The World May Know That You Sent
by Tim Lamb
The Bride is One: One of the most disturbing
things I see today
isn’t political or global; it has nothing to do
with climate change
or Hollywood or kneeling or crime; it has to do
with division within
the Church.
Maybe it’s supposed to happen. Maybe it’s God
dividing real and
false teachers or maybe the goats are tired of
wearing their sheep’s
clothing…or maybe it’s just the price of the
flesh that we always
like to belittle others to build up our self.
Maybe it’s pride
saying “My doctrine is better than your
doctrine!” or “My dogma
converts more people than your dogma!”. Maybe
it’s some of all the
above. All I know is it’s not the Church Jesus
calls us to be.
I have been positively smitten with John chapter
17 lately. In it
Jesus enters into an intimate discussion with
the Father. Jesus
prays for the disciples. He makes a definitive
statement about
salvation in verse 3, “that they may know You,
the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” Eternal
life is intimate
knowledge with the father and Son through the
Spirit.
Jesus tells the Father He is praying for us too;
as those who
believe in Him “through their word”. Verse 20.
And Jesus calls the
Father “Holy Father” in verse 11, for the only
time in recorded
scripture! (that’s a study for another day!)
Jesus talks to the Father about the depth of
THEIR relationship, and
how He desires that HIS people may have that
same relationship with
Them, AND with each other! Back to verse 11,
the last line, “…that
they may be one even as We are(one).” Verse 21,
“…that they may all
be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in
You, that they may
also be in Us, so that the world may believe
that You sent Me.” In
the context of verses 20 and 21 together Jesus
is talking about us;
you and me and the disciples of old; ALL that
are His! HE WANTS US
IN UNISON, AGREEMENT, of one mind, because by
THIS the world will
know and believe that the Father sent the Son.
He says it again in verse 22, “…that they may be
one, just as We are
one.” And verse 23, “That they may be perfected
in unity so that the
world may know that You sent Me, and loved them,
even as You have
loved Me.” Did you catch that “that You…. loved
them”!? That the
Father loves us the same as He loves the Son?
Unfathomable love!
Jesus prayed that we would be in God just as He
is in us. In his
first epistle, 1 John 4:11-12 John reminds us of
Jesus prayer by
stating these facts, “Beloved, if God so loved
us, we also ought to
love one another. No one has seen God at any
time; if we love one
another God abides in us, and His love is
perfected in us.” And
verse 21 of the same chapter “And this
commandment we have from Him,
that the one who loves God should love His
brother also.”
One lesson of the Holy Trinity is unity…PERFECT
unity. Unity in
community! Unity is not that we never disagree
but that we do not
divide over our differences. There is one
truth we, as the
Church, cannot ignore any longer. Jesus does
not have a divided
Bride. We are a multifaceted thing of beauty
before a Righteous
Groom. There are many names for our parts but
if we are in Him we
are one. Revival can’t come to a divided
Church, and we sorely need
it!
Ephesians 6:23-24 “Peace be to you brethren, and
love with faith,
from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be with all
those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with
incorruptible love.”
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