Our Unity in Our Faith
Unity, Harmony, and Community – Part 2
John 17:6-19
For the past couple of months, there has been this new advertising campaign entitled “Du bist Deutschland” (You are Germany). It has been a cooperative public service campaign that was designed to inspire confidence in the German people about their country. It was to be used as a way of describing a new unity in this country that could help the people while they were encountering high unemployment, loss of wages and new jobs, slow economic growth and hard times. You would see famous actors, and familiar faces of people across the spectrum of Germany. From Michael Shumacher to Albert Einstein, Germans were seeing a propaganda campaign that many hoped would help the national self-esteem of the country.
But then just this week, it has been discovered that the Nazis used the same type of campaign with the phrase “Denn, du bist Deutschland” (Because you are Germany). A photo in a book entitled A Century of Pictures shows a group of people in Ludwigshafen during a march in 1933, with the picture of Adolph Hitler above the slogan “Denn, du bist Deutschland.” Apparently, the Nazis used the same idea for a short time to encourage national unity. Of course, I am not saying that Germans today are Nazis. What I am saying, is that this illustration represents the fact that no matter how good our intentions, unity is hard to get right.
As we can see, we can’t get this unity thing right all the time. Only the church of Jesus Christ can experience one body – the essence of true unity. While nations may attempt to help their citizens deal with their insecurities, only Christ can bring us real security In this passage, we read about our security that comes from God. We also read about how our security keeps us in unity as Christians.
The security that Jesus talks about keeps us in unity.
You learn unity when you are secure in your faith
Being secure in our faith is like two sides of the unity coin. There are two sides to this unity that comes from our security:
On the one side of the unity coin there is Jesus.
God kept them before Christ came. (17:6)
Jesus kept them while He was on the earth. (17:12)
Jesus tells God to keep these people. (17:11)
Jesus prays that God will keep these people when Jesus is back in heaven. (17:15)
Jesus sets us apart and then sends us out. (17:18)
God declares our faith to us. Then He gives us our faith to us, and then He secures our faith for us. If you look at the process, Jesus is describing the unity that we have in our faith in Jesus Christ. He is the point of unity for Christians. Jesus also shares how God keeps us united. We alone cannot stay united. We can be in union, but still not in unity.
Dr. Jimmy Martin, General-Secretary of the International Baptist Convention once said – If you tie a cat and dog together by their tails and throw them over a line, they will be in union, but not in unity.
Christian denominations prove that we can be in union, but not in unity. If we tried to create unity, we would fail. But if we work at keeping the unity that God has already created, God will help us. God works at keeps us in union with Him and in unity with one another.
On the other side of the unity coin there is us:
We keep Jesus’ words (17:6)
We know things come from God (17:7)
We receive those words (17:8)
We believe the words – that God sent Jesus (17:9)
So our unity is kept secure by us and God. Sometimes we fail, but we can take strength in the fact that God will keep us secure. We may not listen to Jesus words and keep them – that is our fault. We have to learn to repent and change our attitude. We have to learn to listen to God and start obeying Him.
It is like keeping a pet safe. The pet is in the world with people, but the pet is kept safe on a leash by the owner. Pets can still walk around, but the owner’s boundaries are set. The pet’s boundaries are set by the words of the owner. The actions are limited by the leash. When the pet knows to stay with the owner, then the pet knows it doesn’t need the leash. He’s free but he’s kept safe by the words of the owner.
So when we understand that our faith is tied to the fact that God keeps us, then we learn to be secure in our faith. He holds, He owns us. We are His. And we want to be His. We want to listen to His words. We want to obey Him, and we want to love God, then we learn to be secure in our faith.
As another example, we can imagine God who is holding out His hand to us and keeping us safe. But for us to continue in our Christian life, we have to grab onto God and stay in union with Him. This is what it means to have personal security with God in your faith. You learn your security is in God when you stay united with Him.
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
(Philippians 3:12 NKJV)
Insecure people are people who don’t know themselves very well. Insecure Christians don’t know their Savior very well. So in order for us to learn unity with others, we have to start to be secure in what we believe about our faith. That means that we learn to trust God’s word when it says that “If we believe in Him, we will have eternal life.” That means that we must say no to folks and others who tell us that God’s word is a lie.
When you accept Jesus Christ, you become a Christian. You change your direction and your new director for life is Christ. You give Christ the keys to your life-house. You never lose the keys because you gave them to Christ. As a result, no one can break in and rob your new house. Christ has the key and He built in a spiritual security system that keeps your new life-house safe.
Now Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. How does he do that? He sends robbers to make you think that your house will get robbed. You see those robbers outside and you think that they will break in. But remember, Christ has the key. No one can take your life away from you. No one can take your salvation away because you gave it to Christ.
You have to believe this because the next step of unity that comes from our security is when God starts to set you apart.
You start to grow in unity when you are set apart in your faith
As God changes you, He is going to start to set you apart from the world. You will no longer be allowed to be united with the world. You have to change that so that God can use you. So Christian unity means that you start to go from union with the world to union with God.
I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
(John 17:14-16 NKJV)
When we discover our security in Christ, we begin to learn that because we are His, we don’t belong to the world anymore. God starts to show us that we are different, that we are special, that we are unique, and that we don’t belong to what we thought we belonged to before. This is why Jesus talks about the contrast between His disciples and the world. When we take our security from the Word of God, we begin to learn that we don’t belong to the world. We are a different people.
Now, when we learn that we are a different people, the thing that Christians do is they learn to isolate themselves away from the world. They begin to say: We will not hang with the heathens. We won’t get to know people who don’t know Jesus. We stay together in our Christian clubs, with people whom we consider safe.
But that is not the point about being set apart. Jesus sets us apart so that we can continue to grow and change. Jesus wants us to change for a reason. He means this when He says that God should keep us from the evil one. If we were to be totally isolated from the world, then Jesus could have simply taken us away from this world. But Jesus did not do that. Why?
Jesus sets us apart and then sends us out. There is a purpose to your security in Christ, and a purpose to you being set apart. Jesus wants to use you to help those who do not know Him to come to know Him.
You display your unity as a Christian when you are sent out for your faith.
Jesus sends us out to do what? We are sent out into the world to share with others what God has done. You are not expected to save the world. However, you are expected to share with the world what has happened to you.
What do we share? You share what God has done to you. Jesus was sent by God to give eternal life to people who accept Jesus.
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
(John 17:3 NKJV)
Because God sent Jesus out into the world, Jesus will now send us out into the world.
As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
(John 17:18 NKJV)
So, God keeps us secure in our faith through His power. God sets you apart in our faith through His Word. Jesus send us out to share our faith with the world.
You share what God has done for you. But then the question becomes, when do I share?
You share when you see someone needs to hear about Jesus. You have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit about this. You don’t share with every person because you were not sent to every person. Even Jesus was not meant to share with everyone. He spent His time with two guys and focused his energy on these twelve. Then, as He was going about His business with the disciples, other people became interested. As they became interested, then He shared with them what they could handle.
You will read many times that Jesus tells something to the crowd, and then turn to His disciples and says: There is more to this and here it is. Jesus knew the interest level of the people around Him. So the key to sharing our message is to share with those who will be interested.
You can ask questions that probe this interest. For example:
I have found purpose in life. Do you want to know how?
Are you looking for meaning?
Sometimes, people will ask me about religion. When asked what I think, I make it clear. I say that everyone needs Jesus. They may think that they can find God, but they need Jesus. That is my first statement. I need Jesus, you need Jesus, everyone needs Jesus. I know it is a strange way to talk about God, but I have no time for debates. I have no time to skip the issue. I let God use that statement to get them thinking about spiritual matters. If they want to know about Jesus, they know who to come to. Of course you may be the type that does not like rejection. You may say: You know, I can’t handle what other people will say when I bring up the subject about Jesus. Well, you can take comfort in the fact that when Jesus was rejected – and He got the ultimate rejection, He was nailed on a cross. What did He do? Jesus got back up. Of course, it took three days, and it took some help from His Father. But Jesus did get back up. He overcame the rejection to His message. You can too.
Let me share with you five different methods of sharing Jesus with your world.
FIVE DIFFERENT METHODS OF SHARING JESUS WITH YOUR WORLD
1. Transition – FORM
F - Family
O - Occupation
R - Relationships
M – Message
This is a casual approach. You talk about familiar interests, but you gradually move to the message of Jesus. It can happen in one setting. It can take place over a couple of weeks. But the point is to draw them to the message. The question that makes them think about Jesus as the message is this: Would you like to have a personal relationship with God?
2. Thinking – Diagnostic questions
You can also make a diagnosis. You can ask two simple questions that test whether someone has been thinking about Jesus.
1. If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?
2. If you did go to Heaven, and God were to ask you: “Why should I let you in?” How would you answer?
These are canned questions, I know. But they reveal the level of interest in God and they also pinpoint where a person is on their journey in their faith. If they can’t answer the first question, you know that they need Jesus. If they say Heaven, but can’t answer that Jesus is the reason, then you know more as well. It gives you a spiritual diagnosis.
3. Theological – Roman Road
Some people, when they are asked about God, need to see from the Bible what God says about Himself. A simple way of sharing the Gospel is known as the Roman Road. The point is that by using just verses in Romans, you can share with others about Jesus.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Romans 3:23 NKJV)
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:8 NKJV)
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:23 NKJV)
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
(Romans 10:9 NKJV)
For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
(Romans 10:13 NKJV)
4. Testimonial – Your story
Perhaps you are not the type to whip out a Bible and thump it over someone’s head. Perhaps you can’t remember Bible verses and present a logical presentation. Then perhaps you can give your testimony. When someone asks about God or religion, or spiritual matters, just simply ask if you can share something special that happened to you.
You can open it up like this: You know, I had a very personal spiritual experience. Would you like to hear about it? If they say yes, then just describe how you came to know Jesus. You don’t have to make a speech or say a lecture. You just briefly talk about the circumstances of your life and how you came to know Jesus. Then you describe what kind of difference it made in your life. Many of you have heard these stories in our church. You don’t just tell your story in this church. You are also supposed to tell your story with others out there. They need to hear it just as much as we do. Your story is very important because God uses stories to teach the world about Him and His Son.
5. Tag-along – Come and see
Perhaps you are not good at explaining. Perhaps you don’t think your testimony is so great. Perhaps you are shy and you don’t know how to approach someone. Well, you can always invite. You can tell someone when they ask you about your faith, or what you do on Sunday that you come to an international church. You can say about all the exciting things that happen at your church. You can say that you meet with people from around the whole world each Sunday. You can suggest to them that they come and see.
Then when they come, they will hear about Jesus from this podium. They will be presented with the good news of Jesus Christ. Yes, you are passing the hard part to the speaker, but that is just fine. You are still doing your part in sharing with others about Jesus. This was the method that Andrew used to bring his brother Simon to hear about a man named Jesus.
He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah.[9] You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).
(John 1:41-42 NKJV)
Philip did the same thing with His brother Nathanael.
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."
(John 1:45-46 NKJV)
It doesn’t matter what method you use. It matters more that you start sharing with the world about Jesus.
When we share with others about Jesus, we are displaying the unity that God keeps in us through His Son Jesus. We share this unity with the world. We encourage this unity with one another. We grow in unity in ourselves, and we display it in our faith. Our unity is one witness that shows the unity between God the Father and Jesus the Son.
Our unity tells the world that God exists. Our unity tells the world that God sent His Son Jesus. Our unity tells the world that they need Jesus. God wants unity on earth. But He also wants as many people as possible to be in union with Him.
