Sunday message · 21 Days of Prayer series
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Message Summary
In the final message of the 21 Days of Prayer series, Pastor Phillip Santillan turns to what he calls one of the most important things a church can pray about: unity. He borrows Dr. John Maxwell’s story of a horse pull at a Midwestern fair. The champion pulled 4,500 pounds and the runner-up 4,400, but hitched together they pulled over 12,000. The teamwork clichés are true, Phil says, because unity does not just add strength, it multiplies it.
For 21 days the church has prayed about its future and the pursuit of a permanent facility. After prayers for boldness, renewal and missional impact, the last is one Jesus prayed first. In John 17:20–23 he prays for all who would believe through the disciples’ word, that they may all be one “so that the world may believe that you sent me.” Unity has a missional purpose beyond getting along.
This is not a response to trouble, Phil stresses; he has never met a more unified people. But whenever God is up to something great, there is always opportunity for disunity. Paul praises the Corinthians as enriched in every way (1 Corinthians 1:4–9), then urges them to have no divisions because of reported quarrels. As plans for a facility unfold, he expects opportunities for disunity. Yet the deeper reason to pray is that unity brings God’s blessing. Psalm 133 says that where brothers dwell in unity, the Lord commands the blessing.
Everyone, Phil says, either contributes to or contaminates unity, because unity takes work. He offers three thoughts, calling them his own rather than Scripture. First, unity requires continually seeking God’s kingdom. Jesus tells his disciples to stop worrying and seek the kingdom of God above all else (Matthew 6:31–33). Drawing on R. T. France’s commentary on Matthew, Phil describes this as resolving to live under God’s direction and control, asking whether we are pursuing God’s mission or our own kingdom. Second, unity requires growing in affection for one another (Romans 12:9–10), a commitment to know and be known, to care and be cared for.
Third, and hardest, unity requires bearing with and forgiving one another. Colossians 3:12–15 calls believers to make allowances for each other’s faults and to forgive as the Lord forgave them. Phil cites Dr. Jarvis Williams, writing for the Reformed African American Network, who observes that when churches fight and divide, they give unbelievers no incentive to come to faith. From experience, he predicts that in the months ahead some will take offense, push an agenda or quietly disengage, tempting the church to judge rather than make allowances. How we live together affects how everyone around us interprets who Jesus is.
Unity’s greatest accomplishment, Phil says, is not singing kumbaya around a campfire but letting God’s people get out of the way of God’s purposes, making the gospel so clear that every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. He closes by inviting the church to stand and respond in worship, surrendering to God’s will, committing to unity and making Jesus’ prayer their own.