Behold how good and pleasant it is when brother dwell in unity.- Dean Franklin
“Behold how good and pleasant it is when brother dwell in unity.”
One of the greatest gifts and privileges we have as Christians is the unity that we have in Christ. This means then that one of the greatest threats to the Church is disunity. These sometimes catch us by surprise because we are looking outside the Church for the attack, when we have a trojan horse already in the Church. Because of the danger of disunity, the Church must be on guard and must be fully aware of their weaknesses. We also must understand what it means to be unified as believers in Jesus Christ. Finally, we must strive for the unity and the peace of the Church. How do we do this?
1. We have unity in Christ. We must understand, acknowledge,and remember that when we are saved by God’s grace, we are united to Christ. That means all who believe are united as onebody in Christ together. (Eph. 1:3-14) We are united because we have the same calling, the same salvation, the same adoption, the same Savior in Jesus Christ. This means, we are spiritually connected through Jesus and are now brothers and sisters through the adoption we have in Christ. This may sound like a simple truth, and yet this is where we must begin,and this is where we must end. This is foundation of why we strive together in unity.
2. We have unity in purpose. Because we are one in Christ, we all have the same calling and purpose. (Matt. 28:18-20) This might look different from person to person, but at the foundation of who we are in Christ, we do have the same purpose in all of life. For example, Paul often refers to and calls the Church to “have the same mind”. (1 Cor. 1:10; Phil. 2:2) By saying this, he is saying, we are so united to Christ and therefore one to another, we are all given the same purpose, goal, and mission. We are one body, working together that the Gospel might advance, and that God would be glorified in our lives. We must not lose sight of this mission even if we differ on philosophy of ministry, the color of the carpet in the sanctuary, or whether the pastor should wear a robe or not in the pulpit. We must keep the goal of the Gospel advancing and the glory of God at the forefront of all we do as the Church.
3. We must have unity in love. One of the greatest witnesses we have for the Gospel is how we treat fellow believers. For example, I have heard it said, “why would I want to go there when they treat the people, they love like that.” Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:15 when we are a part of the Church we are to “speak the truth in love”. The love that we should have for fellow believers should be beyond our comprehension, because of the love that we have mutually received in Christ. As Jesus told His disciples, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” The way we treat and respond to one another matters and is one of the greatest testimonies and witnesses we have to the unbeliever. Do you have love for fellow believers?
4. We will be united by pursuing peace. As believers, unity is not going to come through osmosis. Trust me, disunity is more likely than unity. In fact, because we are individuals, with different thoughts, this sometimes leads to disagreements on how things can or should be done. So how do we strive for unity as individual people yet as one body? We must be vigilant and actively pursuing peace with one another. We strive for peace by being patient with one another. (Eph. 4:2) We strive for peace by building one another up. (Rom. 14:19; Eph. 4:29) We strive for peace by forgiving one another as we ourselves have been forgiven. (Eph. 4:32) We strive for peace because we have been given the gift of peace with God in Christ. Ultimately, we strive for peace and unity because we are going to dwell with one another in eternity with the Father in Heaven. Why not start now?
5. We strive together in unity because it brings glory to God.Being a good ARP I cannot mention Christian unity without mentioning Psalm 133. Whenever we sing Psalm 133 it always strikes me how positive and joyful unity should be among brothers in Christ. This Psalm is not just saying unity is good among fellow believers. Rather, it takes it a step further and is expressing how pleasant it is and how much of a blessing it is among believers. Unity then is not just what keeps us together, it is not a means to an end. Rather, Psalm 133 is telling us, unity is part of who we are as brothers and sisters in Christ. “For the Lord has commanded the blessing (of unity), life forevermore.” (Psalm 133:3)