A Song of Ascents. By David.
1See how good and how pleasant it is
for brothers to live together in unity!
2It is like the precious oil on the head,
that ran down on the beard,
even Aaron’s beard,
that came down on the edge of his robes,
3like the dew of Hermon,
that comes down on the hills of Zion;
for there Yahweh gives the blessing,
even life forever more.
This chapter is one of the heaviest theological chapters in the New Testament. As we hear the words of Jesus, we have a glimpse into the mind of Christ. Famous Welsh theologian, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, wrote several books and hundreds of pages on what goes on in this chapter. It has been discussed and debated by many Christian thinkers. In the first four verses, we hear Jesus, God in the flesh, praying to God the Father in heaven. Those who deny the divinity of Christ sometimes point to these verses, showing that in no way did Jesus claim to be God, because how and why would God pray to Himself? But the stickler is there in verse five. Jesus says, “5 Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed (v.5). Jesus clearly states that He was there, in the beginning, “with the glory which I had before the world existed.” There was none there at the beginning, before the world began, other than God Himself. In short, Jesus is God in the flesh.
His prayer continues. He prays for those with whom He has had contact and fellowship while here on earth in His earthly ministry. He prays for His disciples and others in the world at that time, and then He gets to us! “Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word.” He is talking about you and me, who have believed in Him through the testimony of the disciples, which has made its way down to each one of us. If you read this, and you are ‘in Christ’, you heard the gospel message, and you received it. Jesus is praying for our unity. He is praying that we may be one in Him as He is in us. Unity is important to God. The Shemah Yishrael states, “Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is echad (unity)”. (Deut 6:4). Unity in the family of God is also very important to God. We derail this unity when we create division over all kinds of things. The Holy Spirit speaks through the Psalmist when he says, “See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! (Psalms 133:1 WEB) God is interested in our unity. Interestingly, He doesn’t call for our uniformity.
We disrupt this unity in the Church when we argue or create division over peripheral issues. What are peripherals? That word means the “outer boundaries.” So, the outer boundaries of what? I would say the outer boundaries of the faith's core tenets. When we argue about the color of the carpet, the inadequacy of the youth pastor, the delivery of the associate pastor’s sermon, the timing of Jesus’ return, the intricacies of exactly how God saves us when we come to Him. The last one is a doozy because we pretend to have the theological imagination to fully understand the mind of God. These can easily become divisive. I am not saying these things might not be important. I am saying that they are not to be ARGUED over. They are not to be the central thing. They are the peripheral things. We are clearly warned in Scripture that God doesn’t like those who create needless division, and He gives great scrutiny to those who sow discord. “There are six things which Yahweh hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to him, and he who sows discord among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16a and 19b WEB) Jesus prayed for unity. Now do your part to live in unity. That is what God loves.