The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-18, titled "Questions and Answers--Part 46." A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. Copyright 2000 by John MacArthur, All Rights Reserved.
Question
My question is regarding Christ's prayer in John 17, where He said that when perfect unity was achieved among the believers, that were and were to be, that the world would know that God had sent Him. I wanted to know what you perceive as the number one obstacle to unity in the Body of Christ, and what you think we can do as individuals to overcome those obstacles without compromising on things that are key to our faith?
Answer
Well, that's a good question. In John 17:20 He says, "I do not pray for these alone, (that is for His disciples) but all those who will believe in Me through their word," everybody who is going to read the Word, and hear them preached and believe all down through the ages. "And I pray that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You."
Now, we have to ask the question, when He says, "I pray that they all may be one," what is He really talking about here?
First of all let me say this: I don't believe this is a wish that doesn't come true. OK? Because the Son never prays for anything that the Father doesn't will. Right? It is like the Holy Spirit in Romans 8, that whatever the Holy Spirit prays for He knows is consistent with the will of the Father. So the Son never prays anything the Father doesn't will. So, the Son, consistent with the will of the Father is praying that believers would all be one in the same way that the Father and the Son are one.
Now, listen to this: In what way are the Father and the Son One? It isn't experientially--it's essentially. Do you know what I am saying? They share the same life. Right? They share the same common eternal life. So, He is not saying, "I hope that they'll get along as well as we get along." He is saying, "I want those who belong to me to share the same eternal life that we share," and that prayer is answered every time a person is saved, because when you are saved, you literally share the common eternal life.
You say, "What do you mean by that?" First of all, you are "begotten again" [born again] to a new life--you have a new birth. You enter into new life: "Old things are passed away; all things have become new." That new life is characterized by the divine presence dwelling in you. Is that not right? So, you as a believer have dwelling in you the life of God in your soul. You now possess eternal life. You are not going to get eternal life when you die--you have it right now. OK? In fact, salvation is a bigger transformation than death. At death you just loose the flesh; at salvation, your inside is totally transformed--you now have the life of God in you. That's why Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ (I've died!) and yet I live, but not I, but Christ lives in me."
So, Jesus is saying, "Father, what I want is that the Church would possess the very life that we possess," and God answered that prayer. Every time someone puts his trust and faith in Jesus Christ he receives that same eternal life. You see, that's the only way to interpret that because Jesus says, "That they may be one as You and I, Father are one." It's not that they are one because they get along so well; it's that they are one because they share the same essential life, and He is saying, "I want my people to share that same essential life." That is one of the marvelous wonders, isn't it, of salvation. Now, as a Christian, it isn't that I have just taken on a new religion; it isn't that I've got a new belief system--it is that I have a new life! Don't we talk about it like that? That is why we say, "You're born again, and now the life of God dwells within me. I am a temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in me and I am a possessor of the eternal life--the life of God," and that literally comes out in so many different places in the Scripture; in the Epistles.
Now, having said that, we will say then that the prayer was answered and it's answered every time somebody believes. I hear a lot of people say, "You know Jesus prayed that we would be one, and we are not cutting it folks, and this is got to break the heart of Jesus, because His prayer isn't answered"--Please! That is not the case. What He prayed for is reality, and every time somebody is saved they become one with Christ and one with the Father, so much so that 1 Corinthians 6:17 says that if you join yourself to a harlot, you have just joined Christ to that harlot--"He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." That is the amazing thing about being a Christian, isn't it? In Romans 8, Paul says, "The glorious manifestation of the children of God hasn't happened and so the world doesn't know what we are." They think that we are like them. They don't know that we are aliens. We are the real aliens! This is true--we are the real aliens in this world. We are the only aliens in this world. Our citizenship is not here, and our life is not even human. We are the aliens of this world. We are the real people from outer space, but they don't know it, and they won't know it until the glorious manifestation of the Children of God is made known at the Coming of Jesus Christ.
Now, in the mean time, and I know this is your question, we all don't get along real well, even though we have the same common eternal life, and you're asking me, "What is the single greatest barrier to that?
I have to tell you that there are two barriers to that: The first barrier to it is theological confusion, and they are not necessarily in this order.
1. The first thing that causes us to have difficulty in fellowship is: Some people understand the truth and some people don't, and it is hard to connect with them if they don't.
If I believe that the Bible is absolutely the Word of God, that it's inerrant; that it's inspired; that every Word of God is true in the original autographs, and so forth, and so forth... And somebody comes along and says, "Well, I don't believe that. I'm a Christian. I believe the gospel part, but I don't believe in any other part." I'm going to have a hard time connecting with that person in mutual ministry--agreed? Or if I believe that the Spirit of God works through the the Word of God, and you believe the Spirit of God works through "tongues"--we are going to have a hard time. We can love each other, but we are going to have a hard time locking arms in ministering, because we are going to have two different sanctification paradigms. We are going to be going two directions.
So the first issue is to come to the truth and that is obviously compelling to me. Right? I mean, let's get the truth out there. Today, people don't like the truth. I suppose I have always been known as somebody who has convictions. I think that is probably a fair assessment. But I don't think that I have ever been as distasteful to the Christian culture as I am today, because they have bought into the post-modern mentality that there is no fixed truth: "this can be true for you, and this can be true for you, and this can be true for you, and this can be true for you..." Then the question, "How are we ever going to get together in a mutual ministry when we don't even agree what the truth is?" It is just very difficult. In fact, it is well nigh impossible to do some things. I can have fellowship with a certain pastor, certain Christian leaders, to a point, private fellowship. If you ask me to get involved in a mutual ministry with them; it is very hard for me to do that, because then I am going to give tacit support to something that they defend and preach that I don't think is true.
So the first issue is to come to the truth, and until the Church sees, first of all, the significance of the truth and understands the truth and adheres to the truth, then it is going to struggle to get together.
2. The second thing is sin.
Wherever you have sin you have a breach in the fellowship. Now as
long as we are on this planet in our current condition, even though the inner
man has been totally transformed, the outer man is still struggling, we are
going to have struggles with that truth, and we are going to have struggles
with sin, and those are the things that stand in the way.
It isn't that we don't want that [unity]; it isn't that we are not loving. I
mean, if I confront a certain situation and say, "This is not true," some
people would say, "Well, that's divisive!" That is not divisive--that is
unifying, because we will never get together as long as somebody is allowed in
the church teaching lies. We don't have any basis to get together.
You have to speak the truth, then you can speak it in love, but if you don't
speak the truth then you have to be literally pointed out, and Paul says to
Titus, "Look, the first time you find a heretic, call on him. The second
time, if he doesn't respond, call on him again. The third time, throw
him out of the church!" Because the Church can never get together as
long as there is heresy in there, and that of course is the extreme, but
wherever there is a lack of conformity to the truth--and we can't always agree
on everything, but there are great things that do divide us, and they have to
do with the great doctrines, like the Trinity; the Character of Christ, the
Atonement; Grace; Faith; the Resurrection; Sanctification; the Work of the
Holy Spirit; the Scripture--inerrant and inspired, and so forth. When we
deal with those, then we still have to battle the issue of sin, because sin
can be so divisive.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and
Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Our websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986