John 17:20-26
While
the prayer that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 6:9-13) is usually
called “The Lord’s Prayer,” the prayer of Jesus in John 17 could
be more properly given that title. On the eve of his crucifixion, facing the
agony of separation from the Father as He bore the curse and punishment of our
sin, Jesus’ prayer reveals that He had far more on His heart and mind than
the pain and death He would suffer: He was thinking of and praying for us. And
this is a prayer that continues to this day. The God of mercy who saved us also
allows us to actually fulfill the prayer of Jesus.
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I.
Exercise a Consistent Faith (20-21a)
The
scope of Jesus’ prayer and concern extended far beyond His disciples who
had followed Him throughout His earthly ministry. His prayer reached through
future millennia and around the globe to all who would believe in Jesus through
the Apostles’ testimony. His prayer was not that they would be uniform,
but that they might be united. The desire of His heart was not that they be
in conformity with one another, but that they might be in communion with the
Father and the Son.
The
answer to Jesus’ prayer for unity lies within our power, but only to the
degree that we each submit ourselves to His will. Just as Jesus and the Father
are one in purpose and will, so must we be submitted to that will and purpose.
Not only does this accomplish our oneness with God, but also with God’s
people. We cannot have this unity by living out our individual interpretations
and ideas of Christianity, but by exercising the integrity and consistency
of a life submitted to Christ, just as Christ submitted to the Father.
II.
Exhibit a Constant Witness (21b)
Christians
are never given a right to judge the world. In our shock at its lewdness, crass
antics, and godlessness, we often forget that the people around us are acting
like what they are: fallen humanity.
Paul
reminds us in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 that we have no business judging the world.
God is fully capable of doing that Himself.
On
the other hand, the world does have the right to judge Christians! When Jesus
told the disciples that the world would mark them as His disciples by their
love for each other, He was telling them that the world is watching. Again,
here in His great prayer, He reminds us that the world has the right to judge
us by our unity.
Our
unity with one another provides a powerful presentation of the effects of the
gospel. Unity is not unison, everyone singing the same note, but harmony. Unity
is not uniformity, which comes from pressure within, but rather light from
within. Unity is not union; pulling all the corpses together in the graveyard
won’t start a resurrection.