Everybody always talks about the Lord’s prayer as if it’s the one in Matthew 6. But what about his prayer in John 17? There, he prayed, …
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 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.”
Yikes.
In all our zeal to discover doctrinal purity and truth, have we forgotten how passionately Jesus longed for us to be united?
What would happen if the world saw all of us cooperating in helping alleviate suffering? How much more good would be done if we could reduce or eliminate duplication?
What’s your take on the stuff that separates us? How much more good do you feel we could do if we could just learn to do it together? Comment on this item by clicking “Comment” following this item on the web. And thanks in advance for your opinion.
In my seminars (when prayer is the subject), I make this same observaton: The prayer in Matthew is the DISCIPLE’S PRAYER; the LORD’S PRAYER is in John 17. And make the point that His prayer for unity in the Body must be one of the most “unanswered” prayers of our Lord. “Unity”, not uniformity! That seems to be the “catch”. OUR way, our interpretation is RIGHT! Thus, all should look like us! Very wrong thinking. Emmaus Road’s Position Papers state that we will work with any who believe in the all-inclusive (whosoever will may come), all-exclusive (there is only one way to the Father of mercy and grace) Gospel message. To God be all glory!
I think this post is an extremely interesting one, especially when it comes to working cross-culturally in missions. In many countries you find an us-them between national believers and expat workers. In other countries you find it between different organizations with different ministry strategies and ultimately, we see it between many differing denominations.
How do we work in unity, while also blessing people to pursue differing strategies. As the previous comment (by Neal) suggests, can we work in unity without uniformity?
A co-worker recently suggested to me that we don’t have to be doing the same work, implementing the same strategy, etc… but that as we each draw nearer to Christ we will naturally be drawing nearer to each other.
What do you think?