²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

Enough about unity? No, we can’t say enough; this was a high point in Jesus’ teaching. And judging from church history and present experience, the importance of this should not be minimized. Three times Jesus prays, “…that they may be one” just as He and the Father are one. Theology of the Trinity demands our unity. In simplest terms, Jesus wants us all to simply get along. The apostles understood this and likewise emphasized it.

At first their unity was very physical. Jesus had told them, “not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what [i.e. the Holy Spirit] the Father had promised” (Acts 1:4). They remanded themselves to the Upper Room (Acts 1:13) and were “all with one mind continuing to devote themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary …” (Acts 1:13-14). They remained there until Pentecost (Acts 2:1). And the resulting group of new believers was “continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). Unity came easily, because of the newness of life that drew them together.

Notice, though, that their continued unity revolved around four things, which we take as essential to fulfilling Jesus’ prayer for unity. God had impressed upon these early believers to commit themselves to the apostles’ teachings at the same level of commitment as to the Jewish Scriptures they had known before this time, that is, what we today call the Old Testament. Truth was the most critical element, and comes first in the list of commitments as recorded by Luke.

Fellowship was essential as well, being the tangible sharing with one another. “The congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them…” (Acts 4:32). The believers shared their possessions so that “there was not a needy person among them…” (Acts 4:34). The importance of this unity in fellowship is emphasized in Acts 5 where Satan tried to disrupt things by filling the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira to lie about what they were sharing. Unity was also expressed in the frequent experience of the Lord’s Supper, also called Breaking of the Bread (Acts 2:46, 1 Cor 10:17) and prayer (seen in the frequent times of prayer recorded in Acts.)

When Christians keep their focus on these four essential commitments, we move in harmony with Jesus’ prayer to His Father for unity.

Lord, help me focus on these four essentials that encourage unity.