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Unity does not have to deny individuality. We do not have to become part of the Borg Collective, to be effective Christians. Our uniqueness rather allows us to love in a unique way. In this each of us uniquely identifies another aspect of the love of God. When we combine all those versions of love, we get a better picture of the love of God, than we look at any one of us individually. But this is the point, the love must be to others, not to self. It is our embrace of self-love, that asks all the wrong questions – like … what is in it for me; why aren’t you living up to your half of the 50:50 thing? etc. “Self” introduces conditions to love, whereas God does not love that way at all. He loves us WHILE we are yet sinners bound in pain, disease, ignorance, and hate. His love looks to free us from those things. His love is the power by which we are freed. He does not approach us with a righteous assessment of just how bad we are, and rightly condemn us for the bad choices and habits we have formed. Instead he patiently and carefully extracts us from those bad decisions, and bad habits, and in their place, He offers us a whole new way to live, without the pain of our former selves. His love does this. If we are to change the world, it must be done in love, not in condemnation. Love redeems us from the pain of sin, condemnation only deepens the pain of sin.
Jesus continues to identify His disciples as he says in verse 12 … “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.” The loss of Judas is painful to Christ, but it was foretold in scripture, and despite every effort to redeem him, Judas refused and looked to his own wisdom. The wisdom of Judas led him to betray His Lord, unto torture and death. This is what happens when we take it on ourselves to “help” God with our ideas of what He should be doing. It is not unique to Judas. Abraham took a handmaid of Sarah to “help” God out with His promise, and much pain was the result, and none of his efforts made the promise occur. Moses decided to “help” bring water out of the rock by striking it rather than speaking to it as God asked, and he was forbidden entry to the promised land as a result. David decided to “help” bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and without following the proper methods, a life was lost in his efforts. God does not need our “help” to accomplish His goals. And often the “help” we offer is more about doing what we want to do, than truly what God wants to do, in His time or His manner. We rush God, and try to make God do what we ultimately want, and in so doing our “help” bears the fruit of Judas, our forefather in this regard.
Jesus continues to pray for His disciples in verse 13 saying … “And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. [verse 14] I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. [verse 15] I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” Christ prays that we might have His “joy”, not our own, fulfilled in ourselves. Our own ideas about joy and fulfillment are almost always the wrong ones. But when we allow Christ to alter our desires, we are able to want different things, and find joy in things that have real meaning. Next He outlines that the word we have received through Christ, does not make us natural friends with a self-centered, self-focused world. It rubs those notions the wrong way, and puts us at odds with conventional wisdom. Think for a minute about the notion of the American dream for instance … if you work hard, you can succeed by the power of your determination and hard work. Whereas our philosophy is … we will be given everything we need from a benevolent God who saves us from ourselves despite our past and present, we can depend 100% on something outside of ourselves, and learn not to ever trust in us, but only in Him. Those ideas are completely at odds with each other. The American dream sounds good, and makes you believe in yourself, and what you can accomplish. This Christian ideal sounds too good to be true, and requires trust that it is possible, and will occur, but in it, your only role is to give up control, not take more of it. This is why the world does not like what Christ teaches.
For those who believe in isolationism to avoid sin and “contamination” of the pure church … pay closer attention to the prayer of Christ Himself. He asks NOT that we be taken out of the world, but instead that we be kept from evil. We are not to withdraw from others who are still suffering from the disease of sin which we have found a Doctor for. Instead we are to remain in the hospital and share the good news of our Physician with them. We do not become more holy by removing ourselves from the influence of the evil around us. Our problem is not with the evil around us, it is with the evil within us. Our submission is to have Christ remove the evil from within, it is difficult to be tempted by something you do not want, or find yourself despising, or come to see with only pity. When that occurs, what was formerly temptation carries no more weight. When that occurs, the evil around you has no more power over you, and instead the love of Christ you reflect changes evil. This is how His power works. The goal is not for us to run off to the woods and preserve only our own souls for His Kingdom. In so doing we lose out on the most valued treasure in heaven – other people, the objects of the love we are learning to reflect. Isolation is no more the answer for righteousness, and any other self-focused method of curing sin. Focus on Christ alone kills temptation. We are to stay in the world, and reflect that light and love, not just squander it on ourselves.
Jesus continues in verse 16 … “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. [verse 17] Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” Christ makes the distinction for those who follow Him, that they are no longer of the world. Instead we belong to God. We present ourselves to Him as a gift, and He gives us more than we could possibly receive. But perhaps more worthy of note, is the continuation of His prayer where He asks God the Father to “sanctify” us through His truth, His word. Notice we do NOT sanctify ourselves. There is no time limit on this activity, He does not ask that we receive this gift over the course of a lifetime, nor does He remind us that sanctification is a process we are supposed to do for ourselves. Instead He asks His Father to do the work of Sanctification. It is done through His truth … Jesus said of Himself that He was the Truth. It is done through His word … John opens His gospel by saying Jesus was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. We are sanctified through our acceptance and submission to Jesus Christ, a work that is performed for us, by His Father, at the request of Christ.
Jesus continues the mission of our redemption as He continues in verse 18 … “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. [verse 19] And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” As Christ was sent by God to us, so He sends His disciples to the world. Our sanctification must also come from Christ. If we are to be effective, if we are to be remade, it must come alone from the power of Christ. Jesus goes on in verse 20 … “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; [verse 21] 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.” Our unity in a mission of love is a witness to the world that Christ is real, and our God is real. As Christ and His Father united in a mission of love in action for us, for others, for His creation – with no thought to Himself; so we can be united with Christ and His Father in a mission of love to others that will change our world. Families can be healed. Communities can be changed irrevocably for the better. Peace that follows love can result. And all of it can point back to Christ and His Father, a perpetual witness to the unity that is only possible when founded in a mission of love to others based in Christ.
Then Christ does something very powerful and meaningful to us, He extends His familial relationship to us as He prays further in verse 22 … “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: [verse 23] 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.” We are to be bound in love to Christ, nestled in His love, and in the love of His Father. We are to be made one with God, unified with God, participants in His mission of redemptive love. In this, we are to be “made perfect”. Perfection is attainable, it is more than that, it is a guarantee. But only as we are “made” one with God, one with Christ. There is no room for self in that equation. It is the absolute absence of self and self-interest that characterizes the love of God. It is how Christ lived. And it is possible for us to live this way as well, as we recognize we do not “make” it happen, we “permit” it to happen. We submit to Christ, and He “makes” us perfect, makes us one with Him and His Father. This is a perfect unity we have so longed to see and experience. It is the heart of the good news of the gospel.
Jesus concludes His prayer with a profound request in verse 24 saying … “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. [verse 25] O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. [verse 26] 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.” No longer are heaven and earth to be separated by any distance. Christ tells His Father He wills that we be with Him, where He is, that we may see Him with our own eyes. We can then behold the great love that the Father has for His Son, and for us. Christ declares the nature of His Father to us, and in His life of selfless love, He reveals the Father to us in fullness, that we might begin to know Him, and to know His Son. This is the eternal life, and eternal gift that is given to us. A gift offered before our perfection was achieved, a redemptive gift that would see us freed from the power and temptation of sin and self; this is what He puts on the table for us to take.
There has never been so powerful a prayer uttered in the Bible. We are offered here a private first-hand audience in the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ to His perfect Father God. And all throughout this prayer is every imaginable gift He asks for us, and for those few who were still with Him. Imagine how selfless this prayer was, as it was uttered only moments before He would be tortured to death. Despite knowing what is about to happen, He focuses the entire prayer on us, and our needs, not asking anything for Himself, except as it benefits us. This is the power of prayer that cannot be denied. This was a fitting end to the communion He had with us just before the end arrived …
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