I’ve been writing some teacher helps for teaching John 17:13-26. I’ve been blessed and impressed, convicted and challenged, by the lofty promises of oneness in the Christian church.

Such amazing, wondrous work of God within and among the followers of Jesus!

• Oneness of the kind within and among the Trinity!
• Love of the kind within and among the Trinity!
• Glory of the kind within and among the Trinity!

And please read at least these verses from the above passage and be amazed all the more:

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

(John 17:20-23,26)

Christ within us, the hope of glory!

Plenty of things naturally cause division and provoke contention between disciples of Jesus. Our preferences, opinions, perspectives, and convictions differ. Our personalities and backgrounds vary.

How shall we avoid being divisive and contentious? We could avoid one another. We could compromise our convictions and suppress our personalities to the extent it would take to put up with each other. We could even feign agreement. The congregation could make rules to keep the worst offenders in line.

None of those “solutions” is good enough in the church!

God won’t settle for the mere stifling of outright conflict and division. He wants and expects oneness among His people. Jesus came to be the common union that unites even adversarial opposites. “He is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14). Jesus is our bond. Because of Him, even you and __________ can be one.

He is our peace!

Way back when, I wrote a related piece I wrote for a 2003 CLP youth Sunday School quarterly’s “Applications for Youth” page: Jesus Institutes the Lord’s Supper. I know it doesn’t sound related. 🙂

In closing, a screen capture of one of my posts to Facebook last year: