One as the Father and Son are One

Sermon Link: https://youtu.be/U5EFd8jBVYg

Readings: 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, Psalm 99, John 17:20-26

Today we come to the last Sunday in our sermon series on unity. I hope that this has been a good opportunity for you to think about why unity is so difficult and also how through Christ we might actually find a profound and beautiful unity. One of the essential ideas that has been repeated every Sunday is that true unity can only happen if we all have the same leader, moving in the same direction, with the same goal. Our leader, our direction, and our goal is Jesus Christ. This is way more profound than a simple Sunday School answer though.

Paul starts his letter to the Corinthians by talking about who we follow. Here is this Christian community in Corinth that is divided over many reasons. They are divided by wealth, position, race, belief, mental and physical capacity, and more. Paul doesn’t start with any of these aspects of division, instead, he starts with who they follow. We can imagine this as it exists around us and in us, we like/associate with a priest, a denomination, a political leader so we say we belong to St. Matt’s or the Anglican Church or the Liberal or Conservative party, and what’s wrong with that? Well, the problem is that those aren’t Christ. They might serve Christ, they might even point the way towards Christ, but Christ needs to be the bedrock, the guide, the source or else we will never find unity and we will never discover the full riches of God’s grace and love. Otherwise, we just replace him with a weak facsimile.

As much as I want to be a good leader and bring all of you closer to God, this is not about me. It is not about any other priest. It is not about St. Matthews or the Anglican church or any other church. This is not even about you or your family or friends. We are all important elements, but all of these things are divisive unless we are all following Jesus first, even before ourselves. You don’t have to look hard at history to see this in the church and outside of it. 

Jesus cares deeply about our unity as well. What we heard today is part of the prayer Jesus prayed just before he was about to be arrested and killed and Jesus dedicated a lot of this prayer to our unity with one another, and our unity with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Jesus prays that we may be one as Jesus and the Father are one. If that is Jesus’ repeated prayer, we should ask: why is this idea so important? What is special about Jesus’ oneness with the Father? We can see at the beginning of creation that the Father spoke, the Word went forth, and the Holy Spirit accomplished. They were not just coworkers, but their common goal was so in-sink that it is hard to tell where one ended and the other began. 

Or look at what Jesus did for the Father. Jesus gave up His safety and limited his unlimitedness. Jesus spent his whole life working not that He would be praised, but so that his Father in heaven would be praised, as he continually points away from himself. Jesus gave up his own desire and will in the garden of Gethsemane as he said, not my will but your will be done. Jesus sacrificed his life for God on the cross. 

What is Father’s reply? The Father gives the Son the Holy Spirit so that He might go with Him always. So that the limitless might dwell in Him. The Father praises the Son. In the end, the Father lifts up Jesus Christ to be the name above all names. And the Holy Spirit willingly becomes a gift of love to connect and lift up all things. 

What we see within God is that there is this mutual praise and self-giving, in which exists a profound and powerful unity, whereby each person of the Trinity is distinct, but so bound to one another that as they work it is hard to know where one ends and the other begins. 

We are first meant to exist this way with God. We don’t give up our will, or sacrifice ourselves, or follow God just because he wants us to, though that should be reason enough. We give up our will, we sacrifice ourselves, and follow Jesus Christ because that is how we are bound to Him, that is how we are united with Him and ultimately because God is already doing all of these things for us. God gave up his will for us when he gave us dominion and freedom. He gives it up often in Scripture when someone prays or asks. God sacrifices his very self for us as we have seen most clearly in Jesus, but as we can also see through the gift of the Holy Spirit and through God’s work with Israel and the giving of His name. By giving way to our wills, God’s world has followed us, Jesus followed human authority to the cross. 

God throughout history has been seeking this self-giving, mutual following, and other praising unity with us, but in order for us to live in the unity and love we desire, we also need to give ourselves, follow and praise God with all that we are. That is when we will find that we dwell in God and God will dwell in us. 

Of course, this starts with knowing God. Knowing who he is, what he does, what his love looks like, and doing the same for Him often through one another. This is why the church, Scripture, prayer, and the sacraments are so important. They are not our goal, but they are the means by which God has given us to meet him, learn about him and grow closer to him. So that we too might do as he has done for us. Once we are united with God, then we might find unity with one another through him

But unity with one another and God is only part of the goal because Jesus tells us that it is through this unity that others might know the Father’s love for Jesus and God’s love for us. Our goal once we are united in love, is to embrace more people in it. By what Jesus says here and by what Paul says in numerous letters, it would seem that one of the greatest things that stands in the way of others meeting God’s love is our lack of unity. It is not our difference that is the problem, but our inability to come together, our unwillingness to give of ourselves, to follow, to praise, first God then one another. 

God, Himself is an expression of the profound kind of unity, which he wants for all of us. We need to want it to. We need to understand His love and then be willing to live into it, so that we may be one as God Himself is one. 

Bible Study

1 Corinthians 1:10-13

Why does Paul call the Corinthians brothers and sisters? (They aren’t all Jewish or related)

Why do you think the Corinthians followed each of these leaders? (Note Cephas is most likely Peter)

Why was it such a problem that people considered themselves followers of each leader? How does this relate to the unity that Paul begins with?

What are some things/people that you have put your allegiance or belonging to before Jesus Christ? Why and how does this become a problem for you or others?

How could we ever be perfectly united in mind and thought?

John 17:20-26

20 - Why does Jesus see it as important to pray for his friends, but also those that would believe through them?

21 - How are the Father and Son one? What does that tell us about the unity we are meant for?

21 - How can we be “in” God? How would this promote Jesus’ being sent by the Father to the world?

22 - What glory has God given Jesus and now Jesus has given us? How does this create unity?

23 - How does unity show the world the love of the Father for the Son and their love for us?

24 - Is Jesus asking for the future or now? What does being with Jesus mean for you?

24 - What does it mean for God and for creation that the Father loved the Son before anything was created?

25-26 - How is God made known? 

• Why was he not known till now? 

• Why is it so important for God to be known?