LOSING THE ONENESS
It is a matter of great significance to be one where the Son is. None of the fallen people are in the Father; they are in themselves. Because they are not in the Father, they are not in the expression of God. On the contrary, they are in worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and concepts and opinions. In the previous chapter we pointed out that the world is constituted of ambition, self-exaltation, and concepts, not merely of such superficial things as fashion and entertainment. The fallen people are altogether in themselves and in the world. In a sense, not even all those who have truly been saved are actually in the Father, for many still live in themselves, expressing worldliness, self-exaltation, ambition, and concepts. These four things are in the very fiber of our being. Even among the Christians who seek the Lord, not many are truly living in the Father and in the Father’s glory. As a result, the genuine oneness is lost.
We all need to have a proper understanding of oneness. It is possible for us to meet together and still not be in the genuine oneness. We have true oneness only by living in the Father and in His glory.
Many Christians speak about the oneness in John 17 with no real understanding of what they are talking about. To a certain extent, this may be our situation also. The oneness in John 17 is not a matter of gathering, union, or organization. The oneness here is the living in the Father and in His glory. Such a living rescues us from worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and concepts.
Often we break the oneness unconsciously, perhaps even by our way of speaking. Our talk may be worldly, filled with ambition, self-exaltation, and concepts. Thus, in our speaking we may not be in the expression of the Father. Those who live in the Father’s glory can sense this. Because the unbelievers live in themselves and in the world, they do not have oneness. Instead, they have Babel, that is, confusion with division. However, even seeking Christians, including us, may also be in Babel. We may have the correct terminology and we may know that the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the genuine oneness, but we may not actually have this oneness. If we are still in ourselves, not in the expression of the Father, the oneness is damaged.
As the indwelling Christ lives and moves within us with the Father living and moving in Him, we are rescued from our ambition, self-exaltation, and concepts. Sometimes when I am with the leading ones, I have the impression that they are too quick to express their opinion or to make decisions. This indicates that they have not been perfected into one. If we have been perfected, we will not be bold in expressing our opinions or in making decisions. We would be restrained by the indwelling Christ, and we would spontaneously check whether what we are about to say is of Christ or of the self. This is the perfecting. If all the leading ones are perfected in this way, there will be no dissension among them.
BROUGHT INTO THE FATHER’S GLORY
The Lord’s prayer in John 17 reveals that we need to be brought onward from being just in the Father to being in the Father’s glory. According to the book of Acts, it is possible to be brought into the glory of the Father within a very short period of time. In the Gospels the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, asked the Lord to give them a high position in the kingdom (Mark 10:35-41). The fact that the other ten disciples became indignant with them over this indicates that all twelve were competing for position. Therefore, among the disciples there was worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and concepts. In the book of Acts, however, the situation is altogether different. In Acts 1 the one hundred and twenty prayed in one accord (v. 14). Thus, on the day of Pentecost they were not only in the Father but also in the Father’s glory. At that time there was no worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, or concepts. Instead, there was only the expression of the Father. The genuine oneness had been perfected among them.
ONENESS PREVAILING WHERE THE SON IS
Oneness is possible and prevailing only where the Son is. The Son is in the Father and in the Father’s glory. Without doubt, Peter, John, and the other early disciples could boldly testify that they were in the Father and in His glory. Therefore, in the early chapters of Acts, the Lord’s word in John 14 through 16 and His prayer in John 17 were fulfilled among them, for they had all been perfected into one. The Lord Jesus could boast, “Father, I am in You, You are in Me, and all these are in Us and in the glory. They are with Me where I am.”
We need to be delivered from a false understanding of oneness. Oneness does not mean that we have the same concept or that we merely gather together without dissension or division. Genuine oneness is our living in the Father and in the Father’s glory. Whatever we think, say, and do must be in the Father and in His glory. When we live in this way, we are perfected into one. This is not a matter of outward behavior but of inward reality, and we need to devote our full attention to it. Instead of living in ourselves—in our goal, purpose, ambition, feeling, or concept—we should live in the Father and in His expression. Then we will be one where the Son is.