Background

Recently I was privileged to be a part of a large gathering of leaders dedicated to growing Christian unity for the purpose of building the kingdom of God. The intent of the day was sincere and folk had come genuinely seeking spiritual transformation in both church and society. I sat listening quietly with one ear open to what was being said from the front and the other prayerfully attuned to the Spirit. As the meeting progressed I became increasingly unsettled by a central omission in the presentations and sought the Lord for an opportunity to voice what was being missed. The content of this teaching is an expansion of what I rose to say towards the end of the gathering.

The Finality of the Father

Whilst the focus on Jesus’ and his prayer in John 17 was admirably referred to by each of the main speakers, as I looked over my notes and prayed I sense that there was one person of the Trinity who had not been mentioned by name. The Father had been overlooked virtually entirely. In this point, the meeting necessarily lacked “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16). When Jesus came preaching the “kingdom of God” (Mark 1:15) he revealed that the kingdom of his Father (Matt 26:29) was his central passion. He distinctively and constantly spoke of God as “my Father” (Matt 26:42) and taught the disciples likewise (Matt 6:9). Christ is the way to the Father, the truth of the Father and the life of the Father (John 14:6). That the Father is the first principle of unity in the Godhead is nowhere more developed than Jesus “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17[1]. The significance of these observations are of a very practical nature, but I will develop my point from the chapter first.

Glory brings Unity

Many appeals for greater Christian unity omit a pivotal text in John 17 expounding how this unity comes about[2]. Jesus tells the Father, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (vv. 22-23). Jesus expounds an order here[3]:

a. He receives glory from the Father.

b. He has given this glory to his disciples.

c. The result is that they share in his unity with the Father.

d. The world will “know” that they are loved by the Father just as he loves the Son.

This statement is amazing at every level. God shares his own inner – Trinitarian glory as Father and Son with us, so that we are as one with each other as he is One in himself[4]. The stupendous outcome is that the world will “know” Jesus has been sent by the Father, who loves the disciples to the same extent that he loves the Son. The biblical meaning of “know”, when used of relationships, means personal intimacy. In the context of John 17, when the world comes to “know” Christ as sent by God, “know” must have the same meaning as in verse 3, “this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Through the unity of the Church, people will “know” God and so enter into eternal life. As we trace this theme further in the passage we are taken even deeper into the mystery of the divine life.

Since God’s own glory creates our unity (17:22), effective calls to manifest Christian unity must be grounded in a revelation of the glory of the Father-Son relationship. In praying, “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (17:5), Jesus seeks a return to the infinite splendour he had with the Father in eternity. It follows that for us to share in this glory is to participate in God’s own eternal life[5]!

We do not share in this glory through some mystical process that take us out of our present earthly existence so that we become super-spiritual way. Neither do we enter into this blessing in a Gnostic way; there is no special information beyond the gospel which holds the key to Christian maturity. John 17 teaches us that the glory of God is released to us by Jesus as he reveals God’s name[6], where “name”, means the inner character of the Father. The importance of the revelation of the name is highlighted in John 17 by its repetition:

““I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”” (17:6) “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”” (17:26)

As Jesus pours out his heart in prayer[7] throughout this narrative we are given additional insight into the profound nature of the revelation of “the name”. Two unique expressions are used here, these are “Holy Father” and “Righteous Father” (17:11, 25). The glory of the Son is to reveal the name of the Father as Holy and Righteous love. The holiness of God stands for his complete separation and opposition to all evil, the righteousness of God speaks of his absolute justice. A Holy and Righteous Father is someone who is supremely trustworthy. But, how will this insight into God’s name and glory be passed on to distrustful humanity?

The Means of Glory

Another prayer of Jesus in John is connected to the thrust of John 17 and expounds the manner in which Christ will accomplish the revelation of God’s glory as Father[8].

““Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” (12:27-33)

The climax of Jesus’ life on earth, and the means by which he will glorify God, is to lay down his life for the world by dying for the Father (John 3:16; 10:11[9]). Unconditional and absolute loving sacrifice[10] is the content of the unity between Father and Son; it is the inner life which they have to share with us. We now have the essential keys to practical Christian unity.

Growing in Christian Unity

Jesus proclaimed to the disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”” (John 13:33-34). In John 17 Christ taught that the world would know through Christian unity that he was sent by the Father. Here he teaches the same saving knowledge will reach lost people through the intensity of love that Christians have for one another.

In his first letter John expounds this truth in a way that challenges us all, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” (1 John 3:16). We should not expect a revelation of the glory, love and unity we share with the Godhead straight from heaven. Christian unity is based on acts of sacrificial love for each other; it is this which reveals the knowledge of God in the midst of the disciples. Jesus prayed and suffered for this unity, and so must we. The call to unity is not a sentiment; it is a call to end all acts and attitudes of self promotion which deny the holy justice of God’s own character. Sadly, seen in this light, our displays of disunity reveal that we have “loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” (John 12:43; cf. 5:44).

A Transformation That Will Endure

By grace, there is always a group that intimately knows the everlasting Father whose complete purposes have been accomplished in the eternal Son. The apostle John was such a person[11], so was able to write, “I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.” (1 John 2:13, 14). This smallish group of “fathers”[12] hold the church stable in troubled times for they know God’s character is changelessly holy and just. However, without such “fathers” every spiritual movement is fragile[13]. We desperately need more such leaders in our time. My concern is also very life-based.

I was converted during the Jesus Movement of the 1970’s[14]. All over the Western world thousands of young people were turning to Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, witnessing passionately in Christ’s name, developing new forms of outreach, musical expression and so on. It was a tremendously enriching time spiritually for us all. However, this was a generation starved of spiritual fathers, and as such this Movement never matured. Generally speaking, those “baby boomers” that moved into leadership were never empowered to impart to the generation who followed them the grace of the Father. This is a foundational reason why the church has seen decades of poor teaching, slack discipline, competitiveness, and too many cases of lust for money, sex and power.

Conclusion

If we really believe that revival is coming to our land we must be seeking a wisdom that respects the sovereign plan of God. This requires that in the excitement generated by new and influential calls for unity, we must humbly dig deeper into the Word than ever before. Let us beware lest Jesus’ words prove true of our generation, ““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”” (Matt 7:24-27).

Let us pray that those spiritual fathers/mothers whom the Father has been preparing for so intimately for decades come forth in our midst. These are the ones who can reveal to us through their life experience that the way of glory is the way of suffering and that the way of (mutual) suffering is the way of unity[15]. Under such conditions, revival will not only come, but will mature and endure.