August 2025 Message
Jesus said, “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” John 17:11b
Our Lord wished that His Church would have unity, oneness. Jesus prayed that all Christians would be unified as He is with the Father, and the Father with Him—this means our unity should be of heart and mind and will, of everything; a unity not just on the outside, but all the way down to our very being, our core. That’s what our unity should look like.
And yet there is one, unmistakable reality running through our world today: and that is that we are not unified; we are not one. Not even close. And things don’t seem to be getting any better—in the Church throughout the world. We continue to hear about splits, battles, disputes, separations, and condemnations. In LCC our faith and resolve are being tested not only by debates over church teachings, but by grave internal financial concerns as well. And at times it seems so bad that in my weaker moments I think it’s a miracle that there’s a Christian Church at all! Because if it were up to us . . .
Well, that’s the point. The Christian Church isn’t something we do. It’s a miracle. It’s the work of God in the world. Every moment God is building and sustaining His Church—you and me. He is bringing the message of the cross and atonement of Jesus to those who do not know Him—and there’s a lot of them out there, and He is uniting them to Himself. And while God uses people like the disciples, apostles, and even the likes of us—it is really His work; He gets the credit.
It doesn’t take long to figure that out, once you see what we have done in this world! All the disunity we have produced and continue to produce. It really is a litany of shame. Just start at the beginning, when sin caused Adam and Eve to turn against each other. Then you had Cain against Abel, Isaac against Ishmael, Jacob against Esau. Absalom turned against his father David. Israel split in two after Solomon’s death. And even after Jesus came, it didn’t take long for disunity to crawl from the muck again; as soon as Paul planted churches in Galatia and Corinth, factions developed. Heresies divided the church for hundreds of years after that. There was the great schism at the turn of the first millennium, then came the divisions and condemnations at the time of the Reformation, and now the modern-day situation where it’s hard to number of Christian denominations and sub-denominations out there! [I think heard it is around 33,000 different groups, but who’s counting?]
If it were up to us . . . well, that’s what we’ve done. Husband against wife, brother against brother, children against parents, Christian against Christian. Sin has taken the perfect unity and harmony of Eden and caused the disunity and discord we are reaping today. And you and I are not guiltless, innocent by-standers in this.
It doesn’t take long to figure that out, once you see what we have done in this world! All the
So has Jesus’ prayer for unity and oneness in His Church gone unanswered for all these years?
Not on His life. For while at times we may be tempted to think: If only Jesus were here, the truth is that He is here! For the permanent presence of the Holy Spirit clearly show that our Lord is still working in the world and still building His Church. Our Lord sends His Spirit so that He is not just in one place at one time, but in every pulpit, font, and altar at all times! His Word, Baptism, and Supper bring the glory and work of His cross to every part of the world, and unite people of every tribe, nation, and language to Himself. Undoing the disunity of sin through the forgiveness of our sins is a Man’s job: a Son of Man’s job.
Because that is the only way it works. Mere outward unity never lasts. I’m sure you’ve seen it before. Ignoring our differences only makes them reappear more violently later. And pretending that there are many versions of the truth really only makes matters worse. There is only one unity that is true, and that is unity in Christ Jesus through the forgiveness of our sins. Only when we are united in Him can we be truly united to one another. That’s the only way it works.
And so Jesus prayed for “those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.” This word is the preaching of the apostles, the preaching of the Law that shows us our sin, and the preaching of the Gospel that shows us our Saviour. The preaching of the Law that shows us the disunity we have caused in our selfishness—as I seek to use others for my advantage, as I want them to serve me instead of the other way around, and as I seek to exert my power over others instead of humbling myself to them. That I am too willing to give up the truth for friendship, that I do not love others enough to tell them of Jesus, and that I too often live by the devil’s creed of “live and let live.” Yes, that’s the devil’s creed, for it’s the exact opposite of what Jesus did, Who would not let us just wallow in our sin, but who came in the flesh to save us.
And that is the preaching of the Gospel, that shows us the divine remedy to the disunity of our selfishness, the forgiveness that is found only in Christ. The One who did not live and let live, but who came and died that we may live. Who died to pay the price of our life-stealing sin, and then rose that we might rise to new life with Him. To new life in Him. To restore the unity and oneness of Eden by uniting us to Himself.
And He is doing this even now, although it will never be perfect as long as we live in this sin- filled world. But moment by moment, one sinner at a time, He is working. Through His Word and the means of grace, we are forgiven and restored and united to Him, and we are united to one another in Him. So, any unity outside of Him and His truth is no real unity at all. But in Him we are united and joined to one another as closely as He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Living for each other and dying for each other. Praying for each other and serving each other. Forgiving each other and loving one other.
And while it is true that we will never see that unity, that perfect harmony and oneness here on earth, as we live together under the cross, we will see it, when our Lord returns and the picture given us in Revelation becomes a visible reality. And I say visible reality, for that picture is already reality for all who are in Christ! It’s true, we gather around the Lamb with all the angels, and archangels, and all the company of Heaven! We just can’t see it yet. But this is what Christ is working and accomplishing already now through His Word and Spirit. With the water of life filling our font, the light of His Word lighting our way, and the fruit of His tree of life on our altar, wherever that altar may be.
So with His arms open wide He invites us to come, to receive these gifts, and leave our garbage behind. And we do as He says: we come and are forgiven, restored, and united in Him, because He said so. Then we repeat back to Him what He has already said to us: Come! And behold, He is coming. Now in His gifts, and they’re everywhere, but then in His glory. And we will see Him as He is. We will see the Church as she really is, the Bride of Christ, in all her beauty and glory. United as one in Him forever. So take a look around at your brothers and sisters in Christ, memorize their names, their faces, their histories, because you’re going to be spending a long, long time together. That’s true unity!
Pastor Keller
