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One

As long as there have been people there have been disagreements. Think about it: the first guy ever born killed his own brother.

 So as Christians we should seek to get along, but the deck is stacked against us. Our own selfishness and pride get in the way, pushing us to want our needs met above anyone else’s. There is an unfortunate book titled War in the Pews that chronicles some fights among church members. The book details the story of a feud that developed because of a covered dish; one sister made her congealed salad with Cool Whip, which so offended another sister who preferred a different whipping cream. 

 

One church split over whether to position the piano on the left or right side of the pulpit, another split over whether to serve the Lord’s Supper from the front of the sanctuary to the back or from back to front.

 

These things ought not to be! But they are nothing new. That is why when Jesus prayed with His disciples on the night He was arrested, He specifically prayed that they would be united as one. Here is what He said in John 17:21-23:  

 

“That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 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.”

 

Jesus used the number one four times in those three verses, and by the time He was finished, He prayed that they would be perfectly one. That is the goal, and the model is God Himself. The Father and Son are separate, but they are of the same essence. They are on the same page. If we are in Christ, we should be one with fellow believers. 

 

You might be thinking, “That’s impossible!” Humanly speaking, it is. But Jesus didn’t just pray this prayer for the disciples, He prayed it for us—you and me. One verse earlier He said, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” 

 

Jesus looked into the future and saw us. He saw our churches. And He prayed that we would stop arguing over salads, suppers, and piano placements. 

 

Souls are at stake. The world is watching us, so Jesus prayed “that the world may believe that you have sent me.” How we get along is a reflection of our God, and He wants us to be one. 

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