I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me.
The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
—JOHN 17:20–23
The Trinity is a mystery. The word itself seems a contradiction: tri-unity. At the beginning of the Bible narrative, when God refers to Himself in the plural (GENESIS 1:26: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”), we start to suspect that something strange is happening. We get more hints scattered throughout the Old Testament—various theophanies of the “angel of the Lord” along with references to the “Spirit of the Lord.”
The Trinity becomes more explicit in the New Testament, in narrative accounts such as Jesus’ baptism (MATTHEW 3:16–17) or the Great Commission (MATTHEW 28:19–20)—where Father, Son, and Spirit are all mentioned—and in the prayers of the epistles (e.g., 2 CORINTHIANS 13:14). But one of the most intriguing glimpses into the nature of the relationships within the Trinity comes from JOHN 17:20–26:
I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me.
The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.
The mutuality and unity described defy conventional logic. The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father (JOHN 17:21). The Father and the Son are one (17:22). The Father gives glory to the Son (17:22, 24). The Father has loved the Son since before the foundation of the world (17:24). The Son makes the Father’s name known (17:26). Father and Son are one, yet distinct. They exist in an eternal fellowship of unity, mutual love, and mutual honor. Amazing!
Even more, Father and Son and Spirit invite us to join them in this mystery. We are to be one as they are one (JOHN 17:21). We are to be in them as they are in each other (17:21). The Son has given us the glory that the Father gave to Him, so that we can be one as they are one (17:22). The Son is in us as the Father is in Him, so that we can be “perfected in unity” (17:23). Tenderly, the Son wants us to be with Him, where He is, so that we can see the glory the Father has given Him (17:24). Staggering!
It strains my imagination to think of that sort of unity among the persons of the Godhead. It is even more difficult to imagine us sharing a similar unity with the Trinity and with one another. This unity is possible because of the Spirit. In JOHN 16:13–14, Jesus explains:
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
The Spirit is our built-in translator and communications officer for constant interaction with the Trinity. This is the heart of Theopraxy. We cannot possibly be in tune with God and one another without being constantly attentive to God’s thoughts and actions and desires through the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 4 gives us a glimpse of how this plays out. Paul adjures his readers to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (EPHESIANS 4:1). This exhortation to walk worthy is yet another way of saying “walk in the Spirit,” “abide in Christ,” or be “filled with the Spirit.” (Note that in verse 2 the worthy walk is characterized by the fruit of the Spirit—humility, gentleness, patience, and love).
Then Paul moves to his main point: unity. We are to be “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:3). This unity stems from our identity: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all ” (4:4–6). Given our common heritage, disunity contradicts our basic identity in Christ. It can occur only if we fail to walk in the Spirit, abide in Christ, or be filled with the Spirit and His fruit—in short, if we fail to live a life of Theopraxy.
Paul makes it clear that unity is not the same as uniformity. To the contrary, different members of the body are given different gifts (4:7–16), but all with the goal of building one body. Just as each member of the Trinity has a unique role, so it is in the body of Christ. We are to equip one another (4:12) so that we might all do the work of the Kingdom, build up the body, attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature and conformed to His image (4:13). This is meant to happen through mutual ministry as we speak the truth in love to one another (4:14–15). By so doing, Jesus holds us together as we work together and are thus built up in love (4:16).
Paul is not naïve. He knows unity is neither natural nor easy. He acknowledges that sin, selfishness, dishonesty, anger, resentment, and laziness stand in the way (4:17–28). Nonetheless, he exhorts us to be “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:3).
Theopraxy is a team sport. When God adopts us as His children, we get a new Father. We also get new brothers and sisters. We cannot have a good relationship with our Father if we don’t get along with our brothers and sisters. This is one of the fundamental themes of 1 John, written by “the disciple whom Jesus loved”:
1 JOHN 2:9: The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
1 JOHN 3:14: We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
1 JOHN 3:17: But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
1 JOHN 4:7–8: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 JOHN 4:11: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 JOHN 4:20: If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
1 JOHN 4:21: And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
1 JOHN 5:1: Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.
In these verses, John makes two basic points. First, God expects Christians to love each other, deeply and practically. Second, it is an inherent contradiction to love God and not love His children. If we think we love God, yet don’t love His children, we are deceiving ourselves.
The reality of our relationship with the Father is demonstrated by how we treat His children. We absolutely require mutual interaction with our siblings in Christ to become mature and fruitful, to know God, and to become like Christ. ROMANS 12 and 1 CORINTHIANS 12 both address this point extensively.
Scripture highlights our corporate identity as the body of Christ hundreds of times. This is uncomfortable for me, as an individualistic American, and also because of my introverted personality. My natural bent is to be independent and focus on myself. I need to echo Paul in EPHESIANS 1:18, when he prays “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Viewing fellow believers in that way is not my natural inclination.
It is plain, from these and many other passages, that God’s children ought to be unified. But the reality is that we are not. How should we respond to this disparity? The Bible gives some practical steps each of us can take.
First, we cannot simply throw up our hands and surrender. We have the duty to pursue unity with our brothers and sisters. Paul writes, for example:
Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. (1 CORINTHIANS 1:10; see also EPHESIANS 4:3, COLOSSIANS 3:14; ROMANS 15:5–6; PHILIPPIANS 1:27; 2:2; 1 PETER 3:8; 2 CORINTHIANS 13:11)
Paul wrote these words to a church that was deeply divided. They were split into factions, each following different leaders: “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” “I am of Cephas,” or even “I am of Christ” (1 CORINTHIANS 1:12). He is well aware that they fall short of the ideal, but he still challenges them to pursue it.
Second, we pursue unity through self-sacrifice. In PHILIPPIANS 2:1–11, Paul explains that unity is achieved through unselfishness. We are all in favor of unity, but we seek it by trying to get others to do things our way. Paul offers a different plan. He begins by emphasizing the foundation stones that all believers share: “encouragement in Christ, … consolation of love, … fellowship of the Spirit, … affection and compassion” (2:1). He then states the goal—unity: “being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose” (2:2, emphasis added).
After stating the goal, Paul explains how to attain it. We attain unity not by persuading others to agree with us, but through unselfishness:
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. (PHILIPPIANS 2:3–4)
Then Paul illustrates with an example—the example of Jesus. We should “have this attitude … which was also in Christ Jesus” (PHILIPPIANS 2:5). Jesus did not cling to His right to divine glory, “but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant” (PHILIPPIANS 2:7). Having come to earth as a man, He humbly obeyed the Father “by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (PHILIPPIANS 2:8). He sacrificed everything and suffered willingly for us, though we did not deserve it. As a consequence, “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” (PHILIPPIANS 2:9).
This same unselfishness characterizes the Trinity as well. The Spirit glorifies Jesus (JOHN 16:13–14); Jesus glorifies the Father (JOHN 17:1); the Father glorifies the Son (JOHN 8:54). The Father will place all things under the Son’s authority, and then the Son will give all to the Father (1 CORINTHIANS 15:24–28). We are to imitate this when we “give preference to one another in honor” (ROMANS 12:10).
Third, we move toward unity by honoring the differences between us. It is human nature to value the things we are good at. If we are athletic, we think it is important to be fit. If we are intelligent, we admire other intelligent people (and despise the less clever). If we are good-looking, articulate, hard-working, or organized, we tend to appreciate people who are like us. God looks at it differently. He deliberately made people different. He gave different people different gifts and abilities so that, together, we could be and accomplish what He desires. He made us to need each other.
For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. (1 CORINTHIANS 12:14–18)
It is easy to be frustrated with people who are different. But God has put them there for us.
To preserve unity, we must focus on our own responsibilities, not on judging others. I have a keen eye to spot things that other people are doing wrong, and I want to tell them, or others, what I see. But that is not my job. ROMANS 14:4 is a useful corrective:
Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
I am not the judge. God is. My brothers and sisters will not appear before me on judgment day. They will stand before God. And God, by His grace, is able to make them stand. When I feel the urge to criticize, I try to remind myself that I have enough difficulty fulfilling my own responsibilities to the Lord. I don’t need to assume responsibility for anyone else. God is their judge, not me.
Further, I need to remember that, in matters of personal preference, mature believers let the other person have it their way. I observe that many of the quarrels within churches are about matters of preference: The music is too loud (or not loud enough); the sermon is too long (or not long enough). Why are we starting a Saturday night service? Why don’t we have Wednesday night prayer meetings, or Awana, or MOPS anymore? None of these are matters of biblical principle. They are matters of perception or tradition or preference. In those matters, the mature believer should be willing to sacrifice his or her preference to maintain unity. The willingness to do so is a symptom of maturity.
This is the basic point of ROMANS 14. Paul is discussing debatable matters. Can you eat meat that is, or might have been, sacrificed to idols? On which days should we worship? Here is what Paul concludes:
Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way…. So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. (ROMANS 14:13, 19)
At its root, disunity is a function of sinfulness. The only real remedy is to live Theopraxically—to abide in Christ, to be filled with the Spirit, to keep in step with the Spirit. Remember, now we are corporately one with the Trinity. We see this truth not only in JOHN 15 and 17, but Paul reminds us of it in 1 CORINTHIANS 6:17: “The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” If this is the case, how can there be divisions among us?
Paul addresses this issue in 1 CORINTHIANS 1:10–13. This is the same Corinthian church to which Paul felt compelled to write about the proper use of spiritual gifts and about love. They were divided into factions based on what person they followed. Paul reminds them that Christ is not divided.
Then, in chapter 3, the apostle discusses the issue more completely. By having human allegiances that divided the body, he says that the Corinthians were “walking like mere men” (1 CORINTHIANS 3:3). He points out that each of the leaders they were following were servants of Christ. Christ, not the human leader, was ultimately responsible for any good thing that happened. Each person was playing his own role as called by Christ, and none could take credit for it. The quality of work matters, and each person will receive a reward based on that criterion, but everyone is to follow Christ alone.
So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. (1 CORINTHIANS 3:21–23)
The divisions experienced in the Corinthian church have their equivalents today in believers’ preferences for a particular teacher, author, theologian, denomination, mission network, or ministry technique. There are practical reasons for structural divisions, of course, but not for the divisiveness and even enmity that have come to typify so many relationships within the larger body of Christ. Pride, envy, bitterness, distrust, and disdain have become all too common, especially where the church has become too comfortable and self-serving. It seems as if lines of separation are being drawn in ever smaller circles, preventing the spiritual unity that the Lord desires.
I fear that if this trend continues, we will become entirely an earthly kingdom of individuals. The problem is simple: We have forgotten the source of our unity. If we fail to abide in Christ the King, we cannot have the sort of unity He died for us to experience.
In JOHN 15, Jesus makes it abundantly clear that life in His Kingdom is possible only for those who abide in Him. We cannot bear fruit in any other way. In fact, we cannot do anything without abiding in Him (JOHN 15:4–5). Jesus describes various remarkable results and promises related to our abiding in Him. He also makes clear in JOHN 15:12–17 and again in JOHN 17:21 that our love for one another is integrally intertwined with our abiding in Him.
Being Theopraxic is therefore a prerequisite for achieving the unity that Jesus commanded and prayed for. But many obstacles can get in our way. One of the biggest hindrances in my mind is related to the pervasive concern for organizational survival. The larger a church or Christian organization becomes, the more dangerous this distraction is, as we are tempted to confuse the prosperity of our organization or church with that of the Kingdom of God.
There is a widespread assumption that the advance of God’s Kingdom depends on the advance of various institutions, including individual churches. Thus, we rule out decisions or courses of action that might threaten our institutions. This attitude leads to organizational pragmatism rather than listening to the Lord. When we put our own organization’s interests first, we cannot achieve Christian unity, which requires putting the interests of others (and of the Kingdom) ahead of our own. Acting based on the pragmatism of organizational survival and prosperity is a death knell to unity.
Due to the upside-down nature of the Kingdom, the Lord frequently asks us to do things that do not make sense from the perspective of organizational benefit. A willingness to embrace sacrifice, which we discussed earlier in an individual context, is equally necessary at the corporate level. Sacrificing and dying are the bread and butter of living in the Kingdom. They are daily occurrences. This is true corporately as well as individually.
Both as individuals and as organizations we need to follow the principle of MATTHEW 6:33. This verse concludes Jesus’ conversation concerning focus and worry. He has discussed the things we tend to worry about—money, food, clothes, life itself. Then he says, “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” This verse is an allocation of responsibilities. Jesus is saying that if we make it our job to pursue God’s righteousness and God’s Kingdom, God will make it His job to provide what we need. This principle applies to both organizations and individuals. Unity is impossible without this willingness to put God’s Kingdom first.
One positive example of corporate sacrifice was Last Days Ministries, founded by Christian musician Keith Green. Long before electronic music distribution came along, back when giving music away was an expensive proposition, Last Days “sold” its music for whatever a person felt led to give. This resulted in vast quantities of free “sales,” which continued even after Green’s untimely death in a 1982 plane crash at age twenty-eight. Last Days was not in a position of financial strength. This approach to distribution appeared destined to kill the ministry from the very beginning, but Keith followed the leading of the Lord in this matter. His stance is the epitome of Kingdom-first priorities.
Keith Green made many people uncomfortable with his radical call to discipleship. But Christian unity does not mean just swallowing our differences in favor of a superficial “getting along.” It means everyone pulling toward the same goal, in a way that encourages and challenges one another toward growing in Christ. Keith’s sacrificial service without concern for financial gain was a great example of that spirit.
There are plenty of negative examples. One time I was training on disciple making in a large US city. Several members of the senior leadership team of a local megachurch met with me for several hours one evening. At the conclusion of our time together, they told me, “We believe the way you are proposing to make disciples will result in more and better fruit than the approaches we are currently using, but we simply cannot pursue that path.”
I asked them why. They responded that they had just taken out a loan for more than $60 million to expand their building and could not afford to change their approach on the chance it might result in a decrease in giving. On one hand, I admired their candor. On the other hand, I was aghast that they were willing to place the prosperity of their organization before the Kingdom of God.
There are two very large and widely known Christian ministries that have made it clear for decades that they wanted nothing to do with church planting, because doing that work might put them in competition with churches, which were their main source of income. They were unwilling to risk alienating the hand that fed them. I would feel far better about their decision if it were based on a clear word from the Lord, but they never claimed that. In the past decade, one of these two organizations has become convinced of the error of its previous stance and has pivoted toward aggressively pursuing church planting. The other remains unchanged in its approach. One is willing to risk its financial status for the sake of the Kingdom; the other is not.
Another practical issue in corporate settings arises when there is a joint agreement on principles from Scripture but differing interpretations as to how those principles apply to a specific situation. This happens frequently in settings where there is a strong emphasis on knowing Scripture but a relative neglect of listening to the Holy Spirit. This leads to gridlock, compromise, or division.
On the other hand, members of communities that emphasize the Holy Spirit but are not immersed in Scripture or skilled in its interpretation and application often believe they are hearing things from God that are mutually exclusive. This too leads to paralysis or division.
These situations become even more complicated, as noted in the previous chapter, when these communities include individuals who are not believers or who are not walking in the Spirit, thereby making real spiritual unity impossible. We can be of one mind only if we all have the mind of Christ.
Do not misunderstand me. When I speak of unity, I am not simply talking about everyone getting along. That would be like defining peace as an absence of hostility. That is a weak and partial description at best. Unity in the body of Christ will of necessity include laboring collaboratively for Kingdom advance. It means active cooperation toward making God’s reign known to all people groups in all places. It means working in alignment to see His purposes pursued and His will done at every level of society.
For this level of joint effort to occur, we must seek unity not only at an individual level but at various corporate levels as well. For this reason, we need an increase in communications among various streams of Christianity. That may not be feasible or practical at an organizational level with streams that are largely nominally Christian, but we need to make provision for it with individuals of good faith in various organizations and cease creating such hard lines of division within the global body of believers. This was the idea behind the creation of the Lausanne Movement back in the 1970s, with its slogan of “the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world.” There have been other efforts at accomplishing this unity as well, both before and since.
From a practical perspective, this is easier said than done. The following diagram represents what I have found to be a helpful way to think about this issue. The ministry aspects closer to the center of the diagram are ones in which it is helpful to be more cautious and discriminating in establishing partnerships. At the outermost ring there can even be solidarity on some issues with those who are overtly non-Christian. Sometimes the relationships that begin by focusing on an outer ring can develop into more intimate and trusting relationships later. Following this approach can often move relationships and demonstrations of unity far beyond where they might otherwise go.
Lord Jesus, You came and died so that we could be one as You and the Father are one. This seems impossible. Yet You hold me responsible to pursue unity in Your family. Help me. Help me to love Your children because they are born of You. Help me to consider others more important than myself. Help me to value the different way You have made each one of us. Help me to recognize that I need them. Help me to give up my preferences so they can be built up. Help quiet the voice in my mind that is so quick to criticize others. Show me how I can pursue peace and unity.
Read the following questions, then pray and ask God what He wants you to learn and do. Listen quietly.
Review your journal. Are there any past commitments you have not completed? If needed, schedule revised completion dates.
1. How aware am I of the corporate aspects of following the Lord? How can I improve the level of mutuality and unity in my relationships within the body of Christ?
2. What am I doing to pursue unity in the body of Christ? What do I need to do? Are there steps I need to take, personally or as an organization leader?
3. Are there things I am doing or saying that are sowing disunity or discord in the body of Christ?
4. What specific actions does God want me to take in response to this chapter? (Note them in your journal and schedule them in your calendar.)
5. With whom (at least one name) does God want me to share what I have learned?
Ask the Lord to enable you to follow through on these commitments and to prepare the hearts of those with whom you intend to share insights.