Jesus’ final request from His Father before His death was perfect unity for His church: “I ask that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (Jn 17:22-23)
Why? Notice His goal: “that the world may know that you sent me.” Unity is the most powerful apologetic we have. The church’s oneness makes its witness credible. Unity yields evangelism. People are saved because of this.
When the church is filled with God’s Spirit and God’s glory fills our church body like it filled the temple, it will have a quality of life that stands out so much, the world can’t help but notice. It’s what the world yearns for. Know this: Jesus is not offering useless or frivolous gifts to the world. Your neighbors and coworkers long for this. It’s what they need, and deep down they know it. When we are one with Christ and thus one with each other, there’s a witness that cannot be refuted.
Notice again how Jesus says it: “…that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” It’s a powerfully attractive thought—to realize that you’ve just stumbled into a whole group of people who are truly and deeply loved by God! The world desperately wants to believe in a God of love. But they don’t. Their fallen hearts are suspicious of Him. They assume He wants to steal their fun and rain down punishment on them for their many missteps. If people really truly believed in a God of love, wouldn’t they gladly surrender their whole lives to follow Him? Obey Him? Know Him?
People are looking for the reality of God, something great, something beyond themselves. Modernity suggested that rationalism would do away with people’s need for God, but it hasn’t. Spiritual interest is everywhere. Often, what people evaluate first is the quality of the “worship”—that part of the service which feels most transcendent, most in touch with God. And then to learn that this transcendent God is also a God of love? That’s powerful.