In Unity Of Oneness

John 17:20-21

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

John 17:20-21 NIV

Jesus didn't pray just for His immediate disciples, but also for those who would believe on Him because of their word. Folks, that includes us! Jesus looked beyond the first generation of believers and saw others who would follow Him. His prayer for them, and for us, is that we would be unified so that the world around us will believe that God sent Him to be the Savior of the world.

So let's get together by coming to Jesus and seeking His life, His love, His will, and His Spirit to help us be what He has called us to be. We see in these verses He starts praying not just for His disciples who were around Him at that time, but for all who would believe in Him through their testimony. In other words, this is Jesus praying for us, right here for you and for me, for all who believe in Jesus today.

Jesus prays for the unity of all believers. If we are not unified, we hinder the spread of the gospel. Because we have heard the Word of Jesus through the testimony of disciples, the testimony of followers of His who have gone before us. So Jesus is praying for us.

So what does Christ pray for us? Verse 21, that they may all be one. He prays for our unity, for our community, together. Now, this is where it’s just baffling. “Just as you, Father, are in me,” Jesus says. Think about unity, just as the Father is in the Son and I in you. Just, the Son is in the Father. Trinitarian unity. The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit obviously a unified. There is a perfect unity, union, in the Trinity.

So that’s the level of unity that Jesus is praying for us here. We have been invited in to unity with Jesus, the Son, God the Father, God the Spirit, and one another. Our union in Christ, our union with one another, is grounded in our union in Christ, in Jesus, in God. “That they may also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Wow. To think that the world realizing that Jesus has been sent by the father to be the Savior of the world, that our unity as followers of Jesus has a direct effect on that realization being a reality in the world. If we are not unified, we hinder testimony to Jesus. We hinder the spread of the gospel with a lack of unity.

And let’s be clear, this is not some low-level, manufactured, manipulated, artificial, superficial unity. Like, let’s just all get along. Regardless of what we believe, let’s all be unified regardless of how we live. That’s not the picture. This is a unity that is grounded in Jesus. This is a unity that is grounded in the truth of Jesus.

The words of Jesus, the person of Jesus, the spirit of Jesus, the commands of Jesus. This is where our unity is grounded, and Jesus prays that we might experience it so that the world might know his love.

As believers, we are God's ambassadors on earth who we have the privilege and responsibility to be His hands and His feet, His eyes and His ears, His heart and His voice, as we share His gospel of hope to those that are lost in trespasses and dead in their sins. And in His grace, Christ prayed that we would be united in spirit, in truth, with the same unselfish, godly compassion and concern for others that He has for us!!!

Father, thank You for this day and the amazing peep into the heart of Christ as He offers up this earnest High Priestly prayer about unity in the Body of Christ. I pray that our lives would be, in a small part, an answer to that prayer so that others may see You in our lives today and glorify our Father in heaven. I pray that through our witness, many may be drawn into an even closer relationship with Christ our God and our Redeemer, in Whose name I pray, AMEN.