Title: Make Us One (John 17:20-23)
Yesterday, the wedding ceremony of Yang Bong-seon and Jin-hyung was held beautifully by God's grace. I said, "Life is an encounter, and meeting is a blessing and happiness."
1. Being one is a blessing and happiness.
This morning, I would like to say that meeting is important, but meeting and becoming one is more important. It is important that Adam and Eve meet each other, but it is more important that the two become one. In Genesis 2:24, God said to Adam and Eve: “A man shall be united to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” When Adam and Eve met and became of one heart, one mind, and one body, they were filled with joy and happiness. So Adam turned to Eve and said, “You are bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Happiness lies in being one, and joy in being one.
All human tragedies come from divergence. The separation of Adam from God caused a spiritual tragedy, the separation of Adam from Eve caused a family tragedy, and the separation of Cain from Abel caused a social tragedy. It can be said that all the problems in our families and society today are caused by separation. Parents and children are separated, children are separated from their parents, husbands are separated from their wives, and wives are separated from their husbands. The division between East and West and North and South will be the fundamental tragedy of our nation. Separation is sin and destruction. Unity is salvation and life. Why? Because human beings originally came from God and from the sharing of human flesh and blood. So St Augustine said: The closer we get to God, the fuller we are, the farther we are from God, the less we are non-existent.
2. "Make us one."
The main point of Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17 this morning is, "Let us be one." As Jesus lifted his eyes and looked up to heaven, the last prayer of the high priest who offered for his disciples and for the multitude of believers coming and going was, “Let us be one.” “May we become one as we are” (11). “May they all be one, even as I am in the Father” (21). “That they may be one, even as we are one” (22). Jesus is still praying this prayer. “For he always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
Why did Jesus pray, "May we also be one"? Because being one is our salvation, our life, our joy, and our happiness. Because becoming one is the principle of creation by God who made us. Sin and Satan have separated us from God and have separated us from each other, because Jesus wants to restore them and restore them.
God the Father wanted it, Jesus the Son wanted it, and the Holy Spirit wanted it. In 2 Corinthians 5:19, it says that “God wanted to reconcile the world to Himself.” Ephesians 2:13 says, "Christ is our peace" and made the two into one. Galatians 4:3 says that the Holy Spirit is the one who unites. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the one who unites us. He wants to save us, He wants to make us happy, He wants to make us happy.
In particular, the purpose of Jesus' coming into the world was to unite us sinners with God and make us one with one another. Read Ephesians 2:14 again. “He is our peace, who made the two one, and broke down the middle wall.” The cross is a symbol of unity. It is a symbol of vertical oneness and horizontal oneness. The purpose of Jesus' ministry was to unite us.
That is why Jesus has been praying for us like this from time immemorial. “Let us be one.” "God, Father in heaven, may Peter and John be one. May the Hellenistic Jews and the Hebrew Jews be one. May the Jerusalem and Samaritans be one, and the Jerusalem and Caesarean people one." "May the believers in Korea and the believers in Japan become one, and the believers in South Korea and the believers in North Korea become one." “May Elder Kim and his wife be one, and this Kwon and her husband may become one.”
Jesus was asking God to do something that is almost impossible for humans now. This is what Jesus prayed in his last prayer because it was so difficult for the Jewish disciples to become one with the Gentiles. “Let us be one.” This prayer of the Lord is a mournful prayer and a desperate prayer. It is a determined prayer prepared to die on the cross to achieve unity. This prayer is also a prayer of patience and hope for the eschatological completion. This prayer is the Redeemer's prayer based on forgiveness and love.
Although this prayer of the Lord has not yet been fully fulfilled, this prayer of the Lord has led to a surprising movement of unity in the history of Christianity. The beginning of the Jerusalem church in Acts 2 was a movement of unity. The revival of Cornelius's house in Acts 10 was also a movement of unity, and the revival of the church in Antioch in Acts 13 was also a movement of unity. The revival movement that took place in Pyongyang in 1907 was actually a movement of unity. In response to the Lord's mournful prayer, a work of reconciliation took place in which a husband and wife became one through tears, and a work of reconciliation in which parents and children became one through love. Now is the time for a new movement of unity in our homes, societies, and churches.
3. "Let us become one"
This morning we consider three keys to our being united. The first is the secret of creation revealed in Genesis 2:18. In other words, we can become one when we recognize that our beings are “helpers for each other.” In other words, when we realize that we are the ones who fill each other's shortcomings and fill each other's shortcomings, we can easily become one. We can easily become one when we realize that we are the ones who have to live with “my fault” for all the mistakes we make. In fact, we are members who have to live by helping each other.
The second is the secret of redemption revealed in John 17. The word "with us" appears three times here. In other words, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have become one in redeeming us and reconciling the world to God, so we must be one. That is, just as God gave up his Son to reconcile the world to himself, just as the Son gave himself up to reconcile the world to his Father, and just as the Holy Spirit enters and works in sinners to reconcile them to God. It means that we too must give ourselves up and become one. We can become one when we take God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as our model. That is, when we give ourselves up, when we sacrifice ourselves, we can become one. Especially in the cross we can become one. When we look to the cross, we can become one. So Paul said to be one in the Lord. In the Lord, husband and wife can become one, parents and children can become one, and master and slave can become one.
Third, we can become one because of the Lord's last prayer. The Lord is still praying, "May we be one." That is how the Lord prays to save us, to save us, and to please us. We are doing our best to become one because we hear the Lord's prayer, and we can become one. Because the prayers of the Son of God will soon be answered.
May that prayer be fulfilled in us. May the Lord's last prayers and wishes come true among us. I hope that we will become a church where worship is alive, a church that serves the local community, and our riverside church that promotes a united movement.