10/08/08 "Unity- Father, Son and One"

[D.Lang]

S John 17:20-23 20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also
for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 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. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be
one as we are one: 23 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.


O Jesus makes the point to all that the object of God sending Him
was to bring His people into complete oneness (or unity) with the
Father. The hope is for people everywhere to grasp the unity factor
that they also are in Him just as He is in the Father, and more
importantly…that He and the Father are one. Jesus’ description brings
His deity (and unity) into perspective. Unity meaning the “coming
together as one” is complete as a whole, and when we understand that
He and the Father are not separated…but indeed one, then we can
understand His gospel and can let the world know that He was sent for
us.

A We always talk about the need to be in unity with the church body.
Does anyone truly grasp what that is and where it is rooted from? This
is it! I believe that in order to function in the way His word was
intended, we first have to realize that true unity is being modeled
this way through Jesus and the Father pouring His spirit out to the
people through this bond. This coming together also defines the
unification of the trinity as well, as Jesus later leaves the
disciples after His resurrection, and then unites His Holy Spirit with
them to become 3 in 1! It was intended that way on purpose! It is THE
MODEL of what unity is all about in the body. All of that to say, true
unity begins with the understanding of how we are fused together with
the Father just as Jesus was. When this unity happens in His church,
people from everywhere take note and can see the manifest presence of
God through His church… Great things happen in the kingdom and the
angels in heaven sing praise!

P Lord, I think we are all guilty of just cruising along through life
sometimes without ever really thinking about what true unity is. May
the example of the unity I model, be based only on Your will and Your
church; that the work You call me to shows the bond of the Father and
Son coming together for the good of Your will here on earth. Amen