If you are a follower of Jesus, He prayed for you even before He went to the cross. Jesus prayed for every single person who ever has and ever will put their faith in Him. In John 17:20-23, we read that He prayed this, “That we would show the world who we are… we are ONE!”

It doesn’t take long to look around and realize, we’re doing a terrible job. Some researchers say there are around 50,000 denominations of Christianity. I don’t know how many there really are, but I do know this: There are a lot of them.

Now, I’m not anti-denominations. Actually, I think it’s beautiful how so many different churches and denominations have different pieces of the puzzle. Here’s the problem though…. We humans… we are pretty messed up. In fact, we usually like to focus more on our differences than what we have in common. Usually, we are more concerned about being right than we are about improving relationships.

I do this sometimes when I argue with my wife. Notice I said sometimes….

Sometimes when I’m in an argument with Andrea, I find myself more passionate about proving my point, about being right, than I am about nurturing our relationship. I get convinced that the relationship will be better if she can just see how “right I am,” and come on over to “my side.” Sounds ridiculous right? Right? Of course it is! Sometimes my point is right, and sometimes it is wrong. Either way, maybe I’ll win the battle, but I’ll lose the war…

Notice how denominations often choose to name themselves by their distinctives: Baptists emphasize believers baptism by full-immersion, Pentecostals limelight the gift of tongues, Presbyterians point to their form of government (they are led by presbyters). Personally, I believe all three of these movements have incredible things to say.

This June, Ekklesia is joining with over 1,750 churches around the world in a movement that is trying to work toward being an answer to Jesus’ prayer. The movement is called “One Prayer.” Here is the website: 2009.oneprayer.com

Here’s how you can be involved:
1. Pray for unity in the Body of Christ.
2. Pray that you and I will focus more on what we have in common in Christ than where we differ.
3. Pray that we will be more concerned with our relationship than about “being right” in regards to non-essential/debatable matters.
4. Fast. We fast every Wednesday until 5PM. No food, only water. We would love for you to join us!
5. Get some good unity-building blog discussion going here.

Here are some discussion starters:
1. Tell us about a time when you messed this thing up. It’s always best to talk about that plank in our own eyes Whether the plank is there now, or it used to be there, we’d really appreciate you sharing a story… Your story can be about a religious argument you got in, a time when you disrespected another denomination, or just any time when you were more concerned about “being right” than the relationship at hand.
2. Talk about something you really admire in a denomination or church that you do not belong to.

Last Sunday we looked at a few lines from Proverbs 27. Two topics arose: Praise and Rebuke. Although they are quite opposite from one another, disciple’s of Jesus must use both, wisely. Here’s a little run-down of what we learned.

27:21 “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but people are revealed by their praise.”

This is probably one of those rare verses in the Bible that is actually meant to have multiple interpretations. The first part is easy. Crucibles and furnaces burn away impurities and show us the precious metals for what they really are. Here are a few interpretations of the second part:

1. …but people are revealed by who praises them. What do other say about us?
2. …but people are revealed by how they praise others. Does our praise far outweigh our rebuke? In most relationships, we ought to give 10 rounds of applause for every criticism we dish out.
3. …but people are revealed by how they receive praise. Do we feel uncomfortable when people praise us? Jesus says we will know who His disciples are by their fruit. It’s important for people to acknowledge the fruit in our lives, however, let us make sure we give the credit to God in our hearts.
4. …but people are revealed by their ultimate praise. God is to be our ultimate praise, however God doesn’t need our praise. In fact, it doesn’t benefit Him. It benefits us. When we praise God for his overwhelming forgiveness, we begin to forgive others… and so on and so forth.

27:5-6
Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Often the test of a true friendship is rebuke. You know who your friends are, when they have what it takes to rebuke you, in love.

Bottom line, we all mess this up, pretty much daily, especially when we are in heated situations. When we are in an argument with our spouse. When our kids are having a bad day/week/month/year. When things aren’t going well at work. When someone hurts us. When we talk about an iFart video on a blog.

Thank God for the grace of Jesus Christ that covers all sin!

May Jesus Christ tune our hearts, by the power of the Holy Spirit… so that our ultimate praise will be God… so that we will receive praise and give it to God… so that we will lavishly praise others… so that the praise we give will far outweigh the rebuke we dish out… so that we will rebuke wisely…

Let us hold praise and rebuke in their necessary tension.

What makes a guitar sound good? When every string is tuned so that each one has the appropriate amount of tension.

Life is in tune, when the tension is right.

Thoughts… Comments…???