Saturday, 10 January 2009

Be like Trinity (not the one from the Matrix)

This was interesting.
I got this whilst at Christian Union on Monday, even though this wasn't really what CU was about.

In John 17, Jesus prays in Gethsemane, and we looked at verses 20-26, where he prays for all those who will become his disciples in the future. It's the things he prayed about that have made me think. Go and look at it here:

John 17:20-26

The reason I figure that this is important is because this is the only thing that we know of that Jesus prayed for for you and me. Out of all the things that he teaches, all the things that he says, this is the only recorded time he prays for us, so I figure what he had to say is of primary importance.

His focus is not that we would have health, not that we would be wealthy, not that we would be strong, not that we would have spiritual gifts, not even that we would bear fruit (as important as any of these things may be). Jesus prayer is that we would have unity in love.

Wow. This is a massive challenge though, it's not some nice thought. Think about what I've just said about how this is the only recorded time, and what that means for the importance of this. It's central. But it's tough, because look at the words that he uses. "all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you", and "let them be in complete unity". !!! !!! !!!

Jesus wants us to have the same unity in the church that exists between him and the Father.

That is not a small order if you want to think about it.

This involves vulnerability, honesty, involvement, intimacy.

This involves sharing with each other EVERYTHING! Which I'm guessing is why the church is not the church that it should be yet.

Imagine if, as Christians, we all lived like that. That we spoke to each other about EVERYTHING. Not that we spoke to our best friend, but that we shared as a church. That we shared our joys, but that also we shared our struggles. If every time we found something difficult we told people as soon as they asked. That if every time we were upset we told people when they asked "how are you?". Imagine if we shared with each other that much, and had love for each other that was that deep.

That is what Jesus wants for us! It's what he prays for. He also prays that we would be one with him as much as he is one with the Father, which sounds to me like that makes us part of the trinity, which I don't quite get, but what I do know is that he wants us to have relationships with each other within church, within CU, etc that are as close and as intimate and as involved as the Father is with the Son is with the Spirit is with the Father and so on.

That's the church I'm looking for. That's the CU I'm gonna push for. That's the challenge of the moment. Let's create a church that is as connected and loving of each other as the Trinity. It's what Jesus wants :-D

No comments:

Post a Comment