“I have given [My disciples] 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 ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” [1]
Christian unity has been a goal (I would even be inclined to say, a fevered dream) of liberal churches for decades. Nay, increase the time span to centuries. The website for the World Council of Churches, a conglomeration of more than three hundred fifty religious organisations, espouses unity as one of the primary reasons for the existence of the group. [2] Similarly, a major emphasis for the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, is advocacy for “Christian unity.” [3] In Canada, the Canadian Council of Churches promote the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity as their contribution to the annual global ecumenical celebration. [4]
These religio-ecclesiastical groups are composed primarily of liberal churches, or at least groups with notably lax theological standards, all claiming to be Christian. Thus, their proclaimed emphases of being Christian are designed to lend an air of legitimacy and are to be expected. Paul identifies groups such as these in the follow devastating description as he looks forward to this present day, writing, “Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people” [2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5]. The most damning part of this dark description must surely be when Paul writes, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” Just so, these groups emphasise ostentatious displays of piety, strapping on their religion much as one would strap on a peg-leg, but they have neither power nor legitimacy with the Risen Saviour.
Unity among Christians can be achieved, but it can never come at the expense of moral purity or theological integrity. The Apostle to the Gentiles has a great deal to say about unity, but we must not forget that he also has a great deal to say about purity, which is closely tied to the neglected subject of holiness. We who follow the Risen Lord of Glory are often called “saints”—that is, holy ones, sanctified ones. We dare not imagine that we can achieve unity while ignoring holiness.
In His High Priestly prayer, Jesus asked the Father to grant that unity would reign among His followers. The unity He requested was contingent upon theological integrity. Without theological integrity, there would never be unity. And yet, liberal churches continue to imagine that merely claiming to be Christian will somehow bring about unity. However, the unity they seek is best described as commodity with the world. And because of their refusal to accept the Word, they fall under the censure of God’s Spirit, Who directed the Apostle of Love to write, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” [1 JOHN 2:15-17].
In saying this, the Apostle John demonstrated that he was in agreement with the Apostle to the Gentiles, who wrote, “The appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away” [1 CORINTHIANS 7:29-31].
Few among the professed followers of the Lord Jesus believe that this world system is passing away, if commitment to the written Word is any indication. Pleasing those identified with the world system is more important than fidelity to the One we call “Master” in far too many instances. Too few professing Christians know what they believe, and fewer still know why they believe. Too often we join the church of our choice as though it were a sort of ecclesiastical fraternal order rather than giving thought to what the congregation believes. And what is believed is not necessarily what is proclaimed from the pulpit! What is believed is best seen through the conduct of the lives of those who hold membership in that congregation. If you want to know what a church believes, take time to watch how those attending the services live day-to-day.
John recorded Jesus’ prayer that was offered up shortly before His Passion. And in this prayer, Jesus focused on preparing His disciples for His exodus. The repeated emphasis revealed in His requests revolved around equipping those who follow Him to stand firm while living in a hostile world. And these followers of the Christ will stand firm when they maintain their focus on Jesus, Who will be glorified by the Father.
NOT OF THE WORLD — Jesus pleaded with the Father, “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 ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” [JOHN 17:14-16].
We who follow the Saviour are not accounted as part of the world. We were once part of the world, identified as belonging to world; but when we were saved through faith in Christ the Lord, we were removed from our prior identification and brought into the Kingdom of God. Do you recall the statement Jesus made concerning the attitude of the world toward His redeemed saints? The passage you need to focus on is JOHN 15:18-25.
Jesus instructed those who follow Him, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’”
Throughout the Word of God, the followers of the Risen Saviour are repeatedly cautioned that they are not part of this dying world. Here are a few instances worthy of your attention. You my recall Jesus warning, “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets” [LUKE 6:26]. The question posed to us who follow the Saviour is which is more important, the praise of those who will perish with this present world, or the commendation of Christ the Lord? Are we living for the praise of mere mortals who are even now under condemnation of the Living God? Or are we living to glorify the Lord Jesus?
Take note of the opening words of Paul’s Letter to the Churches of Galatia. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen” [GALATIANS 1:3-5]. Our Lord did not give His life just so we could live as though we were part of this dying world with the hope of Heaven. That is the concept that is revealed time and again in the attitude of those who stand condemned with the world. Christ died to deliver us from this present evil age, and this deliverance is according to the will of God our Father.
The churches that have embraced the world in hopes of being approved by the world fall under the censure delivered by the half-brother of our Lord. James delivers this “in your face” condemnation to all who imagine themselves to be followers of Christ without rejecting the world. “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” [JAMES 4:4].
The stunning assessment James delivers is ratified when the Apostle of Love writes, as we saw only moments ago: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires” [1 JOHN 2:15-17a].
For those individuals who pretend that performing various rites demonstrate their commitment to the Risen Lord of Glory, the admonition of the Apostle will do nicely. You will recall how Paul has written, “Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God” [COLOSSIANS 2:16-19].
Then, the Apostle speaks in such a way to address professing Christians who have never grown beyond mere rituals, writing, “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’ (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” [COLOSSIANS 2:20-23].
Don’t allow anyone to judge your Faith by the rituals in which you share. And don’t fall into the trap of imagining that participating in these rituals will make you acceptable to the Lord. To share in the rituals of the church without being transformed through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is to engage in mere performance art. To attempt to please God without faith in the Risen Saviour is a fool’s errand that will only deceive oneself. Have we not read, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” [HEBREWS 11:6 CSB]. This is nothing less than an iteration of Jesus’ teaching when He said, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” [JOHN 4:24].
Well, what is it? Do we have faith that transforms our lives? Or is all we have some form of performance art? We saw how far performance art can carry a person when we witnessed people who were part of the Religion of Peace as they prepared to seize control of passenger planes, turning them into missiles to be flown into skyscrapers and into the Pentagon in 2001. Each of the Muslim bandits carefully washed themselves, carefully shaving the hair from their bodies, all while reciting prayers to the desert demon they imagined they worship. No rational person believes these terrorists were honouring the Lord God of Heaven and earth, much less honouring either their families or the people who claim to adhere to the Religion of Peace. Eating a wafer and sipping a shot of wine in a church service is equally meaningless if the one sharing in that rite has no concept of worship of the Son of God. Dripping water on the forehead or being dipped in a pool is a pointless act if there is no faith in the Risen Christ.
But that is not the case for the one who is born from above and into the Kingdom of God. Have we not heard, “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” [ROMANS 14:17]. Righteousness is imparted to us because our sin is forgiven and we are now accepted in the Beloved Son. Peace that comes from the presence of the Spirit of Christ Who assures us that we are now blessed in the Son. Joy that brightens our path through this dismal world because we know Him Who is righteous and because His grace overshadows our lives.
Do you recall Jesus speaking with one member of the Jewish Council, a man who was curious about what this Galilean teacher was saying. Here is the account as written by John. “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again”’” [JOHN 3:1-7].
The Kingdom of God, that unseen kingdom in which the Living God reigns, is entered only when one has been born from above. Until one is born from above, the Kingdom of God is but a mythical community that seems as though it is a fairytale. But to those who are twice born, those who have come in faith to the Son of God, the Kingdom of God is real and it is now. We are not awaiting some grand event far in the future to enter into the presence of the Living God, for we are now members of the Family of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You will no doubt recall that the Apostle to the Gentiles has drawn a contrast between those who are in the world and we who follow the Lord Jesus, when he writes, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” [PHILIPPIANS 3:17-21].
One man attempting to describe the Christians living in the Roman Empire, wrote, “Christians are not distinguished from the rest of humanity by country, language, or custom. For nowhere do they live in cities of their own, nor do they speak some unusual dialect, nor do they practice an eccentric lifestyle. This teaching of theirs has not been discovered by the thought and reflection of ingenious men, nor do they promote any human doctrine, as some do. But while they live in both Greek and barbarian cities, as each one’s lot was cast, and follow the local customs in dress and food and other aspects of life, at the same time they demonstrate the remarkable and admittedly unusual character of their own citizenship. They live in their own countries, but only as aliens; they participate in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign country is their fatherland, and every fatherland is foreign. They marry like everyone else, and have children, but they do not expose their offspring. They share their food but not their wives. They are ‘in the flesh,’ but they do not live ‘according to the flesh.’ They live on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws; indeed in their private lives they transcend the laws.” [5]
We Christians, we twice-born followers of the Risen Saviour, are not of the world. Though we do not claim perfection, we constantly strive for perfection so that we will not dishonour our Master. Though we know we are not sinless, we are confident that He died for our sin and has freed us from condemnation. We heard the promise of the Father, and we accepted what He promised when He said, “Whoever believes in [God’s Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” [JOHN 3:18-21]. Amen.
SENT INTO THE WORLD — “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” [JOHN 17:17-18]. We sometimes forget that we are saved for a purpose. To be certain, we are saved to the glory of Christ the Lord and to the praise of the Father. But when God saved us, He did not immediately remove us from this broken world. Rather, He appointed us to serve Him by carrying the message of grace into all the world.
Jesus charged all who would be His followers, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” [MATTHEW 28:18b-20].
After He was raised from the dead, Jesus sought out His disciples. They were still intimidated by all that had happened; they didn’t know what the religious leaders might still do. The religious leaders knew He was alive, but they were determined to keep the knowledge of His resurrection from being known. So, the disciples were cowering in a locked room when Jesus blew the lid off the secret. Here is the account as John relates it. “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” [JOHN 20:19-22].
As He prepared to ascend into Heaven, the Risen Saviour charged his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” [ACTS 1:8]. Just as He equipped and charged those first disciples, so the Risen Lord has provided for you and given you the same charge to tell others what you know to be true. If you are a follower of the Risen Lord of Glory, He has placed His Spirit in you to empower you for the great task in which all His followers share—the task of declaring the Good News of salvation to all mankind. Begin with your family. Then, tell your neighbours what God has done for you. Then, let the message of life be broadcast wherever man is found. This is not the responsibility of a few, but it is the task in which each of us as followers of Christ are to share.
What would it be if each one who follows the Saviour took it upon herself, or upon himself, to accept that she or he has been personally sent into the world by the Master Himself? What would it be if one someone—you—accepted that you are where you are because the Lord Himself set you in that place. Mother, you are given a marvellous opportunity to train a child or to train several children in the most intimate setting imaginable—the home. Your children are not accidents, but each child is a precious gift entrusted by God Himself to your oversight. You have been sent into the lives of those little ones to the glory of God and the praise of His Name.
Man, you are not trapped in some dead-end job that keeps you from achieving your full potential. You have been given a precious opportunity to touch lives where you are, transforming men and women through living a godly life. Your co-workers will be compelled to ask why you are not rattled by the events swirling throughout the world. Where you are now gives you a golden opportunity that is described by the Apostle to the Jews, when he instructs, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame” [1 PETER 3:15-16].
And among us are those who are retired and now living in circumstances that are best described as straightened from prior days when they were active in the work force. Some who are retired imagine that their best days are far behind them. Is it possible to see that you have been placed where you are just so you can be an instrument of grace touching someone’s life in a way that would not have been possible in an earlier day? You have time to pray and your God is as powerful as He ever was. Your prayers, however, are capable of storming the ramparts of Heaven because you can focus on pleading with the Lord for the soul of a wayward child, asking God to stop the maddened descent of a grandchild who hasn’t yet committed herself to life in the Beloved Son, speaking with the neighbour who has never come to faith. You are precisely where the Master has placed you, and you are essential to the work God is now performing.
You see, I am suggesting nothing less than what the Apostle Paul suggested when he wrote, “Let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God” [1 CORINTHIANS 7:17-24].
Child of God, you have been sent into the world, though you are not of the world. The place you now occupy is critical to the advance of the Kingdom of God. Your role is essential. You are a servant of the Most High God, appointed to fulfil His will where you are. Amen.
SANCTIFIED IN TRUTH — Our Master asked the Father, “For [the sake of My followers] I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth” [JOHN 17:19]. Jesus asked that we who follow Him as the Risen Lord of Glory would be made holy. Jesus asked that we would be set apart for God’s purpose and for His divine use. It is essential that we acknowledge that we are made holy not through our uniting with a congregation of fellow believers, nor through submitting to an ecclesiastical ritual, nor through the recitation of prescribed prayers—we are made holy through receipt of the Word of God. That Word is truth. Thus, as we fill our lives with the Word of the Living God, we are made holy, we are sanctified.
I can say with certainty that none of us who listen at this time are holy. Our condition, despite knowing that we are saved by the grace of the Lord God, is described in dark terms by the Apostle Paul. The Apostle has written, “We know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” [ROMANS 7:14-20].
The condition in which we live drives each conscientious follower or the Saviour to cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death” [ROMANS 7:24]? We must not lose sight of the fact that, “We walk by faith, not by sight” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:7]. And because we walk by faith and not by sight, we know that though we are not holy people, in Christ we are declared holy. Do you remember how the Apostle opens the Letter to the Ephesians? Paul begins by reminding all who follow the Saviour, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” [EPHESIANS 1:3-4a].
Before ever the world was called into existence, God chose us who believe to be holy and blameless before Him. This is the same truth that is declared when Paul writes the saints in Colossae. “You, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” [COLOSSIANS 1:21-22].
Indeed, “God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness” [1 THESSALONIANS 4:7]. Later, in the Ephesian Encyclical, Paul instructs husbands to look to the work of our Lord Jesus as a model for how they are to relate to their wives. Listen as what is written flows from what Christ has accomplished for us. “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body” [EPHESIANS 5:25-30].
Therefore, we see the fulfilment of Christ’s prayer carried out in the life of each saint. In Christ, and only in Him, are we declared holy and blameless. We know that we have nothing of value to present to the Lord. We can claim no merit that would compel Him to accept us. We are accepted in the Beloved Son, and we stand complete before the Throne of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
UNITY IN THE FAITH — As He prayed, Jesus embraced all who would receive Him as Master when He pleaded, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” [JOHN 17:20-23].
Did you catch what Jesus said in the TWENTY and TWENTY-FIRST VERSES? “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.” Jesus prayed that all who follow Him may be one, may walk in unity! And we know that whatever Jesus asked, He received! You may recall an instance when Jesus prayed in the face of the death of a dear friend, saying, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me” [JOHN 11:41b-42a]. The Father gives the Son what He asked, and the Son of God asked that I would be given to Him, being made one with all the saints of God.
Wow! Jesus prayed for me! Jesus asked the Father to permit me to walk in unity with those who follow the Master. Truly, the promise of the Master has come true for me. You may recall how Peter was fishing for a commendation by reminding Jesus all the disciples had given up just to follow Him. Some of us have felt that way; I know I have felt that way at times. “Hey, Jesus! Do you see what it has cost me to follow You?” Then, Jesus cut through the verbiage to encourage Peter, just as His words encourage us to this day, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” [MARK 10:29-30].
Wherever I have served the Master, I have been blessed to have those who were closer than a brother, men who were as fathers to me, and women who were as mothers. We didn’t always agree on every detail as we talked about the things of God, but we were united in love for the Saviour and in a desire to know the truth. We were as Bereans, “receiving the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” [ACTS 17:11]. Thus, we had a sincere love for the brotherhood of believers.
We are admonished as followers of Christ, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” [ROMANS 12:9-13]. This is easy to do within the fellowship of believers because we are united in a desire to pursue the truth.
As we are enabled to witness the progress of the Faith even in lands distant from our own, we find ourselves avidly embracing the remainder of the Apostolic commands that teach us, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all” [ROMANS 12:14-17].
Within the ecumenical movement and elsewhere will be found a plethora of ecclesiastical leaders who deride any emphasis on doctrinal teaching. They argue, “We need to forget about all this doctrine, all this theology stuff. Just focus on the environment or focus on some good social cause…” These deluded souls wish to ignore theological integrity. However, what they advocate is not the way to biblical unity. We do not purchase biblical unity at the expense of theological integrity. This point needs to be underscored in your mind: We cannot purchase biblical unity at the expense of theological integrity.
However, theological integrity, a humility before the Scriptures, and willingness to trust the Spirit of Christ as He works among us ensures that we will experience unity. Jesus commanded us who would follow Him, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” [JOHN 13:34-35].
Soon after saying this, the Master commanded, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another” [JOHN 15:12-17]. And the love we have for one another will be based on our mutual commitment to truth as delivered in the Word that God has delivered to us. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] World Council of Churches, https://www.oikoumene.org/, accessed 24 March 2025
[3] Christian Unity, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, Christian Unity - National Council of Churches, accessed 24 March 2025
[4] Canadian Council of Churches, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Writing and Animation Team - The Canadian Council of Churches, accessed 24 March 2025
[5] Michael William Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, Updated ed. (Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI 1999) pg. 541
