That name doesn’t market easily on posters and in church bulletins. It’s even a little hard to say. Maybe that’s why we never got very popular and never got to record an album or an 8-track tape (Yes, that’s how old we are.) But when we got questions about our name (and we got lots of them), we shared about the joy of spiritual unity that occurs between people when their focus is on Jesus Christ as Lord.
As we continue our study of the book of Philippians, we come to a chapter that describes the characteristics of spiritual unity. In this second chapter Paul clearly delineates what the activities and attitudes of the people should be based on their partnership with Christ in the gospel. Within the context of these admonitions, Paul gives us one of the most wonderful statements on the deity of Christ in verses 5-11. Jesus is the role model for all of us in living a joyful life of unity as servants of one another. But we will take those verses up in the days ahead. First, we need to look closely at verses 1 through 5, as they challenge us to consider our actions and attitudes in relationship to other people within the church.
What is the basis for spiritual unity?
What does unity look like when it happens?
How do we live in unity with others in our everyday experience?
11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one… I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them… My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that 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. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Reflect on this, and you will discover there is great joy in the unity we can have with ALL those who believe in Jesus Christ.