David says in Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” The word “Behold” means to look here, to pay attention, to stop all that you are doing, and now to take special note. If it is not something important, the psalmist would not have called for special attention. We cannot afford to miss this. We have to open our ears and listen.

The word “good” means something of high value, precious, sweet and bring about something beneficial. It is good. It is also pleasant. The word “pleasant” is more than a nice feeling. It leads to great delight. That is the meaning here. It brings such great delight to us without exception, that we should all crave for it and that we will never reject it. Something is really wrong should we want to reject it. How can a believer reject such precious fellowship? It is God who has brought His people together to enjoy such a communion. It is like saying to God, “God, I hate fellowship. And I don't need fellowship. I don't need brothers and sisters in Christ. I am happy on my own.” If you say that, you are going against God. This is definitely not the spirit of David as he penned this psalm. David was so happy that he testified of how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to gather for fellowship. “Brethren” refers to all who are standing on the same side. As Christians, we are all on the same side. We are on God’s side. And also for brethren to dwell together does not mean staying under one roof together. To “dwell together” means coming together for a common cause. To remain together. Not divided. Not going separate ways. But united and joined together. This is unity. And Christian unity describes how we are joined together in Christ. We are on the same side as God's people.

In order to dwell together, we must be found in Christ. In Christ means we believe in Him and all that are centered on Him: His person, attribute, character, His Word, teaching, His works, all the miracles that He had done, etc. We must all agree and be convicted as to who our Lord is. If not, there can be no Christian unity. We cannot be believing in a different Christ. There is no unity with unbelievers definitely. And for believers, it depends on what we believe. If we are likeminded, then we can join together. The church constitution and our statement of faith is one way to check if fellowship is possible. So on the one hand, we must work towards Christian unity; on the other hand, we must not compromise our biblical conviction in the name of Christian unity. May God be pleased to preserve our Christian unity that is based upon His truth. May God help us. Amen.