It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life for evermore.
Psalms 133:3 NIVUK
From 1994 to 2001 I spent a lot of time in Romania. One of my favourite journeys, particularly in summer, was the three hour train ride from Bucharest to Brasov. Bucharest gets particularly hot in the summer. Its low, flat elevation and large number of Communist era apartment blocks make it something of a dustbowl. Summertime there is somewhat unpleasant as the temperatures climb beyond forty degrees Celsius. And it's a dry, stifling heat.
But when you board the train at Bucharest Gara Nord and watch as the lowlands slowly give way to the foothills just north of Ploiesti, you soon reach the mouth of the Prahova Valley. The slow, twisty climb between steep mountains causes the temperature to drop, sometimes by as much as fifteen degrees, and the cool, fresh mountain air is like a balm for your dust-filled lungs - unless someone at the next window is leaning out for a smoke, of course.
The stunning mountain scenery and the cool mountain air made a lasting, unforgettable impression on me.
David is saying that unity among believers is like that cool mountain air. It is refreshing. It is cooling. It lifts our spirits.
Jerusalem in summer would have been something of a dustbowl. Dry, with no natural water source, stiflingly hot. Even just the weather helps to explain the tetchiness of the people who live there.
But Mount Hermon. Ah, Mount Hermon! It was a proper mountain. It was said that the dew there each morning was so heavy that your tent looked like it had rained heavily during the night. The temperature there would have been much cooler and more refreshing than roasting hot Jerusalem.
But how can unity refresh us? How can it lift our spirits?
Even a passing glance at what the Word of God tells us to do for one another will tell us.
‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’
John 13:34-35 NIVUK
Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.
Romans 12:10 NIVUK
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:8 NIVUK
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling-block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.
Romans 14:13 NIVUK
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind towards each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Romans 15:5-7 NIVUK
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
2 Corinthians 13:11 NIVUK
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh ; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Galatians 5:13 NIVUK
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesians 4:2 NIVUK
speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 5:19-21 NIVUK
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Colossians 3:13 NIVUK
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
Colossians 3:16 NIVUK
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIVUK
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.
Hebrews 3:12-14 NIVUK
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:23-25 NIVUK
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 1:22-23 NIVUK
Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
1 Peter 3:8 NIVUK
For this is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another.
1 John 3:11 NIVUK
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
1 John 3:23 NIVUK
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:11-12 NIVUK
Would you not feel refreshed if you were a member of a fellowship like that? Would you not feel encouraged and lifted up? Would you not feel blessed?
Now, the temptation here is to compare this ideal with the actual situation in our own fellowship and start to criticise it. But that makes you part of the problem. If you don't see others acting in this way towards you, perhaps the problem is that you are not acting in this way towards them. If you want your fellowship to be like this then you have to play your part. After all, these verses are clear that fellowship and unity aren't one way streets. The call isn't for people to love, serve and honour you, it's for us to love, serve and honour each other, even the people we are not naturally inclined to like.
And there are no exceptions here. There are no allowances for cliques or social groups or political affiliations or gender or age groups. We are all to love, honour and serve each other.
Life is hard sometimes, particularly now. We do not have time or energy to waste on petty, irrelevant party interests or arguments. Our nations are drowning in ignorance, fear and despair. We have the answer to their problems.
Just as the dustbowl foothills of Jerusalem was the place where the Lord commanded the blessing, so we, in the midst of all our struggles and pain, can be the means through which blessing flows to others. We can fulfil the ancient prophecy in Isaiah for our thirsty, needy people:
‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:18-19 NIVUK
Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
Isaiah 32:2 NIVUK
But we cannot be the bearers of this blessing while we are pre-occupied with petty, infantile in-fighting. For this to happen, we must completely set aside our immature desires to have our own way, recognise that we are as sinful as any other person, and commit ourselves to building others up, not tearing them down.
Our society is utterly broken. Any passing reading of the headlines tells us that. We don't need to be a genius to work it out.
We don't need to be part of the problem. We can be part of the solution if, and only if, we are prepared to live in unity with our fellow believers. The Gospel demands it. Our world requires it - needs it desperately like water in the desert.
Will you answer the call?
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