3 Reasons for Christians to Pursue Unity
By Michael Kelley
Let me take you to the night before Jesus’s death. He knew the cross was coming all too well. He had finished His last meal with His friends. He had washed their feet, setting them an example for how to serve others. He had watched His betrayer leave that meal and initiate the events that would culminate in His crucifixion. And then He was praying with great fervency because of what would happen next. It was only hours before the arrest. The sham trial. The pain. We find that prayer recorded for us in John 17. Here are a few verses of it:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:20-23).
Unity. That’s what Jesus prayed for in these verses. Now fast forward to today when it seems like there are many words that describe Christians other than “unified.”
So with so many opinions and issues that divide us, why should Christians care about unity? Here are three reasons:
1. Because it’s important to Jesus.
“Jesus is Lord.” That is the basic confession that all followers of Jesus have in common. But if Jesus is Lord, it means He is our Master.
That means we adjust everything about ourselves around Him.
We want what He wants.
We do what He requires.
We oppose what He opposes.
And in this case, what Jesus wants is for us to be unified. When you think about all the things Jesus might have prayed for at this pivotal moment, it’s humbling to consider that we were on His mind, because we are “those who believe in me through their message.” And what does He want from us? Many things, to be sure, but one of those things is our unity. So the first and most basic reason we should care about and pursue unity is because it’s important to Jesus.
2. Because of what it testifies.
Not only is our unity important to Jesus, it also makes a statement to a watching world. Specifically, our unity is a testimony “that the world may know you have sent me.” To put it another way, Christian unity is an apologetic for the identity of Jesus.
In the first century, the gospel was going to be preached far and wide to Jews and Gentiles alike. And those are two very distinct groups of people - different backgrounds, different customs, different opinions - and yet the same message of reconciliation with God through Jesus. And yet we see in the New Testament these two groups, who had no love loss for one another, coming together. What is powerful enough to overcome those differences? Only the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So today, when we pursue unity, we make a statement about the power of what unites us. In so doing, we give weight to the claim that Jesus Christ really actually truly is the one and only Son of God.
3. Because of what it does in us.
If we zoom out to the rest of Jesus’ prayer, we find that unity isn’t the only thing He prayed for:
“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).
Jesus also prayed that we would be sanctified; that is, made holy. These two things actually work together in our lives because unity isn’t easy. It comes at a cost.
If we want to be unified, it will require sacrifice. We will have to lay down our personal preferences, opinions, and comfort for the sake of that unity. Now to be sure, it doesn’t cost us our commitment to the truth. We should never lay down what we know to be true as revealed in God’s Word, but there are many, many other things that we need to give up for the sake of unity.
When we pursue unity with others under the banner of God’s truth, God is sanctifying us by helping us not cling so tightly to our own opinions.
So Christian, you will no doubt pursue many things with your day today. Perhaps one of them should be unity with other believers. Do it because it matters to Jesus. Do it for the sake of our testimony. And do it for the sake of your own soul.
Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.
