Please turn to John 17. We will read several verses.
I manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me; and they have kept Thy word.
—John 17:6
And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.
—John 17:11
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
—John 17:16
Sanctify them in the truth: Thy word is truth.
—John 17:17
As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.
—John 17:18
And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are one.
—John 17:22
Please turn also to Ephesians 4. We will read from verse 1 to verse 16 together.
Lord, we thank You and praise You. It is You who have gathered us before You. It is You who have asked us to pursue You together. It is You who want to speak Your word to us.
Now, Lord, we ask You to bless Your word. In Your word, You show us Your way, because You are the way, so that we can walk towards You.
We put ourselves at Your feet. May Your will be done upon us. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
This time we are sharing together the matter of the oneness of the saints. When we speak of the oneness of the saints, we cannot begin with the saints. We have to begin with the oneness in the Godhead, because the oneness of the saints that our Lord wants is according to the oneness in the Godhead.
His prayer to the Father was not offered merely for the eleven disciples who were with Him. He also prayed for all those who would believe through the word of the disciples and believe in the Lord Jesus.
That is to say, this prayer of our Lord, the High Priest, is a prayer for the whole church. This prayer includes you and me. He wants us to be one, as He and His Father are one.
Therefore, we say that the oneness of the saints is entirely according to the oneness in the Godhead. Any unity that is not like the oneness between the Father and the Son is false. It is artificial, and that kind of oneness is merely outward.
That is not the oneness our Lord wanted. Today, we have seen many means by which people try to obtain unity. But if those unities are not according to the oneness in the Godhead, then they are not according to the prayer of our Lord.
In the past two mornings, we have considered the oneness in the Godhead. The oneness in the Godhead is an inward oneness. It is oneness in essence, in the fellowship of life, in the will and purpose of God, and also in work.
Today, the oneness of the saints must be according to the essence found in the oneness in the Godhead. The oneness of the saints must be an inward oneness. To say that it is inward is to say that it is in God.
Our oneness is in Christ. Our oneness is in the Spirit. Any unity that is outside of God is not oneness. Anything outside of Christ is not oneness. Anything that is not the work of the Holy Spirit is not oneness.
All things organizational, all things financial, all things external, all things federated, and anything temporary—these are not the oneness that our Lord was talking about. We have to enter into the oneness from within.
Only in the Triune God can we find unity. So we say that whenever we come out of God, whenever we come out of Christ, whenever we are not in the Holy Spirit—of course, here I am referring to our experience—this oneness is lost.
We thank and praise our Lord, because not only are we in Christ, but Christ is also in us. Because the Lord is in us, because He lives in us, we must let Him live out from us. In this way, we can be perfectly one.
If you live, or I live, or he lives, immediately you see division. We must let the Lord live out from every one of us. Immediately you will see that oneness is perfect and genuine.
Today, the oneness of the saints is oneness in life, because the life in you and the life in me are the same life. If we live in this life, how can we be divided?
Today, our oneness is also oneness in His purpose. It is not in your purpose. It is not in my opinion. It is in the eternal purpose of God.
If today it is your purpose or my opinion, obviously we cannot be one, because you have your mind and I have my thought. You think this is the most important; I think that is the most important. You think what you have seen is unique; I think what I have seen is higher. If this is the way, how can we be one?
We thank and praise God. He uses that one and only eternal purpose to unite us together as one. Without vision, people are scattered. We need that heavenly vision.
Paul said, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” What is that eternal purpose of God?
We have to see that this eternal purpose of God is for His Son to have supremacy in all things. In the fullness of time, all things in heaven and on earth will be summed up in Christ.
Before the foundation of the world, and in eternity, God determined that He would find a bride for His Son. That is the vision from heaven. This alone can bring us into true oneness.
In this way, we can do our work with one heart and one goal.
Yesterday morning, because of the limitation of time, I was not able to finish two points. I would like to mention them here.
In the prayer of the Lord, in John 17:11, the Lord says:
Holy Father, keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.
—John 17:11
Here the Lord has shown us that He has given us the name which the Holy Father gave to Him. That name is going to keep us so that we are one.
Here we see a very intimate relationship between the name and oneness. Today we can be one because of this name.
We know that a name represents the person. The name of a person identifies that person. It tells us who he is, distinguishes him from other people, and tells us what kind of person he is.
Today we seem to give names rather freely, and we may not be able to read a story from a name. But when we read the Bible, we find that all the names in the Bible are very meaningful. Through the name, we can recognize a person’s character and much more.
The name of God expresses God Himself. You remember when Moses was in the desert and God appeared to him in the burning bush.
Moses asked God, “When I go to Your people, how can I tell them who You are? What is Your name?”
God said, “I AM THAT I AM.” That name expresses our God.
God also revealed Himself to Abraham as El Shaddai: “I am God Almighty,” or “I am the all-sufficient God.” He gave Abraham the experience of Himself in that way.
But no one has expressed the name of God more clearly than our Lord has done. Our Lord fully displayed the name of God.
I will declare Thy name unto My brethren:
In the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee.
—Psalm 22:22
We thank and praise God. Today, whatever knowledge we have of God is because our Lord Jesus has shown His Father’s name to us.
Bible scholars have different opinions concerning this particular verse. What does this name refer to: the name of God, or the name of our Lord Jesus? There are two different ways of translating it.
One translation reads, “Keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me.” Another translation reads, “Keep them in Thy name, those whom Thou hast given Me.”
The first translation seems to imply that the name refers to the name given to the Lord. The other translation refers to those whom the Father had given to Him. But the Lord’s prayer is that by this name we are preserved.
What is so special about this name? This name is “the Father.”
In the Old Testament, before Jesus Christ came, although God revealed His name in many ways to His people, there was one name that the people did not have. There was one name belonging to God that men did not have: that name is “the Father.”
Only our Lord Jesus, as the Son, could say, “God is My Father.” Nobody else could ever say that God was his Father in that personal sense.
Although in the Old Testament it was mentioned that God was the Father of Israel, that has a different meaning. No individual Israelite could say, “God is my Father.” They could say, “God is my God,” but no individual could say, “God is my Father.”
But thank and praise our God: when our Lord came to earth, He continually said, “My Father, My Father, My Father.” When the Jews heard this, they wanted to stone Him. They said, “You are blaspheming. How can You call God Your Father? How can You say that You and the Father are one?”
But, dear brothers and sisters, this is a fact, because God is indeed the Father of our Lord Jesus.
Today, He has given that name to us. The Father of our Lord Jesus is our Father. The God of our Lord Jesus is our God.
The day we were saved, the Holy Spirit and our spirit cried together, “Abba, Father.” That Father brings us into oneness, because we have one God, the Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all.
We all belong to our Father. We are all in one family. We have the same life. We have one and the same Spirit. Dear brothers and sisters, that one name keeps us as one.
There is another matter in John 17:22:
And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are one.
—John 17:22
Not only has He given us the name that God gave Him so that we can be one, but He also says, “Father, the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them, that they may be one, even as We are one.”
What does this glory which the Father gave Him refer to? In John 17, the word glory is mentioned many times.
And now, Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
—John 17:5
The Lord was going to return to the Father. He asked His Father, “Let Me return to the glory that I had with Thee.” This was the glory that He shared with the Father before the foundation of the world.
This is the glory our Lord Jesus had with the Father in eternity past. This is the glory of the Son of God.
When we come to John 17:22, however, it says, “The glory which Thou hast given Me.” This glory does not refer to the glory that He originally had. This glory was given by the Father to Him, and He gave it to us so that we might be one as They are one.
What does this glory refer to? This glory is what the Lord Jesus received from the Father when He was on earth.
When our Lord was on earth for thirty-three years, He fully satisfied the heart of the Father. In everything, He did the will of the Father. Therefore, heaven opened over Him three times, and there was a voice from heaven:
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
—Matthew 3:17
Peter wrote in his epistle that “we beheld His glory.” This is the glory of the Son of Man. When the Lord was on earth as a man, this Man totally satisfied the heart of God. Therefore, God glorified Him.
We may say that this glory refers to the glory of our Lord Jesus when He was on earth as a man. What does glory mean? Glory means satisfaction. Whenever there is satisfaction, glory is manifested.
This glory, which the Father gave to our Lord Jesus, He has also given to us. By that glory, we can be one.
How do we explain this glory in us? This is Christ in us, the hope of glory.
Not only has He given us the name of the Father, so that we see we belong to one family and have one Father, but on the other hand, He has given us the glory which His Father gave Him. Through this life of glory, we can be one.
Dear brothers and sisters, the oneness of the saints is something our Lord has already given us. Today, when we speak of the oneness of the saints, we often look at the outward condition and seek to use all our energy to create unity.
But, dear brothers and sisters, the Word of God tells us that the oneness of the saints is something our Lord has already given us.
When our Lord was on the cross, at last He cried aloud, “It is finished.” This does not only mean that our sins have been carried away. It does not only mean that our old man has been dealt with.
“It is finished” also means that all the divisions in the whole creation have been made one in Him, because He finished this work on the cross.
Therefore, Ephesians 4 tells us that we should use diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit. If our Lord had not finished this work of oneness on the cross, the Holy Spirit would not be able to give us the unity of the Spirit.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, where is our problem? The problem is that we feel that we are not one. When we look at ourselves, we say, “We are really divided.” When we see this condition, we say, “It is hopeless.”
If we look at ourselves, look around, and look at history, indeed we may lose heart. There seems to be no hope.
But, brothers and sisters, if we can see that there is oneness in Christ, then that is our faith. This is a finished fact. This is the truth.
We would rather believe what we see than believe the truth. We accept the lies that we see and hear, and we say, “There is no hope.”
If you are more courageous and have a strong will, then you may say, “This condition should not be. I will try my best and use all my energy to create unity. I want to organize it. I want to unite it. I want to make cooperation happen. I want to make this unity.”
Brothers and sisters, you are still wrong. I hope that you can lay this aside, because not only will you be discouraged in the end, but when you are trying to help, you may actually hurt.
When we talk about oneness, the first thing we have to see is that oneness is the truth. What does it mean by truth? The truth is what God has already done in Christ.
This truth is an eternal fact. It will not change because of you. It will not change because of me. There is no power and no mind that can change the truth of God.
The first thing we have to see is that the oneness of the saints is the truth. This is a God-given fact. This is already done in Christ. Therefore, the Holy Spirit has given us this oneness.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you can accept the truth of God, if you can be faithful to the unity which the Holy Spirit has already given you, you will see that this oneness becomes real in you.
Now let us turn back to John 17. We know that the central burden of the Lord in this chapter is the oneness of the saints. But it is very remarkable that our Lord Jesus also mentions another matter in this chapter: our relationship with the world.
In John 17:6, the Lord says that the Father gave the disciples to Him out of the world.
I manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world.
—John 17:6
This tells us that originally we were in the world. This world does not merely refer to the earth. It speaks particularly of the world as a system, as an organized cosmos. The whole world is under the control of the evil one. Satan has organized the world to oppose God.
When we were born, we were born into this system. But we thank God that the Lord said, “Father, Thou hast taken them out of the world and given them to Me.” We have been taken out of the world.
The Lord has taken us out of this organization. Yet in John 17:11, the Lord says that the disciples are still in the world.
On the one hand, God has taken us out of the world and given us to His Son. But on the other hand, according to the flesh, we are still on this earth.
Sometimes I think that on the day I was saved, I should have been raptured. How good that would have been! I have said, “How come, Lord, You still keep me on this earth to go through so much temptation and suffering?”
But the will of God is higher than the will of man. Although God has taken us out of the world, He still keeps us in the world.
I am referring to John 17:16:
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
—John 17:16
See how amazing this is. He has saved us from the world, yet we remain in the world. Although we are in this world, we are not of this world. We are aliens in this world. We are in this world, but we do not belong to this world, just as our Lord does not belong to this world.
This is our relationship with the world. Then, in John 17:18, the Lord says:
As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.
—John 17:18
God sent His Son into the world with a mission. Now God has also sent us into the world with a mission: that we may be witnesses for Him.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we want to put into practice the oneness of the saints, then negatively speaking, we must have the right relationship with the world.
If God’s children, or even the church, have an improper relationship with the world, then oneness cannot be realized. Today, in Christianity, the world has entered into the church, and the church has sunk into the world. You cannot distinguish what is the world and what is the church.
In such a situation, to speak of the oneness of the saints is impossible. The Lord says that believers and unbelievers cannot be unequally yoked together. But today the world and the church are actually united. Therefore, to speak of oneness in such a condition is ludicrous.
The same is true in our individual experience. Unless we do not love the world and the things of the world—the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life—the love of the Father is not in us.
If we love the world on one hand and speak of oneness on the other hand, it is totally impossible. If we conform to this world and go with its pattern, then to speak of oneness is not possible.
If the spirit of the world is still controlling us, how can we speak of the oneness of the saints? The spirit of the world says, “I am the greatest. You have to do according to what I say.” How can such a spirit bring the children of God together?
Therefore, negatively, we must have the right relationship with the world. Every brother and sister should examine himself or herself. If we want to see this oneness realized, we must deal with the world—not only the world outside us, but the world within us.
If you deal with the world, then you can enter into the oneness of the saints.
Negatively speaking, we also have to deal with all sin, because wherever sin is, there is division.
When Adam and Eve sinned, not only was there division between them, but immediately they hid themselves under the trees. They used the leaves of the fig tree to cover their shame.
Brothers and sisters, if the saints are to have unity, we cannot have hidden sin within us. If there is hidden sin in us, then we have to disguise ourselves. In this disguise, how can we find real oneness?
Not only that, on the negative side we have to deal with our flesh. You know, the flesh likes to deal with flesh. My flesh likes to deal a blow to your flesh, and my flesh loves my own flesh.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we all want to deal with other people’s flesh, while we protect our own flesh.
In Galatians 5, it says that the works of the flesh are manifest. It mentions many things, and many of them oppose oneness: divisions, strife, and heresies. All these are works of the flesh.
Wherever there is flesh, there is surely strife. Therefore, when we see strife, we should immediately come to God and allow Him to deal with our own flesh.
Do not say first to your brother, “There is a speck in your eye,” while forgetting that there is a beam in your own eye. You have not seen clearly.
At the same time, we have to deal with ourselves. The Lord says that if anyone wants to follow Him, he must deny himself, take up the cross, and follow Him.
Our Lord Jesus is equal with the Father, but He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant and the likeness of men. He set His heart to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Dear brothers and sisters, to speak of oneness is not an easy matter. If we want to speak of oneness, we have to deal with the world within us, deal with hidden sin, deal with our flesh, and deal with ourselves.
Only when we deal with these things are we qualified even to speak about oneness. All these are negative matters.
Now we want to see, on the positive side, how we can live out the oneness the Lord has given us.
First, every one of us must hold fast to the Head.
Colossians 2:19 speaks of those who do not hold fast to the Head. But we may read it positively: hold fast to the Head. The whole body is fitted together by Him, and the joints mutually supply and fit together, so that the body grows with the growth of God.
Brothers and sisters, I mentioned yesterday that our oneness must be vertical. We should not merely speak of horizontal oneness.
We should not say, “Because we should have oneness, you and I will sit down and negotiate.” People come to Matthew 18 and say, “If two on earth agree, no matter what they ask, My Father will accomplish it for them.”
Then they reason, “If we want our prayers answered, the two have to agree. Since we disagree, let us sit down and see where we can compromise. You take something, and I take something. Then we agree, and we can pray.”
But the prayer is not answered, and you wonder why God does not answer according to what He said. You have gone the wrong way. Oneness is not horizontal.
If two people are to be one, there is only one way: one must go upward to the Lord, and the other must also go upward to the Lord. When both have the same heart toward the Lord, then they are one mutually.
To have oneness does not mean merely that one member talks about oneness with another member. There is much of this kind of talk, but that is not oneness. We have to hold fast to the Head.
Every member has to hold fast to the Head. The Bible says:
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
—Matthew 18:20
To meet in His name means that we are under His headship. We accept His authority. We accept His arrangement. When two or three gather together in His name, we are all under His headship.
We all accept His authority. We are all obedient to Him. The Lord is among them, and that is the church. That is oneness.
Every one of us needs a deeper learning in this matter. Why do we have to offer ourselves?
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual service.
—Romans 12:1
What does it mean to offer? To offer is to offer our bodies. You have your body, and I have my body. In my body I do my work; in your body you do your work. But now we offer our bodies.
When you offer your body, what does that mean? It means, “From now on, I accept the Lord to be my Head.”
Before your body was offered, you were your own head. But one day, when the love of God moves you and you see the love of Christ, you cannot live for yourself any longer.
So you say, “Lord, I offer my body. You are my Head. Now You arrange my life, that You may live through me.” That is holding fast to the Head.
Dear brothers and sisters, in order to put oneness into practice, we have to offer ourselves to be under the headship of Christ. Then, very naturally, it brings in oneness.
Second, if we want to realize oneness, we have to take the mind of Christ as our mind.
Our mind has a direct relationship with our life. If we follow the mind of the flesh, then we walk according to the flesh. If we are mindful of the Spirit, then we walk according to the Spirit, and this is life and peace.
Therefore, our mind has to be renewed and transformed. This renewal and transformation of the mind is according to our offering.
We put ourselves on the altar as a burnt offering. That offering is not merely once. The burnt offering was a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the evening. There was always a sacrifice on the altar, and the fire burned day and night.
Our offering should be the same. We have to put ourselves on the altar day and night, allowing the holy fire of the Lord to burn us until we are burned into ashes.
When we so offer ourselves, the Holy Spirit renews and transforms our minds. What we thought was important in the past, we no longer regard as important. What we despised in the past may now become precious to us.
If we have this transformation of mind, then naturally we will take the mind of Christ Jesus as our mind.
In Ephesians 4, when Paul speaks of using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit, in verse 2 he says, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.”
Humility is the willingness to stand in the lowest position. Humility is without self. Humility is not merely thinking less of yourself; humility is thinking nothing of yourself.
Then Paul speaks of meekness. Some say meekness means teachable—that it is easy for you to be taught. He also speaks of longsuffering, which is patience toward brothers and sisters, and of forbearing one another in love.
Sometimes we bear with ourselves and are very harsh toward our brothers and sisters. How can we speak of oneness in such a condition? In order to realize this oneness, we have to have the mind of Christ Jesus as our mind.
Third, we have to use diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit.
We thank and praise our God that this oneness of the saints has already been given to us in the unity of the Spirit. In the Triune God, we are already one. Now we have to use diligence to keep it.
If something does not belong to you, you cannot keep it. If something is not valuable, then you do not need to use diligence to keep it. But if something is yours and precious to you, then you use diligence to keep it.
Can you see how precious the oneness of the saints is? If you truly see its preciousness, why would you not use diligence to keep it?
Why would you let yourself be influenced by men and things, and then lose this unity? Because we have different opinions about the truth, different experiences, different characters, different backgrounds, different habits, and different languages, we lose the oneness that is in the Spirit.
We did not use diligence to keep it.
In Ephesians 4, when Paul speaks of oneness, he mentions unity twice. One is in verse 3: “using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit.” The other is in verse 13: “until we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God.”
The unity of the Spirit in verse 3 is something already given to us. It is something we need to use diligence to keep.
That unity includes the seven ones: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all.
In other words, it is unity in the Godhead. Since we are in the Triune God, we already have this oneness.
Verse 13 says that we have to arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. What does that mean?
The faith mentioned here is different from the one faith mentioned earlier. The one faith in the earlier passage is the fundamental faith: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Without that faith, you are not a member of His family.
But the faith mentioned in Ephesians 4:13 includes all the truth of God. It includes all the truth written in the Word of God.
It speaks of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. The word for knowledge in the original language is epignosis. It means a complete knowledge gained through experience.
In other words, concerning the Son of God, you have a knowledge that is full and that comes out of your own experience.
On the one hand, it is the whole truth of God. On the other hand, it is the complete experience of the Son of God.
One day we will be perfectly one in regard to the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. One day, your knowledge of the Bible and my knowledge of the Bible will be completely the same.
Today, when everyone reads the Bible, everyone has his own understanding. But one day we will be one in our understanding of the faith.
Today we experience the Son of God in different ways and in different degrees. Some experience the Son of God in one way, and some experience Him in another aspect. Some experience Him more, and some experience Him less.
But we thank God that one day we all will, in the same way, fully experience the Son of God.
Do you see how glorious that oneness is? But that unity is something we do not have now, and it is right that we do not have it now, because it is something to be arrived at.
What is our difficulty today? We have reversed the order. We want to begin with the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, and then go into the unity of the Spirit.
But in fact, these two unities are two ends of one thing. You have to begin with the unity of the Spirit, and then arrive at the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.
I often use this illustration. Once I was in Peru, South America. I spent about one or two months with an American couple.
We hired a small boat and traveled along the Amazon River to visit brothers and sisters. We also climbed mountains to visit brothers and sisters.
Where we were, there were no proper roads. We had to fly in by airplane, and then board a motorboat to sail along the Amazon River.
Before I left, the saints around that area wanted to have a small conference. The saints came from all over the place. They emerged from the forest.
The brother said to me, “You are going to leave tomorrow. So tonight, at the first meeting, you should share.” I said, “Yes.”
Before dinner, there was a missionary from a neighboring village who came to visit. He was having dinner with us.
Before the meeting, that missionary began to question me. He wanted to examine my background. He knew that I was a believer in the Lord, but he was not satisfied.
So he used various questions to examine my opinions on various matters. I knew his background.