05/29/2023
Yesterday we discussed being one with Jesus and the fact that this promise is for today and not some future time. We talked about knowing God's will for us and being in submission to Christ. Today let's ask ourselves why we have been offered this relationship. We will discuss this further, but the simple answer to why God would offer us the same access to Himself that He gave Jesus was summed up in one sentence. Jesus told us directly why, and it is all about love and a single belief...
“for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”
John 16:27 ESV
God loves us and He gives us the oneness with Himself through Jesus because we believe that Jesus is His son. Our faith has led us to the truth, which is the gospel. Don't be deceived, this gift was not just for the disciples, or a select few who personally knew Jesus, but for all of us. Jesus is very specific about this and in John seventeen He tells us as much:
“"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 ESV
Did you notice His words "that they may be one even as we are one" as you read the scripture above? We are not meant to be divided. We are meant to be as one with one another. All of our petty differences in worship, and religiously divisive calculations, are not meant to divide us. If we are to be as one then those differences in liturgy, or minor points, cannot be allowed to overshadow our firm belief in Jesus and the fact that He is the Son of God. We can't allow ourselves to be drawn into squabbles within the body of believers that can separate us. This is not God's will for us.
Growing up within a family of five children, there were varied opinions about many things... some liked liver, some did not; some liked the color red, some liked blue or green. There were too many differences to count, but we could boil it down to our similarities, we all liked to eat, we all had a favorite color, and none of these things could bring us to deny that we were all brothers and sisters with the same mother and father... we were one family.
You have heard the old adage that brothers can fight each other, but woe be it if someone else tries to harm one of them. That is true. I can remember my younger brother and me fighting like cats and dogs, but I can also remember coming to his defense when someone would pick on him. We were one family. I can remember my sister verbally snipping and cutting at me, but I also remember the night she was crying because her boyfriend (a WestPoint Cadet) had stood her up on a date... that night I was standing at that young man's front door and in front of his parents I questioned his ability to be an officer and a gentleman. As a VMI cadet I could do this from particular advantage... my sister and I were one family.
As Christians, we can't let our minor differences overshadow our foundational beliefs. Despite all of our likes and dislikes, our feelings of spiritual aloofness, or liturgical correctness, we are one family... we are one with Jesus, and in Him, we are one with God.
Today is Memorial Day here in the United States and we are remembering those who have given their lives in defense of our country. Today we memorialize those whose lives were lost because two nations, or people, lost sight of loving one another, and their oneness. Giving your life for another is an unparalleled sacrifice, and today we honor these men and women who gave their all, but we also mourn the fact that their lives were required of them. Jesus spoke of this, but He would also tell us that love should not have Geographic, or political borders. We should all be as one in Him, and our Father God.
“"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.”
John 15:12-14 ESV
So, we are meant to be one with Jesus and God out of love, and because we believe in God, and that Jesus is His Son. We are also told to realize that we are to be one with each another as well. If we obey these commandments regarding love and oneness, we will find ourselves to be within the will of our Heavenly Father, and living lives of perfect peace… one with another. Can we do this? Let’s pray we can.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your love, and your Son Jesus Christ who you sent to redeem me. He laid down His life out of His own great love for you and me alike. He reconciled us by obeying your will, and by drinking a full measure of suffering and death from the cup you set before Him. Lord, no greater love has anyone than this. Holy Father I ask that you heal the divisions between your children and bring your churches together as one in their belief in you and your Son Jesus... increase the things we find in common, and remove the importance of those marginal arguments that separate us. Gracious Father, lift the cup of unity to our lips and say drink, all.
There will be those who will say "take this cup from me," but Father let them see and obey your will, and drink from it in remembrance of Jesus. In this way let your desire for us overcome our own wills. Let the sweet drink of unity please our palates, and in this way let us also please you.
Rich Forbes