Dwell in unity

 Psalm 133:1–3 (ESV):  

1  Behold, how good and pleasant it is 

when brothers dwell in unity! 

 2  It is like the precious oil on the head, 

running down on the beard, 

  on the beard of Aaron, 

running down on the collar of his robes! 

 3  It is like the dew of Hermon, 

which falls on the mountains of Zion! 

  For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, 

life forevermore. 

When families have a sense of togetherness, mutual love and support we see it as good, comforting, loving, strong and beautiful. A family who have shared faith and values have a connection beyond the biological, having unity in heart and mind, and a love and understanding of one another that you cannot be born with. This is the kind of bond God desires for all believers to have with one another.

God wants us as believers in Him to ‘dwell in unity’. Despite differences in; opinion, location, culture, preferences, looks or character. There is something stronger than all of these things that unifies you with other bothers and sisters across the world. You have a greater connection with them than shared biology, interests or experiences, for you share the blood of Jesus. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus is common to all christians, this is the one powerful thing that unifies us. Unity is a powerful word. It is more than being joined together, or partnered in something for those words imply that you are still two separate entities connected together. Being unified is becoming whole, so you become one with other believers. You are one family with them through the love and blood of Jesus, in fact you are not whole without them. 

You can dwell in unity with other believers because you have been given new life through Jesus, you are born into a new kingdom along with them, which has new values. Elsewhere in the Bible we are told that we are adopted into God’s family. It takes some getting used to, your life and values will change to reflect God's kingdom over time, and one of the things that you will have to get used to is learning to live with, respect and get on with other christians - because they also have been adopted into God's family! You will be living together for all eternity, so whilst you are on Earth, you better get used to living a unified life with them! So be mindful of how you speak of other christians, how you think about them, and what you hope for them. Your mindset should be on promoting unity. Do you have appreciation, love, respect and honour for other believers? Even if there are differences, do you still see that Jesus has bonded you into the same family?

It is ‘good and pleasant when brothers dwell in unity’. We all know what it is like when there is strife in a family, you may have personal experience of that. Dis-unity breeds anger, harsh words, distrust, dissent, pain, and sometimes physical violence. That is not the standard for God’s family. Therefore do not be drawn into arguments, or speaking against your brothers and sisters of faith. Respect them, love them, help them, guide them, get to know and understand them - this is how you build good and pleasant unity. You need to make an effort. Families that have a solid sense of togetherness usually have had to experience tough times and conversations in order for their unity to remain because unity is worth fighting for. When you don’t bother or ignore others, you create a distance. That is not unity, that is laziness and it will get awkward for you when one day you are in heaven with these people forever! 

It is good and pleasant when brothers dwell in unity. It is like the anointing of Aaron. There is a visual, overflowing blessing that affects not just the head which is being anointed, but the face, beard and robes. The beauty of the people of God working together and appreciating one another pours out a blessing further than you expect, hope or imagine. Other people and places will be impacted by the love the church has for one another. It is also like the dew, it brings life and refreshment where it falls, even on arid places. The Lord ‘has commanded the blessing’ where His people live in togetherness. If you want to experience this blessing of God where you live and in your life, that He has spoken, what are you doing to promote and build unity amongst believers? 

why is unity important?

 When Brothers Dwell in Unity

 133

A Song of Ascents. Of David. 

*1* Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! 

*2* It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron,  running down on the collar of his robes! 

*3* It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. 

This psalm tells us how ‘good and pleasant it is’ when we experience unity with people who are our brothers (and sisters) in faith. If you are a believer in Jesus, then you are a member of God’s family, just as many others are. Therefore you are instructed to 'dwell in unity' with those of the same faith.

In order to explore this concept if unity, we must firstly remember that unity is not sameness. This verse does not want us all to be the same, but does want us to share the same faith and acknowledge that we are joined together (unified) through God. We are different individuals intrinsically linked together through faith in Jesus Christ thus becoming one church, one family. This acknowledgement leads to expectations of how we behave to one another and how we express this unity. Every family has its expectations of how we treat one another, God's family is no different.The Bible is full of stories and instructions in how to relate to God and one another because God wants His family unified. 

One fundamental way we can express unity with other believers is to gather with them regularly. It is difficult to be united with others unless you are meeting with them! Belonging to a community of believers where you all love, follow and depend on Jesus, and share lives with one another - this is where unity can be seen and worked out. When you gather together with Christ at the centre, then we can all grow together in faith and unity. 

If you are already a regular attender with a group of believers, there are other ways we can also contribute to unity, such as; helping one another, teaching, helping, leading, listening, giving, sharing testimonies and prophecies, praying, talking and listening to people, worshipping freely, sharing words and encouragements with others, speaking well of other believers, not gossiping, correcting wrong thinking and having fun together. Unity is not passive, but an active contribution to the family of God and it requires everyone to take part. 

What can you do to hep grow unity amongst the community of believers?

When we do our best be unified, it is like an anointing (v2-3). Anointing with oil was a blessing and a symbol of being set apart for God’s purposes, being uniquely His. Just as Aaron was anointed as high priest, so we can be anointed and blessed by being unified with others who believe in God through Jesus. The anointing oil was always intended for the head, but it is not confined to the head - it runs through the beard, and onto the collar and over the clothes as described in v2. Therefore the blessing of the anointing is so abundant that it lavishly and generously runs over. It can be seen, and experienced by others, and can bless us in ways beyond our imagining. Unity, like the oil is precious and gives off a pleasing aroma, a fragrance that can be detected by any who come near. It is an attractive and lovely thing even to those who do not yet know Christ. It is tangible and seen by those around you. 

Unity is also like the dew (v3) - it refreshes, refills and refuels faith in others. It brings life, joy and hope. Unity makes a positive difference to the terrain around it, naturally bringing refreshing and life. The two mountains mentioned are known for their productivity because of the amount of moisture they have. They are refreshing and fruitful, providing nourishment for not just themselves, but feeding into rivers and fields to provide nourishment and growth. If we can work together to be unified in faith then we too can provide refreshment, nourishment and life to the world around us. Doesn’t that make unity amongst believers something worth working for? What can be your role in building unity amongst believers?

God promises that He, ‘has commanded the blessing, life forevermore’ when ‘brothers dwell together in unity’. Do you want to receive the commanded blessing of God? If so, then you need to strive for unity. God has ordered that there will be a blessing if we do so.

Unity

'Finally, all of you, have unity of mind'
 1 Peter 3:8.

Unity of mind, now that’s something that’s hard to come by! We often recognise our differences with other people but not our commonality let alone our unity. This is true even within the christian community.
For example, our churches are often identified by which denomination they are in, and that in our minds demonstrates difference. It tells us something of how another church may demonstrate faith differently, how worship may be different, styles different and services different.

How about focussing on unity instead?

That’s what this verse encourages us to do - to realise that actually, we have a lot more that unifies us than that which makes us different. 

One of the questions I HATE being asked is, “well, what KIND of christian are you?” I hate that!

*There is only one type of christian.*

A christian is someone who models themselves on Christ - who believes in his death and resurrection for the purpose of uniting us again with God. That’s what a christian is. Why do we get caught up in what ‘kind’ of christian we are? If the fundamental fact is that we are all desiring to honour and worship our creator through the grace of God shown through Jesus, equipped by the Holy Spirit, what else matters?

We are on the same team.
We are in the same army.
We are family.
We are united.

Firstly, I just want to say that this 'unity of mind' is not about us all being some kind of spiritual robots who all have the same types of lives and routines, or who all like the same things. We are different and have been created so, but in this day and age when are all very keen to show off our uniqueness, to flaunt our differences, we need know and accept that we are really one and the same. We are all sinners saved by grace. We were once far from God, and each other, but now we are connected, united, joined together by blood. The very blood of Jesus has made us family. We have been adopted and combined together in the worldwide family of God.

This connection is not about us acting the same way, but recognising that we have been given this 'unity of mind' that instils in us the same mission. We are all disciples of Jesus, entrusted with the task of making more disciples.

The enemy would love for us to flaunt our factions. He loves it when we see the difference in the denominations because it means we are focussed on difference not unity. This then causes us to  disconnect with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Whereas unity between christians and churches is incredibly powerful, not just in the christian community, but far beyond it.

Unity is evident in the incredible success of; Foodbank, Street Pastors, CAP, churches together marching through the streets at special events like Easter. This unity has power. I’ve seen it. The unity of different people with different lives from different churches working together produces a different community.

Through the unity of churches together lives are saved. Salvation comes, communities are changed.

Don’t you want to be a part of that?

One

Ephesians 4:4-6

There's a lot of repetition of the singular word, 'one' in these verses. 

one - single entity, cannot be divided, whole, complete unit.

The previous section spoke to me about how 'walking worthy' could lead to unity in the church, next this seems to show how we should be unified. In; one body, one Spirirt, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father. 

That's a lot of 'one's'! 

That's a lot of ways in which we should recognise our unity to other believers. 

one body and Spirit means our whole being as a person should be in agreement. Our body and Spirirt should work together in unison to glorify God. Our bodies are important as well as our souls. Do you look after your body? 

one hope - we are all forgiven and have freedom to enjoy a marvellous relationship with the one and only God! Wahoo! 

one Lord - we all agree God is the boss right?

It's not us, our parents, or our employers that should control us, but our Lord. He is the one we should be listening to first and foremost.

one faith - through Jesus Christ death and resurrection he wiped away our sins and proved that he was the one and only perfect human to walk this Earth. He is the one in whom we can trust to repair our broken relationship with God. 

one baptism - this act of obedience and commitment to God is common to all of those who believe. When someone is baptised they are baptised through the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, therefore we have spiritual unity through baptism.

This is God's promise that He is our one Father. 

He is universe building, creature creating, all encompassing, eternal, powerful, personal, intimate, close, kind, supporting, hand-holding, loving Father. 

He is Father to us all, we are all one family because of Him. He has chosen each and every one of us to be in His family. 

He is the one that works hardest to unify us all, surely we can do our bit to maintain the family unit?

Walk Worthy

Today I have been reading Ephesians 4 which starts by encouraging us to 'walk in a manner worthy of the calling', and then lists several things that this incorporates. I noticed how each personal quality builds on the previous one. So, if we are to 'walk worthy', maybe we should consider each quality, what they mean for us and what is God showing us to work on in our lives? Where is God stretching us right now?

So, lets look at the personal qualities mentioned in this passage.

First off we have, Humility - a virtue by which a person knows themselves as they truly are. Often we can think of humility as considering ourselves as lesser than others. But this is not in the sense of putting yourself down or considering yourself lower than anyone/everyone else. It's a fair, just judgement of yourself. You are even allowed to say what you're good at. Humility is also the ability to recognise where we struggle or where we lack. We are designed to work in conjunction with others so it's alright to admit our weaknesses too. 

I think everyone struggles with either of these two elements, we are either too hard on ourselves, or we think way too much of ourselves (pride). True humility is a balance, it's hard to get right, but we can get better. How can we work in unity with others, as it speaks about in the book of Ephesians, if we don't really know ourselves, beat ourselves up or are full of selfish pride?

Next up is; Gentleness. Mild mannered, soft, kind and sensitive. To be truly gentle, we need first to be humble. We will find it difficult to be truly gentle with others if we are harsh with or think too highly of ourselves. 

Gentleness means that we each need to manage our temper. Learn to control your anger, get rid of resentment and tame our tongues so we are not harsh. We need to overcome the fierceness of our nature in order to be gentle. Gentleness requires a meekness, a willingness to listen and love with an open heart in order to provide a place of safety for others. No harsh words or outbursts, but a soft and sensitive leading to the greater love that we know is available in God.

After gentleness we have patience. Ahhh, patience or having forbearance as it's sometimes called. To tolerate problems, delay and even suffering without becoming annoyed. 

ooohhhh, waiting - no one likes waiting, or problems or suffering, but it's necessary in order to 'walk worthy'.

In order to achieve this we have to overcome the fierceness of our nature to become gentle first. Then, with God's assistance we can gain some patience!

Why do we even need patience? Well, part of patience is waiting without complaint, and no-one likes a complainer (although we probably all know one!) In life we may have to wait for some things, we may have to suffer and we will have problems - so, how do you handle it? 

Do you ask God to get you out asap? Or do you look for the lessons we are learning?

James 1:2 says, 'count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have it's full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing'. 

Part of the christian life is the striving to become more like the perfect saviour that we know and love, Jesus. So, let us persue patience, because it matters. It declares something to the world about who we are. Faith may be tested, but what do you want to stand for and learn from those experiences? 

Bearing with one another in love. To do this effectively we need to be humble - laying aside ourselves, gentle - able to moderate ourselves, and full of patience - the ability to wait without anxiety or annoyance. 

Bearing with one another in love. Let's face it, we all make mistakes. We all at some point rub each other up the wrong way and stuff up. 

How do we get past that? 

Well, first thing we need to do is to look at ourselves, make a fair judgement of how we are, how we feel and deal with what's happening within us. Then we can approach others with an attitude of gentleness and patience. 

Learning to forgive and even overlook some things will be necessary. Watch how you speak about others, how do you talk about christians with different viewpoints or the person who lied or cheated you? 

Do you weigh them with the same scales as you weigh yourself? 

We all make mistakes, we all get things wrong, how would you like to be treated if you made the same mistakes?

Once we have understood and got these things, these wonderful qualities; humility, gentleness, patience and we are bearing one another in love, then we can maintain unity. 

WOW!

We can live in harmony with one another, but we need to get these things in place first. If this is something we truly desire, to live in peace with others in order to demonstrate God's glory, then we have work to do! 

Maybe you need to recognise and repent for some of the things you know are troubling you. 

God is available, He'll listen to you and forgive you. 

It may be that you need to go back and do this a few times, that's ok, God has unending patience - I know, He deals with me every day! 

Gradually, if you trust God to help you make some changes in order to succeed in these qualities, He will be faithful and you will see how your character develops. 

It may be that the things that really irritate you don't seem so bad after all, or you're able to manage the 'complainer' without feeling down. 

Others around you may not see a radical change, but you will feel it, and you will begin to understand what it is to have peace. 

The Church

Reading through Ephesians 2 and 3, I have been struck by the descriptions of what the church is.

Ephesians 2:21 states, 'the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple to the Lord'.

The church is a living, breathing, developing entity. It comprises of different sections, us. 

We are 'joined together'. We are meant to fit, so we should make efforts to align ourselves with one another, otherwise the building isn't going to be pretty!

 It'll just be a heap, a pile of stones. 

There is something unique and special about christians standing in unity. We are all individual, moulded from the same image, but created different, yet we are called to join together with each other. 

Why?

To, 'grow into a holy temple to the Lord'.

So, uniting together causes us to grow. 

We develop when we align ourselves with others of the same faith. It won't always be easy and will, in fact, be quite challenging, but if you recall growing up as a kid, that was quite challenging at times! 

But, if we don't grow and develop, we don't mature, and we cannot do as many things. 

The goal here, is to become a 'holy temple to the Lord'. 

Working together to achieve a dwelling place for the Lord God Almighty sounds like a pretty cool thing to want to achieve! 

Verse 22 goes on to say that we are, 'being built together'. It's a continual process, organic, moving and increasing. This takes work, some from our side, but also from God's, He works alongside us to build us together in unity. 

Reading through the next chapter, Ephesians 3 and verse 10, Paul relays that, 'through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places'.

You what?!?!

Yes, the Bible tells us that through the church, we are revealing something of God's marvellous wisdom to those in heaven! That's pretty spectacular! 

We, us; mere, mortal, mammals have responsibility to work together and display the wisdom of God! and not just to one another or those who do not yet know Christ, but to heavenly beings! 

That sounds crazy..........It also sounds kinda scary........

Our actions, inactions and words have far reaching consequences, further than we can comprehend. How we decide to use what we have as a part of the temple of God can have repercussions in the heavenly realms as well as here on Earth.

We have great responsibility, no matter our different viewpoints as; people, churches or denominations, we should all be Christ-centric, and this is where our unity can build from. 

There are undoubtably people in each fellowship that you would prefer not to be around, but God has called the 'WHOLE structure' to be joined together, to grow, to build and develop in order to demonstrate His wisdom.

So, let us be wise, let us choose to love one another, align ourselves with each other and demonstrate not only God's great love and mercy to the world, but also His great, magnificent wisdom to those heavenly realms.