“That They May Be One”
John 17:20-26
5/20/07
Unity is hard to come by these days. Nobody
agrees with everybody on everything. Even Christians aren’t
united on what doctrine and teaching they confess, and yet the Apostle
Paul tells the Corinthian congregation that there are to be no
divisions among them, and he tells the Christians in Rome that with one
accord and with one voice they are to glorify God and avoid those who
cause division in the Church. But looking at the division that
does in fact exist in the Church, we might conclude that unity is not
possible among Christians (at least, not unity in doctrine - unity in
love, maybe, but not unity in what we believe and teach). And so,
Jesus’ prayer here seems to have gone unanswered and is simply a
wish, a hope, a dream on His part that will never be realized in this
life. The most we can expect is that it will be a reality in the
next life.
This has spawned two different attitudes towards
Christian unity in this life: either one despairs of it, or one
tries to achieve it by one’s own means and efforts. Those
who despair of it see striving for unity in this life as a vain
endeavor. There are so many different opinions regarding the Word
of God that it’s futile to try to seek unanimity in the
confession of it. The best we can do is to try to be unified in
love (as if love for one another is something we could achieve
ourselves!). So, whatever you believe about Baptism, whatever you
believe about the Lord’s Supper, whether you focus on faith or
good works, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of
your sins or your own godly living, “It’s all
good!” It doesn’t matter. The point is, we all
believe in Jesus, right? It’s belief in Jesus, not
unanimity in the confession of His Word that’s important.
So let’s forget about trying to achieve a unity that’s
impossible to achieve in this life, and get on with just loving one
another and accepting one another’s differing points of view.
On the other side, there are those who see unity in
both love and doctrine as important, in fact, as the will of God even
in this life, and yet they strive to achieve and maintain this unity by
their own means and efforts. Doesn’t the Apostle Paul,
after all, write that we are to bear with one another in love, eager to
maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?
Maintaining the unity, however, is one thing; creating it in the first
place in another. Those who believe that unity in the Church
depends on their own efforts forget that it’s God who both
creates and maintains this unity by way of the proclamation of His
Word. It’s not up to us to bring about this unity, nor can
we maintain this unity apart from the Holy Spirit working through the
Word and the Sacraments.
And so, on the one hand, to despair of unity in the
Church leads to doubt about the Lord’s Word, whether the truth
can be known and confessed or not. You can’t have your
Jesus without His Word, however, and His Word is no wax nose that you
can just bend and twist to make it say whatever you want it to
say. And yet, on the other hand, to rely on our own efforts at
achieving unity in the Church leads to trust in ourselves and makes us
the rock upon which the Church is built rather than Jesus Christ.
But we are sinners and disunited by nature. The disunity in both
love and teaching that we see in the Church is evidence of this
fact. But it’s neither God’s fault nor His will if
His Church is fractured; it’s our fault.
Unity in the Church, however, is in fact not only
possible, but does exist, and it exists because of Jesus Christ.
He alone both creates this unity and maintains it through His means of
grace - the Word and the Sacraments. And yet, for this reason
this unity is not something that can always be seen. It is hidden
behind signs of weakness and can only be believed and confessed.
This is why in the Nicene Creed we say, “I believe in one holy
Christian and apostolic church...” There’s one
Church, not two, three, or four, united by faith in Jesus Christ and
the confession of His Word. Though she seems disunited because
there are so many different denominations which are teaching things
that are contrary to God’s Word, there is in fact only one
Christian and apostolic Church made up of all those who have been
united into Christ by Christ.
How does Jesus do this uniting? How does He
create and maintain unity in His Church? Here in His prayer to
the Father in John’s Gospel He tells us. First He creates
this unity by bringing you to faith in Him through the proclamation of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for your salvation. Yes, all
Christians do believe in Jesus, and that’s essential. And
yet, just as essential is faith in His words. No one can say that
faith in Jesus is all you need; you don’t need to know His
Word. Nor can we say that some things that Jesus says are
non-essential. The minute we do that we begin to divide the
Scriptures into two classes: those that you have to know and
confess, and those that you can take or leave. But everything God
has given us in His Word is essential to our salvation. As Jesus
says, it all points us to Him. Do we know it all? No!
Can we ever say we’ve learned enough of it? No! The
Christian is always a disciple of Jesus. He’s always
learning from the Word of God. Jesus told His Apostles to make
disciples by baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit and by teaching them to keep everything (not just some of
the things) that He commanded. Faith in Jesus and the confession
of His Word go hand in hand; you can’t have the one without the
other. The question, “How much should a Christian know of
God’s Word?” is a fractional question. The question,
“How much error can a Christian believe and still be
saved?” is also a fractional question. No error is good;
all error has the potential to lead you away from your Savior into
unbelief; and error always disrupts the unity that God creates in His
Church with His Word. And so, Christians cannot condone,
tolerate, or accept error or false doctrine in the Church. The
Word of God must be preached and taught in its truth and purity.
And even when this seems to be an unrealistic ideal, it must be what we
strive for, because by such means the Lord creates and sustains unity
in His Church.
Second, Jesus creates and maintains unity in the
Church by putting us into Him and Himself into us. What is this
and when did it happen? Elsewhere in the Gospel according to St.
John Jesus says, “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.” Notice here again how Jesus connects Himself with His
Word. Through faith in His Word, by keeping it, treasuring it,
holding it sacred, and gladly hearing and learning it, Jesus and the
Father make their home in you. And of course, where Jesus and the
Father are there is the Holy Spirit as well. This is made clear
by the fact that God has put His Name upon you at your Baptism -
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Your Baptism also assures you that
God has made your body His home, because where God puts His Name, there
He is, as was the case in the temple in O.T. times. God promised
to put His Name there forever. For this reason His eyes and heart
would be there for all time, provided His people did not abandon Him
and go after other gods. God put Himself among His people to
bless them, forgive their sins, and teach them His Word by putting His
Name there at the temple. Now, the Church is the temple of
God. God has put His Name on her, and among her now He is present
to bless them, forgive their sins, and teach them His Word through His
called and ordained servants.
And third, Jesus creates and maintains unity in His
Church by imparting to her His glory. Where God’s glory is
revealed, there He is manifesting Himself or making Himself and His
character known. God’s glory shows that God is holy and
righteous, separated from sin, but it also shows that He is love and
forgives sin. So, when God’s glory was seen on Mt. Sinai,
there God revealed Himself as a wrathful God, a God who judges and
punishes sin, a God of Law. But when God’s glory was seen
on Mt. Calvary, there God revealed Himself too as a wrathful God, as He
poured out that wrath on Jesus, but He also revealed Himself as a
merciful God, a God of Gospel, one who forgives our sins on the basis
of Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross. So, when Jesus
says He has given His glory to the Church, this too draws us back to
our Baptism where, as Paul writes, Jesus sanctified His Church,
“having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, so
that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot
or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without
blemish.” And elsewhere Paul writes that in your Baptism
you were clothed with Christ. In this way, then, you have been
given the glory of Jesus. When God sees you now, He sees you
clothed with Christ and His glory. He sees you as holy,
righteous, separated from sin. And the fact that all Christians
are clothed with this one Jesus and His glory unites us together with
one another and with God Himself.
The result of this unity is that the divisions among
ourselves are done away with, not by ignoring them or tolerating them,
but by handling them according to the Word of God. Division among
the body of Christ is sin and must be repented of, whether it’s
division caused by sin, lack of love, or false doctrine. Second,
our God-created and maintained unity in Christ and His Word will also
result in others coming to know that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to
be our Savior and that God loves those who believe in Him just as He
loves His only-begotten Son. And finally, the unity we have in
Christ will lead to our being united around Him in the new heaven and
the new earth where we will see Jesus’ glory in the flesh.
In our unity now we gather together around His altar and receive His
body and blood to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of our
sins. But there is a feast to come in the new creation where we
will eat and drink with our Savior face to face. There, as John
writes in the book of Revelation, “the tabernacle of God [will
be] with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His
people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will
wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the
former things have passed away.”
Jesus’ prayer here, then, is answered after
all. He has created and will keep for Himself a unified Church
which He has redeemed with His own blood and brought to faith by the
proclamation of His Word. In her He has taken up residence, along
with the Father and the Spirit, and He has clothed her with His glory,
that she might stand before God holy and blameless. Though to
look at her she still has many signs of weakness and blemishes, the
Lord does not count them against her, for He has washed them away in
Baptism and daily works through His Word and Sacraments to expel all
error and division in her and make her one - one in faith, one in
confession, one in love, one in Christ. Amen.