Ruth Bell once said, “If two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary” She went on to say, “If two people agree on everything, they double their chances of being wrong.” Now, Ruth Bell was not referring to the diversity of thought in the Christian church, she was instead talking about marriage.
In my marriage counseling that I have done in the past, and in my study of marriage counseling, I have discovered the importance of stressing the bond of the holy covenant of marriage as well as the importance of finding love in the other-ness of the other partner. In marriage, we have to find love and passion for the significant other, often time, in spite of the differences. I know that Renee loves me in spite of me. Often, the emotional side of love in holy matrimony is found in the ability to agree to disagree.
In wedding ceremonies we pastors love to declare that the couple becomes one flesh. Now that is not some sick monkey pox or Ebola disorder – it is not literal. But it is much more than metaphorical. These two different people are now bonded together by God and His love, companionship, and unbreakable holy bond. But the husband and wife become one, even though there are obvious physical, temperamental and personality differences.
One man in December 1992 Reader’s Digest explains that on her Golden Anniversary his grandmother explained the secret to her long and happy marriage. “On my wedding day, I decided to choose ten of my husband’s faults which, for the sake of our marriage, I would overlook,” she explained. A guest asked her to name some of the faults. “To tell the truth,” she replied, “I never did get around to listing them. But whenever my husband did something that made me hopping mad, I would say to myself, ‘Lucky for him that’s one of the ten.’”
In marriage we have to find a way to live with our differences. In fact, I believe, as Ruth Bell illustrates, it is important that we celebrate our differences. The oneness in marriage is unity in purpose. Both parties must be willing to move forward in a central direction for the common good of all involved. The moment the husband or wife establishes a private agenda that does not involve the overall good of the home, the marriage is in trouble.
I believe this is what Jesus was saying to God in his prayer that we read an excerpt from found in John 17. In case, you were wondering, no this sermon is not about marriage but the call to become one flesh in marriage makes for a perfect example of how we are to become one in the church.
There is much diversity in the church. I am not talking about racial or cultural diversity, although there is that in some churches. In diversity in the church I mean denominationalism. Just open the phone book and look up churches and you will see what I am referring to. In the Christian Church, in the church who professes the name of Jesus Christ, we are a diverse crowd. And beyond the Christian church there are hundreds of other denominations.
In a research study of the nations religious affiliations, one group rates our proud state of Indiana 7th among the 50 states in terms of diversity. We have 109 active denominations within our borders, Christian and otherwise. A popular statistic is that there are more churches in America than post offices. And each of those churches have a tradition, ritual, and theology all their own.
Even in my short experience within the United Methodist Church I have discovered a tremendous amount of diversity. And I know this is true of other denominations, Baptists, Lutherans, Catholics, Pentecostals… while there may be similarities with churches who post these names above their doorway, we all know that we can expect something different in each one despite that similarity. Each church is unique and each church is important. Yet, what seems even more important to Jesus is that we become one.
J. Gordon Melton is a Methodist minister with an unusual hobby. His hobby is denomination hunting. He literally scours the country trying to count the number of major denominations in the United States. As of a few years ago he had counted over 1,200 denominations in this country.
Some of them are very interesting.
1. One of them is "The Church of the Kennedy Worshippers." It is a church which actually believes that it can pray to the late President John F. Kennedy, and can be cured both of congenital defects as well as of terminal diseases.
2. Then there’s "The Church of the Ministry of Universal Wisdom." They look for flying saucers to come.
3. And then there’s "The Church of What’s Happening Now." It’s obviously a more contemporary church.
He also found that in that list of over 1,200 denominations there exists more than 70 different denominations calling themselves Baptist: Seventh-Day Baptist, Two Seed in the Spirit Predestinarian Baptist, General Baptist, Regular Baptist, and the list goes on and on.
While unity is not sameness and unity is respecting the diversity. The perfect oneness is not accepting everything under the sun. We must use caution, yet those who do profess the name of Jesus must come together as Jesus prayed.
Notice in verse 20 Jesus makes clear that his prayer is open to everyone who believes in Him. Not only for these disciples but Jesus was looking ahead – even over 2000 years through time – to pray for all who believe in Him. And certainly Jesus who was God who – though I am sure limited in what He knew as a human – was also unlimited in what he knew as God. And God seeing through the portals of time surely knew that in 2003, there would be over 100 different denominations just in the state of Indiana.
Even with that knowledge Jesus still prayed for unity – for oneness. I think Jesus knew what Ruth Bell knew.
Unity is not sameness. Hopefully, we do all know this from our experience in relationships – either in marriage, in dating, in our families growing up or other relationships. Unity, especially the perfect oneness Jesus is surely praying about is coming together, overcoming our differences, finding common ground and common goals in the name of Jesus Christ, and working together to achieve those goals. And perfect oneness in Jesus recognizes the differences, respects the differences, and still comes together for a common purpose.
Henri Nouwen says it this way: “Solitude greeting solitude, that’s what community is all about. Community is not the place where we are no longer alone but the place where we respect, protect, and reverently greet one another’s aloneness.”
The idea is not sameness, the idea is oneness – working together – being different but still being one. I want to give you the perfect illustration of different persons still being one: The Trinity.
In fact, this is what Jesus prayed to God. Look at verse 21.
God is the best example of community we have in the church. Each person of the trinity is different. God the Father is not the same as God the Son or God the Holy Spirit. God the Son is different from His Father and His Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is different from the other two as well. Each has a distinct purpose. Each has different responsibilities for us. As we watch all three of these persons of God in the stories of our Bible, we can see them doing different things. But each has the same goal. And though they are all three different they are still one.
Perhaps, we have not been faithful in God’s church to recognize the importance of unity. What I am really saying is that perhaps we have forgotten that the church’s oneness derives from the character and identity The Trinity reveals to us in the life and death of Jesus, the working of the Holy Spirit, and the creative powers of the Almighty Father. It is in the oneness that we have come to perfect completion. It is in the oneness that we have our best witness for Christ.
Look at verse 23.
As we become one, the world will see our unity – our ability to find common purpose and vision and will know God’s love. Once we find that oneness, only THEN the world will know that God sent Jesus and will understand that God loves everyone as much as God loves His own Son Jesus. The prayer is that God, Jesus and the faith community will truly be one in love.
This weekend how could we not be thinking of unity. The billboard shows a little girl sitting on her daddy’s shoulders waving an American flag … and the caption says ... WHAT MAKES US GREAT … “Unity, pass it on!” Since 9/11 - “United We Stand” has been the theme – we want to project a united country. And we always have. Ben Franklin once said to his fellow patriots during those difficult days of laying the ground work for our nation, “We must all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately.” But Jesus spoke about a unity far beyond nationalism. This unity is far-reaching and founded in love.
The impact of a unified church is that the world believes God the Father sent Christ the Son "that the world may believe that you have sent me." Only the obvious, visible unity of believers will convince the world of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Only the sight of united disciples will convince the world of the truth of Jesus’ message and mission. We live in world of disunity. We find disunity everywhere from our homes, our families, our work places, in local, state and national government, just about everywhere we look.
Some believe if we could just get a united theology we would compel the world to believe. But united theology was never promised to compel the world to believe. Human eloquence will not compel the world to believe, the size of our churches will never compel the world to believe. No denominational program, or slogan or goal will compel the world to believe.
Only one single thing will compel the world to believe . . . a supernatural oneness in the family of God that reveals God’s glory as Christ gives us His glory.
Jesus prays that the present church on earth and the future church in heaven will see His glory. "Glory" is the visible manifestation of all the divine attributes. It is what we see when we look at God.
Christ has already revealed all the glory we can comprehend on earth below. In verse 22 Jesus says, "I have given them the glory that you gave me." We see in the divine manhood of Jesus Christ all the glory that our eyes are capable of seeing below. Verse 22 continues saying that the purpose of showing us His glory was that "they may be one." Even now, when we get our eyes off of one another and contemplate the revealed glory of God in Christ, we are one. That glory transforms us even now. Paul told the church in Corinth: "We...are being transformed into His likeness with an ever-increasing glory."
Christ will fully reveal all of His glory in heaven. Verse 22 says, "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory.” You see, there is more to come. We will be perfectly one when we perfectly see his glory. The final object of believers’ thought will be on the exalted Jesus Christ. The more we look at Him, the more we will see forever. The more we see, the more we will become one forever.
That glory is the outward, visible expression of love between the Father and the Son. The last part of verse 24 states: "the glory You have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." We will spend eternity meditating on the love between the Father and Son!
Why not start now? Our churches will never be fully united by looking at the pastor, a program, a theology, or by looking at one another. What is the answer: to the extent we all look to Jesus Christ, we will be drawn to one another
Let us pray:
