UNITY OF THE SPIRIT
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down
upon the beard, even Aaron’s
beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon
the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." (Psalm 133).
As we
read in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, we find that an important feature
of the early church was their love and unity.
The Greek word “homothumadon,” which
occurs 10 of its 12 times in Acts and is translated “accord,” means “of one mind,
or, of one passion,” and is used to describe the bond that existed between
the believers. This unity in the Spirit that the early
church enjoyed was like the blend of instruments in a great orchestra: each
sounding their various parts, but all blending harmoniously into a mighty
symphony, each note complementing every other.
When
strife and division entered the church, it was dealt with very seriously
because the Apostles understood the devastating effect that this would have on
the assemblies. Reading Psalm 133, we
understand that there is a close relationship between believers dwelling
together in unity, and the anointing and blessing of the Lord on His body, which
is the Church. Verse 2 of Psalm 133
describes the anointing of Aaron the priest, but this anointing is symbolic of
the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the body of Christ. “For as
the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body,
being many, are one body: so also is
Christ. For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we
be Jews or Gentiles, whether we
be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” The name Christ means “the anointed one,” and the anointing
always starts at the Head, Who is Christ, and flows down to His body, which is
every born again believer. When we allow
contention into our midst, we hinder the flow of the Spirit in our assemblies
and the blessing of God on our lives.
Paul’s
words in Ephesians 4 are very relevant here, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one
another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one
hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of
all, who is above all, and
through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:2-6).
What we
see of Christianity today would grieve the Apostles of the first century church. We are so divided among our various
denominations and factions that it is rare to find real fellowship outside of
our own group. There are over 1500
separate Christian organizations all claiming to be the body of Christ, and possess the
truth, and, often, excluding those who belong to another persuasion. In any given city, we find dozens of “churches” divided by their own
particular slant on scriptural truth.
Often, even among these groups that see “eye to eye,” we see members
splintering away and forming another “church”
based on something they see differently than the original group.
The truth
is (please sit down, or hold onto something solid): God does not recognize any
of these groups and assemblies as His church.
That’s because it is not a building or temple that defines the true body
or church of Christ. It is not a particular doctrine, or membership
in a certain organization, that defines Christ’s body. The only church that God
recognizes is the one that consists of every true believer who has been filled
with His Spirit and baptized into His Body.
This church has no visible walls, or boundaries; it is more of an organism than it is an organization. It has no membership list because, “the foundation of God standeth sure, having
this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His.” (2 Timothy 2:19). The name of every true believer is written in
heaven lest we erase those whom we think don’t belong because they may disagree
with us. Jesus Himself was written off
by the religious factions of His time.
In fact, it was they who had Him murdered!
When will
we realize that the minute we begin to think of ourselves as exclusive, and
form walls (whether visible or unseen) that separate true believers, we hinder
the work of God and cut off, in a measure, the precious anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Why is it
that when we meet other Christians, one of the first things we ask is, “What
church do you go to?” We are immediately
sizing them up, wanting to know what “brand” of Christian they are. If they go somewhere that we know believes
differently than we, then we begin building a wall, and fellowship is then
strained. It is not important where they
go, but Whom they know. “If we walk in the light, as He (Jesus) is
in the light, then we have fellowship one with another.” (1 John 1:7). Just a couple of believers, lifting up the
name of Jesus instead of their dogma or organization, will experience the
presence of the Lord as they fellowship together; and they will walk away
refreshed and built up in the Lord. This
is the purest form of church. Jesus
said, “For where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20).
Please
understand, I am not endorsing some ecumenical movement that ignores sin and
compromises key foundational Christian doctrine for the sake of unity. I’m suggesting that if we strive to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, we would see an outpouring of the
Spirit in ways that we thought were no longer possible in our day and age. The world would clearly recognize us as
disciples of Jesus because of the love that we have toward one another, and
they would be drawn to the Lord by what they see.
The last verse of Psalm 133 speaks of the dew of
Mt. Hermon and likens it to the blessing of
eternal life. God describes His Word as
dew in Deuteronomy 32:2: “Give ear, O ye
heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my
speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and
as the showers upon the grass: because I will publish the name of the LORD:
ascribe ye greatness unto our God.” The
dew spreads itself evenly on every blade of grass and every tender herb – none
are left out. As we seek to “publish the name of the Lord,” we will
find that the blessing of life will grace our lives, too, and the love of Jesus
will govern our relationship and actions toward others. We will discover that we are indeed a part of
the body of Christ and that our “congregation”
is much larger than we ever imagined. We
will find that we don’t go to church, but that we are, in fact, the Church! We
will also experience the precious ointment that anoints the head of our Lord
and Savior and flows down to every member of the Body - even to the very skirts
of the garment! We will begin, then, to
really understand the unity of the Spirit.
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