I am writing this post thanks to Katina, who posted in the comments section in our last post. She brought up John 17:23.
?I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.?
I love John 15 through 17, I remember in preparation for one of the Common Ground retreats we read those chapters everyday for 30 days or so. It was great and I fell in love with those chapters.
In those chapters, especially 15 we find a lot of talking about abiding and in 17:23 we find a similar thing?
Now it?s hard to talk about just this one verse since the whole chapter goes together, in a few verses previous, we find Jesus talking about how Him and the Father are one and how we are one in them.
When we are talking about ?in Him? we are talking about a position that Christ purchased at Calvary. It?s a position of oneness and unity. This whole verse is about being in agreement with the Lord. When you are walking in agreement with Him you and your opinions don?t matter. It?s all about Him and what He wants. Every decision is not based on hidden self-centeredness anymore, decisions are based up ?How can I love Jesus more??
When walking in agreement just like Jesus was with the Father, that?s when He is perfected in you. It?s a beautiful thing! Sin isn?t an issue anymore.
Jesus gave us a great example of walking in agreement with God?
He said I only do that which I see My Father do. Now that?s agreement, that?s abiding, that?s oneness!
When this happens the world sees a Christian living Jesus loud, people will say ?that?s what a real Christian is like?.
It?s an awesome privilege to be one with the entire Godhead and to have the entire Godhead in us!
I should also mention that the word ?perfect? in that verse means:
- Be fulfilled, complete, consecrated, made perfect.
When you are complete, that means you are lacking nothing. Nothing! You are complete in Him (Col. 2:10)
That?s a great thing, no voids, no holes, no needs, just you and Jesus walking in completeness and agreement.
Thanks Katina for bringing up that verse, that was awesome!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Paul,
Thanks for posting this….I am pondering and thinking about it. Sounds like communion to me, where you go into a partnership agreement with Jesus. The agreement is not based on your imperfection, but on Christ’s perfection. Which, pulling more together would say agree with God so you can hear Him, do what He says to do and it’ll lead you into completeness.
Pretty cool huh?
And that might just be scratching the surface of agreement with Jesus. Pretty cool