My wife, my youngest son and I recently returned from a tour of Israel. The trip taught me many things. From Shiloh to Herodium, from Bethlehem to Old Jerusalem, from the Western Wall to Capernaum, from the Mount of Beatitudes to the Mount of Olives, from to the Garden of Gethsemane to the Via Delarosa, from the Garden Tomb to the Valley of Megiddo, and finally to the Eastern Gate, the Holy Spirit kept reminding me that his presence, purpose, provision and power is multiplied in the body of Christ. The reminders came as no surprise given Jesus’ intercession for the Church in John 17. I submit that as followers of Christ, we should pay close attention when the King of Kings intercedes with the Father on our behalf.
Before reading further, I encourage you to look closely at John 17:20-23.
“My prayer is not for them alone, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Who are those that will believe in Jesus through the message of the original disciples? What does it mean that all of them would be one? How do we get “in” the Father and the Son? What happens when the kind of unity being described is achieved?
Let me focus on the question of “how do we get “in” the Father and the Son?”. I would like to encourage those who are in positions of spiritual leadership or who are contemplating stepping into leadership at some point. As we stood on top of Herod’s palace at Herodium, it became obvious that Herod the Great was an absolute genius. Further, he was gifted with a remarkable degree of organizational leadership capacity. In a nutshell, he strategically directed the construction of 11 palaces each capable of housing hundreds while providing all necessary infrastructure, every luxury available in that time and fortification against any potential enemies. In addition to the 11 palaces, he also oversaw the construction of the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. His list of worldly accomplishments is quite long. To say Herod established an appearance of abundance, would be an understatement.
Now, consider the 2-3 years following the birth of Jesus Christ. During that time, a group of distinguished men came to Israel seeking to worship Christ. They created a stir in Jerusalem and Herod, of course, sought to find out why they had come. What happened next reveals Herod’s heart. As it turns out, Herod was a king who couldn’t handle another king. Evidence of this fact is revealed through Herod’s edict to kill all baby boys in Israel.
Matthew 2:16 says, “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”
I exhort all of us to consider the damage resulting from giving in to paranoia, self-centeredness and narcissism. As leaders, if we can’t handle submission to other leaders, there will be a great cost. While there may be an appearance of abundance, there will be a lack of trust, back biting and spiritual bankruptcy. Just like with the king who couldn’t handle another king, unity and the spread of God’s Kingdom are hijacked by leaders who cannot handle other leaders.
Back to the question at hand. How do we get in the Father and in the Son? To be sure, there are any number of strategies to accomplish this level of unity. Having said that, I contend everything tends to start with leadership. As leaders, we can ensure a strong measure of our local expressions of the body of Christ being in the Father and in the Son by simply vowing and following through on being leaders who can submit to other leaders. Shared leadership in keeping with gifting, results in synergy, loyalty, determination, sacrifice, grace, love and the advancement of God’s Kingdom and his desires.
As God arranges our lives and assigns responsibilities, may we be leaders who can handle other leaders. May we follow through on this vow until the whole world knows.
