Saturday: Unity amid the Intimate Body of Disciples
WEEK 16
SATURDAY
UNITY AMID THE INTIMATE BODY OF DISCIPLES
John 17:20-23
We have seen the second unity that came with the coming of the Holy Spirit—unity within the person. That leads us to the third unity—a unity amid the body of immediate disciples—the twelve.
They had not always been unified. They found themselves at cross-purposes again and again. They disputed over who should be first, and two of them tried to pull an inside deal by which they would get seats on the right and left of Jesus in his kingdom. “Jesus knew the dispute that occupied their minds” (Luke 9:47 MNT). What a lovely thing to occupy the minds of disciples on the way to Jerusalem and to the cross! Their outer lives were united around a common loyalty to Jesus, but their inner lives were far apart, divided by self-interests and jealousies. Then came the Holy Spirit, and their inner lives were fused into a “unity of the Spirit.”
This unity is seen in this statement: “Peter stood with the other eleven apostles” (Acts 2:14). Before he had stood against the eleven; now he stood “with” them. The difference was so real that Luke noted it and used not “among,” as he did before the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:15) but the more intimate “with.”
The critical attitude gave way to the cooperative attitude. Not only were they one in purpose, they were one in person. Their very inner lives had a common basis, the Holy Spirit.
It is not easy to have unity with those who are in the same field with us. Ministers tend to be critical of ministers, professors of professors, politicians of politicians. It is easier to be unified with those who are not competing with us. It is mastery when we are. This mastery came through two things: they were mastered by a common loyalty to the kingdom of God and by a common life within—the Holy Spirit. So the outer loyalty to the kingdom and the inner life of the Spirit brought unity among a difficult group to unify. Without those two things—outer loyalty and inner life—life remains apart, divided.
O Holy Spirit, quicken our common loyalty to the kingdom and quicken our life in the Spirit that we may have an unbreakable unity with those who compete in the same field. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Loyalty to the kingdom, life of the Spirit, these two things shall unify me with others.