The unity of the church
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron's beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing--life forever.” (Psalms 133)
Jesus didn’t say “the light of the church” to those who believe and follow Him, but “the light of the world” (Mt. 5:14). Therefore, if we are Christians who believe in Jesus, we shouldn’t only concentrate on the church life and neglect our life in the world. We must live concretely as Christians in the world. Ahn Hee-hwan, the pastor of True Love Church, said that the churches had many good roles in the world. First example is blood donation. The Korean Institute for Religious and Social Ethics compared blood donation by religion from 1998 to 2001, with 81.79% of Protestant blood donations. Protestant blood donation rates are overwhelmingly high, considering that Catholic, Won Buddhism, Buddhism were only 10.54%, 0.55% and 0.86%, respectively. Second example is organ donation or bone marrow donation. In the case of bone marrow donation, the records of 2000-June 2002 also showed that Protestant was overwhelmingly high at 38%. Third example is social welfare facilities. Fourth example is homeless support groups, etc. Nevertheless, the evaluation of the church in the world is not so friendly but rather hostile. Obviously, the church has its own role of light and salt in the world, and despite its extensiveness, there is more to blame than praise to the church. What are some reasons? Pastor Ahn talks about six reasons and two of them are ugly figures of fallen pastors, especially those big church pastors, and division within the churches (Internet). Anti-Christian activity is growing rapidly because of the ugly nature of the church. We see many anti-Christians who are systematically determined, invading each site, and devoting themselves to scratching the Protestant churches. An organization called the Anti-Christian Citizen's Union even collecting fees. Their goal is to eradicate Christianity. In this situation, we Christians need to be the true churchy as we repent and return to God. The world will get darker and darker. And the world will get uglier. The more the world is like this, the more our church must shine the light of Jesus Christ in this dark world, and the more and more the church must shine its beauty to the ugly world.
What is the beauty of a true church? The beauty of the true church is that brothers and sisters in Christ live together in the Lord. Look at Psalms 133:1 – “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!” In Isaiah 53:2, the Bible says of the Messiah (Christ) as follow: “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.” Jesus has no stately from or majesty, He has no beauty to adore, Jesus has no fine appearance, so that the people of the world are not attracted to Jesus. I think this is the present reality of the church. The world does not care about the church. Why is that? It is because in their eyes the church has no attractive beauty. Are there any beauties that we Christians look upon when they see our church? I think “No.’ When we looked at our church, it lost its attractiveness. There is no beauty to adore. Why did the church become like this? Why does the church lack beauty to be seen by the world or even to our eyes? The reason is because we don’t obey Jesus, who is the Head of the Church. But we must keep in mind that Jesus is beautiful in God's eyes even though there is nothing beautiful in the worldly perspective or in our eyes. Why is Jesus beautiful in God's eyes? This is because Jesus obeyed His Father till His died on the cross to fulfill the Father's will (Phil. 2:8). In other words, the image of Jesus, the Son who obeys Heavenly Father, is beautiful in God’s sight. This is the beauty of the Lord's church and our beauty. It is to obey the word of the Lord. The church that obeys the word of the Lord is beautiful in God's eyes.
Where is the goodness of the church if the beauty of the church is in obedience to the Lord's commandments? I find the answer in Romans 8:28 and Ephesians 2:10. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” In other words, the goodness of the church is the manifestation of the goodness of God. In order to do this, the church must continue to taste the goodness of God as Psalm 34:8 says. Not only that, but the church must taste the goodness of God fully. Then the church can show the goodness of the church to the world by doing good deeds since we are “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph. 2:10). Look at Matthew 5:16 – “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
In Psalm 133, the psalmist David writes this song ascending to the temple and says how good and beautiful it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. This doesn’t mean that the God’s people, the Israelites were not united by the blood of the pedigree brothers (Park). Rather, it means the spiritual unity of the people of God. In short, this refers to the unity of the Lord's church. How beautiful it is to God when the church of the Lord obeys His commandment to love God and to love one another with God's love and to reconcile and keep the unity of the church? The people of the world will not criticize the church if they see the unity of the church. Rather, they will be attracted to the church. As we Christians also obey the word of the Lord and love one another, we will see the beautiful image of Jesus in the church as we progress toward the unity of the church. Therefore, we must listen to God's words about the unity of the church. Ephesians 1:10 tells us that God saved His chosen people by the ransom death of Jesus Christ so that they would be one in Christ. Therefore, the church must make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). The church, the body of the Lord, must be built up itself in love (v. 16).
In Psalms 133:2-3, David compares the goodness and beauty of the brothers to dwell together in unity to two things:
(1) David says, “It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron’s beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes” (v. 2).
This means that the oil poured on Aaron's head is fragrant, glossy, and has tendency to spread. And as the oil runs down on the beard when it is poured on Aaron's head, the brotherly love is the love that spreads to others when God pours out (Park). The Bible says "God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us”, who are justified by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:5). We must practice this love of God. In other words, there must be this spreading love of God in the church. With this spreading love of God we must love one another. Then the church can keep its unity. Therefore, we can manifest the goodness and beauty of the church to this world.
(2) David says, “It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion” (v. 3a).
According to Pastor John MacArthur, Mount Hermon is 9,200 feet high and is located north of Palestine. It is said that the snow at the top evaporates and goes up to the south, giving dew to Judah (Park). That is why dew is important to Judah. Without dew, the rice straw cannot live. Therefore, the psalmist David said that the goodness and beauty of living together in the unity of the church, the people of God, was as if the dew of Hermon fell on the mountains of Zion, just as the high dew spreads down from Mount Hermon. And from “there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore” (v. 3b). This means that God has commanded the blessing of eternal life where God's love is (Park). That's right. When there is God's love in the church, the church can enjoy the blessings of eternal life.
The psalmist David is saying: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” The goodness and beauty of the Lord's Church is that brothers and sisters live together in unity. God's love has been poured into our hearts. I hope and pray that the church can keep the unity of the church in the Lord by spreading the love of God to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, I pray that we can reflect the beauty of the church to this world.