"For Those Who Will Believe"

In August of 1987, there was supposed to have been a world-changing event. According to people associated with the New Age Movement, it was the time for some kind of harmonic convergence in our solar system. There was some unusual coordination of the planets and their orbits around the sun, which had to be captured and taken advantage of late that month – or be lost forever. If the power of this convergence could be captured, it would have prepared us for visitors from another world sometime this century.

New Ager’s gathered on Mount Shasta in California, at a canyon in New Mexico, Enchanted Rock in Texas, Serpent Mound in Ohio, the great pyramids in Egypt, and at Glastonbury, the home of King Arthur in England. At least 144,000 people had to hold hands and hum at the same time. If they did that, they believed it would tune us up to the vibrations of this dynamic convergence.

That whole story would almost be funny if it wasn’t for the tragic if it weren’t for what motivated their actions; the empty longing that characterizes our world – a world divided socially, economically, racially, politically, religiously, and every other way you can think of.

The 17^th chapter of the Gospel of John records a prayer that Jesus prayed just before he left the Garden of Gethsemane to be betrayed and crucified. In what is sometimes called "The High Priestly Prayer" of Jesus, it was a prayer that only the Son of God could pray. Jesus began by praying for himself and the mission that lay before him. He prayed for the successful outcome of his work for our salvation.

Jesus’ thoughts then turned to His disciples. Jesus had revealed the nature of God the Father to those disciples. These disciples were chosen by God the Father before Jesus came into this world, and given to Jesus. They saw what He did, listened to what He said, and held firmly to His Word, which set them apart from those who rejected Jesus and His Word. Jesus’ disciples would need an extra measure of strength to face the hellish opposition that lay before them.

Jesus knew that there would never be one worldwide unified group of believers. Even His disciples didn’t always agree on everything. It hadn’t been long since the mother of James and John had come to Jesus to ask for them to get a special seat in Jesus’ kingdom. That didn’t sit well with the others. On the same evening that Jesus prayed this prayer, there had been a discussion among the disciples about who was the greatest. Simon the Zealot had pledged to kill people like Matthew the tax collector, because they felt like the tax collectors had sold the Jewish people out to Rome.

So with the words of our text, Jesus prayed for those who would continue to come to faith through the Word that God would supply through the power of the Holy Spirit. Not only through the Scriptures that were still to be written, but through the words of the disciples and apostles that would take the message of Christ crucified throughout the world.

Jesus knew that after His work of salvation was done, there would be a period of church growth that would last until the end of time. When Jesus looked at the face of Peter, He saw the Pentecost and its effect on the new church. When He looked at the face of John, He saw the church of Ephesus and the churches of Asia Minor. Surely too, he could see the face of the yet to be converted Paul, and all the churches of Europe.

And crossing generations and oceans and time, right to this very day, He prayed for everyone who would believe in Him through the Word spread throughout the world by that original faithful eleven.

To understand Jesus’ prayer a little better, let’s pinpoint the sequence of his petitions: He prayed that all who believe in Him may be one, that they may be in the Father and in Son, and that the world may believe in him. He has given believers his glory that they may be one, that they may be brought to complete unity, and that the world may know the Father sent Jesus and loves all who believe.

Christ could have prayed for a lot of different things in his final moments of freedom. But did you notice the dominating thought of his prayer? That thought was for unity – for us to become one spiritually with him. Jesus didn’t pray for one unified visible body of believers.

Sure, those who are of one faith in Jesus will seek out others who share their faith, and they will join in a visible fellowship based on the confession of faith. Confessional unity comes when believers agree on the teachings of God’s Word. In this sinful world, errors creep in, and divisions result. God warns us in John 8:31 to keep his teachings pure, and to hold to Jesus’ teachings. That is the only way to bring us together in one body on earth.

Christians are drawn to a common center – and that common center is Christ himself. It’s almost like every believer is a piece of crystal in a beautiful

Unfortunately, our world is one of disunity. We find that disunity on our homes and workplaces, and our government. We have trouble communicating with people who live in the same community as we do. And you don’t have to look far to see that there are people within our own Synod that are not of the same heart and mind and mission and vision of the future. Thank God that there are a lot more things – important things that we agree on than we disagree on.

It is a disunited church that can become a stumbling block to people who might be looking for a church home. How does a seeker find what they are looking for when it seems like they are looking for a needle in a haystack? And to make matters worse, there are probably people at home this morning who because on Monday mornings they have heard "Christians" go to their respective factories and offices and businesses and criticize their church or their pastors or members of their churches.

That kind of influence makes people cynical and has deafened their ears to the Gospel of Christ. Instead of presenting the church as one, we publicly criticize the church, its programs, and its leadership.

So what can we do to see that the church is one? How do we make it happen? In the church, we can act as a unifying personality, seeking common ground. The truth about any church is that there may be dozens of opinions at any one time about dozens of things. But every believer must be a unifier in the midst of God’s people - or they give Satan the opportunity to bring division.

The divisions within Christianity today remain one of the great scandals before the world. It is a stumbling block to faith when so many versions of Christianity and so many cults that operate under the premise of Christianity are being peddled. How can a person figure out where to begin their faith journey? How can they really know who embraces the truth of God’s Word? It’s no wonder so many people are turned off by what they call "organized religion" and have retreated to their own private system of beliefs.

It was never the intention of our Lutheran fathers to create a new church or confession of Christianity. They only desired to confess and practice the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic faith without the intrusion of superstition, philosophy, or man-made opinion or laws. Every new "denomination" or confession that springs up weakens the witness of the church to the unbelieving world. With hundreds of groups all claiming to "have the truth," who do you believe?

If you think about the life and ministry of Christ, he did a lot of praying. This prayer of Jesus has kept the church going for the last two thousand years. It protected the church in times of persecution. It held the church together through the Middle Ages and the Reformation. It has preserved the church right up to this very day.

In the last couple of verses of our text, Jesus prays for all believers to be with Him and to see His glory. Jesus envisioned the entire body of believes as a unit and prayed for the day when every person in that body would join him in heavens glory. And it this high priestly prayer that holds us up, keeps us going, and preserves us. Jesus holds this little congregation of believers in his nail-scarred hands. And prayer is one thing that we can all do toward a common goal.

Think about the importance of prayer in your own lives. When you are sick or troubled, or depressed, you seek the prayers of your fellow Christians. Every Sunday we lift up in prayer things that concern us and affect our lives and the lives of those around us. That’s why this prayer of Jesus is so important, so meaningful, so comforting for us. The beloved Son of God has prays for us. WE can be sure that his prayer is heard.

Jesus prays that all who believe in Him would be one – united with him and with each other, just as He and the Father are one. This unity isn’t just so we can sit around and enjoy each other’s company. It’s for a purpose. It’s so the world might know that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world. So the world will know that by grace through faith they have God’s love and God’s forgiveness. So the world will know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

We confess this oneness when we say that we believe in one, holy, Christian and apostolic church. We confess that we believe hat hidden beneath all the divisions of Christianity that there is a cord that ties all believers to each other. Just as the head can’t be divided, so the body cannot be divided.

The glory of the church isn’t in her buildings, her programs, her numbers, or her influence. The glory of the church is in Jesus Christ crucified. It’s in the forgiveness of sins that came through his blood. It’s fully realized in those who already believe and in those who will believe. May we all continue to be united with each other and with our risen Lord and Savior. Amen.