Text:
John 17:9-11,20-24
Topic: That
they may be One
Background
Unity of the Godhead in our text
Why we must be united
Conclusion
Background
The Gospel according to John differs slightly from the other Gospels. Jesus is introduced at the opening as the word of God and God even from the first few verses of the first chapter, who was made flesh, revealing a great mystery of God. John 1:1ff. (He was God and still agreed to come as an embryo/baby Jesus! What a sacrifice), what sacrifice have you sacrificially made for the gospel/others for the sake of the gospel? it won’t go in vain.
John 17 records Jesus' prayer to the Father shortly before His crucifixion (very few hours according to some scholars), often called His High Priestly Prayer just as we have High priest blessing Numbers 6 and atonement in Lev.16 with extensions in Heb. 4-10. From that heartfelt prayer of Jesus, the following segment of prayer was seen, Jesus prayed for the disciples:
·
Purity
vs 17.1 Cor.5:7, Eph.5:26-27,1 pt. 1:15-16
·
Unity
vs 11,21
·
Safety
vs. 15.Ps. 127:1ff, Psalm 91.
Unity of the Godhead in our text
The beauty/power/characteristics/unity or other great virtues of the Godhead cannot be fully understood or explained by the human mind. It doesn’t matter whether the real or assumed capacity of such is considered, but with the help of His Spirit, we can see a few through our text for today.
Our God through the scriptures shows the only example of a perfect leadership, He doesn’t request from us what He hasn’t or isn’t doing even in greater dimension.
In the passage, we see the following unity in the Godhead:
·
Glory Vs. 4-5
·
In words Vs 8
·
Possession Vs 9-11
·
Location/stand
- before the earthly assignment vs.5, after the earthly assignment vs 11.
Who are we doing life journey with? Psalm 133:1,1:1 ff, Gen. 3:9.
Why we must be
united
This is a very great concern and topic,
a book can be written just like several others have been written, but we will
just consider a few needs for unity.
·
Our perfection is in our unity
·
Our message is in our unity John 13:35
·
We resemble the Godhead in our unity vs.11,21
· Since the world already hates us, we must stand with and support one another. Vs. 14
Conclusion
Satan is very
crafty, have you thought of why he attacks friendships, family and the church
with disunity. Deut.32:30 underscores the strength in unity. Jesus died for
relationship that was hitherto broken down by sin, relationship with God. If we
all have the Holy Spirit in and at work in us, we will be united in that unit,
Assembly, District, Zone, DCC Region and the body of Christ as a whole. Receive
grace for unity in Jesus mighty name amen.
