Hey Church!

St. Augustine offered a great illustration of how citizens of the heavenly city are united by their love of God. He calls to mind a Roman theater, where spectators come together as strangers from diverse locations and backgrounds, and sit to watch a play. Soon one of the actors on stage awakens the admiration of individuals, so they applaud. As each one hears their enthusiasm shared by others, a roaring applause spreads through the crowd, and they “begin to love one another for the sake of him that they love.”1 

When we gather for worship on Sundays, we are united in loud adoration for the Savior we love. That is a vision of the heavenly city, where citizens are driven by the self-denying service of God and others. It stands in sharp contrast to the earthly city, in which people are consumed by the adulation of self. There can exist no true and lasting unity in that city because each one looks only to their interests and cannot imagine forfeiting their goods in service of another. Their end is scarcity and war. 

Augustine compares the nature of the two cities: 

Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory; the other says to its God, ‘Thou art my glory, and the lifter up of mine head’ [Ps. 3:3].2

We come to glory in the Lord this Sunday. With open hands, we say, “Here I am, God! Use me as you see fit!” With surrendered hearts, we plead with Him, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23-24). And with the self-emptying spirit of Christ, we will “love one another for the sake of him that [we] love.”