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"Teaching God's Word to God's World"
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The Prayer That Should Shake The World
Len Faull - October 1959
Text: “20 ¶ Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word; 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.” John 17:20-21
More than nineteen hundred years ago, a man, troubled in spirit,
full of sorrows and with His heart at the breaking point, lifted up His eyes to
Heaven and prayed.
That prayer has been recorded for all His followers to read; and
if all who claim to be the followers of Christ would read it and heed it, it
could shake the world. The One who
prayed was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the
Saviour of men.
There is no doubt in my mind that the most important thing, which could happen to this world, would be the answering of that prayer. Nothing could play such a vital part in the future of mankind as the fulfillment of the desire of our Saviour for all those who believe in Him to come together into a Scriptural Christian unity. Our Saviour not only prayed for it but the entire New Testament pleads for it.
I.
THE PRAYER WAS FROM THE HEART OF ONE WHO WAS TO DIE.
As Jesus prayed, it was on the eve of His death on Calvary. He knew that shame, reproach, ridicule,
suffering, great agony of mind and body, and finally death in the most cursed
of ways awaited Him.
It was the prayer of One who has to die for the sins of the
world. He was to taste death for every
man and to give His life for sinners, for men and women just like you and me.
He knew all this and the load of the sin of the world weighted Him
down in the garden of Gethsemane. Yet
as He prayed it was not for Himself but for others.
His prayer was not that His Father would deliver Him but that His
Father would protect and watch over those whom God had given Him.
He prayed for those who were His chosen apostles that they might
be kept from the evil one. He prayed
for the future Christians and He prayed also for the world.
His prayer included every man and woman from that day until His Second Coming. It included you and it included me.
II.
THE GREAT DESIRE OF A GREAT HEART.
“Neither for these alone, do I pray, but for them also, who shall
believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father,
are in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that Thou hast sent Me.”
The troubled Saviour, with the load of the burden of sin already
beginning to bear heavily upon His head, prayed not only that men whom He had
chosen to be His apostles might be in unity, but also that all those who would
come to believe in Him through their word might be one.
Then we read why He wants those to believe in Him to be on. It was “that the world might believe that
God had sent Him into the world.” There we see the great desire of Jesus. Christians, Jesus desires that all His
people be one, even as He and the Father are one. And He tells us in His prayer that the reason for the desire is
that the world might be led to believe that God had sent Him into the world to
save the world.
Why are we not endeavoring to bring this prayer to a
fulfillment? Why are we not seeking a
way to which a Scriptural unity of God’s people may be brought to pass?
The prayer of Jesus should shake every Christian. It should awaken every Christian who reads
it to put forth an effort to being an answer to it when he reads that the
Saviour wanted it and that He earnestly prayed for it. We of this generation
have not caught the earnest pleading of our Master for the unity of His people.
III.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PRAYER’S FULFILLMENT.
“That the world may believe that Thou has sent Me.”
Jesus came into the world to die for all men. He tasted death for every man. He knew that He was giving His life as a
ransom for the salvation of men. He did
not want His death and sacrifice to be in vain for the greater portion of the
world.
Therefore, knowing that a divided church would be powerless, He
prayed for all those who believe in Him to be one, and He plainly reveals that
if the people were one it would have a greater effect upon the world.
Men would be impressed by the power of the Gospel working upon a
united Church. The testimony of a
people speaking the same thing would have greater influence upon the world and
He knew that it would cause the world to listen to His Gospel with greater
eagerness. To convince the world of the
truth of the Gospel the follower of Christ must work in unity.
It was such an important thing in the mind of Jesus that all else
was forgotten for the time, even as He stood in the very shadow of the cross
and its suffering and shame.
It was important because it would affect the whole world for
good. He knew that and He wanted to
impress it upon His followers.
It is important today. The
great need of this day is the answer to the prayer of Jesus. Sectarianism is a curse to the world. Denominationalism is the greatest sin of the
world and is causing more of the world’s grief than any other sin. Many say that the great wars could have been
avoided had the people who profess to be Christians been one as Jesus prayed.
The Church united in true Christian unity could shake the world
but a strife-torn Church cannot avail.
Christian unity is to be desired not only by our Master and Saviour but
also by every right-thinking Christian.
IV.
THE NEW TESTAMENT PLEADS FOR THE UNITY OF GOD’S PEOPLE.
Not only did Jesus pray for this unity of His people but also the
New Testament Scriptures plead for it.
The Holy Spirit led the apostles to teach it. And they were thus willingly led.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians: Ҧ Now I beseech you, brethren, by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you;
but that ye be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it hath been
declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among
you. 12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of
Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13 Is Christ divided? was Paul
crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” I
Corinthians 1:10-13
Contentions were already being made in the Church. Men were beginning to call themselves the
followers of men rather than followers of the Christ. Human names were being substituted for the name, which is above
every name. Is this not a picture of
this day when we have hundreds and hundreds of denominations, and men
professing to believe in Christ are fighting one another rather than being one
as the Lord prayed?
Paul in the third Chapter of I
Corinthians wrote these words: “3
For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there
is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and
walk as men? 4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos;
are ye not carnal?”
There is no gainsaying these Scriptures. DENOMINATIONALISM IS NOT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT BUT THE WORKS OF
THE CARNAL MIND. Everything which tends
to divide the people of God is wrong.
If we are of the Spirit it must be that we are of a like mind and that
we follow the leading of the Word of God.
V.
IS THERE A SCRIPTURAL WAY OF UNITY?
We believe that there is a way for Scriptural Christian
unity. Ephesians, Chapter 4, if studied and applied, would solve the
problem and help to bring the people of Christ together.
ONE Body
ONE Spirit
ONE Hope
ONE Lord
ONE Faith
ONE Baptism
ONE God and Father
ONE Name by which we can all exalt the Christ.
“And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” Acts
11:26
“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the
Father by him.” Colossians 3:17
Let us all do our best to bring all Christians together into this
unity. Our great Saviour, the only
begotten Son of God, prayed earnestly for it to come to pass.
No one ought to expect God to answer his prayers if he does not
help to bring about the unity for which He prayed.
The oneness set forth in the fourth Chapter of Ephesians ought to be that which every
Christian should desire to see today.