"The People of God Given Union"
May 12, 2013
THE SEVENTH SUNDAY OF THE CHRISTIAN SEASON OF THE PASSOVER
Acts 16: 16 – 34/Psalm 47/Rev. 22: 12-14; 16-17; 20/John 17: 20 - 26
His Eminence
The Most Reverend Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
and
Primate
of the
National Church in the Philippines
and
the Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
Today marks the last Sunday of Easter Season. It does not mark the end of Easter. Perhaps, for most of us, when we talk about Easter, the thoughts that come to our mind are: a cross, death, a tomb, and a resurrection; events that are phenomenal, awesome and great. And yet those are only outward signs of an invisible work that has been done by our Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of mankind. The invisible signs are so powerful that if only we would understand what is behind the symbols, our lives and perhaps the world would be a lot different.
In the Scriptures in the gospel, we would find it a little bit impossible to believe. I want us for a moment of time to listen to what God says because God speaks truth. What we see around us and many times what we feel in our own lives is not truth. It is a substitute for truth and it takes away that which shows us the very work of Christ and the love of God in behalf of man.
The prayer in John 17 was a prayer prayed by Christ just before His captivity. In very simple terminology, it shows to us His concern for the disciples or the church because they represented the church. It shows His unveiling of why He came and the results of His coming. He was not moaning, groaning, complaining and feeling sorry for Himself. He had come at the wish, the desire, and the instruction of the commandment of His Father. He came with purpose and direction. He came with goals. In His own life, at the time of this prayer, He knew that He was going to complete what God had sent Him to do.
Such an awesome thing that it speaks to us. We see in creation the greatness of God. We see the glory of God – phenomenal events that took place which are beyond description that even today, no one has been able to explain to us and to give to us the how of the events. We see the power and the authority of God demonstrated in His creation. The glory that comes because of all that He has done – the imagination, the plans, the will, the course that we set. It was so powerful, so awesome that it need not be changed and be amended because it was perfect from the very beginning. This is the very character of God.
Christ being manifested in the flesh is in itself a glorious event. How could it be that God would become flesh, but yet the Father had so ordered it to be? So prepared it to be? That His Son would come, be born of a Virgin Mary? This in itself is beyond comprehension and cannot be explained in a manner in which we can readily understand how it took place. All we know is that the Holy Spirit did the work.
God became man. He limited Himself according to the flesh just as man did. But He showed us something that we need to see; something that we needed to have imprinted within our minds which we, still to this day, have not allowed to take place. He wanted man to know the glorious event of His creation. He wanted man to understand the wisdom, the power, and the authority that God had given to man in creation. Man was not to be subject to anything other than God. He was given authority and dominion over all things on the earth. He was given the power to be able to cultivate and to cause it to happen, to prosper and to rise up.
This was how God created man – such an awesome event, a great happening. No one can really explain and give us reason why dust could become a living being. All these things are so awesome and so great displaying the glory, the ability, and the power of God. Man failed. Man had all of this power, but He was deceived. There was a period of time wherein man was not able to fulfill those things that God had given him to fulfill. He became subject to another power. He became a slave of sin. The enemy was taking over and great suffering came upon man because of his disobedience to God and his subjecting of the authority and the dominion that God had given to him to deception.
The love of God would not leave man in such a way. The love of God would not pull back and admit to failure. What He had done and prepared was complete and perfect. He was not going to allow anything to take away from that which He had done. The coming of Christ was to set things. It was to show man how He was created in the very beginning. How that He had authority and dominion over nature. How He had power over forces of evil.
Step by step, Christ unveiled the power and the will of God to mankind. Man had a hard time accepting it, just today as we have a hard time accepting what Easter is all about. Man was so consumed with the events around him, the circumstances that he did not see the ability to rise above, to conquer, and to put down the forces of evil to be able to be what God intended him to be.
Christ came to pay the penalty for the failure of man. He came to restore man to God’s blueprint and will. As He is ready getting Himself to prepare to go to the cross, He understands what is coming. He understands the price He has to pay, but you do not see Him looking for sympathy. He knows He has the ability to conquer. He understands the power that God has given and He wants man to see how great God is and how great God’s commitment to man is.
Christ was in the flesh. As He prepares Himself, He brings His disciples for the Last Supper. Sometime during evening when these events took place, this prayer was brought forth. It was a prayer from Christ to God the Father, an unveiling of the plan, the very heart of God through Christ.
We read a portion of it today. This prayer is so awesome and it has so much for us. It gives to us so much direction if we pay attention to it. John 17:15, “I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evilone. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.” He unveils to us that which gives us understanding and purpose for life. He is not asking the Father to take Him out of the mess but He is saying that He is protecting us from the situations that are around us. He has a purpose for it. Christ says, “Sanctify them in Thy truth.” “Let them understand the truth so that these things don’t overcome them and they don’t cause them anxiety and fear.”
Our gospel reading today begins at verse 20. “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, are in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that Thou did sent Me.” Christ unveils the purpose of His coming – to bring us back to unity, to oneness with the Father. No longer separated because of sin; no longer separated because of the willful disobedience of man; but through the act of Christ, a oneness, a unity is restored bringing us back into that place where we are like unto Christ in His relationship with the Father.
Very powerful words that Jesus spoke which unveiled the plan of God to bring back to God into humanity. He said, “This will cause the world to believe because we are one.” The division that has taken place has destroyed that witness that we are to be. Christ says that this is what He has done. In St. Paul’s writing, He says, “Preserve the unity.” We don’t have to seek for the unity. The unity was accomplished by Christ in our behalf. We are given this gift by Him, an awesome gift.
Verse 23, “I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that Thou sent Me, and loved them, even as Thou have loved Me.” Understand what Christ is praying here. Understand the restoration that will take place on the cross, in the grave, and in the resurrection. It is finalized in the Ascension.
The prophecy of Isaiah shares with us that the Word of God cannot return unto Him void. He has accomplished what He came to accomplish. It was done. We have been given this unity with the Father, yet in many cases, we still find ourselves not quite able to accept this. We separate ourselves; we are not like Christ, but yet He says we are.
Verse 22 is an awesome thing, “The glory which Thou have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.” We read words many times. We sometimes apply some thoughts to those words but rarely do we really take time to get the real meaning of a word. What does ‘glory’ mean? We will have a variety of descriptions of what ‘glory’ means. The word describes the very character of God. It describes His ability. It describes His ability in creation; the glorious ability of creation; the glorious creation of man – awesome in its ability and manifestation.
‘Glory’ is demonstrated to us as the visible manifestation of that which is hidden or that which is not seen. It is ability, capability, demonstrated in awesomeness. It does good things. Scripture tells us that God has prepared the path for us to walk in, a path that is filled with good deeds. This is glory. This is what He says about our lives now. He says, “The glory that you have given to Me.” The glory is turning water into wine; raising the dead; setting the captives free from the forces of evil; healing the sick; feeding the hungry. Here is ability manifested. This is the manifestation of the authority and the dominion and the glory that God has given to man.
It is like what Christ had. “The glory which Thou have given to Me, I had given to them.” Here is what He is bestowing upon His church. His church is to be glorious, to be powerful and to be a witness of the greatness of God; a demonstration of the power of God. We are ambassadors as what Paul tells us that we are. We demonstrate; we proclaim the greatness of God in the works that we do – the proclamation of our lives.
In the Book of Acts, Paul and Silas, after Christ has been resurrected and ascended into heaven, and when the Holy Spirit was upon them, they were out ministering. They ran across this young girl who was demon-possessed. The masters were making money off of her fortune telling. Paul and Silas spoke and said, “That evil spirit, be gone!” The spirit immediately left the young girl. The master was upset. He brought false charges against Paul and Silas and they were put in jail. But in the middle of the night, they were singing praises. They were not intimidated with the circumstances. They were not feeling sorry for themselves, but they were singing praises unto God in the prison cell, chained as they were. There was an earthquake and it opened the doors of the prison. They did not try to escape. They were able to minister to the master of the prison who thought he would be killed because Paul and Silas escaped.
Paul and Silas were able to minister to him and his whole household believed in God. He was baptized. See the glory of God through Paul and Silas. These things were written for us for our instruction and for our enlightenment. These things demonstrate not only the life of Christ, but the love and the power of God within us.
Jesus wanted His disciples to go on and carry out the message to others. The disciples were representing the Church, us. We are to bring forth that which brings out the glory of God so that man will realize how great God is and how powerful His commitment to us would be.
In John 17:4, Jesus said, “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou have given Me to do.” Are we giving glory to God by accomplishing the work that He has given to us to do? We are to fulfill that which God has given us.
Paul writes to us in Colossians1:19, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself.” All things have been reconciled to God. There is no other authority today. There is no other avenue or way to salvation or to God. It is only through Christ. Everything is subject now to Him. The power of the evil one has been destroyed. It no longer has authority over us. We have been reconciled to Him. All things, including nature, have been reconciled to Him.
“Having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” All of these things have been reconciled to Christ. He is now the Lord of Lord, the King of Kings. All things are His. If we want to know Him, if we want to achieve, it is only through Him that we can rise up. When we find ourselves thinking that we can do things on our own, we literally deny His Lordship. We deny all that He has done, the glory that He has given to us. If we use it for other things, we are not giving Him the thanks and the praise. All things will bring glory to Him through them.
This is the hope and the provision that we have. The image of the invisible God is brought forth in our lives so that we can be that which God intends us to be. Colossians 1:15-17, “Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
He has now established that authority. It has been all reconciled back to Him. The enemy has no kingdom. There is no kingdom that exists other than His. Temporary things have come into existence, but they do not last because only His kingdom will last.
Easter is all about the restoration of the authority and dominion of God over mankind and over all the earth. He has given to us His glory. He has restored to us His authority and His dominion. We have the ability, the potential of rising up.
This is what Easter is all about. This is what the Cross proclaims. This is what the grave proclaims. This is what the Resurrection proclaims. Nothing is greater than the power of God. He has shared that power to His people, “The glory that Thou have given to Me, I have given to them.”
It is time for the Church to rise up. It is time for us to recognize and to realize that it is not the world affecting us. We are to be the effect to the world. We are to change the world. We are to be a witness as Christ came and delivered the people at that time from the effects of the world. He set them free, so we have been given this commission to bring forth that for the glory of God.
Easter is about the restoration of the kingdom of God; the restoration of God’s authority, His dominion. No longer sin, hell, death and the grave, but now the glory of the kingdom and the glory of the peace and the joy of God.
As His people, we have much to give thanks to God. We have much to give praise to God about. He has given us the glory of Christ. He has bestowed it upon the Church. The Church needs to rise up and bring glory and honor to God.
This is the last Sunday of Easter but it is not the end of Easter. It is the beginning of the life of God in mankind. The beginning of His kingdom; the beginning of eternity for us; the beginning of new life, joy, peace and greatness for the glory of God. May we, as His people, believe and begin to walk in what God has given to us, Amen.
LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION
WITH
CARDINAL OF HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
AND
VENERABLE PRIMATE
OF THE PHILIPPINES
THROUGH
THROUGH
THE WORD EXPOSED
THE CHURCH IN THE PHILIPPINES IS ONE OF THE PLACES WHERE A SPECIAL PAPAL INDULT WAS GRANTED TO CELEBRATE THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF OUR MOST BLESSED LORD ON THE NEAREST SUNDAY
