John 17:20-23, Those Who Will Believe

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 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. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 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.”

Today we move to the final section of Jesus’ high priestly prayer in which we find ourselves to be the subject. Nowhere in the New Testament do we find Jesus addressing us so directly. Enjoy these verses Jesus prays for you and your brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a reminder that we are on Jesus’ mind as he prepares to go to the cross.

He sums up his prayer praying for three things: that the church may be united, that the world may be persuaded, and that his mission may be completed (tomorrow’s verses, 24-26). The model Jesus gives us for the unity of the church is the unity between the Father and the Son. Describing this unity, the late Leslie Newbigin writes, “It is a unity which not merely reflects but actually participates in the unity of God—the unity of love and obedience which binds the Son to the Father.” The church is to be a center of love and obedience to God and neighbor that participates in the very life of the Godhead itself (v. 21). John Milne calls this a “tangible unity” that causes the world to believe. Yet this is not only a community of love but one of truth as well. Unity is never achieved at the expense of truth. D. A. Carson offers, “[The unity of the church] is a unity predicated on adherence to the revelation the Father mediated to the first disciples through his Son, the revelation they accepted and then passed on.” Our generation has this revelation, written in God’s Word, as a treasure to share with the world.

Jesus prays that the world will be persuaded by this treasure of love, truth, and unity. The local church is where the world sees this treasure and witnesses the power of community evangelism. Evangelism is a community act. It is the proclamation of the church’s relationships as well as its convictions. The preacher is only the spokesperson of the community. The gospel proclaimed from the pulpit is either confirmed and enhanced, or it is contradicted and weakened by the quality of the relationships in the pews. In this sense every Christian is a witness. Every time we gather together we either strengthen or weaken the evangelistic appeal of our church by the quality of our relationships with our fellow church members.

Father, help us to pray like Jesus for the unity of his church, that we may be united as you and he are united and that through our unity we will persuade the world that Jesus the Messiah is indeed Savior and Lord. Amen.