THE GLORY, UNITY AND TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH – Charles Spurgeon
The Glory, Unity, and Triumph of the Church
“And the Glory which You gave Me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One: I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them, as You have loved Me.” — John 17:22-23
Some words serve many purposes and have many meanings. We are very apt to make mistakes if we assign the same meaning to a word in all contexts. The word “world,” for example, is used in a variety of ways throughout Scripture, and one must be alert and read carefully to understand its precise meaning in each passage.
In the text before us, it is evident that Christ is thinking of the world—He desired that the world might know that the Father had sent Him and might also understand that God had loved His people as He had loved His Son. From the somewhat altered expression in verse 21, we are convinced that our Lord did not merely desire the world to have a bare knowledge of these facts, but wished for the world to believe them. The verse says, “That the world may believe that You have sent Me.”
Jesus, then, wanted this “world” to do exactly what His own disciples had done, which is to believe in Him. As He says in verse 25, “O righteous Father, the world has not known You: but I have known You, and these have known that You have sent Me.” Clearly, there is a world for which Jesus did not pray, for He said, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world,” but here, there is a world for which, while He does not specifically pray, He desires that certain events occur in order to produce certain results.
the word “world,” therefore, has many shades of meaning, ranging from the dark meaning in passages like “the world lies in the Wicked One” or “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world,” to the milder sense in John 1:10, “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not,” and even higher to the bright meaning in Revelation 11:15, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.”
In our text, the word “world” is used in the same way as in passages such as, “The Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world,” “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them,” and, “He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). It is certain that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” and we cannot suppose that the great Redeemer would refuse to pray for those for whom He was given.
In this passage, I understand the term “world” to refer to the whole mass of mankind who are not yet converted. Among them is an elect portion, as our Lord speaks of men who will yet believe on Him through the word of His servants, but at present, they are undistinguished from the rest. In this sense, “world” refers to all unrenewed humans on the earth—and for their sake, our Lord would have His believing people brought into a high state of holy beauty and strength. May His gracious prayer be answered in all of us by the working of the Holy Spirit!
I trust that I may say of all of you, my Beloved in Christ, that you are living with this objective. I know that you desire to live for the Glory of our Lord Jesus and the salvation of mankind. We wish to make all men see what is the fellowship of this mystery, for we want all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth of God. Our goal is to bring multitudes to the Savior and to conquer province after province of this revolted world for King Jesus. “Let the whole earth be filled with His Glory” is a prayer we must not fail to pray! Half the world would be a poor reward for the Redeemer’s travail. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” Even here, where He was despised and rejected by men, our Lord must reign in all His Glory, having dominion from sea to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth! This is the consummation toward which we are striving, by the Grace of God. We are earnestly working for it, according to His power which works in us mightily. Every day, we labor to bring others into subjection to that blessed Sovereignty under which we delight to dwell!
In this place, our Lord tells us that this desirable end is to be brought about by a marvelous unity. Described in our text, this unity consists of three aspects: the unity of men with Christ, the unity of these men in Christ with one another, and the unity of Christ Himself with the eternal Father. “I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.” Let us speak about this unity, always keeping in mind the purpose and objective of it—namely, that the world may believe that God has sent the Lord Jesus.
I. The Great Means of Unity
First, let us reflect upon the great means of the unity which Christ proposes here. It lies in a nutshell: “The Glory which You gave Me, I have given them,” with this objective: “that they may be one, even as We are One.” Here our blessed Lord does not speak of what He will give to His disciples—though there is a Glory laid up for them which the faithful will receive in the future. Instead, He speaks of a Glory He has already given to them. This could not be the incommunicable Glory of His Godhead, for that was His by Nature and not by the Father’s gift.
He speaks throughout this prayer in the capacity of the Mediator—both God and Man in one Person—and the Glory He speaks of here is the Glory the Father gave to Him in His complex Person as the Incarnate God. Therefore, we regard our Lord Jesus Christ as speaking here as Immanuel, God With Us. Though He counted it no robbery to be equal with God, He made Himself of no reputation and took upon Himself the form of a Servant.
He appeared on earth as both the Son of Man and the Son of God. Even in that condescending capacity, He was surrounded with a Glory of which John speaks in the first chapter: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth.” As the Word made flesh, the Father has given our Lord exceeding Glory.
The explanations of the words before us are as many as the words themselves, and there is a measure of truth in each interpretation. I do not think it possible in one sermon—perhaps not in a hundred or even a thousand—to bring out all that is intended here. Therefore, I shall not attempt such a task, but will instead follow a narrow track of practical thought.
A main part of the Glory of our Lord, when on earth, lay in the moral and spiritual Glory of His Character. He was glorious in holiness, and this is evidently the Glory He transfers to us. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” To the same effect, Peter writes in his first Epistle: “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you, for the Spirit of Glory and of God rests upon you.”
The essence and cause of the Glory which the Father gave to the Son was, first of all, that He endowed Him with the Holy Spirit. “God gives not the Spirit by measure unto Him; the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand” (John 3:34-35). The Holy Spirit descended upon our Lord at His Baptism and remained with Him so that, in the power of the indwelling Spirit, He lived, spoke, and acted. In everything He did, the Spirit of God was manifest!
In Him was fulfilled the Word of the Lord by the Prophet Isaiah: “And there shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of His roots: and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.”
In this Spirit, there is Glory, for the Prophet further says, “His rest shall be glorious.” This is the Glory our Lord Jesus has given to all His disciples. Upon each true disciple, the Spirit of God rests according to his measure. If we do not have the full anointing, it is either due to a lack of capacity or our own sin, for the Spirit of God is given to the saints—He dwells with us and will always be in us.
My Brothers and Sisters, I wish to God we realized this—that the Glory of the Holy Spirit, which was given to Christ, is also given to us. It is ours to think, to feel, to speak, and to act under His guiding influence and supernatural power! What are we apart from the Holy Spirit? How can we hope to convince even one person, much less the world, that God has sent His Son unless the Holy Spirit is with us?
But if He comes, and I trust He has come upon many of us, if He takes possession of every faculty and rules and reigns in us with the splendor of His holiness, then we will indeed become a power for the conversion of mankind! Behold, the Lord Jesus has given us this Spirit, and in that power, let us forever live.
II. The Unity Itself
Time flies quickly, so we must now briefly consider the second point: the unity itself. As I have already noted, this is not uniformity. Our Lord does not mention uniformity in His prayer. Though we are one body in Christ, all the members do not have the same function. The eye is very different from the ear, and the foot does not resemble the hand. Nor does He speak of any formal organization by which unity is to be secured. Many have tried to create mechanical union, and in doing so have made confusion worse.
The first step towards visible unity, for most men, is to fix a standard of what the Church ought to be and to exclude anyone who does not conform to their idea. See how certain Brothers, to show how they despise sectarianism, create a new sect and become more bitter and bigoted than any other professors! Their eagerness for unity only divides the saints further.
Let us follow practical methods and we will find them in the unity described in our text. First, it is written, “I in them.” Christ lives in His people, and we are to act so that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, onlookers will say, “Surely Christ lives again in that man, for he acts out the precepts of Jesus.”
Our first consideration should not be, “How can I be comfortable?” but, “How can I please others for their good? How can I relieve the distressed, help the weary, or cheer the sad?” It is a glorious thing to do good in little ways. It is a glory to be the sweetener of life at home, the self-forgetting friend of all around. The world will confess that Christ is in such a man. The true Christian is Jesus come to life!
III. The Effect
Finally, we must consider the effect this unity will have. First, it will convict the world of the truth of Christ’s mission: “That the world may know that You have sent Me.” How will they know? When they see such characters as I have tried to describe. When they see men who are no longer selfish, hard, or ungenerous—when they see men governed by passion no longer—when they see loving men, men who desire what is holy, just, and good, they will say, “Their Master must have been sent of God.”
Christian people have things to talk about that others do not understand, and they pursue one common objective which others disregard. Whether they have little or much, they yield their all to one common cause. Whether they have little ability or great, they are alike consecrated. One spirit breathes in them. The world will see that while its great ones contend, these dwell in love. They will see that while common men compete to be the greatest, these only strive to serve, to help each other, and to stoop for their fellows’ good.
The world will see the glory of Christianity in these people and will conclude that their Master must have been sent of God. Do you ask where we see this? It is far too little seen, but when it is seen in the Church, it will convince the world!
Oh, my Brethren, imagine a Church made up of holy men and women like Christ, living for God, united in love, and working for the good of their fellow men. Such a Church would present an argument for Christianity that would surpass all the books of analogy and evidence written in defense of the faith! The adversary could not crack this nut. It would baffle all his criticisms and syllogisms!
This is the effect of unity in Christ. By His Glory resting upon us, we will bring the world to faith in Christ!
Let us pray that God would help us live in this unity, and may the world come to know and believe in Him through our example. Amen.