A message to encourage believers to:
Believe in Unity,
and to
Believe in A Future.
Note that I have provided footnotes of illustrations that I used for this message. I do not want you to think that I am a gifted illustrator or gifted in history.
John 17:2-26
20 My prayer is not for them
alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that
all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they
also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I
have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:
23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you
sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father,
I want those you have given me to be
with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me
because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous
Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you
have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make
you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I
myself may be in them."
There
is a song by Mercy Me titled “I Can Only Image.” I sure many of you have heard
it on the Christian radio stations. When I think about a future with Christ it
is hard to image what it will be like but it will be glorious, which is the
point to the song Mercy Me wrote.
However,
in order to be with Christ one has to believe
in the message, one has to be in
unity with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and you must believe in a future with Christ. Today
that is what we will look at in this passage: belief in the message, belief in
unity, and belief in a future.
Belief in the Message:
·
How do we believe
in the message of Christ?
·
How do we live
out the message of Christ?
In
the opening of the prayer for future believers Christ says: “20 My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those
who will believe in me through their message.” Christ tells us that in this prayer that we
are not alone. So how do we believe and live out the message of Christ? Listen to the story of Edmund G. Ross.
Who was United States Senator Edmund G. Ross of
Kansas? I suppose you could call him a "Mr. Nobody." No law bears his
name. Not a single list of Senate "greats" mentions his service. Yet
when Ross entered the Senate in 1866, he was considered the man to watch. He
seemed destined to surpass his colleagues, but he tossed it all away by one
courageous act of conscience.
Let's
set the stage.
Conflict was dividing our government in the wake of
the Civil War. President Andrew Johnson was determined to follow Lincoln's
policy of reconciliation toward the defeated South. Congress, however, wanted
to rule the downtrodden Confederate states with an iron hand.
Congress decided to strike first. Shortly after
Senator Ross was seated, the Senate introduced impeachment proceedings against
the hated President. The radicals calculated that they needed thirty-six votes,
and smiled as they concluded that the thirty-sixth was none other than Ross'.
The new senator listened to the vigilante talk. But to the surprise of many, he
declared that the president "deserved as fair a trial as any accused man
has ever had on earth." The word immediately went out that his vote was "shaky."
Ross received an avalanche of anti-Johnson telegrams from every section of the
country. Radical senators badgered him to "come to his senses."
The fateful day of the vote arrived. The courtroom
galleries were packed. Tickets for admission were at an enormous premium.
As a deathlike stillness fell over the Senate chamber,
the vote began. By the time they reached Ross, twenty-four "guilties"
had been announced. Eleven more were certain. Only Ross' vote was needed to
impeach the President. Unable to conceal his emotion, the Chief Justice asked
in a trembling voice, "Mr. Senator Ross, how vote you? Is the respondent
Andrew Johnson guilty as charged?" Ross later explained, at that moment,
"I looked into my open grave. Friendships, position, fortune, and
everything that makes life desirable to an ambitions man were about to be swept
away by the breath of my mouth, perhaps forever." Then, the answer came --
unhesitating, unmistakable: "Not guilty!" With that, the trial was
over. And the response was as predicted.
A high public official from Kansas wired Ross to say:
"Kansas repudiates you as she does all perjurers and skunks." The
"open grave" vision had become a reality. Ross' political career was
in ruins. Extreme ostracism, and even physical attack awaited his family upon
their return home.
One gloomy day Ross turned to his faithful wife and
said, "Millions cursing me today will bless me tomorrow...though not but
God can know the struggle it has cost me." It was a prophetic declaration.
Twenty years later Congress and the Supreme Court verified the wisdom of his
position, by changing the laws related to impeachment.
Ross was appointed Territorial Governor of New Mexico.
Then, just prior to his death, he was awarded a special pension by Congress.
The press and country took this opportunity to honor his courage which, they
finally concluded, had saved our country from crisis and division.[1]
Just as Edmond G. Ross voted to stay the course with
courage to reconcile our divided nation we too must believe and live the
message of Christ with courage knowing that we are never alone for he will be
with us even unto the end of the age. At that time in our nation’s history the
need for unity was great which brings me to my next point. Belief in unity is
crucial; so how do we as a congregation unite together in Christ?
Belief in Unity:
·
How do we unite as
a congregation?
·
How do we unite
with Christ?
21that all of them may be one, Father, just
as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may
believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory
that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in
them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them
even as you have loved me.
Many
congregations at times are in need of being reminded of how to be united as
believers. Some here today may even need to be reminded of how to reunite with
Christ.
As
Jesus prayed to the Father and conveyed to us how we may be united it seems so
simplistic. As you are in me and I an in you May they be in us so that the
world may believe that you have sent me.
What Jesus is talking about here is to be in tune with the Spirit of God
so that the message conveyed to others is a message of love. Listen to how the Christian groups came to
reunite after WWII in Germany.
During World War II, Hitler commanded all religious
groups to unite, so that he could control them. Among the Brethren assemblies,
half complied and half refused. Those who went along with the order had a much
easier time. Those who did not faced harsh persecution. In almost every family
of those who resisted, someone died in a concentration camp.
When the war was over, feelings of bitterness ran deep
between the groups and there was much tension. Finally they decided that the
situation had to be healed. Leaders from each group met at a quiet retreat. For
several days, each person spent time in prayer, examining his own heart in the light of Christ's commands. Then
they came together. Francis Schaeffer, who told of the incident, asked a
friend who was there, "What did you do then?" "We were just
one," he replied. As they confessed their hostility and bitterness to God
and yielded to His control, the Holy Spirit created a spirit of unity among
them. Love filled their hearts and dissolved their hatred.
As Chaplain Hayes spoke last week about the power of
the love of God. When love prevails among believers, especially in times of
strong disagreement, it presents to the world an indisputable mark of a true
follower of Jesus Christ.[2] Our
unity to God is not accomplished by power, by manipulation, by theology, by
tradition, by experience, by scripture; none of these unite us to Christ. What
unites us to Christ is true faith in the love of God in our worship and then to
show that faith of the love of God to others in fellowship. Christ was sent into the world to show the
love of God and to show us how to convey the love of God to others. Today that is the challenge of the church
conveying the message of faith in a loving God and a united body. Thus the
belief in a future with God is the key to living out the message of faith and
unity.
Belief in a Future:
·
How do we plan
for the future?
·
How are we assured
a future in Christ?
There
is a need for us not to focus our attention on the planning of our future with
Christ. However, there is a need to be prepared for the future with Christ.
This cannot happen if we are not seeking the kingdom of heaven in our thoughts,
words, and deeds. Let me illustrated it
this way. “During his 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy often closed
his speeches with the story of Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the
Connecticut House of Representatives.
One day in 1789, the sky of Hartford darkened ominously,
and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was
at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment, Davenport rose and said,
"The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not,
there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my
duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought."
Rather than fearing what is to come, we are to be
faithful till Christ returns. Instead of fearing the dark, we're to be lights
as we watch and wait. [3]”
In order to live out a message of unity in Christ we
must as believers be found doing our duty to serve Him faithfully while
proclaiming the message of salvation. Sunday is the first day of the week and
has been set aside by those who came before us in faith as a day to worship the
resurrection of Christ.
As we stand to sing our closing hymn let us do so
believing in the message, united as a congregation in Christ, ready to do our
duty to proclaim the future of our Lord.
Amen.
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