LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
United (2)
Die to Become One
John 17:21-23; 11:52.
Two Earthquakes
In John 17 there are two fundamental aspects of God’s work that still haven’t been fully accomplished, even in God’s people of today, in spite of the fact that they were the object of the Lord’s intimate prayer:
a) the dissociation of the Christian and the world.
b) the unity of those that belong to Christ.
It seems that the processes have been somewhat the other way around: there is an amalgam of Christians with the world, and a dissociation between Christians.
For that reason, it is important for us to turn back to our foundations. May this true sense return, at least to those that indeed love the truth of His holy Name.
Unity is only possible, as it has been said, in those that have seen His glory (John 17:22). When this is manifested, all mouths are closed (Matthew 17:5).
It is also necessary that there be a revelation from God regarding the indissoluble unity among those that belong to Christ with Him (I in them), and of the Father's unity with the Son (And You in me). The vision of these two things will cause them to be in perfect unity.
When Christ is living within a man, all other things fall away in the face of the glory of his Presence. That which before differentiated us and separated us, now falls away (Eph. 2:14-16).
What impeded unity among Jews and gentile in the days of James? (Acts 15). Some matters were related to circumcision (15:1). And that -the circumcision - is not Christ, but rather, part of a system by means of which men (the Jews) came closer to God in the past. When it was established that the circumcision was not a requirement for justification, an important step was taken toward the unity of Christians. When man’s systems begin to fail in men’s hearts, we will come closer to unity.
How and when will they fall or fail, if they are so ingrained in the heart? This will happen through a strong conviction that will come into the heart of Christians, and of the world. We want some glorious experiences to come -and also some painful ones - that will allow us to see that the systems of man are useless, that they dry our spirit, and that we cannot walk separately. Then we will seek for unity.
When we begin to see, on the other hand, that the world is increasingly opposed to this; when we experience that it is indeed under the control of the evil one, that its corruption overflows all limits, that we cannot expect anything from it, only then will we be willing to leave the world, and to truly love a communion with all God’s children.
These two earthquakes, one in our heart and the other in the world, will help us to let go of all that is not Christ (a lot of those things that separates us), in order to fill us with Christ and love for all of God’s children.
The House has been divided, and a divided house cannot stand. Will it be necessary for an external enemy to threaten us so that the disobedient members of God’s family forget their differences and reinforce their fraternal bonds? It happened in this way some years ago in countries behind the Iron curtain, and it happens in this way in China even today under the communist repression. Although it is a paradox, there are no obstacles for unity. The common external danger has demolished them. Will a generalized persecution in the West have to occur before the unity of God’s children is possible?
To die so that unity may be possible
Yet there is another matter which is even more important than what we have been discussing.
John 11:52 says that the Lord Jesus not only died for Israel, “but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.”
Caiaphas was used by the Lord there – who was high priest that year - to prophesy the Lord Jesus' death, necessary for the salvation, and also for the unity of God’s children.
Regarding Christ's expiatory death, no Christian can claim not to know about it. But the other aspect that took Him to His death –the unity of God’s children - has not been sufficiently emphasized. Christ didn't only pray for unity in John 17, but rather he died for it. We must clearly see this in order to understand what this means to God.
Firstly, we can affirm without doubt that Jesus didn't die in vain, because the effectiveness of His death on the cross caused our sins to be erased. But regarding the latter, the unity of God’s children, what will we say? Did He die in vain?
In his days, Paul demonstrated that Christ's death had efficiently demolished the wall that separated Jews and Gentiles, and had produced unity. Paul believed it, he preached it and defended it. Paul had "success" in his mission. There is no doubt! Yet it has not been believed or defended in the same way by Christians in our days. The dividing walls run off everywhere and nobody seems to be uncomfortable with them.
It is imperative to rescue our forgetfulness of this aspect of Christ's death. He died to congregate God’s children, who were dispersed, into one. Spiritually, that was already accomplished, because men are now one in Christ before God. However, we are not living or enjoying that unity today. Nor is it being a testimony to the world (John 17:21,23).
Paul took this matter very seriously, and battled to achieve unity in his generation. In saying this, we must acknowledge that he also died for it. This was, for him, a motive of disgrace (Galatians 6:12-17), and for it, he had to pay the highest price. But he was willing to pay it.
It is necessary then, in our days, that God’s children who have seen something in this secret, love unity, propitiate it and defend it, not only for what unity is in itself, but, mainly, because Christ died for it.
Even though, in order to reach it, it will be necessary that they must also die.
Paul's problem
A great part of the persecutions that Paul suffered in his days were due to the fact that he preached the unity of believers centered around Christ, at the fringe of the law. Of course, the Jews (who had a lot to lose) attacked him, while the Gentiles rejoiced. (see Ephesians 2:14-22; Galatians 6:12-17).
We don't have the same problem that Paul had in his days, just as Paul didn’t have the problem that we have today. Today the Jews are no problem for us, just as all the Christian systems weren’t a problem for Paul.
This is our problem today: Christianity is divided. There are as many divisions as there are grains of sand by the sea. Firstly, there are two large currents. These are very strong, they are very well defined from the days of the Reformation. But those two large currents are also divided among themselves. There are a multitude of decrees, a multitude of walls that separate them, so that division has become something normal.
The division of the universal Church is not as painful, however, as is the division of the local church, in almost every city and village in the world. There, Christians who see each other almost every day have learned how to ignore each other and even to despise one another.
How will we recover the principle of unity?
Unity produced by a strong leadership (as is the custom in one of the main Christian currents) is not real, it is not spiritual. Among those that love the Lord, that type of unity could not prosper. Unity among those that love the Lord can only be produced by the Holy Spirit, by taking us to the vision of Christ's glory (John 17:22).
The way to unity has different direction.
How would we have faced Paul's problem? How would Paul face our problem? Paul didn't demolish Judaism. Yet a multitude of churches were raised up all over the world at the fringe of Judaism. Paul could not achieve unity inside the Jewish system (it was too strong and too structured as to allow it), so he had to leave that system to find unity.
Nor will we find unity inside the systems that exist today, so we must leave them. The only form in which systems could reach some form of unity is through an agreement, to form a macro-system. But as the church is not a system (it is a Body) it cannot come to unity by way of agreement, neither can it end up being a macro system.
The church is spiritual, and the Spirit of God can only achieve unity if we allow him to do the work.
It is very possible that the religious systems will form unity through a macro-system. As these systems are very useful instruments for politics and power, this macro-system will be coveted by the systems of the world, and they will look to establish alliances with them, and will in fact achieve it. When this happens, the Christian macro-system will no longer have any spiritual force. If up till now the many Christians systems have been able to exercise some spiritual influence in the world, this macro-system won't be able to continue to do so. It will be salt without saltiness.
At this crossroads, the sincere Christians that are still there (in the systems) will realize that they must leave; that it is unavoidable. If they had, up to this point, still held out some hope that the system was viable, then they will lose it altogether. And then they will hear the voice of the Spirit resonate very clearly in their ears: –Come out from them, and be separate, says the Lord, touch no unclean thing and I will receive you. (2 Corinthians 6:17).
A leadership problem
Will the second objective for which Christ died be completed in our days? Will God’s children congregate in one?
There is still one more issue that must be resolved. There is a problem with the leaders, because most of them are self-absorbed in their own work, and boast greatly about their gifts.
How can one attack this dual problem? Only through the cross of Christ, revealed in the heart and experienced! Only by means of Christ's cross operating on a leader’s heart can heal him of his self-worship! The gifts won't heal him of this illness! On the contrary, they will continue to aggravate it. It is only through the cross and the disciplinary dealings of the Holy Spirit; that is, the Father's discipline and the dealings of the Holy Spirit that can heal him.
Usually, the calls to unity that leaders make are made with their own flag at the centre. This type of call, no matter how good the discourse, cannot conceal a great desire for supremacy and leadership ambitions.
Those that have reached a state of being in a genuine position of collaborating with unity are those that count themselves as the least; those that consider others as superior to themselves; those that are definitively willing to go to the cross and remain on it every day of their life.
The leaders that have been guided by the Lord to collectively minister have a first opportunity to live - as an outline at least - the unity of the Body. However, this is only the first step, because there can still be an abyss that separates them from other collective ministries. To serve collectively (and in one spirit), a deep operation of the cross is necessary. And yet to serve alongside other conglomerates of brothers and sisters beyond my own collective sphere is an even deeper operation.
If God, in His grace, works in many Christian conglomerates, demolishing everything that that goes beyond Christ - by means of the dealings of their soul, and by means of discipline, then they will be increasingly willing to walk alongside other Christians. Then leaders will no longer be a problem.
Then the only way to unity will open up before us.