How Good and Pleasant It Could Be!

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Psalm 133:1, New King James Version).

"Behold!" Doesn't that word reach out and grab you by the shirt collar? Behold the beauty of brotherhood!

Stand back and gaze at it. Marvel about unity the way you stare at the stars on a summer night. Wonder and dream about it. Admire it the way a groom beholds the face of his bride.

Unity Is Good and Pleasant

Unity is "good" because it simply is right in the eyes of God. Unity is "pleasant" because it even feels right to those who experience it. Have you ever walked into an assembly of God's people where you could sense an atmosphere of peace and harmony? Or have you gone to church where you could feel the tension in the air? There's nothing pleasant about that.

A football team wins more games when every member of the team works unselfishly toward the same goal. It's the same in the church. Unnecessary conflict distracts us and wears us out.

Christian unity is even good and pleasant for those who are still outside of Christ. A divided church hinders evangelism, causing confusion and frustration among those who simply need to know the Lord.

Most of all, Christian unity is good and pleasant in the eyes of the Lord.

Jesus prayed that his followers would "be brought to complete unity" so the world would know the truth about him (John 17:23). Paul urged the believers to be "like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose" (Philippians 2:2).

Unity Is Messy

But let's face it: Unity is an elusive and challenging goal. Psalm 133 goes on to say, "It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes" (v. 2). What a mess! Who wants oil all over your head, running down on your beard and your clothes?

Actually this is a very meaningful word-picture. In Exodus chapter 30, God gave Moses a special recipe for oil to anoint priests like Aaron and his sons. It was a sacred, sweet-smelling oil to be made by a perfumer. The high priest bore on his breastplate the names of all 12 tribes of Israel, so as the oil flowed down over his body it symbolically flowed down over all the people of God.

The oil's recipe called for fragrant cane, cinnamon, and other spices. When a man became a priest of God, he was anointed with this sweet-smelling oil. Likewise, the New Testament teaches that all Christians are part of God's "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9, 10). When we serve Christ shoulder to shoulder, our focused fellowship smells good—it's a breath of fresh air in a badly divided world.

But unity is messy because:

Then Psalm 133 brings out another fact about unity.

Unity Brings God's Blessing

"It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore" (Psalm 133:3).

Unity is as refreshing as dew on a summer morning. Mount Hermon is over 9,000 feet tall. It's the mountain where the Jordan River begins, where the headwaters of the river start to flow. Like dew from the mountain, unity starts at the top and flows down to us. Unity flows down from the head of the church. We don't create it; the Lord does. We recognize it, preserve it, maintain it. And "there the Lord bestows his blessings now and forevermore."

Are there blessings we haven't experienced because the church has been so divided? Might there be blessings God is withholding until we get our act together? How good and pleasant it could be—but we still have a big hill to climb.

Let's climb it together.