Our Harmony in Our Style
Unity, Harmony, and Community – Part 3
John 17:20-23
Have you ever heard a quartet sing? I know you have heard all kinds of quartets. You have heard barbershop quartets, gospel quartets, or even pop-band quartets. You can hear good ones on the radio, and you can see them on the television.
I was watching TV one evening and saw an interview with “US5”. This is another one of those boy-bands. US5, the German American group from Pop Mogul Lou Pearlman, was formed from the hit TV reality show “Big in America.” The series narrowed down a list of young men by sending them through a mini music industry boot camp to develop their talent. They were broadcast on one of the biggest networks in Germany. They hit No. 1 on the German Billboard Charts with their debut single “Maria” and received the German Radio Music Award for “Best Newcomer 2005.”
They each had a separate musical part, and they each dressed in a style that was meant to attract a certain girl audience. If you separated them you would think they would not fit. However, when they were put together in a boy band, and pow – you have harmony. I am not saying that they sing the best harmony. I think some other groups probably are better at it. They come from so many different backgrounds and have so many different interests. They are so different from each other. Yet, they can come together and make music. US5 consists of Michael and Chris, both German, Jay, who’s British, and two Americans, Izzy and Richie. Although they are international, they work together to form music.
In these verses, Jesus challenges us to do the same. He is praying that we can work in harmony to fulfill God’s purpose. So Jesus prays for others. He knows that this mission is going worldwide. It will be united in faith, but diverse in its membership. He knows that there will need to be harmony. They will need to be united in purpose, but harmonious in their tasks and style. The purpose for every Christian is that the world may believe. Jesus makes this clear.
that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
(John 17:21 NKJV)
Jesus tells us in two verses the purpose of being in harmony. He says that the world may believe. What would they believe? The world will believe in Jesus and follow Him. What will the world know? The world will know that God sent Jesus ans that God loves them. If the world knows that God loves them and that God sent Jesus for them, then the world will believe in God. Yet the way that God chose to let the world know is through the actions of His people – the church. God used Adam, and then used the nation of Israel, but with the advent of His Son, God chose to use the church.
If the purpose of our actions is clearly that the world will get to know God. The way God wants us to act is in harmony. Let me put it to you this way:
We have to go as Christians from singular to plural.
Unity is something that can be accomplished by anyone alone. You can be in unity with yourself. Harmony by its very nature requires that you work with someone else. If you look in these verses, you will see a lots of nouns. You and Me. I and You. These are singular words. Two singulars coming together form a plural. You and Me = We. I and You = We. Notice that Jesus says later – They in Us.
that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
(John 17:21-23 NKJV)
When Jesus says that they are in Us, He knows that we are plural. We may be individuals, but we must come together.
Let me share with you a couple of examples of how this works:
1.A man and a woman are singular individuals. A husband and wife are plural – they form one family.
2.God and Jesus are singular individuals of the Godhead. Yet, together they are plural – they form one Trinity (with the Holy Spirit).
3.The world is made up of individuals. They world comes individually to be a Christian. A Christian is an individual follower of Jesus Christ. Yet, together with other Christians, they form the church. This church, the plural of Christian, they form a harmony.
Let me give you musical illustration to show the difference between being in the singular and the plural.
ILLUSTRATION: Piano
When we come together as Christians and try to do things as individuals, we are operating in the singular. It would sound like this: (Play the keyboard at random with other keys). It essence, you can easily create chaos.
But when you learn to do things in the plural, you learn to create harmony. (Play the keyboard with chords.) The forms of harmony may be different, but they sound a lot better than the individual chaos.
When you start to work together in love, it will be a song that the world wants to hear. (Play a Christmas song.) Then the world will want to know:
That God loves them
That God sent Jesus
That God wants them to believe in Jesus so that they can become part of God’s family.
You will see a process in these verses of developing harmony. You will notice that Jesus prays for believers (which is plural) and yet He expects us to be one in Him.
DEVELOPING HARMONY IN THE CHURCH
1. Jesus wants us to believe in Him through our word.
"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
(John 17:20 NKJV)
This means that Jesus expects each individual who hears about Him to make a decision. Everyone of us hears about Jesus and we will all individually be held in account. In the Last Judgement, Jesus judges us individually for our choice to follow Him.
This means that the Christian life begins with an individual choice to follow Jesus.
2. Jesus wants us to be „one“ in „Us“.
that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
(John 17:21 NKJV)
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
(Galatians 3:28 NKJV)
Jesus expects us to be “one” as He puts it, or to be in unity. When He uses the word one, it is simply the number one. He is talking about a singular thing. To be one is to have the same purpose. But how can you have people (plural) who become one?
Paul comments on the idea that we are “one in Christ Jesus” as Christians. He makes it clear that Christianity is not an exclusive club. It is not made up of just one type of people. Christians are not Jews, nor Greeks, nor Germans, nor Africans, nor Asians, nor Americans. Paul uses other categories. He says Christianity crosses ethnic barriers, economic barriers, and gender barriers. Christianity is an equal-opportunity relationship. Yet because it is international in scope, and because it crosses so many barriers to reach people, Christianity demands that we become one – in harmony.
The Bible never Christians that every Christian must act like a Jew. We are not called to act like an ethnic group, nor like a certain economic group, nor like a certain gender. There are many different ways of expressing our Christian faith. Therefore, we have to learn to work in harmony with one another.
Now, let me emphasize, what we believe should be the same. There are some basics that are fundamental that everyone has to agree upon. However, after these basics, the church will function in a way that works in harmony with those who come together.
3. Jesus wants us to be “one” by following the example of the Godhead.
And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
(John 17:22 NKJV)
By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
(Ephesians 2:15-16 NLT)
So our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord’s Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord.
(2 Corinthians 3:18 CEV)
Jesus wants us to be in harmony because we will have the same glory as He had with God. What does it mean for us to have to same glory. Based on our definition from two weeks ago about glory, Jesus is saying this:
As Christians, we are called to glorify God by learning to praise and honor God and acknowledge God’s love in the good things He does. When we praise and honor God and acknowledge God’s love in the good things He does in our lives, we are following the example of being in harmony. We are reflecting the same harmony that exists between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants us to follow their example.
4. Jesus wants us to be “made perfect” in one.
I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
(John 17:23 NKJV)
What does Jesus mean by that? To be made perfect means to reach the intended goal. What is the intended goal – to be completely in unity. To be completely in agreement with God’s plan for eternity. God wants everyone to get to know Him and therefore we have to be prepared to let others know that. Therefore, God has to prepare us. To be made perfect requires maturity. It requires growing up.
Someone once told me that marriage is two selfish people learning to live together to be one unselfish person. The church is a whole group of selfish Christians learning to be completely in agreement with God and His mission.
This takes work. It takes growing up. It takes learning. It takes saying “No” to a lot of things you used to like doing. It takes saying “Yes” to some new things that God wants you to do. God will change you and He will continue to change you so that you can help Him tell the world that God loves them and wants to know them.
This leads me to the last way that Jesus expects us to develop harmony.
5. Jesus wants us to be one in witness.
I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
(John 17:20 NKJV)
I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
(John 17:23 NKJV)
There are many reasons that Jesus wants us to develop harmony. He wants to work along with one another. He wants us to go from singular to plural. But the most important reason is because He want everyone to get to know Him. Jesus wants us to develop harmony while we are united in faith so that the world will get to know Him. It is as simple as that.
These are important reasons. Jesus expects us to follow Him. But you may be asking: How can I learn to harmonize with other people? I want to work with other people. I want to get to know others. I do have a desire to share with others my faith. But I seem to have to do it alone. For some reason, Christians keep this singular mentality. Christians tend to think that Christianity happens to individuals, who just happen to meet together from time to time. But in fact, Jesus says that we need to be one. We need to go from thinking as individuals to thinking in harmony.
HOW TO LEARN TO HARMONIZE WITH OTHERS
1. Learn to stay in tune with others.
When it comes to Christianity, we have to accept that we are all going to sing the same tune. Like we learned a couple of weeks ago, we all sing the same song of faith. Some people want to sing that song off-key. But we should all agree to sing the song of God in the key of Jesus Christ.
This is best shown in the Revelation. God wants to get as many people from here to heaven singing in the key of Jesus Christ. We are not singing about Muhammad or Moses. We will be singing about Jesus Christ. He is the reason why we live and He is the way to God.
2. Accept the differences of each other.
Each musician can play a different instrument. Each one can sing a different part. Each one can make a different contribution. The same is true as Christians. We each individually have different spiritual gifts. We each have different talents and treasures that they can devote to the church. Each of us can do some of the same things a different way. Our different approaches don’t make it wrong. They can bring a harmony that makes the whole approach to the world very lively and exciting.
Many times we tend to downplay our differences. We say that we don’t like it when someone plays the same tune a different way, or with a different beat. Jesus says to learn to accept that and start to incorporate it so that we can make music that the world wants and needs to hear.
How do you start to make the music?
3. Work at getting together often with others
You make good music only when you practice. Practice, practice, and practice is what is necessary to make good music. As you practice, you correct your flaws, you improve your methods, you learn and you grow. When a music group gets ready to perform, they spend hours practicing their music. There is the warm-up before the performance. But behind the performance are lots of group time together.
If you want to grow as a Christian, if you want to get better at some things, you are going to have to get together often. Once a week on Sunday for the service is not enough. You have to learn to spend time together. Let me tell you something interesting about this harmony thing:
God Himself is a “small group”. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit formed the first small group in history. When you read the first 16 chapters of Genesis, God is addressed in the plural form. It says God in English, but the Hebrew is Elohim – which is plural. God has never operated in the singular. He has been together with His Son and His Spirit making harmony.
God expects us to follow His example. We said a couple of weeks ago that God has been enjoying the praise and honor coming from His Son and the Holy Spirit forever. God wants us to begin to enjoy the company of each other as Christians.
4. Enjoy making music with one another.
Have you ever seen a quartet that didn’t enjoy singing together? Have you ever seen a music group in a bad mood when they came together to sing? I haven’t. As Christians, we need to take the time to really enjoy one another.
You know, the Christian life is not always about talking about our problems and helping with each other. Christianity includes this, because we are called to help each other with the help that God provides. But Christians need to go from accepting help and overcoming problems to enjoying one another and sharing this joy that we have with the world that needs that joy.
We can easily learn the doctrines of our faith. We can easily agree to the basics of our faith. We can be united in what we believe. Yet harmony is where we can really learn to grow. We can learn to show the world that Jesus is really worth following. Learning to be in harmony as a church is the essential style that God wants us to use. I challenge you to go from being a single musician in the name of Jesus to a part of the body of Christ ready to make music that the world will want and needs to hear.
