Unity And Harmony And Diversity With Variety Have Challenged Our Spirituality Over The Years!
Unity and peace and tranquillity and a quietness of life have been sought by many but it is rarely found and enjoyed.
I have recently been reading and studying afresh the Psalms and that portion of the Psalter called the Songs of Ascent and I have finally reached Psalm 133 which is all about unity.
But unity in the Church of Jesus Christ appears still to be a long way off.
The Psalmist has been writing about union with Almighty God and now he is describing the joy of unity among brothers who believe and that is the order in which we must always keep it.
It has been suggested by reliable scholars that the second book of Samuel Chapter 5 is the inspiration behind Psalm 133.
The Psalm is said to have been written by David.
David had been privately prepared for leadership.
The tribes had come to him.
Union with brother believers and amongst brother believers is what Jesus prays for in John Chapter 17.
It is sin that destroys the unity and we must confront that wherever it rears its ugly head! You can have union once you have got rid of cherished ideas of yourself.
To achieve 'union' you have to be willing and prepared to have your cherished ideas of yourself demolished and removed.
And, you cannot be united with, and have you noticed that it is very difficult to pray with, anyone whom you criticise.
In this Psalm, where God sees unity that is real and physical as well as spiritual, God commands a blessing and it is as if an anointing falls.
There are many people around our pained world who would like to see the anointing of Almighty God fall again and bring revival to the Church of Jesus Christ and so heal so many of the wounds and scars which mar our communities.
We see here the people of God united and blessed, but unity is not something we can analyse.
We can experience it but we dare not examine it and inspect it.
We must not dissect a sky lark in order to find the song, and we must be careful with this Psalm packed with significance and as is said in Scotland "is it not better felt than telt"? Is it not better to experience than just speak about it and describe it or explain it, although our writer does a very job describing and explaining what was going on when the people had reached Jerusalem to worship and to praise Almighty God? Our unity lies in our identity and our identity depends upon our relationship and closeness with God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
This is vital.
We read in the letter to the Ephesians that there is one Lord and one faith and one baptism, but there are various gifts and roles and ministries.
Even when speaking about that one baptism we need to remember that there is baptism in water and a baptism of the Holy Spirit and a baptism of fire and a baptism of suffering, but those who are in Christ Jesus invariably experience all four aspects of the one baptism! These men and women on the Day of Pentecost as recorded in the book of acts in Chapter 2 were one in heart and one in purpose, with one aim and one goal.
They were out to worship the living God and to win the world for Christ.
Is this not the supreme task of every disciple of Jesus today? Are we not still out to win the world for Christ? If we are not then there is something serious amiss and wrong.
They remembered His words, regarding going into all the world and making disciples of all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
That is exactly what they did.
This is our calling.
I have recently been reading and studying afresh the Psalms and that portion of the Psalter called the Songs of Ascent and I have finally reached Psalm 133 which is all about unity.
But unity in the Church of Jesus Christ appears still to be a long way off.
The Psalmist has been writing about union with Almighty God and now he is describing the joy of unity among brothers who believe and that is the order in which we must always keep it.
It has been suggested by reliable scholars that the second book of Samuel Chapter 5 is the inspiration behind Psalm 133.
The Psalm is said to have been written by David.
David had been privately prepared for leadership.
The tribes had come to him.
Union with brother believers and amongst brother believers is what Jesus prays for in John Chapter 17.
It is sin that destroys the unity and we must confront that wherever it rears its ugly head! You can have union once you have got rid of cherished ideas of yourself.
To achieve 'union' you have to be willing and prepared to have your cherished ideas of yourself demolished and removed.
And, you cannot be united with, and have you noticed that it is very difficult to pray with, anyone whom you criticise.
In this Psalm, where God sees unity that is real and physical as well as spiritual, God commands a blessing and it is as if an anointing falls.
There are many people around our pained world who would like to see the anointing of Almighty God fall again and bring revival to the Church of Jesus Christ and so heal so many of the wounds and scars which mar our communities.
We see here the people of God united and blessed, but unity is not something we can analyse.
We can experience it but we dare not examine it and inspect it.
We must not dissect a sky lark in order to find the song, and we must be careful with this Psalm packed with significance and as is said in Scotland "is it not better felt than telt"? Is it not better to experience than just speak about it and describe it or explain it, although our writer does a very job describing and explaining what was going on when the people had reached Jerusalem to worship and to praise Almighty God? Our unity lies in our identity and our identity depends upon our relationship and closeness with God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
This is vital.
We read in the letter to the Ephesians that there is one Lord and one faith and one baptism, but there are various gifts and roles and ministries.
Even when speaking about that one baptism we need to remember that there is baptism in water and a baptism of the Holy Spirit and a baptism of fire and a baptism of suffering, but those who are in Christ Jesus invariably experience all four aspects of the one baptism! These men and women on the Day of Pentecost as recorded in the book of acts in Chapter 2 were one in heart and one in purpose, with one aim and one goal.
They were out to worship the living God and to win the world for Christ.
Is this not the supreme task of every disciple of Jesus today? Are we not still out to win the world for Christ? If we are not then there is something serious amiss and wrong.
They remembered His words, regarding going into all the world and making disciples of all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
That is exactly what they did.
This is our calling.