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Unity does not have to deny individuality. We do not have to become part of the Borg
Collective, to be effective Christians.
Our uniqueness rather allows us to love in a unique way. In this each of us uniquely identifies
another aspect of the love of God. When we
combine all those versions of love, we get a better picture of the love of God,
than we look at any one of us individually.
But this is the point, the love must be to others, not to self. It is our embrace of self-love, that asks all
the wrong questions – like … what is in it for me; why aren’t you living up to
your half of the 50:50 thing? etc.
“Self” introduces conditions to love, whereas God does not love that way
at all. He loves us WHILE we are yet sinners
bound in pain, disease, ignorance, and hate.
His love looks to free us from those things. His love is the power by which we are
freed. He does not approach us with a
righteous assessment of just how bad we are, and rightly condemn us for the bad
choices and habits we have formed.
Instead he patiently and carefully extracts us from those bad decisions,
and bad habits, and in their place, He offers us a whole new way to live,
without the pain of our former selves.
His love does this. If we are to
change the world, it must be done in love, not in condemnation. Love redeems us from the pain of sin,
condemnation only deepens the pain of sin.
Jesus continues to identify His disciples as he says in
verse 12 … “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those
that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of
perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.” The loss of Judas is painful to Christ, but
it was foretold in scripture, and despite every effort to redeem him, Judas
refused and looked to his own wisdom.
The wisdom of Judas led him to betray His Lord, unto torture and
death. This is what happens when we take
it on ourselves to “help” God with our ideas of what He should be doing. It is not unique to Judas. Abraham took a handmaid of Sarah to “help”
God out with His promise, and much pain was the result, and none of his efforts
made the promise occur. Moses decided to
“help” bring water out of the rock by striking it rather than speaking to it as
God asked, and he was forbidden entry to the promised land as a result. David decided to “help” bring the Ark of the
Covenant to Jerusalem and without following the proper methods, a life was lost
in his efforts. God does not need our
“help” to accomplish His goals. And
often the “help” we offer is more about doing what we want to do, than truly
what God wants to do, in His time or His manner. We rush God, and try to make God do what we
ultimately want, and in so doing our “help” bears the fruit of Judas, our
forefather in this regard.
Jesus continues to pray for His disciples in verse 13 saying
… “And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they
might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. [verse 14] I have given them thy
word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as
I am not of the world. [verse 15] I pray not that thou shouldest take them out
of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” Christ prays that we might have His “joy”,
not our own, fulfilled in ourselves. Our
own ideas about joy and fulfillment are almost always the wrong ones. But when we allow Christ to alter our
desires, we are able to want different things, and find joy in things that have
real meaning. Next He outlines that the
word we have received through Christ, does not make us natural friends with a
self-centered, self-focused world. It
rubs those notions the wrong way, and puts us at odds with conventional
wisdom. Think for a minute about the
notion of the American dream for instance … if you work hard, you can succeed
by the power of your determination and hard work. Whereas our philosophy is … we will be given
everything we need from a benevolent God who saves us from ourselves despite
our past and present, we can depend 100% on something outside of ourselves, and
learn not to ever trust in us, but only in Him. Those ideas are completely at odds with each
other. The American dream sounds good,
and makes you believe in yourself, and what you can accomplish. This Christian ideal sounds too good to be
true, and requires trust that it is possible, and will occur, but in it, your
only role is to give up control, not take more of it. This is why the world does not like what
Christ teaches.
For those who believe in isolationism to avoid sin and
“contamination” of the pure church … pay closer attention to the prayer of
Christ Himself. He asks NOT that we be
taken out of the world, but instead that we be kept from evil. We are not to withdraw from others who are
still suffering from the disease of sin which we have found a Doctor for. Instead we are to remain in the hospital and
share the good news of our Physician with them.
We do not become more holy by removing ourselves from the influence of
the evil around us. Our problem is not
with the evil around us, it is with the evil within us. Our submission is to have Christ remove the
evil from within, it is difficult to be tempted by something you do not want,
or find yourself despising, or come to see with only pity. When that occurs, what was formerly
temptation carries no more weight. When
that occurs, the evil around you has no more power over you, and instead the
love of Christ you reflect changes evil.
This is how His power works. The
goal is not for us to run off to the woods and preserve only our own souls for
His Kingdom. In so doing we lose out on
the most valued treasure in heaven – other people, the objects of the love we
are learning to reflect. Isolation is no
more the answer for righteousness, and any other self-focused method of curing
sin. Focus on Christ alone kills
temptation. We are to stay in the world,
and reflect that light and love, not just squander it on ourselves.
Jesus continues in verse 16 … “They are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. [verse 17] Sanctify them through thy truth: thy
word is truth.” Christ makes the
distinction for those who follow Him, that they are no longer of the
world. Instead we belong to God. We present ourselves to Him as a gift, and He
gives us more than we could possibly receive.
But perhaps more worthy of note, is the continuation of His prayer where
He asks God the Father to “sanctify” us through His truth, His word. Notice we do NOT sanctify ourselves. There is no time limit on this activity, He
does not ask that we receive this gift over the course of a lifetime, nor does
He remind us that sanctification is a process we are supposed to do for
ourselves. Instead He asks His Father to
do the work of Sanctification. It is
done through His truth … Jesus said of Himself that He was the Truth. It is done through His word … John opens His
gospel by saying Jesus was the word, and the word was with God and the word was
God. We are sanctified through our
acceptance and submission to Jesus Christ, a work that is performed for us, by
His Father, at the request of Christ.
Jesus continues the mission of our redemption as He
continues in verse 18 … “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I
also sent them into the world. [verse 19] And for their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” As Christ was sent by God to us, so He sends
His disciples to the world. Our
sanctification must also come from Christ.
If we are to be effective, if we are to be remade, it must come alone
from the power of Christ. Jesus goes on
in verse 20 … “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word; [verse 21] That they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
Our unity in a mission of love is a witness to the world that Christ is
real, and our God is real. As Christ and
His Father united in a mission of love in action for us, for others, for His
creation – with no thought to Himself; so we can be united with Christ and His
Father in a mission of love to others that will change our world. Families can be healed. Communities can be changed irrevocably for
the better. Peace that follows love can
result. And all of it can point back to
Christ and His Father, a perpetual witness to the unity that is only possible
when founded in a mission of love to others based in Christ.
Then Christ does something very powerful and meaningful to
us, He extends His familial relationship to us as He prays further in verse 22
… “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one,
even as we are one: [verse 23] I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast
loved them, as thou hast loved me.” We
are to be bound in love to Christ, nestled in His love, and in the love of His
Father. We are to be made one with God,
unified with God, participants in His mission of redemptive love. In this, we are to be “made perfect”. Perfection is attainable, it is more than
that, it is a guarantee. But only as we
are “made” one with God, one with Christ.
There is no room for self in that equation. It is the absolute absence of self and
self-interest that characterizes the love of God. It is how Christ lived. And it is possible for us to live this way as
well, as we recognize we do not “make” it happen, we “permit” it to happen. We submit to Christ, and He “makes” us
perfect, makes us one with Him and His Father.
This is a perfect unity we have so longed to see and experience. It is the heart of the good news of the
gospel.
Jesus concludes His prayer with a profound request in verse
24 saying … “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me
where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou
lovedst me before the foundation of the world. [verse 25] O righteous Father,
the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that
thou hast sent me. [verse 26] And I have declared unto them thy name, and will
declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in
them.” No longer are heaven and earth to
be separated by any distance. Christ
tells His Father He wills that we be with Him, where He is, that we may see Him
with our own eyes. We can then behold
the great love that the Father has for His Son, and for us. Christ declares the nature of His Father to
us, and in His life of selfless love, He reveals the Father to us in fullness,
that we might begin to know Him, and to know His Son. This is the eternal life, and eternal gift
that is given to us. A gift offered
before our perfection was achieved, a redemptive gift that would see us freed
from the power and temptation of sin and self; this is what He puts on the
table for us to take.
There has never been so powerful a prayer uttered in the
Bible. We are offered here a private
first-hand audience in the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ to His perfect
Father God. And all throughout this
prayer is every imaginable gift He asks for us, and for those few who were
still with Him. Imagine how selfless
this prayer was, as it was uttered only moments before He would be tortured to
death. Despite knowing what is about to
happen, He focuses the entire prayer on us, and our needs, not asking anything
for Himself, except as it benefits us.
This is the power of prayer that cannot be denied. This was a fitting end to the communion He
had with us just before the end arrived …
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