“Now comes the sobering part. Jesus goes on in this 21st verse to say something that always causes me to cringe. If as Christians we do not cringe, it seems to me we are not very sensitive or very honest, because Jesus here gives us the final apologetic. What is the final apologetic? ‘That 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.’ This is the final apologetic. Now that is frightening.” (pg. 15)
How will the world know Jesus was sent by God? By the observable love demonstrated for one another as part of the reality of God’s love at work in them. In our process of training and equipping Christians, we must not forget to teach them that Christian behavior and attitude cannot be separated out from their knowledge of God. Christians must cover two general “why” questions: “why do you believe in God,” and also “why would anyone want to believe in God.” Jesus and Paul both gave reasons for belief in God and demonstrated the love that naturally flows from the truth of those reasons. One quick reference is Jesus feeding 4,000 people who had come to hear him teach before he sent them away. In the book of Mark 8, verses 2-3, Jesus says, "I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with me now three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance." Care and concern for the followers of Christ go hand and hand with teaching them, which translates into powerful testimony to those who are observing.
I doubted my belief in God specifically due to the lack of love, compassion, mercy, and concern for one another in the church. I realized, though, these problems relate directly to the nature of man. In order to fault the belief system, I was going to have to evidence that fault in the actual text. So I went back to the text and found that those who caused me to doubt what I believed were not acting in accordance with what I read in the Scriptures. In James 4:11, “Do not speak against one another” and in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” Further in Ephesians, chapter four, the believers are admonished to grow in the knowledge of God for the purpose of achieving unity in Christ. Yes, there are also admonitions to discipline the body of Christ (the believers), but it is for the purpose of reconciliation! Jesus left no loopholes in the kind of love and mercy that we are to demonstrate. He goes well beyond the church body with his love to those who are actually enemies of the church, telling us to love our enemies. (Luke 6:27). If we are commanded to love our enemies, how much more should we be demonstrating love for the members of the body of Christ? Jesus said this is the way the world will know he is God’s Son.
Yet, are we more concerned with methods of evangelism, or missions, or discipleship than we are with the unity of the Spirit? So much so, that we will even slander a fellow Christian's name if we disagree with their approach...doing so in the name of God's love? Brethren, this should not be so. Criticism can be a great learning tool spurring one another on in love and encouraging one another to grow up and mature in Christ. However, slanderous behavior is unacceptable according to the Scriptures. Jesus staked his witness on the unity of the believers (John 17:21-24). That should, as Schaeffer said, cause us to cringe: "We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus' claims are true, and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians.” (pg. 15)
Perhaps today you could take a moment to evaluate your interaction with and your thoughts about the members of the body of Christ…yes, the whole crew of them.
MJ
*The source used for Schaeffer's writing referenced his work as a "book," but the more appropriate term would be "essay." http://www.ccel.us/schaeff
