“I’m Right and You’re Wrong”

John 17:6-19

Isaac Asimov once told a story about a Rabbi Feldman who was having trouble with his congregation; they couldn't agree on anything.

The president of the congregation said, "Rabbi, this can't continue. There has to be a conference, and we have to settle all areas of dispute once and for all." The rabbi agreed.

At the appointed time the rabbi, the president, and ten elders met around a magnificent mahogany table in the conference room of the synagogue.

One by one the issues were dealt with and on each issue, it became more and more apparent that the rabbi was a lonely voice in the wilderness.

The president of the synagogue finally said, "Come, Rabbi, enough of this. Let's vote and allow the majority to rule." He passed out slips of paper and each man made his mark.

The votes were collected and the president said, "You may examine them, Rabbi. It is eleven to one against you. We have the majority."  

Offended, the rabbi rose to his feet and said, "So, now you think because of the vote that you're right and I'm wrong. Well, that's not so. I stand here and call upon the Holy One of Israel to give us a sign that I'm right and you're wrong."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when there was a deafening clap of thunder and a brilliant flash of lightning that struck the mahogany table and cracked it in two.

The room was filled with smoke and fumes, and the president and the elders were hurled to the floor. Surrounded by rubble the rabbi stood erect and untouched, his eyes and smile flashing with triumph.

Slowly, the president lifted himself out of the rubble. His hair was singed, his glasses were hanging from one ear, his clothing was in disarray.

Finally he said, "All right, eleven to two. But we still have the majority."  

Unfortunately, we all know that not everything that is done in the Church or in the name of the Church is always done for the glory of God.

We know that at times in history, the Church has ignored the will of God in order to have its own way. As a consequence, there has been discord and disunity in God's Church. This disunity is apparent in the numbers of denominations that we have.

The infighting that goes on in many Church denominations and individual congregations today is a scandal to the gospel of Christ. In the name of Jesus -  prejudices still exist in the Church and among its members.

In the name of Jesus today people who are different are not welcome in certain churches. In the name of Jesus racial, cultural and class difference sometime dominate the life of the Church. This is a sad reality.

We Christians need to learn to work and play nicely together.  We need to learn to respect each other, even in our differences.  We need to love one another, which often can be difficult. 

And that brings us to the prayer Jesus offered for his disciples in this morning’s text. This prayer, as recorded in John's Gospel, is a prayer for unity.

It has been called the real Lord's Prayer because it's one that Jesus prayed for His disciples. It is the Lord's prayer for His companions and His Church. It was also the first prayer for Christian unity. Jesus prayed that His disciples may be "one."

And if that’s Jesus’ hope for us, we’d better figure out how to do it! So, how do we accomplish that?

Well… first, it has to start with us. We can't wait for anyone else to start. We have to be proactive. We have to take the first steps. We have to stop doing and saying those things that lead to, cause and perpetuate the disunity amongst us. We have to be the first to act.

One of my favorite authors, Max Lucado, said that one day his wife brought home a monkey. His daughters were thrilled but he wasn't; he had all kinds of questions. Where was the monkey going to eat? His wife said that it was going to sit at the table and eat with them, just like the rest of the family.

Then he asked her where it was going to sleep? And she told him it was going to sleep in their bed. Then he asked, "But what about the smell?"

And she replied, "Oh, he'll get used to you, I did."

I think what Lucado was trying to say was, "Before you comment on the odor of someone else, check your own odor first."  That's what Jesus meant when He said, "Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone."

Unity has to begin with us. And although we may be pretty well united with one another here at STHPC, how about our personal relationship with Christ?

We have to be one with Christ, first. Our lives have to be knit together with His life through faith.

Second, in being one with Christ, we have to pull together. At a Midwestern fair many spectators gathered for an old-fashioned horse-pull (an event where various weights are put on a sled hitched to a horse and pulled along the ground).

The grand-champion horse pulled a sled with 4,500 pounds on it. The runner up was close, with a 4,400 pound pull.

Some of the folks wondered what they could pull if they were hitched together. Separately, they had totaled nearly 9,000 pounds, but when hitched and working together as a team, the winning horses were able to pull more than 12,000 pounds. Almost three times what either one of them could pull, alone.

Imagine the powerful force we could exert as a congregation, as a denomination and as the Church in the world, if we all "pulled together as a team."

You see, we can't accomplish nearly as much if we're going in ten different directions. We have to have a common goal and a common purpose.

When we have that common purpose; that common vision, that common goal, then we can do almost anything. Especially when that goal or vision is God given and God driven.

Right now, the Session and the Long Range Planning Committee have a dream and a vision for this church that is so big that we have to depend upon God to accomplish it.

That dream has to do with building additional classrooms, offices, and a fellowship hall – so that we can be a better beacon for the community in which we live.

But in order for us to accomplish our dream we have to have faith. We have to trust and depend upon God. And we will have to pull together. We will have to call upon Christ and live out the love of Christ in all that we do.

It is true when they say, “If you build it they will come.”  We will do amazing things in this church when together, united, we step out in faith.

In a Family Circus comic, little Billy was praying. He prayed, "Make me good. And if you don't get through to me the first time, please keep tryin' 'til I answer."

That should be our prayer. As Jesus prayed for our unity we should continue to pray to be reminded. We should pray because we're not called to do it alone. We're called to pull together to serve God through Christ.

"Make us one, Lord. And if you don't get through the first time, please keep tryin' 'til we answer and begin to pull together."

This idea of unity starts with us. We have to pull together … and then we have to keep on climbing. The secret is not giving up.

Unity isn't easy. Most of us have never learned how to disagree in love. Or how to love those with whom we disagree. We're like the poet who wrote:

"To dwell above with saints we love, That will be grace and glory.

To live below with saints we know; Well, that's another story!"

Unity isn't easy. But Jesus not only prayed for it, He modeled it for us. Remember when the disciples came to Him complaining about the people who were preaching and doing signs and wonders in Jesus' name but weren't part of the crowd of disciples. They were ready to run them out of town or call down lightning upon their heads.

Jesus told the disciples not to stop them and said, "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit."

Christian unity is not determined by whether we agree with each other about every interpretation of scripture or doctrine or form of church government. Christian unity IS determined by whether we love one another, and whether we reflect the love of God in Christ for the world.

Peter Drucker, America's management guru, tells of a hospital administrator who held his first staff meeting. They worked through a rather difficult matter and the new boss felt the matter was settled.

But then suddenly one of the staff asked, "Would this have satisfied Nurse Bryan?"

The arguments immediately started all over again and did not stop until a better solution to the problem had been hammered out.

Who was this Nurse Bryan? The administrator soon found out. She had been a long serving nurse in the hospital. Whenever a decision regarding patient care came up, Nurse Bryan would ask, "Are we doing the best we can to help this patient?"

As a result of her conscientious concern, patients on her floor did better and recovered faster. Gradually as time went by, the whole hospital learned to adopt what became known as "Nurse Bryan's Rule."

Though she had retired ten years earlier, the standard she had set was still providing vision for employees in the hospital today.

Her secret? She took every aspect of hospital work back to the central question: "What can we do to best do our job as a hospital?"

The Apostle Paul set the standard for us over 1900 years ago when he wrote that our job is "whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him." (II Corinthians 5:9). That is our test of excellence in the church and in our lives as believers in Him. Would this be pleasing to Jesus?

There will always be that which separates Christians from Christians and denomination from denomination. We don’t have to all look alike and think exactly alike or worship in the same order or even be governed the same way.

There can be differences without destroying unity. The tent of God's Church is big enough and broad enough and wide enough to hold a whole lot of us without any of us feeling left out.

Paul tells us it is important for us to work together in our mission for Christ. Barriers need to be broken down. Walls need to be taken away. Prejudice and bigotry need to be abandoned. We are one as a Church or we are none.

We have to continue to work toward unity and understanding - between each other, between the races, between cultures and between denominations.

We may never reach it, but by working toward it, at least we'll be going in the right direction.

Shortly after the end of the Civil War, in a fashionable Richmond church, members of the congregation were invited to come to the altar to receive Holy Communion. After several rows of worshipers came and left after receiving Communion side by side, a black man walked down the aisle.

A tense silence gripped everyone. No one else got up to go receive the bread and wine, although many had not yet received Communion. The black man started to kneel alone.

Quietly, a tall, graying man with a military bearing stood up and strode down the aisle to the black man's side. Together, they knelt.

Before the preacher could continue, people realized that the person kneeling beside the black man without showing any distinction was General Robert E. Lee.

Although Lee said nothing, everyone knew he had shown his faith through his act of joining that lonely black worshiper at the altar.

Lee's example is an example for all of us. We have to work toward breaking down the racial, cultural and denominational barriers that divide us as Christians.

We're called to let go of past hurts that have separated us from one another by turning them over to God and offering those who have hurt us forgiveness. And in seeking forgiveness from those we have hurt.

We're called to demonstrate our unity in Christ through love. It has to start with us. We have to pull together. And we have to keep on climbing.

No matter what the vote: Christ's prayer and Christ's command is still that we be one as He is one with God and that we love one another as He has loved us.

AMEN!