John 17:20-26

Life Together in Christ

Third Sunday in Lent

National Lutheran Schools Week (Observed)

February 28, 2016

In the perfection of Eden, Adam and Eve certainly celebrated their relationship with God and each other, saying, “It’s great to be together.” Those perfectly together in the Garden of Eden were suddenly separated by sin. God and man would never be together again. Husband and wife would never experience life together in harmony with God and one another. Brokenness is seen in sibling rivalry and, ultimately, murder. We live in this world of broken relationships, knowing all too well by the Word of God and our experience, that sin separates.

God intervenes in the broken creation with the promise that there will be life together again. Noah and his faithful family are huddled together on the ark, awaiting new life after the flood. The family of Israel anticipates life together again in the Promised Land. A remnant of Judah waits for life together after exile in Babylon. God’s people knew that only He could bring about life together and that His promise would be fulfilled in the Messiah. Jesus comes as the Life and, by His suffering and death, fulfills all God’s promises and brings life now and eternally for all who believe in Him. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has reconciled Himself to the world, bringing us together to Himself by faith in Christ, and therefore as His family in the Holy Christian Church.

The Church celebrates, saying, “It’s great to be togeth­er.” God has brought us here.  In 1 Corinthians 1:9 the apostle Paul celebrates that we “were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” We are together because Jesus gave His life and is alive again. Worship is the primary expression of life together, for it is here that God gives His gifts to unite us according to His Word. It’s great to be together around the baptismal font, to be together hearing and living the Word, to be together at the Lord’s Table. The message and Means of Grace and life empower every Christian to live out this life together in Christ. This unity, this fellowship comes only through Christ and His Word. 

In our Gospel reading for today, we hear a portion of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer from John 17. Just before these words, Jesus’ prays for us by saying, “sanctify them in the truth, Your word is truth.”  This is where we are brought to our life together and from where we live that out.  By the Word, in the Word, through the Word.  There is no life together if there is no unity in faith in the Word of God.

Fifty years ago, there was a Lutheran pastor named Herman Sasse, who worked and wrote extensively on this issue of unity within Christianity.  “It is the plain teaching of the New Testament that the true unity of the church is unity in the truth. And it is the painful experience of church history, particularly during the last century, that whenever attempts have been made to unite churches without inquiring about pure doctrines – that is, without establishing what truth is, and what error, in Christianity – unity has not been achieved; and, what is worse, the divisions have always been magnified” (Hermann Sasse, Here We Stand, pgs. 186-188).

What is the solution to this division?  In short, Jesus.  The call to unity, that is the call to the one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church, is the call to repentance, the call to Christ and His Gospel.  Christ’s death has broken down the barrier between God and man, and faith now receives this benefit by the forgiveness of our sins. To have Christ made known to us through His Word and Sacraments, and so bask in His glory.  The ultimate goal of unity is not so we can simply say we are one, but it is the salvation of sinners, which is accomplished through nothing but the pure Gospel.

We live our life together in Christ when we have one Lord, the Christ who is really present in His Word and Sacrament. This unity can become manifest only when we agree in our profession of faith in this one Lord and in the one truth of the Gospel. The unity of the historical church is only achieved in joyful assurance of our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we are one in our understanding of what His saving Gospel is and one our understanding of what He gives us in His Sacraments. The more often and more clearly this Gospel is proclaimed, the more earnestly Christians of all confessions wrestle with for the one truth of the Gospel, and the more clearly the hidden view of the unity of Christ’s Church comes into view. 

This is our prayer, for it is the prayer of Jesus for us.  It is His prayer for our life together. A life that grounded, centered, and has its goal in Him who was crucified for the forgiveness of our sins.

This sermon is partly adapted from the LCMS Lutheran Schools Week devotions.