by Michael Clark
Just before He was to go to the cross Jesus prayed, “That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:” (Joh 17:21-22)
Jesus was who He was/is because He was/is ONE with the Father. Without the Father He could do nothing. He even told Philip if he had seen Jesus he had seen the Father. Herein did Jesus receive glory from the Father. As WE are ONE in the Father and the Son, we receive the same glory as Christ did and THIS is the witness to the world of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Is it any wonder that Christians are so attacked in this very area of unity? First they are pulled away by the seductions of the world to keep them from unity with the Father and the Son and secondly they are divided against one another by sectarianism, pride and unforgiveness. Is walking in unity, His glory and living the gospel of Christ important enough to us to call out to God to change our hearts and conform us into the image of Christ? Or will we remain content to go on without His glory in us in a mediocre existence and be that salt that has lost its saltiness that is good for nothing but to be troden under the feet of men? This seems to be the choice we are all facing in this hour.
A Wilderness Voice 
True unity is difficult to find in the modern church, The whole Clergy/Laity division that elevates some believers over other believers directly destroys any chance at real unity. It is impossible to be ONE when some are deemed better or more Spiritual than others in the church. However, outside of the camp of traditional, Clergy led “church” we have much opportunity to be one in Him with other believers. I look forward to future blogs here. This is a very good start.
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Hello Chris…do you remember me?
We visited with you …was it 2000 or 2001?
My daughter Elli and I.
How are you and yours doing?
It would be nice to hear from you…if you don`t mind 🙂
Greetings,
Gaby.
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Gaby, so you know Captain Kirk (Chris), too? Small world we live in IN Christ. 🙂
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Gaby, of course I remember you and your daughter. It would be great to reconnect. My email is: oikoskrk@yahoo.com
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Thanks, my brother. When we each find our identities in Christ instead of in the church “club” we both belong to, we have a unity that goes way beyond doctrines, dogma, and the building we meet in. Just as members of our earthly families will always be members of our families regardless whether they belong to the same political party, denominated group or come to our house or we go to theirs… they will always be family. So it is in the family of God. We are brothers and sisters with and IN Christ and that is all the commonality in the Spirit of God that is needed… bound together with His great love.
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My husband says that the oneness Jesus was talking about is the Oneness within the Godhead rather than the oneness with othe peope that has so often been preached. If we are one with God, it should follow that we are one with each other but maybe we are focusing on the wrong part of this and trying to create unity with others when that will happen if we are all one with God?
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Right on Sandra !
Our power and knowledge, and walk and understanding, come from the “Pauline Gospel”
And that is the understanding that we are all one in Christ and that Christ is the seed that was planted in us when we received Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior. Our being Born Again.
The Gospel Paul preached was that now you ARE a new Creation in Christ
Jesus.
And you were never your own by nature ! This is where “Religion” don’t understand it.
We are all equal at the foot of the cross.
And now Christ lives in you, and we have him and his perfect nature in us.
Eph 2:3 key woed there is “Were by nature”.
Now we have him in us.
2 Peter 1:4 we are partakers as we choose to walk in him.
This is why Paul said “You need Mind-renewal, as to who we are now
In Christ !
Read Gal 2:20 / Col 1:26,27 / 2 Cor 13:5.
There are many more Scriptures, seek and you will find them !
Love to the Brothers & Sisters In Christ !
Robert Housholder 🙂
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Thanks Robert. My simplified version of what Michael said is that if God is our Father, then we are all brothers and sisters. I read recently that there are only two divisions in Christendom, God and sinners! So much time and effort has gone into Christians trying to be at one with each other instead of focusing on being one with God and letting Him do the work. Many brothers and sisters in our earthly family do not agree with each other, but we are still blood relatives.
And we are a new creation in Jesus. Believing it is so, and has been done is the issue isn’t it?
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Sandra, simple is good. It is not God who authored all this confusion and division in Christendom. You are right, “In the beginning there was the Word… and the Word was God.” The Word created mankind to walk in unity and fellowship with Him. Only as we are one IN Christ and find that “In Him we live and move and have our being,” will we ever know unity with one another. True unity in the faith is found when we first believe INTO Christ and then continue to abide IN Him as our life. Any other existence is falling short to the glory of God. To fall short is to live in sin, the meaning of the word. So, yes, in that sense, there is God (including those who are IN Him) and there are sinners. May we all choose to abide totally in the Vine as His branches.
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Hi Michael, Good point about God, and us being in Him. I did have some concerns when I quoted the thing about God and sinners being the only two catagories of distinction. I suspect the writer was trying to address the manifold distinctions within the iC, and while I saw his point, I don’t regard myself as being separated from God and therefore a sinner at all! To me to be separated from God is being in sin. My husband says that when people object to the concept of an innocent baby being ‘sinful’ he says it simply means we are born separated from Him.
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