an illustration regarding the difficulties

The body of Christ is explained further in Romans 12:4-6.

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us…

This passage in the book of Romans explains that even though members of the body of Christ are doing all types of different things, and we are not all called to perform the same function, we all belong to one another. The oneness in Christ is achieved through the selfless giving of ourselves. The passage says that we possess the many different gifts of service to God according to God given grace.

We must work in unity as the Father did with the Son because all that we do is made possible through the grace of God and only through this amazing grace.

John 17
verse 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:

Glorify means to give honor, to lift up, to exalt.

Jesus says he has lifted those God had given up. He had honored them and exalted them. He lifts up his believers, believers like you and me, to his Father in heaven not because of our accomplishments, our usefulness, or our qualifications.
He says in verse 22 that he has given his believers glory for a purpose. This purpose is so we may be one. Oneness like this is what enabled a small group of disciples to turn the world upside down with the message of Jesus Christ.

If we can catch the vision that those first disciples caught, if we can truly be one with our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we can make a historical impact on the world just like those Galileans in the New Testament did.

The concept of being one within the body of believers cannot be achieved unless differences are set aside. By simply leaving divisive issues to the side, we can impact the world. When we all can turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face, then I believe these things will become strangely dim in the light of his glory and his grace.

verse 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Our unity in Christ Jesus brings about an automatic result. If we are truly unified then the world will know the true identity of Jesus. Not only will the world gain understanding and a knowledge that God has sent his only Son to bring about eternal life, not only will people begin new and wonderful lives in fellowship with Jesus, but lost people of this world will also know the truth about God’s love.

If we as believers can be unified as God is calling us to be then the people that we come in contact with daily that do not know who Jesus really is will be able to experience for the first time ever: love, real love, God’s love, a love that sent God’s only son to the cross to die for the dirty, sinful hearts of every man, woman, boy, and girl.

verse 24 Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

Jesus doesn’t pray that he will meet with followers on the occasional Sunday. He wants to know us much better than that. He wants us to be with him wherever he is. In the early morning he wants to meet us in prayer with him, in late hours of the night we can fellowship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and all the times in between. Between when we get up in the morning and when we lay our heads down on the pillow to go to sleep at night, Jesus wants us to be ever close to Him.

The concept of fellowshipping with Jesus at any time of day was coupled with the concept of service to God by the author Henry Blackaby. He said that to experience God’s will for your life we should find out where God is already working and join in.

This is where Jesus wants us to be. Verse 24 tells us he wants us to be: wherever he is.

verse 25 Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you sent me.

The world doesn’t have a clue who God is. Verse 25 says that the lost people of this world can know God through the one God sent. Jesus is the bridge between a lost world and a holy and loving God.

This verse makes us have a clearer understanding of how Jesus serves as our bridge for a relationship with God. This bridge illustration is often used in tracks. The world doesn’t know and is really incapable of knowing the God of Heaven and Earth. Jesus is the only one who can bridge this gap and bring about fellowship and communion with the Lord.

When Jesus prays in verse 25 that ‘they know you sent me’ , if you are already a believer, you can remember back to when you first knew that God sent Jesus. You can remember back to the first time you uncovered, with the help of the Holy Spirit, who Jesus was and what you needed to do to begin a relationship with him.

If you are not a professing believer in Jesus Christ, you may be at the crossroads tonight.
If you have never bridged the gap between yourself and God with Jesus as your bridge today may be the day.

verse 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

The Love of God and Jesus Christ himself is in us if we have already accepted the invitation that has been laid out before us.

The Love of God and Jesus Christ may be far from our hearts if we have never made that first step. Today could be the day for you. I have lived my life both ways. I have resisted God’s call in my life and denied Jesus when he has beckoned for me to invite him into my heart. This is the most miserable experience that I have ever had. Then I have also accepted God’s invitation. I have said yes to God’s call in my life. Everything didn’t get easier all the time, but when things tough, now I am able to find rest in my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. I am able to find rest in the mist of tough times.