One Team, One Purpose (Part 2) (John 17:13-23)                                                  2009.06.07     Pastor Edward Cheng

We have been talking about the body of God being one team, having one purpose, and we’re on this team because of the grace of God—God adopted us and brought us into his family.  On this team, we all have the same goal, as on a sports team.  On our spiritual team, in God’s family, our purpose is the common good.  We all have different and vital roles to play, and if one doesn’t execute his or her role, then that leaves a gaping hole in the family.  Now that we’ve established the fact that we’re on this team and that we have the responsibility to serve each other, this morning I want to talk about how this team interacts with the world out there. 

Turn to John 17, starting at v.13-15.  How does the world respond to us?  Jesus is praying to the Father for his disciples before he returns to the Father.  Notice what Jesus says first about how the world responds to us: “The world has hated them” (v.14).  He also mentions in John 15, “Don’t be surprised if the world hates you; the world hated me first!”  When Jesus speaks of “the world,” he’s speaking of an organization of which Satan is the head, and of the world out there that has rejected God.  Those of us who have chosen to follow after the Lord are now at odds with them.  We don’t belong here.  As a believer, this is not my home; I should feel a sense of discomfort while I’m here.  We should be feeling like the way that we want to walk is not quite the way the world wants to walk—because we want to follow Jesus, and the world out there has no desire to follow Jesus.  So first of all, as we interact with the world, we must understand the fact that we are at odds with the world. 

What then does Jesus want us to do, since we are in the world, though not of it?  Look at v.16-21.  Perhaps our most important responsibility is to be united.  Most days of the week we are out there, and presumably we constantly feel this discomfort.  We are bombarded by the world’s judgment on us—we’re silly, we believe in a bunch of myths that couldn’t be true, etc.  So when we come together, let us recharge, encourage, and heal one another so that we can go back out there for the rest of the week. 

Notice in v. 20: “them” refers to the disciples, and when Jesus says, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,” he is thinking of you and me.  He prays, “Lord, would you make them one, because they’re going to need each other.”  We’re supposed to build each other up, because we’re on one team.  Where else can we expect to find support for our faith than in our fellowship?  Jesus says, “The world’s going to hate them, and therefore they need to be united.”  I think about my family and all the things we’ve gone through in life, and I know that there is nobody I can count on more than my sister and brother—I know there’s a sense of loyalty, of expectation that when I call, they will pick up.  In the family of God, we’re supposed to be loyal to each other as well.

At the end of the day, the world is against us, and Jesus wants us to be united, to be loyal, to be at peace with one another, to recognize that we are on the same team, working together.  What happens when we do that?  Look at v. 23: “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you have sent me.”  When the family of God is working as it should, that is evidence to the world out there that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is the Savior of the world.  This is the way that we validate our Christian testimony.  When we are united, the world sees that and concludes that Jesus Christ must be real, that Jesus Christ must make a difference in our lives.

On the flip side, when we aren’t united, the world notices that as well.  And they think, “What difference does Jesus make if this group acts just like any other organization?”  Our having the common good in mind and serving one another isn’t just for us to enjoy this little bubble that we’ve created.  We’ve been left in the world for a purpose—as we interact as one team, the world sees that as proof that Jesus is real, and that is our power to affect the world.