Ronald Curzan: “Dwell Together in Unity!” (Psalm 133:1)

[Parale]

Ronald Curzan: “Dwell Together in Unity!” (Psalm 133:1)

 

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODPgmEvtMorningWorship/pub-jwb-099_12_VIDEO

 

Published 21 July 2023

 

TRANSCRIPT: Ronald Curzan: “Dwell Together in Unity!” (Psalm 133:1)

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“Dwell Together in Unity!” (Psalm 133:1)

Ronald Curzan

Helper to the Teaching Committee

When we think about it, eight and a half million Jehovah’s Witnesses - you and me - are in the process of fulfilling our text for today. And that is taken from Psalm 133 and verse 1. It says: “Look! How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!”

So we are so privileged and proud to be part of this organisation. Jehovah has drawn each one of us to be part of this unified organisation.

Now, in contrast, what do we see in the world? Their governments, their religions, are all divided. It’s disunited. So maybe rephrasing the scripture, this is what they’re experiencing now: ‘Look! How bad and how unpleasant it is to dwell together in disunity!’ It’s a sad reality, but our hope that we share with them could change that very quickly.

So, what is it that makes Jehovah’s organisation (our organisation) so different, so special? Two things: It’s the language we speak as well as the clothes we wear.

What do we mean by that? Well, let’s go to Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 9 to see the language that we have and are unified with. At Zephaniah 3:9, it reads and "I will change the language of the peoples to a pure language" - and we know that is a Scriptural truth - "so that all of them may call on the name of Jehovah, to serve him shoulder to shoulder” — or, as the footnote says, “worship him in unity.”

So the privilege for us to work shoulder to shoulder with all those on earth is amazing! And we see how we’re growing and how much more united we are becoming. But, really, if we’re just looking at the earthly part, we’re short-sighted. We need to look at the heavenly part as well and how we’re united with Jehovah’s heavenly organisation shoulder to shoulder.

In fact, just to illustrate this, we know that Jehovah’s hand of applied power is steering his heavenly organisation, right? So we have this magnet here that could be the celestial chariot. Jehovah’s spirit directly has that chariot move based on what he wants and what he directs with his holy spirit. And connected to that is the earthly part of his organisation. [Attaches another magnet underneath the one he is holding] And as Jehovah moves the heavenly part, the earthly part is directly connected with it. Well, where do we fit in?

Well, we can be likened to these paper clips. [Attaches a string of paper clips underneath the magnets] So as Jehovah moves his organisation, what happens from heaven down to the earth? We are following right along with it. But sometimes — isn’t it true? — as Jehovah moves his organisation, there’s a little bit of a whiplash happening with all of us. [The paper clips sway left-to-right as he moves the magnets around].

So we appreciate when Ezekiel saw in his vision, that when he heard, “Wheelwork!” That’s when the wheels went to work, and that’s when Jehovah’s heavenly organisation was on the move. But we appreciate that we need to be on the move as well. And by means of “the faithful and discreet slave,” we are getting from Jehovah everything we need to be unified, to be strong, to worship Jehovah in pure worship in harmony with his heavenly organisation.

So we feed on the same spiritual food, we hold to the same Scriptural standards of conduct, and we share in the same vital work of preaching and disciple-making work. All of this unites Jehovah’s people shoulder to shoulder.

Now, through Jehovah’s organisation, we have been fed so well by the Governing Body through our Watchtower, through conventions, assemblies, midweek meetings, through the JW Broadcast. All of these have served to unite us as a people.

In fact, you might remember, just talking about the JW Broadcast, that it was October of 2014 when the first broadcast aired, and that was with Brother Lett. And we know that was only in one language. And now what do we have? With the approval of the Governing Body, they have increased the languages starting first in English. Now, we know that the Gilead graduation has been added and the annual meeting has been added to the broadcast throughout the year.

Well, originally, the translators around the world were doing their best to keep up with all the other translation that was needed, and they were not able to do the Gilead graduation or the annual meeting. But interestingly, the Governing Body now has put those on as monthly broadcasts. What has that done for the organisation? It has united us. In 2016, there were only 34 languages able to translate the Gilead graduation. Now 162 languages have that deep spiritual truth. And the same is with the annual meeting. Now thousands of our brothers and sisters have that same spiritual food, that feeding program that we have been enjoying for many years. So Jehovah’s organisation is on the move. It is united.

But the question is: What about me? [Holds up a single paper clip] Where do I fit in to this unification of heaven and on earth? It really comes down to, again, the language that we speak — the “pure language” — as well as the clothing that we wear.

What do I mean by that? Let’s go to Colossians chapter 3, and notice verse 14. Colossians 3:14 says that we should "clothe" - ourselves - "with love.” That’s the clothing. And what does that help us with? “For it is a perfect bond of union.” Paul goes on to say in verse 12 what this clothing entails. It’s “tender affections of compassion, kindness, humility, mildness, and patience.” What it means, if we’re wearing this, is that we will continue to put "up with one another... forgiving one another freely even if anyone has a cause for complaint against another. Just as Jehovah freely forgave you, you must also do the same.”

So love is the “perfect bond of union.” Unity is based on love. We worship Jehovah. “God is love.” His Son, Jesus, perfectly represented him, mirrored every aspect of Him with love. And Jesus said that his disciples would be identified with love.

So in what ways can we be a unifying factor? Well, as we just read, we need to cultivate those godly qualities of compassion, kindness, humility, mildness, patience, forgiveness.

These are the qualities that hold us together and keep us together unitedly.

Now, when we think about that little illustration I had there, [Holds up a string of paper clips horizontally] working shoulder to shoulder could have its problems. [Takes a single paper clip and bends it] Sometimes we could be bent out of shape when we are working shoulder to shoulder.

Well, what do we need to keep in mind? Again, it’s those qualities of forgiveness, compassion, being yielding, and not looking at our organisation as a way to climb some sort of ladder to get more responsibility. [Holds the string of paper clips up vertically] It’s everyone working in their place, working together unitedly.

When we think about paper clips - I did a little research on this - paper clips come, of course, in different shapes, sizes, and colours. But what’s the purpose of a paper clip? Isn’t it to hold pieces of paper together? Isn’t that the same with you and me? The purpose that we have as Jehovah’s Witnesses is to unite, to be a uniting factor, in our family, in the congregation, here at Bethel, in any aspect of our organisation. And it’s interesting that the engineers of paper clips, they actually have something that is called “yield stress,” or “the amount of stress needed to permanently reshape the wire.” If it has too much stress, that means it’ll be hard to open and unite the paper. If it has too low of a yield stress, then it becomes wimpy, and it won’t hold anything together.

So we can see where you and I need to have some rigidness to us. We need to stand firm, but we need to have those Christian qualities to be yielding and to be peaceable. And that’s what Paul was saying at 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10, if you would turn there with me. Having this “perfect bond of union” means having unity but not divisions and disunity. First Corinthians 1:10 reads: “Now I urge you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you should all speak in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you may be completely united in the same mind and in the same line of thought.”

So, again, don’t allow a place for Satan the Devil to cause divisions, to distance us from Jehovah and from his organisation both in heaven and on earth. And we never want to be one who will be a disuniting factor by not putting on that new personality, those Christian qualities.

And if we do get bent out of shape from time to time, like our little paper clip here, Paul says at 2 Corinthians 13:11 that we should “continue to... be readjusted.” And we need to have that same lowliness of mind, ‘considering others as superior to us’ and be yielding and be patient. And if we do this, we are aligning ourselves with Jehovah’s organisation, both in heaven and on earth.

Well, there comes our theme scripture for today. That we will be happy, and ‘how good it is and how pleasant it is to dwell together in unity!

 

Edited July 22, 2023 by Parale

[Friend of Peace]

The magnets with the paper clips was such a great illustration! 

[Parale]

For those wishing to print out the transcript - below is a PDF, formatted to be printed as an A5 booklet using A4 paper, or simply full-size on A4 paper, if you like a larger text size

 

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