Jesus' Prayer For Our Unity

INTRO

John 14—17 is referred to as the Farewell Discourse because it contains Jesus’ final teaching for His disciples. There are lots of references in the Bible that state Jesus went off to pray, but not many in which Jesus’ actual words are recorded. That’s what we have here—the heartbeat of Jesus just before He would be arrested, tried, and crucified. This prayer is called the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. Hebrews 4:14-15 describes Jesus as: our great high priest . . . the mediator between us and God . . . the one who stands in the gap for us. Since we have the actual prayers of Jesus in John 17, and Hebrews 7:23–25 says He lives forever to intercede for us, eternally going to the Father on our behalf, then the prayers of Jesus in John 17 were not prayed only one time for us. I believe this is still Jesus’ prayer now! Jesus’ prayer follows the outline of the high priest Aaron in Leviticus 16. He prayed about His life and mission (vv. 1–5); He prayed for the people (vv. 6–19); and He prayed for future believers (vv. 20–29).

TEACHING

John 17:1–5: These verses contain the beginning of Jesus’ prayer. While Jesus prayed for Himself, there was no self-seeking here. His heart was for His Father’s glory. Jesus knew what He was about to face, and He prayed that He would be lifted up so His Father would be lifted up. In verses 2–3, Jesus described eternal life found through salvation through the One whom God has sent. Jesus said He had done what He was asked and was ready to complete His mission (vv. 4–5). These verses connect us back to John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

John 17:6–19: Jesus then prayed for His disciples. He prayed for their protection and for the continued mission.

John 17:20–23: This is an important passage for us to look at for three reasons: it contains the recorded prayer of Jesus; it records what happened just before Jesus’ arrest; and His prayer is for us. Of all the things Jesus could have prayed for, He chose unity (v. 21). Jesus prayed for them to be one as He and the Father were one—serious unity. In the same way that the Father, Son, and Spirit are distinct persons yet one God, we are called to be distinct members yet one church (Ephesians 4:4–5). Our unity is supposed to be a window for the world to see what God Himself looks like. When we tear apart this body, we are literally maiming the image of Jesus that we present to the world. Think about an actual image of Jesus, and picture in your mind what happens when you literally tear that image apart. Kevin DeYoung tweeted: “You know that you really want revival in your city when you are happy to see it happen through other people and other churches.”

Let’s be clear on what unity is not:

Unity is not uniformity. It’s not about watering everything down to some lowest common denominator so we all look the same. You don’t need unity when everyone is the same. The very concept of unity only makes sense when there is a connection between differing parts. The goal is not to see everyone start worshipping the same way with the same style and having the same practices. That’s uniformity.

Unity is based on the gospel and the Holy Spirit uniting us . . . in spite of our differences. Unity means we are one family, even when we disagree on secondary issues. Unity happens because of our differences, not in spite of them. We tend to take Paul’s teaching about one body with many parts and apply it locally only in the context of one congregation. But those parts are just individual people. Unity is bigger than that. Whole congregations and historical streams of Christianity help add necessary parts to the body.

I grew up in a Methodist tradition, sort of Wesleyan/Arminian stream. But I have dear friends who are in the Calvinist/Reformed stream who have taught me a deep love for Scripture. I have dear friends in the Charismatic/Pentecostal stream who have taught me about the Holy Spirit. I could go on, but you get my point—we need each other! Here’s my point: You don’t have to worship just like your brothers in the church down the street, but you need to actually know your brother down the street, and for the love of God, act like you are on the same team!

Unity is not tolerance. Jesus didn’t say, “They will know you are my disciples by the way you tolerate one another.” It’s not just as simple as not being critical of the other churches. (John 13:35).

Psalm 133 provides a picture of unity. This is a psalm of ascent, which was sung in praise on the way up to the temple in Jerusalem. These words were sung as the tribes of Israel came together in unity at the Lord’s altar. In verse 1, David (the writer) began with “Behold”—there was something beautiful and noteworthy about the tribes of Israel coming together in unity. That unity in God’s people is both “good and pleasant.” David gave several pictures of what unity is like.

First, he described oil running down the head and beard and onto the priestly robes (v. 2). The oil represented the presence of God. When God’s people dwell in unity, the Spirit of God shows up. When we seek unity with our brothers, God commands His blessing in that place. Also, the oil anointing Aaron set him apart for the sake of others. Aaron was set aside to serve as high priest to be the intermediary to God. The people of Israel had access to God through Aaron. As Christians, we are part of the same priesthood and are to extend forgiveness and presence of God in this world (1 Peter 2:9). How will the world recognize God in us, if the priests of the same temple are at war with one another?

In verse 3, David described unity “like the dew of Hermon.” Mount Hermon is the highest peak in Israel and important because it gathers snow that provides water to Israel. The melting snow seeps into rock channels and pores, feeding springs at the base of the mount, which form streams and rivers and all merge into the Jordan River. The psalm describes this as a blessing from the Lord. The Jordan River was the place where Jesus was baptized. And Zion (the land of Israel) is used as a metaphor for the coming heaven. Therefore, when brothers dwell in unity it commands God’s blessing and actually gives us a picture of the glory that awaits us forevermore in heaven.

CLOSING

We are literally practicing for heaven. I often say during outreach events, “If you don’t like worshipping next to people who are different from you, you might want to avoid heaven.” We become the answer to Jesus’ prayer by collectively fixing our eyes on Jesus.

Paul often used the metaphor of the human body for the church (Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18). A body can only be one body when it has the same head. Remove the head and there is no life. You can remove a limb and still live. But remove the head and the body is dead.

A. W. Tozer wrote, “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”¹

By learning to love our brothers and sisters and walk in unity, we get to literally become an answer to the eternal prayers of Jesus, our great High Priest. When Jesus returns, he is coming for His Bride . . . not brides.