The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller
As Jesus was about to leave this earth to go back to the Father from whence, He had come, He prayed for His disciples for all of time. What did He pray for his followers? That they would be one. But what does this oneness mean? There are many people today who want to say that we should drop all denominational ties and just be one church. Is that what Jesus meant? Others want churches to agree on the basics of the faith and let all other doctrines be done away with. Is this what Jesus meant? Still yet others say that we should also embrace all other world religions as the means to being one. This can’t be what Jesus meant!
First, consider Jesus’ words. I encourage you to read His words and then the surrounding context. Let’s begin here: “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.” (John 17:11, NASB95) And “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;” (John 17:20, NASB95) When we take these two verses together in context, can answer some of the questions above.
Working from last to first, obviously, Jesus was talking to those who had believed in Him. This means that He was talking to those who have believed the gospel and been born again. Other world religions are all about how much we can do to get to God. God knew we would never be able to do enough to get to Him, so He sent His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). This means that Jesus is only here praying for the saved. Since there is only one name given under heaven whereby men must be saved, to follow any other “god” won’t get you there.
Next, Jesus did not ask the disciples to drop their identity to be considered His. Peter was still vociferous and rash. Matthew still had an eye for detail. Luke remained a physician, etc. Jesus did not come to make everyone uniform. He prayed that they would be one in unity. So, how can Christian denominations be one without dropping all the names and doctrinal distinctives? The answer is that we must work together for the gospel. Even Paul saw himself as the apostle to the Gentiles while he saw Peter as the apostle to the Jews. They were not expected to drop their individual callings and distinctives, but they could and would work together for the glory of God.
They were not uniform but were unified. What does that look like in our modern day? One of the ways that we see this here in Walters is through the Walters Christian Ministerial Alliance. While we still maintain our denominational distinctives, and rightly so, we choose to work together on issues and the gospel with which we can agree. We do not make our distinctives our focus when we are together. For instance, May the 4 th was the National Day of Prayer. This year we were not able to gather for prayer due to many activities and threatened weather, but in a few weeks, we will gather, pray, and seek God’s face for His mercy on our sinful nation. This is an example of unity amongst diversity. This is being one without having to be uniform. Even within our churches, we would prefer that everyone agree with us on the priority and direction for the church, but personalities, preferences, and past histories cause us to be united with people who are very different from us.
We can be one without insisting everyone agrees with me on everything.
How can you be one in your church without having to give up your identity in Christ? What step(s) can you take today to make sure that you are united with your h without feeling the pressure to be just like everyone else? Jesus prayed for unity, not uniformity.