Series: None
Message: One
Text: John 17:20-26
Date: Nov. 6, 2011
Pastor: David McBeath
PRAYER
INTRODUCTION—STEVE JOB’s VISION
Anybody here this morning own an Apple product, an Ipod, Ipad, Itouch, Iphone, or a Mac? If you don’t most of you own technology originally pioneered by Apple. With the passing of Steve Jobs—it is truly clear that his innovations have changed the world.
But things were not always rosy for the company. When apple computer fell on difficult days, Apple’s young chairman, Steve Jobs, traveled from the Silicon Valley to New York City. His purpose was to convince Pepsico’s John Sculley to move Californiat and run his struggling company.
As the two men overlooked the Manhattan skyline from Sculley’s penthouse office, the Pepsi executive started to decline Jobs’ offer. “Financially,” Schully said, “you’d have to give me a million-dollar salary, a million-dollar bonus, and a million-dollar severance.”
Flabbergasted, Jobs gulped and agreed—only if, Sculley would move to California. But Sculley would commit only to be a consultant from New York. At that, Jobs issued a challenge to Sculley. He said: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want to change the world?”
In his autobiography Odyssey, Scully admits Steve’s challenge “knocked the wind out of me.” He said he had become so caught up with his future at Pepsi, his pension, and whether his family could adapt to life in California that an opportunity to “Change the world” nearly passed him by, but because of Job’s challenge, he put his life in perspective and went to Apple.
Steve Jobs cast a vision for changing the world! And he put together a team—that would change the world. Vision is important. Vision changes the world!! This morning I am going to share, what our vision team believes God has laid on our hearts for our church. But before I do, I have another vision story for you.
BUCK’S VISION
This week I had the wonderful pleasure of visiting an older couple in our church. They have been thru a very difficult few months. I’m talking about Dottie and Buck Buckstauber. They gave me permission to share this story.
At the end of this summer, Buck had a large heart attack. The Doctors told him that he had three blocked arteries and they couldn’t do anything for him. Just a few weeks ago, Buck fell off his bed as he was getting dressed in the morning. He broke his nose and the doctors at Lockport Hospital thought he had cracked the lower portion of his spine, so they sent him to ECMC. By God’s grace his spine was only bruised and what they saw on the x-ray was just arthritic pieces that had fallen his spine of when he fell. Later, Buck was transferred him to Newfane hospital thinking because they thought he had double pneumonia, but it turned out he had had three heart-attacks from the period Friday to Tuesday.
Like I said, I visited him and Dottie at their home this past Wednesday. Buck is doing OK. We had a wonderful conversation. He shared about his life before he was before he was a Christian. Let me just say Buck was a sinner. But Buck also told me about how he came to know Christ and how God transformed him and restored him. How God turned him into a new person! It was a beautiful story, but here’s the part that really touched me.
Buck started talking about retirement, money, living longer than he expected, and money getting a little short in supply. He said, “God has been good to us, he taken care of us.” Here’s the part that touched me. As he was reflecting on the fact that this may be the last chapter of his life he said, “If I had all the money in the world, I would use it to lead people to Jesus.”
Jesus restored and transformed Buck over the course of his life and Buck wants others to experience this same thing! Looking back over his life—the Good News of Jesus that changed him has become the most important thing to him! Let me say this: BUCK has Christ’s vision for the world!
Buck’s longing to lead people to Jesus—was Christ’s vision and prayer as he contemplated the end of his life, as well. This morning my message focuses on the final portion of Christ’s last prayer before his crucifixion. It is his prayer for us! Let me read our text for this morning, John 17:20-23. Remember this is what Christ prays for us just before he is about to die!
TEXT
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
What is Christ’s last recorded prayer before he hangs on a cross in the Gospel of John? Look at verse 23. His prayer or vision is ultimately that thru our unity or oneness “…the world will know the love of God demonstrated thru his, Jesus Christ’s, life and death.
CHRIST’S VISION OUR VISION
Christ’s prayer is the prayer of our vision team. Christ’s vision is for the world, for the world’s transformation and restoration thru him and thru us as we live out Christ’s values, his dream, his prayer. Our vision team believes that the things JESUS values before his death need to be our values as a church. Look at the front of your bulletin. It states that one of our values as a church is to have ONE Vision. Just one! We believe it reflects Christ’s vision in his prayer. Our vision is to transform and restore our community (our little world) with the Good News of Jesus Christ, 1 life at a time.
HOUSING VISIONS
As God has given us this new vision for our church, I find it interesting that HE has ordained a new vision for our community, for this neighborhood around the church. It’s a vision of transformation and restoration. It parallels his vision, our vision! The organization Housing Visions plans to transform and restore this neighborhood by building homes for the working poor. They want to build homes on vacant lots that look like the picture below and match the colonial architecture of the neighborhood. They want to building an apartment complex like in the picture above just across the street. They are also going to rehab several of the homes in this area. All of this is taking place just across the street and within a few blocks of our church. …I don’t believe it is coincidence! What God is doing on the outside of our neighborhood, he also wants to do inside people’s lives with the Good News of Christ. Then, he wants to use these restored and transformed lives (and ours) to transform our neighborhood and city! I am excited because I know in the next few years, God is going to do some amazing things—and he wants to use us to do it, if we let him! (Side note—Pray that God will reveal how he wants you and our church to partner with him in what he is already doing.)
ONE W/OTHERS: LOVE THEM
Our vision is to transform and restore our community with the Good News of Jesus, one life at a time. How will people in our community see and understand the Good News of Jesus? Jesus’s prayer gives the answer. Look at verse 21 he prays: "…that all of them (all of US) may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Jesus prays that we will be ONE with others. Now look at verse 23. Jesus prays: "…May they (May We) be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." Jesus prays that we will be one with each other and that we will be unified so the world will know him. He placed value on unity and love for others, so we’ve made his value our value.
The call for God’s people to be one, to be unified, and love each other is seen throughout the Bible. Psalm 133:1 says: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.” The Apostle in Ephesians 4:2-3 writes: "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." And I could go on and one and on.
Why the call for God’s people to be ONE, to be unified in love? Well, only when the church is unified will it be able to experience revival and growth. Look at Acts 2:1. I am going to read from the New King James. "When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." So on the day of Pentecost the believers were of one accord in one place. The Greek word for “one accord” means they had the same mindset, they had the same passion. There were no grudges, no arguments, no murmurings, no grumblings, no grievances, no complaints, no criticisms and so on and so forth. There was unity. And this unity, this singleness of mind, this passion resulted in the Holy Spirit falling on them. Revival breaks out in their midst and 3000 believe in Jesus and are added to the church.
Now, I am going to say something that is a bit of a paradigm shift. We are very individualistic in the United States and our individualism may be distorting the way we understand the Bible. Here’s the paradigm shift: Could it be that the community of believers (the church) not the individual is the primary witness to the Good News of Jesus? (Repeat.) Jesus prays for us to be ONE, UNIFIED so the world may know the Love of God. Does the church as a whole or does the individual provide the best witness to the Love of God thru Jesus to the world?
I believe it is the church as a whole! I believe individuals are gospel sparks, but when we sparks get together as ONE in a small group, we become a gospel flame, when small groups come together as ONE in a church gathering the become a fire, and when churches come together as ONE in a city they become a raging forest fire that reveal Jesus and transforms cities! Here is another word picture for you. No one person can whistle the symphony God wants to write thru Jesus Christ in this neighborhood, it takes an orchestra, a church to play it!
REDWOODS
Along the coast of northern California are great forests of redwoods that are noted for their beauty and fine wood. But they are also known for their tendency toward unity. Two redwoods may grow up together several feet apart, and then after 50-100 years the trees begin to touch. Quite often the bark begins to overlap and fill out so the two trees ultimately become one. There have been cases were a dozen trees have sprung up in a perfect circle from the remaining outer roots of a tree that has fallen. After centuries these trees have grown together so that outwardly they appear as a single giant tree! In keeping with Christ’s prayer, the goal of the body of Christ should be to grow into such unity that the world will recognize us as one. The display of such unity in our individualistic society will be a testimony to the world of the divine person and work of Jesus!
DISUNTIY
Why does Jesus pray for unity? Because, God hates division. Division is the aftermath sin. Adam and Eve as representatives of humanity were ONE with God and ONE with each other before the fall, but after the fall. Not so much—Cain killed Abel. Brother killed brother! This disunity has been characteristic of the human race ever since. Disunity is the opposite of God. God is unity. He is three-in-one! When there is disunity in the church, when there is disunity between believers we do not image God. We do not reflect who he is and as a result the world can’t see Him!
This is why the Bible speaks so often against disunity. Proverbs 6:16-19 say: "There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him.” God hates and detests, according to verse 19, “ … a man who stirs up dissension (disunity) among brothers."
What kept the Israelites out of the promised land? Disunity: quarreling and complaining. It is related to unbelief—read Hebrews 3. Why is it related to unbelief? Because focus is on self not God and others! Isn’t this the case with 95% of complaining and murmuring in the church? Disunity is the result of self-focus!
Why does God want unity and oneness in his church? The great Puritan preacher Thomas Manton succinctly states the reason. He says: “Divisions in the church breed atheism in the world.” But the opposite is also true—unity in the church reveals God!
UNITY AND LOVE
Unity is based in love. If we don’t love each other-we won’t be unified. Love gives us the ability to focus on others and not self. Consider this, the hardest words in the world to get right are: “I Love You.” The word I is the only word we seem to be able to say. I want this in my church, I want that in my church, I want the other in my church, I...I…I…I. What are you saying I about? What are you complaining about? What are you murmuring about? What seeds of dissension and discord are you sowing? If you are doing these things, ask God to change your heart! Ask God to give you his vision! Ask him to make you ONE with those you are complaining about.
Look at the phrase “I Love You” on the screen. What separates I from You? Love does. Love bridges the gap between I and You. …You see, the word love has become a noun for us. We say “I fall in love” instead of “I love!” Do you see the difference? Falling in love is something that happens to me for me. When I say I love—I say am committed to …whoever it is…no matter the cost to me. Let me illustrate this with a story about a Mom who said I love you with her actions.
Phil Hook writes: My mother and I did not get along. We did not mix or interact. I chose a typical teenage solution to our problem—distance and silence. I would leave for school in the morning, come home to eat, then leave again. When I was finally home late at night, I read books. Invariably, my mother would come downstairs and ask me if I wanted a sandwich. I grunted—Yeah. She cooked egg and bacon sandwiches for me night after night until I left home for good. Year later, when our relationship was mended, she told me why she had made all those sandwiches. Here is what she said: “If you would ever talk to me, it was while I made the sandwich.”
Phil hook goes on to say, “I’ve learned love is found in a consistent display of interest, commitment, sacrifice, and attention.” Love is a verb. If you want to begin the process of becoming ONE with those you complain or murmur about—you will have to learn to love them, show an interest in them, give them your attention and sacrifice what you want for them. It has to start here in the church with our brothers and sisters in Christ if we are ever going to be ONE with and LOVE those outside the church to Christ!
Quickly, let me give you four practical ways to build Unity and Oneness in our church. 1. Focus on what unites rather than what divides. That is what the pastors do at LEMA the Lockport Evangelical Ministers Association. We do this so the world will know the love of God demonstrated thru Jesus. 2. Agree to disagree agreeably. We can have disagreements when it comes to the non-essentials. But God wants us to disagree lovingly and with respect! 3. Validate don’t Vilify. We should be finding ways to build each other up (even those with whom we don’t agree with) not tear each other down. 4. Be part of a small group or Sunday school class, because we can’t possibly be in deep, loving relationships with all 170 people who attend on Sunday morning.
Francis Schaeffer in his book the Mark of a Christian wrote: “We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus’ claims are true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians.” The greatest testimony that we can possibly offer is not quoting Bible verse or providing some cutting edge outreach, it is loving our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and showcasing Christian love to our community.”
PETE ROSE
If Eastern Niagara County is going to see God—they have to see OUR love and unity. Let me illustrate this with another story. It’s about Pete Rose and his Son. For those of you that don’t know, Peter Rose played baseball for the Cincinnati Reds and has the record for the most hits by a baseball player with 4, 256. But he is best remembered for his style of play. He gave 110 percent, ever play no matter whether his team was winning or losing by a large margin. His constant effort earned him the nickname “Charlie Hustle.” Pete’s son, Pete Rose Jr., played for the minor league South Bend, Silverhawks. (My family live 45 minutes from their stadium in Indiana.) Anyway, one of the owners, Stewart Robinson told Sports Illustrated, “Last year I saw Big Pete…I fell in step with him, identified myself and my South Bend connection, and gave Big Pete my observations of Pete Jr. He never looked at me or smiled, or broke stride. All he said was, “Did he hustle?”
We learn a lot about a father by what he looks for in his Son. Our heavenly Father asks one question about us, his children: Are they walking in love? By this question we see the values of God himself. God is Love and he expects his kids to love each other and those outside the church with the love of Christ showed us! This is the primary way the world will come to know him!
ONE WITH GOD: LOVE HIM
How can we love others, like Jesus loved us? We have to be ONE with God! That is Christ’s prayer as well. Look at verse 21. Jesus prays: “May they be in us!” In other words let them be ONE with us! Jesus prays that we would be One with him, ONE with God. He is praying that we grow in our love for him. That is why we’ve made this a value for our church. Being One with God: Loving Him, is really what I talked about last week when I talked about revival. We have to seek God and love him with all our heart! We have to truly understand what God did for us by sending his son! We have to truly understand what Jesus did for us when he died on the cross for us, so we could have a relationship with God—so we could be ONE with him! Romans 6:36 says: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
For some reason it is hard for us to really believe this is true; because, if we did—that would change everything. Imagine you were the boy that lived in this true story that happened in the hometown of Bryan Chapel Professor of Homiletics at Covenant Seminary:
Two brothers were playing on the sandbanks by the river. One ran after another up a large mound of sand. Unfortunately, the mound was not solid, and their weight caused them to sink in quickly. When the boys did not return home for dinner, the family and neighbors organized a search. They found the younger brother unconscious, with his head and shoulders sticking out above the sand. When they cleared the sand to his waist, he awakened. The searchers asked, "Where is your brother?" The child replied, "I’m standing on his shoulders" With the sacrifice of his own life, the older brother lifted the younger to safety. The tangible and sacrificial love of the older brother literally served as a foundation for the younger brother’s life.
How do you think the younger brother feels about the older brother that saved his life? My guess is he’d do anything to please his brother if he were alive. My guess nothing would stand in the way of their relationship, if he were alive.
This is what God thru Jesus Christ did for us. He died so we might live. But Jesus rose from the grave. He lives and we can show him our appreciation for what he did.
If we truly understood what Christ did we’d be in our Bible’s more! We’d be praying more! We’d want him! Our response should reflect the values of Christ in his prayer before he was crucified. We should seek to be with him at all cost. Stop at nothing to love him with our whole heart! We should desire to be to be ONE with him. We should be so in tune with God thru Jesus that we see, feel, and do what Jesus did. And this will make us ONE with others. It will cause us to love those around us in the church and outside the church. When we Love God and Love others in this way we will be able to accomplish the ONE mission he gave us: to make disciples of Jesus who love God, love others and make more disciples. Then Christ’s Vision and Prayer will begin to be realized and our world, our communities, our neighborhoods. They will begin to be transformed and restored, with the Good News of Jesus Christ, one life at a time. My prayer for this church is Christ’s Prayer in John 17. Will you make it your prayer this morning?
