This is the second in a series of blog posts on the beauty, goodness, and glory of the unity of the church. This comes from our message on Psalm 133, from our series on the Psalms. You can find this on our sermons page.
“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe.
It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.”
Psalm 133 gives us a vision for the good life together. But this isn’t always how we actually live, it can be very difficult! How do we fall out with each other?
Imagine you are in a boat with a few other people. You are all heading in the same direction, all with a paddle, all working together. But then you feel the boat starting to rock a bit. You look up from your paddle and notice someone else in the boat swaying back and forth. The more they sway, the more the boat rocks, and the less stable you feel. You put down your paddle. You grab the sides of the boat. You look around, maybe even catch someone else’s eye. You see other people in other boats and you call out to them, “Can you believe this?!” One thing you don’t do. In fact, you tell yourself must not do, is talk to the person who is rocking the boar. We don’t want to be rude after all, right? Church people are nice. So nice, that instead of speaking with someone, the boat rocks so much and now you’ve fallen out of the boat. That’s how we fall out with each other.
We tell ourselves and others: “I don’t want to rock the boat.” But ironically, in a desire to not rock the boat, we fall out.
The reality is, we probably don’t care that much about not rocking the boat, we’re just scared of conflict. Maybe we don’t have the right tools or have had bad experiences, but whatever the reason behind it, we just don’t want to follow how Jesus has called us to live when we have conflicts with each other.
Notice, not “if” but “when”. If we are living in an everyday unity like a family, you can be sure there will be conflicts. Though we are prone to run away from them, conflicts are opportunities for God to work and relationships to heal.
So, then, how are we to live? We are told in Ephesians 4:3 to "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." If we need to be told this, it probably means it doesn’t come natural to us. Every effort.
In Colossians 2.2-3 we read: "My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Being united in love is directly connected to our riches of understanding and the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If we aren’t united in love, we can’t say we really know Christ or have His wisdom.
In the next chapter of Colossians in 3:12–14, we read this: "Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."
The reason the New Testament is filled with encouragements to walk in the unity we have is because it’s very easy to give in and live some other way. As we live in love, compassion, kindness, humility…all of these qualities add up and create a perfect unity.
Jesus put it most starkly: "“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:23–24). Jesus thinks our relationships with each other are so important, He wants us to sort that out before we worship Him. Because, of course, our unity is an act of our worship.
It’s easy when things get difficult to leave a church and try and start somewhere new, but Jesus’ words here prevent us from fleeing what He wants us to deal with. Religious loopholes always become spiritual sinkholes. God, in wanting what’s best for us, invites us to live with each other, warts and all. When we choose another path, of gossip or slander, we are doing the devil’s job, the accuser, for him.
Elsewhere, in Matthew 18.15-17, Jesus lays out a clear process (though it’s not often a simple or easy process!): if you see someone in sin, talk to them. If they won’t listen, bring another along. If they won’t listen, tell it to the church. If they still won’t listen, assume they aren’t following Jesus. This is all to encourage them to come to the faith, not run away from it.
And if that all sounds difficult, you should know: it most definitely is! In fact, it’s so difficult, we can’t live this way if we depend on ourselves. We need God Himself, the Holy Spirit, to give us what we need to live in this radical and beautiful unity.