*A brief disclaimer*

This is not my most elaborate or fleshed out outline. I was sick when I began writing it, and over the course of things, only became sicker. You’ll notice that it reads like many of the others I’ve written at the start, becomes somewhat more breif toward the middle, and is significantly shorter toward the end. As the body aches got worse and fever began to set in, I was aware that any mental sharpness I may posess was rapidly dulling. And so rather than try to expand and teach on the Text, I mainly just supplied my supporting scripture and few comments toward the end. I apologize for what may be seen as an incomplete outline, but there was still enough here for me to think it worth sharing. Ultimately, the Word isn’t dependent on me to explain it, and so I hope you’re still able to glean something from this, and that your growth in Christ is fed in the process. Thank you!

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“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 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. 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. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 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.”

There are probably people who read the word “unity” and want to cringe a little. If you’re one of these people, know that you’re not alone, in many ways, I’m right there with you. It’s one of those words that’s so big, it gets consistently overused, and it seems like it’s become little more than a buzz word. So often, we’re encouraged to join hands in unity to fight… something. Breast cancer, homelessness, war, hunger, hate, pollution, climate change, immigration, litter, obesity, drunk driving. There are a million things we’re told to band together to stand against, and that’s not at all a bad thing. There’s a general acknowledgement that to stand together for something carries more weight than standing alone. The problem is how we’re told to stand against whatever manifestation of suffering or wickedness you want to choose from the list. The world is only capable of coming up with worldly solutions, and while they may sound nice, the corruption of sin at their core dooms them. Worldly solutions to worldly problems will yield worldly results – they will be flawed, imperfect, destined to fail. 1 John 4:7–8,

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

How then can a person or group who stands apart from Christ claim unity, and preach love for one another, or for those who are suffering and broken? The simple and straight forward answer is that they can’t. We don’t know love apart from God. 1 Corinthians 13:4–7, such a commonly quoted passage, gives us elements of love to see and understand,

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

These are the things you are cut off from, elements and attributes that are alien to you if you don’t know God. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us,

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

And Jesus says in Mark 7:21–23,

“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

God tells us in Ezekiel 36:25–27,

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

If we don’t know God, then we are not made new in Him, and are slaves to sin. We don’t know love, or peace, or light, or life. We behave, as Peter wrote, “like irrational animals,” and any talk of unity is hollow, without form, substance, or foundation. But the unity we know in Christ is true. It’s transformative, restorative, victorious, and eternal. As we look at the close of the High Priestly Prayer, we are given a picture and a promise of what true unity means – for the Father and Son, for the disciples listening to Jesus in the upper room, for the early Christians who first received the gospel, and for us, hearing and believing today.

Delivered into the Victory of Unity

We could look at these final moments of the High Priestly Prayer and think of them in some ways as the beginning of the end. Like, this is it. Jesus will finish this prayer, and He and the eleven remaining disciples leave the upper room. They will leave the city of Jerusalem, cross the brook of Kidron (which we’ll discuss next week), and go to Gethsemane, where Judas will lead the ruling Jews and Roman cohort to arrest Jesus. Everything has been set in motion, really since the beginning. If we look back over John’s gospel, we can see Jesus’ divine control and foresight as His ministry spreads and the opposition of the religious rulers grows. His declaration of the Truth, of His station, of His oneness with the Father, takes the Jews of the Sanhedrin from opposing Him, to hating Him, to seeking to kill Him, and finally, with the resurrection of Lazarus, they are spurred into action. In these final moments of this prayer before Jesus takes His next steps toward the cross, we see something staggering. He’s praying for us. There are many things that Jesus says that uniformly apply to all Christians. There are many things He says to the disciples that we can understand how they would also apply to us. But here, He is explicitly acknowledging and including the church – not just the disciples, not just the Jews, but the Christians who are to come. In this closing passage we can see with shocking clarity how we are part of the flock of God, how Jesus truly is our Shepherd, and we can understand the unity to which we’ve been delivered to in Christ.

1. Our Unity Testifies to the Work of God

We left off in the High Priestly Prayer with Jesus saying in verses 16–19,

“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

Studying Scripture is never just one thing – in fact, it’s those who attempt to make it into one thing who seem to miss the point entirely. As we’ve studied John’s gospel we’ve seen historically relevant information, showing us a picture of the world, and recounting the events of the life and ministry of Jesus – but it’s not just a historical account. We’ve read passages with deep, layered spiritual meaning, powerful metaphors and symbolism – but the story is not just symbolic. As we’ve worked our way through the last of the four gospel accounts, we’ve seen Sprit, Truth, and Light. We’ve seen a picture of who Jesus is as the only Son of God, what He meant for the Jews living in the first century, and would mean for those who would come to accept Him. As we’re studying, we learn how all this applies to us, we take the lessons and the guidance of the Spirit, and we learn who we are as followers of Christ. But this carries a different degree of gravity to it. This is explicitly, blatantly stating our inclusion in the flock, our unity with our brothers who received this message in the upper room. No one can look at the High Priestly Prayer and say, “well that was just for the disciples, those who would become the Apostles, Jesus wasn’t talking about us there. This is a serious, heavy calling – Jesus has just spent a considerable amount of attention on the fact that the world hates Him, and that hatred will be shown to those who follow Him. This is a reminder that we too are called to take up our cross, called to renounce all that we have for the sake of the kingdom and the glory of God. But as He has addressed the hatred and persecution that is the world’s only response to the Truth, so Jesus has also made clear the hope and deliverance we have in Him.

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

The formal inclusion of all future Christians into the flock of the Good Shepherd. An extension of the blessing offered up in the High Priestly Prayer to all who would hear the gospel and come to follow Christ. This isn’t a secret throughout the gospels, as we read and learn and apply the words of Jesus to our own lives and walks with Him. But this, stated so explicitly, brings a different level of gravity.

“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.”

This shows the extreme and miraculous nature of the unity we’re blessed to hold in Christ. We, the church, the bride are made into one – joined in one mind, one Spirit, that we might glorify God. Bound together in this calling, just as the Father and Son are One, and as we are joined with Them, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, made new and lifted up above the world. We are so changed that our unity serves as a testimony to the work of Christ, and calling us back to His words in Matthew 5:14–16,

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

As well as guiding us to the words of Paul in Philippians 2:14–16,

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

We are transformed, we are made one through the Spirit, and in this oneness we shine as beacons in the lost and dying world – bringing condemnation onto ourselves, yet calling those who would hear, guiding the ones who would see toward the gospel of salvation.

“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 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.”

“Loved them even as you loved me.” We are not made to be Christ (that would be a Satanic thing to aspire to), but this helps us to see the extent to which we’re raised to be like Christ. We are raised up to be worthy to suffer for the Truth of the gospel. Romans 8:16–17 tells us,

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

And Hebrews 12:3–7 says,

“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,                and chastises every son whom he receives.’ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”

We see an example of this response to suffering through the Apostles after they are brought before the council of the Sanhedrin. The council’s initial aim was to kill them, but after sparing their lives under the advice of the teacher Gamaliel, they beat them, charge them to cease teaching and preaching that Jesus is the Christ, and release them. Acts 5:41–42 says,

“Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.”

In being delivered and coming to follow Christ, we are joined together and made righteous in Him. In this, the world will hate us, but our unity, our suffering, and even the hatred heaped upon us by the unrighteous, all stand as testament to the work of God, in our lives and in the world.

2. Our Unity Endures to Eternity

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am,”

This calls us back to Jesus’ words in John 14:2–3,

“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Again, we see affirmation that this wasn’t something that was just meant for the disciples gathered in the upper room, but for all who belong to Christ.

“to see my glory that you have given me”

Our calling is not a temporary one, the unity we’re given in Christ is not something that fades, but endures into eternity. Revelation 22:1–5 gives us a picture of the perfection we’re delivered into after the old has washed away and the new kingdom of God has come,

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

“because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

Genesis 1:1–2,

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

John 1:1–5,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 8:58,

“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’”

John 16:28,

“I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

The love that God has for the Son defies time, existing in eternity before the world was formed, and on past the end of this universe. We are raised up with Christ, brought into this eternal love of the Father forever.

3. Our Unity is Preserved in the Spirit

“O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you,”

Romans 1:18–23

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

“I know you, and these know that you have sent me.”

John 10:14–15

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

“I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known,”

John 14:15–18,

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

John 15:26–27,

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

We must always remember that the work of Christ did not end with the ascension, but is continued on by the Holy Spirit. This is the Spirit that fills us, and binds us together to the common cause of glorifying God through the Truth of His gospel. We are unified in the work of the Spirit.

“that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

John 14:23–24,

“… If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”

We are protected, purified, loved, and kept in this unity with God the Father, Christ the Son, the Holy Spirit, and our brothers and sisters – our fellow heirs in the glory of the gospel, and the salvation of eternity.

Pastor Chris’s sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMe_Zyj9LDU