John.17.20-26;
Weekday Lent Service; April 3, 2019;
Life in Christ
Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN
20“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe
in me through their word, 21that 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. 22The glory that you have given
me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23I
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. 24Father,
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. 25O righteous Father, even though the world does not
know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26I 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.” John 17:20-26 (ESV)
Grace and peace to
you from Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Here in this text
Jesus prays for unity. I’ve been
thinking a lot about unity this week.
Maybe you have, too. What exactly
does it mean to be “united?” It’s a
tricky word for us, isn’t it? I think
that unity is something the whole world is looking for. In some sense lots of the violence of the Middle
East is about unity. And closer to home
we have the false unity of men and men, and women and women seeking to be
married. This is just the latest; there are
other attempts at unity. For a long time
now men and women have been trying to live together without being united in
marriage. They believe that marriage
isn’t necessary, and yet the statistics show couples who live together before
they are married will most likely divorce.
Political correctness tells us that if we just say things the right way,
we can create unity by not causing offense.
And I don’t know if you feel the pressure (but I certainly do) to say
that Muslims worship the same god that we do, or to say that all religions are
the really the same and each lead to God, each in its own way. We don’t have to look very hard at these
attempts at unity to see that they really don’t work. They collapse under their own weight, because
they are unity that is based on things that are not true. They are based on misunderstandings of the
way the world really is.
The church isn’t
doing any better. It is very ironic that
in a year that Hollywood gave us a great movie like “The Passion of the
Christ,” the Christian church in American gave us the first openly gay bishop,
“in the hope that the church can be more inclusive.” And the desire to be a united church, despite
the differences that exist, grows every day.
But the kind of unity that is sought is the kind that simply ignores the
reality of the differences in the teachings of the different church
bodies. There are real significant differences
in understanding who God is, what He has done in Jesus Christ, and how He works
in peoples lives. This kind of unity is
not true unity at all. It is a unity
that ignores the truth of God’s Word for the sake of an external coming
together. This is the kind of kind of
unity that promotes communion tables that are open to all comers without regard
to what they believe or even the kind of teaching they support. It is the kind of unity where adultery, divorce,
homosexuality and other sins are outright ignored; “for the sake of unity.” Even
when those sins are present in those serve as the Church’s pastors. The Church, just like the world around it, is
seeking unity. But it is a false unity
that isn’t the unity the Jesus prayed for.
And yet, Jesus
prayed for the unity of the church; 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. Are we to believe that Jesus prayer went
un-answered? I hardly think so. We can trust that what Jesus prays is
true. He is the One to whom the God the
Father said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” So, when Jesus prays 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. We
can know that it is true. The Christian
church through out the whole world is united, just as Jesus said. It really isn’t a choice is it?
Someone said to me
once that when we became Christians, we gave up the right to choose who we
would love. We are united because of
Christ. If you want examples of how the
church is united, you need look no father than the chairs we are sitting
in. All of you know of times when you
were helped by someone here. God has
given us brothers and sisters in Christ who are here for us when we need
them. We are united when we hear about
God’s great love that sent Jesus to live and die and rise again for us. We are united when we gather and have the
gift of salvation poured down our throats.
We are united as we speak the words “in the name of the Father and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” that were spoken, when Jesus united us to
Himself in Baptism. We are united
because we have been claimed from the jaws of death, rescued from sin, and saved
from our own sinful desires. Our unity
comes only from the work that God does and what God has done, not from anything
we have done or could possibly even do. Martin
Luther said it very clearly in his explanation of the third article. (p. 301 in LW)
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or
strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit
has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept
me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and
sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ
in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives
all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and
all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is
most certainly true.
Because we are
united, we have a responsibility to love one another. We have the responsibly to correct one
another, and accept each other’s correction, and even to hold one another
accountable.
But we also know
that we don’t always act very much like we are united. That’s because we are sinful people. That’s because the very nature of sin is separation. Sinful people are separated from God. Sinful people are separated from one
another. Sin is divisive. That’s the problem with all human attempts at
unity; they are filled with and driven by sin.
For an example just look at so called “homosexual-marriage.” It is no real marriage at all. It is a false unity that is based on a lie, a
lie that two men can have the same kind of unity that God has created for men
and women. Or even the example of
live-in couples, claiming to have unity when there is none. Because the unity that God puts into marriage
is based on a commitment to love, honor and cherish despite what trouble may
come.
True unity doesn’t
come from sinful people. It can’t come
from sinful people. It comes only from and
through Jesus Christ. Jesus brings unity
to a divided world. He brings restoration
to a separated world. Through God’s Word
made Flesh, we find peace, healing and wholeness; first, in restoration of our
relationship with God; and then in our relationships to other people. It is in Jesus Christ that we find that we
have true unity. He is the one who has
knit us together into one body. That’s
what Jesus is talking about when He prays that they may be in us. We are
united to God and to one another through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
It works like
this: When human beings were separated
from God because of sin, God united himself to humans by becoming a human
being. Jesus was conceived by an act of
God, a miracle in which God took on human flesh and became a full and complete
person. He grew like any person, was
born like any person, and was fed by his mother like any person. And although he was a complete human being he
wasn’t like any other person, because He was without sin. Jesus is God and Man perfectly united together,
completely God and completely human. In
order to bring an end to the separation between God and man that is caused by
sin, Jesus lived a substitute life for sinful people. He was a perfect “stand in” for us, because
we can’t stand for ourselves. To better
understand what I’m talking about, imagine that you are the star player of a
basketball team. But, in the first few
seconds of the game you foul out. You
can no longer play in the game, but your substitute comes in and plays for
you. All the points that he scores still
count, just as if you made them yourself.
The other team’s coach can’t contest those points because they were made
by a substitute. Jesus whole life was
lived perfectly, as our substitute, in perfect unity with God, the Father. So that, as Jesus prayed, they may be one
even as we are one. And Jesus our substitute goes even
further. Jesus doesn’t just do the good
things we should do; He doesn’t just live the life we should live; He suffers
the punishment we need to suffer. Jesus
on the cross suffers and dies as the greatest sinner that has ever lived. Not because He was sinful, but because He
substitutes Himself for sinful people. All
of God’s anger at our sinfulness is re-directed to our substitute. All of God’s punishment for our sin is put on
our substitute instead of us. Jesus
became sin for us, and the very thing that prevents our unity with God is put
to death. Sin is sent to the grave with
Jesus. Jesus, our substitute, is made to
be guilty and we are declared not guilty.
With sin done away with, with its punishment paid in full, Jesus was
raised to life again. Again, He rises in
our place, a complete human being dead and buried, raised again to live. You see, all that Jesus did He did for you,
and you are united with Him through Baptism in it all, through faith in what He
has done. It’s all Jesus. It’s all His work. It’s all for you.
Now look
around you. It’s all Jesus. It’s all His work. It’s all for them, the young ones and the old ones, the brother in Christ
sitting next to you, the sister in Christ sitting behind you. It’s for the person here that you don’t
particularly like. It’s for the person here
that you love more than any other. It’s
for the person here who has hurt you deeply and even the one you have hurt
deeply. That’s the unity that binds
us. That’s the unity that is found in the
true nature of Jesus Christ. It can’t be
found or seen in any way other than in the truth about what Jesus has done, and
for whom He did it.
And He
did it for other people, too. Many don’t
even know or care about what He has done for them. They aren’t united to Him, because they don’t
trust that what He has done is for them.
Jesus talks about that, too. …so that the world may believe that you have
sent me. He’s talking about taking
the message of what He has done to people who don’t know Him. This Good News about true unity in the world
isn’t just for you, and the people sitting right here. It’s for folks you know out there. That’s what Building Friendships is all
about. We talked about Building up our
friendships with one another. In our
friendships here we share the unity the Jesus Christ has given us. We also want to build up the friendships we
have with people who don’t come here, and people who don’t go anywhere. So that Jesus can use us all to show what He
has done to bring unity to the world.
The
church will not find unity by ignoring sin.
Unity is found in repentance and forgiveness that only Jesus gives. It will not find unity by setting aside real
differences that take away from the truth about what Jesus has done for
us. There is no “piece”, nor “part” of
the Gospel that is unimportant. The
world won’t find unity by wallowing in its own misguided sense of
morality. It won’t find unity in
speaking so as not to offend. The unity
the world is looking for is found only in a relationship with the True
God. There is no relationship with the
True God outside of Jesus Christ. He is
God’s only way of uniting human beings with Himself once again. Amen.
The Peace of God
that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment