Life Source - Week 9 - Day 1 ** John 17: 20 - 26

Today, we will finish our thinking about Jesus' prayer in John 17.
Read John 17: 20 - 26.  As you read, identify the key theme.  It is hard to miss!  

In verse 20 we hear Jesus shift from praying for His individual disciples to praying for the believers that will follow in years and centuries to come.  Those believers constitute Christ's church.  So when you read the pronoun "them" in these verses ... it refers to Jesus' church.  She cannot be ignored as unimportant, as unnecessary.  She is Christ's body on this earth ... and He spent time in prayer for her before He went to the cross.   I have heard some folks say, "I will take Jesus but I want nothing to do with the church."  Can't be done.  She is His bride, His treasure.  Instead of walking away from her because of the mess that we humans make, why not become a part of one and make a difference there.  Keep calling your own part of the church back to the fact that we are to be His body on earth ... that means we are to be doing what Jesus' body did when He walked and taught here. 

Jesus was not subtle in His prayer for His church.  He did not hide His desires for her behind mysterious language that is hard to understand.  It is like being hit by a two-by-four!  You can't miss it.  Jesus' desire for His church is that she be unified ... that her members experience the same kind of unity that Jesus and His Father enjoy.  Notice ... He does not pray that she experience uniformity ... in thinking, in looks, in actions, in worship ... not sameness ... unity. 

And there is an incredibly important reason why this matters.  It has nothing to do with comfort or feeling good.  The reason this matters is that unity in the midst of diversity is the testimony before the world that Jesus is who He said He was!  It is the path to belief! 

Oh, my friends, when I read these words from Jesus I want to fall on my face in confession before God for the mess we have made!  Even looking inside one congregation of believers in one denomination of believers ... we find factions and fighting, hatred and ugliness, division and exclusions.  Then when we expand our observations to Christianity at large, the picture becomes sobering indeed.  Jesus said it was unity that would fuel belief.  Is the corollary then true?  That our lack of unity fuels unbelief? 

Before you close your reflection time today ... spend some time with the Lord.  There may be room for confession on your part.  Also, ask Him to show you where you have been part of the problem rather than the solution.  Ask Him to reveal, through the Holy Spirit, how you can better exhibit unity with other believers ... not just those that look and think like you.  It was Jesus' primary desire for His future followers.  It is Jesus' primary desire for us.