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The matter of oneness is a common topic among Christians today. We are one not because we have common concepts, similar interests, and the same goal, nor because we are doing the same kind of work. Though there is a oneness that arises from the factors people have in common, this is not the genuine oneness. Any unity other than the genuine oneness is a oneness in division. For example, there is a oneness to be found among Catholics or Presbyterians or those engaged in a Christian work; without some kind of oneness people could not work together.
Outside of Christ there is no true oneness. Every true believer has Christ within. Apart from Him no two human beings are truly one. There is no need to say that the Chinese cannot be one with the Americans, nor the French with the Germans; even the Yankees cannot be one with the Texans! To come even closer to home, what husband and wife are one apart from Christ? He is the only real oneness.
The Lord prayed, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me” (John 17:21). The secret for believers to be one is for them to be in the Triune God. Christians do not have the genuine oneness because they are not living in Him, though positionally they are in Him.
In the next verse, John 17:22, the Lord prayed further about the oneness: “And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one.” What glory is referred to here? There is something in the universe that is called the glory of the Triune God. The glory that the Father gave the Son, the Son has given to the believers for the very purpose of their all being one. Whatever glory means, it is surely something just of God. Glory is God expressed. When we are in the expression of God, we are one. Electricity is hidden until we turn the lights on. The shining lights then become one in the glory, the expression, of electricity.
To have the genuine oneness, you must be in the Triune God. Positionally and doctrinally all believers are surely in Him. In experience, however, where are you? Are you in the Triune God in your daily living? in your family life? in your relationship with your mother-in-law? when it is your turn to wash the dishes? Most of the time, we must admit, we are in ourselves — in our choice, our preference, our flesh, in jealousy, hatred, or pride. While we may be aware that we need to be in the genuine oneness, we cannot attain this because we do not live in the Triune God.
Over these many years I have seen a good many saints who really loved the Lord come into the recovery, stay for a while, and then leave to become part of some division. There were even some dear Christian co-workers on the mainland of China who went out from us to set up a division. The simple reason for such a regrettable departure was that they failed to live in the Triune God. If you are not in fear and trembling to live in Him day after day, the time may come when you too will cause a division.
Just to live in the Triune God is not adequate. For the oneness to be doubly secure we must also be in God’s expression. Our work together here is to express Him. It is not for the accomplishment of our own purpose. We all have our own intention, our own aim, and our own goal. All these are killed in the expression of the Triune God. To whatever extent they are not killed, to that measure we are not secure in the genuine oneness. If our goal is anything other than the expression of the Triune God, sooner or later this other goal will cause division.
Why is it that Christians cannot be one? What is the cause of the countless, endless divisions? All the denominations have had splits. Even a small group, after it meets together for just two or three years, will end up divided into perhaps three groups. This divisiveness is because most Christians do not live in Christ and do not care for the expression of God. Their low concern is for their taste and their preference. Their high concern is for the achievement of their goals. Because they care for these things and not for the expression of God, the genuine oneness is not secure with them.
The Lord’s prayer about the oneness reached a further stage in John 17:23: “I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one.” Notice that in verse 21 the prayer was that we might be in the Triune God. In this verse the prayer is that the Triune God may be in us. For Him to be in us is more experiential.
Is the Triune God in you? Or are you occupied by a girlfriend? your wife? a new pair of shoes? your children? your savings account? If these other things are in you, there is no room for God. Christians may blame doctrinal differences, but the real reason they are not one is that the Triune God is not in them, they do not care for His expression, and they do not live in Him.
From verse 23 we can see that even if we are in the genuine oneness, we still need to be perfected. The Triune God is in you to work in you until you are perfected. You may say that you are one with others, but your oneness is shallow because you are still so natural, so full of the flesh, so selfish. Once the Triune God has worked in you to rid you of the old man, you will be perfected into one.
Surely there is a oneness in the church in your locality, but that oneness is not so high and not so secure. We all need the Triune God to be more deeply in us, that we may be perfected into one. If Peter and Paul and Mary were here, they would all be thoroughly one. Our oneness may be genuine, but it is fragile because our living in the Triune God is shallow, and we do not care enough about His being expressed.
Pray regarding the points on oneness covered in these three verses:
(1) Verse 21 stresses our being in the Triune God.
(2) Verse 22 says that it is the glory of God that makes us one.
(3) Verse 23 emphasizes that the Triune God is in us to perfect us into one.
As you pray, you will see the need of grace to keep the oneness. Today your oneness is spontaneous and natural. When the test comes, however, you will find that you cannot stand it. If you do not realize the need for the genuine oneness, eventually you will drop out of the church life even if you have been in the recovery for many years.
What differentiates the Lord’s recovery from Christianity is our nature and standing. The church has Christ Himself as its nature. In contrast to Christianity, it is not an organization built upon certain concepts but an entity with Christ as its content and nature. Christianity is composed of divisions and has sundry things as its nature. As for our standing, the ground of the church is the genuine oneness. If we miss this, we are no longer the church but rather a continuation of Christianity. To remain in the Lord’s recovery we must keep Christ as life and the oneness as our standing.
Ephesians 4:3 refers to the oneness of the Spirit, whereas 4:13 refers to the oneness of the faith. When you believed in the Lord Jesus, the Spirit of God entered into you. That Spirit, in you and in so many other believers, is the very oneness. The lights in the ceiling are individual units until the electric current is turned on; then they become one. They are not one in themselves but in the electricity. Believers likewise are one by the current of the Spirit in all of them. How can we keep this oneness of the Spirit, which is already ours?
The faith in verse 13 means what we believe; we listed some of the items of our faith in the previous chapter. These beliefs concerning Christ’s Person and redemptive work comprise our Christian faith. Because we hold these beliefs in common, we have oneness.
Unfortunately, when we are saved and come into the church, we bring some things from our past with us. As time progresses, we also pick up other things and treat them as items of the faith, though they are not.
Suppose, for example, that there are four students who are saved during a gospel campaign. The Spirit enters into all of them; thus, they have the oneness of the Spirit. Further, they all believe the same thing: they have the same faith. One of them, however, a doctoral student, comes into the church with some peculiar concept; eventually, his concept becomes a great problem to the church. Another student decides to study theology after being saved. He quits his secular studies and goes to a so-called theological seminary, where he is indoctrinated with modernism. The third one starts attending a Baptist Church and becomes persuaded that immersion as practiced by the Baptists is the only right kind. The fourth one gets involved in speaking in tongues.
On the day the four were saved, they were one. But now, if they come together, surely they will fight. The doctoral student will defend his strange concept; the theological student, his modernistic interpretations; the Baptist, the practice of immersion; and the Pentecostalist, the speaking in tongues. What has happened to the oneness? In addition to the oneness of the Spirit and the oneness of the faith, they have taken on something. Actually, what they have picked up as their choice is a toy and reveals that they are just children. Yes, one may be earning a Ph.D. degree, but in the Lord he is a little boy who likes to play with his toy. The other “children” need their “toys” too, whether modernistic teachings, insistence on immersion, or speaking in tongues.
Verses 13 and 14 of Ephesians 4 remind us that when we arrive at the oneness of the faith, we will “be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching.” All these doctrines are winds blowing us from the real oneness.
As you grow, you will lose interest in your toys. After you grow up in the Lord, you will find that the age of toys is over. Then you will have the oneness of the Spirit and the oneness of the faith. No doctrine will blow you away.
Remember that the church and its nature are Christ and that the standing of the church is the genuine oneness. Sooner or later you will find the winds blowing around you. Some in the charismatic movement may ask you if you have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and tell you how good it is to speak in tongues. Will you allow this wind of doctrine to blow you away from the genuine oneness?
Christianity is made up of denominations. To be denominated means to be named. Any group that has a particular name, not common to all believers, is a division or a sect. If you are a Presbyterian or Methodist or Episcopalian, such a name is a sign that you are in a division.
Some groups may not have a distinctive name, yet they hold to a special doctrine. They may insist that all their members be immersed. They may even require a certain style of immersion before they will receive you as a brother. This is sectarian.
Other groups practice a special fellowship. Some Pentecostalists, for example, will not accept you into their circle unless you speak in tongues.
To have a name, to have a special teaching, and to have a restricted fellowship are the characteristics of a sect. What is our name? What is the name of the church in your locality? We have no special name. The term church includes all believers, not a select number. If it is in Boston, it is the church in Boston. We could compare it to the moon; no matter what part of the earth the moon is over, it is still the moon. If we were to take a particular name, we would become a sect. Further, we have no particular teaching. We are not a tongue-speaking church, though many of us may have spoken in tongues in the past. Neither our teaching nor our fellowship are particular. We accept as brothers all those who believe in the Lord and are saved.
Many Christians choose to hold on to their divisive name, their special doctrine, or their particular fellowship. Some have tried to bring tongue-speaking into the church, but if we become a tongue-speaking church, we become a sect. Others may believe in pretribulation rapture. It is all right for them to hold this doctrine, but if they try to preach it and make the whole church believe this way, such an attempt would lead to division.
For the oneness of the church, we must be common and general. Those Christians who insist on their special teaching or requirement for fellowship must bear the responsibility for the division that exists. When we came into the recovery, many of us dropped our particular teachings in order to share the common oneness with the saints. We are still learning not to be particular but to receive all real Christians and thus keep the oneness.
