Anticipating Worship: The Blessing of Unity
Psalms 133
July 17, 2022
Tonight we come to a short Psalm in this group of songs which were sung during the approach of Jerusalem, and yet it is a widely known one.
People seem to remember, at the very least, verse 1
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!”
UNITY is one of those attributes that
Everyone always seems to agree on as a good thing.
It is like “love”.
• You don’t ever find anyone saying love is a bad thing.
• You don’t ever find anyone saying unity is a bad thing.
Everyone seems to agree that
Unity makes for a better climate and a better culture.
• Now, just as they do with love,
• People often misunderstand and wrongly define what unity actually is
• And they fail to realize how it is achieved,
But on a surface level they still admire it.
And this Psalm certainly anticipates it.
And since this is one of those “Song of Ascents”
We realize that the unity spoken of here is in the context of worship.
So let’s make A GENERAL OBSERVATION from the start.
What we are talking about here is unity, not uniformity.
• We are not discussing people who are clones of one another,
• But rather of people who share a common bond.
• They may be very different in many ways,
• But they share a common bond which links them together.
When we are talking about unity we are talking about
Different people with different attributes all becoming one.
Israel was a great example of this.
• They were certainly unique and different people
• With different skills and preferences and interests.
• They lived in different regions and worked at different occupations.
And yet they shared a oneness as “the people of God”.
They had common promises…
They had common benefits…
They had common requirements…
They had a common covenant…
They had that one very important thing in common.
They were one as God’s people.
Unity wasn’t simply about getting along,
It was about understanding that we are one.
David is contemplating this blessing here at the outset.
“Behold, how good…”
“good” there is TOB
• It’s a special and powerful word in the Old Testament.
• It is certainly not used lightly.
Genesis 1:4 “God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.”
• It is the word God used of His creation prior to the fall.
• Sin came in and wrecked it all, but before sin it was good.
David uses that same word here to describe the nature of unity.
It is good.
He also says “how pleasant”
NAWEEM in the Hebrew.
It can be translated “sweet” or “lovely” or “pleasures”
It refers to that which is attractive and enjoyable to humanity.
It’s not bitter or ugly or a burden, it is something which is enjoyable.
So David says that unity is a good thing.
It is a pleasurable thing.
As we said at the beginning,
You don’t find anyone who doesn’t at least like the thought of unity.
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!”
The very word “brothers” implies a family.
A common family bond.
“dwell together” is an important term.
It is a family that is granted the privilege of being around one another.
How wonderful it is to able to be around people
Who share a common bond with you!
Imagine the Israelites, surrounded by Canaanites and Jebusites and Ammonites and Moabites and Termites and everything else.
But in their pocket of the world, they had a common bond.
• They were the children of God.
• They dwelled together.
• They worshiped together.
It was a respite to be shielded from the pagan thought of the world.
We understand that in the church.
It is our one place of relief and our sanctuary.
• When we gather in here worldliness is not promoted.
• When we gather in here immorality is not praised.
• When we gather in here evil is not celebrated or congratulated.
We share a common bond as the people of God.
• Here we let down our guard.
• Here we freely love.
• Here we fellowship and laugh and rejoice.
• Here we worship.
• We turn our kids loose to run the halls.
• We gather and visit.
It is both “good” and “pleasant” to come and dwell together.
How awful To have been in Jeremiah’s shoes who seemed to be the only believer left in Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 12:6 “For even your brothers and the household of your father, Even they have dealt treacherously with you, Even they have cried aloud after you. Do not believe them, although they may say nice things to you.”
How awful to have been in Elijah’s shoes, who said:
1 Kings 19:14 “Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
Or Lot in Sodom “oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men” feeling “his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds.”
Or Paul alone in Athens having “his spirit provoked within him” as he walked through a “city full of idols”.
Or new converts in Islamic lands who must feel alone.
What a blessing when you can come together with people
Who share the common distinction as the people of God.
THAT IS WHAT THIS SONG CELEBRATES.
It’s just a really good thing to get to go to church!
And as we read this Psalm,
David describes the blessing with two metaphors.
(2) “It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron’s beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes.”
And the second is:
(3) “It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion;”
So the FIRST one we see is a reference to oil on the head.
In one sense oil represents JOY and GLADNESS. It is refreshing.
• You may remember how the Good Samaritan poured oil and wine into the
wounds of the man who had been robbed.
In another sense oil represents FRAGRANCE and BEAUTY.
• We think of that woman and her alabaster vile which she poured on Jesus feet
and how the fragrance filled the room.
And in yet another sense it represents CONSECRATION.
• The priests were anointed with oil.
• They were actually sprinkled with this consecrated oil.
David however references “Aaron” because Moses didn’t sprinkle Aaron, Moses poured the oil on him.
• It ran down his head.
• It ran across his beard.
• It ran into his collar.
And that probably makes some of you think of a gross Disciple Now game.
It would absolutely make my wife cringe to think about someone doing that to her.
But the visual is clear.
The SECOND analogy is the same picture.
This time it’s not oil but rather water.
It is “the dew of Hermon” which is now running down to Zion.
So you get these pictures of something poured and something covering.
But let’s make sure you understand
What these metaphors are talking about.
THE TEMPTATION IS
To read verses 2 and 3 and assume that he is talking about unity.
• As if to say that UNITY “is like the precious oil upon the head…”
• And that UNITY “is like the dew of Hermon…”
But that is NOT what he is saying.
There is a word here that the Psalmist repeats 3 times
And it is the key to understanding what is so wonderful here.
It is the Hebrew word YAW-RAD and it means “to descend”
In my translation it is translated “coming down”
It is an important word to recognize in the Psalm
Because in using this word David is making sure
That you are aware of THE SOURCE.
We read those verses and we ask 2 questions.
1) WHAT IS COMING DOWN? (not unity) Blessing
2) WHERE IS IT COMING FROM? God
The unity that David rejoices in is the effect or the consequence
Of God choosing to bless His people.
You see this at the end of verse 3.
“For there the LORD commanded the blessing – life forever.”
There the blessing is specifically described.
David calls it “life forever”
And this eternal life which David speaks of
Is the common thing which we all share and that unifies us.
SEE,
• This unity we have is NOT a human engineered unity.
• This unity is NOT something that we achieve.
• That again is uniformity.
• That is peace and tolerance.
That is certainly a good thing, but when we talk about unity
We are talking about something that only comes from God.
It is that which must descend upon us.
THAT IS WHY
In the New Testament Paul doesn’t tell us to unify, he tells us to preserve unity.
Ephesians 4:1-6 “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”
• Paul didn’t tell us to unify.
• Certainly he told the Corinthians to get along and to not have disagreements.
• That is different than unity.
We understand commands to forgive and to live at peace
And to show tolerance for another in love.
We get those commands.
But those commands are not a command for unity.
Those commands are there to preserve the unity.
Unity is not something we achieve, it is something we preserve.
Unity is that which comes down to us from God.
TURN TO: JOHN 17
• This is the great High Priestly prayer of Jesus.
• And notice what He is praying for.
(READ 20-23)
Many people read that verse and say, “See, Jesus prayed that we’d all get along, and so we need to set aside what divides us and we need to all get along.”
That is a terrible misunderstanding of what Jesus is praying for.
John MacArthur had a very helpful explanation of what we are talking about here.
“Now I want to stop at that point and just explain to you that Jesus is not wishing that everybody who becomes a Christian would get along well with everybody else. This is not a…this is not a wish that Jesus wanted to have happen, ask the Father if He could pull it off only to find out that His prayer wasn’t answered. Jesus doesn’t [pray] prayers that don’t get answered since He has the mind of God. So if Jesus prayed for oneness, you can know this for certain, it came to pass. It is a reality, not a wish. And He’s talking about a kind of oneness that you must understand. He is talking about something that has to do with the very life of God because He says here that they may all be one…how?…even as Thou Father art in Me and I in Thee. We’re talking about a oneness of common eternal life, something that somehow approximates the real essential unity between the Father and the Son. He’s praying for a unity that is not about how we get along on the surface, but how we are made one internally. He’s talking about sharing common life, the life of God in the soul of men.
In verse 23 He says it again. “I in them and Thou in Me that they may be perfected in unity.” It’s not a question of “are we all getting along fine on the surface, are we all buddy- buddy, are we all holding hands and swaying back and forth and singing the same song.” It’s not that. We’re talking about something here that is supernatural. This prayer that Jesus prayed was a prayer for all those who came to Him to be given the same eternal life, to possess the same life of God in their souls, to become partakers of the divine nature, to have the indwelling of the very presence of the Spirit of God. He was praying that which is stated as reality in 1 Corinthians where Paul says, “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Paul said essentially the same thing when he said, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives…what?…within me.”
When you became a Christian God, the eternal God, took up residence in your life. And that’s true of every believer. When you came to Christ you became one with Him. And every believer is one with Him. And since we all share His common life, we share the same life with each other.”
Sermon on gty.com “Fundamental Christian Attitudes: Unity” Scripture: Selected Scriptures Code: 90-118
This is what Jesus is talking about, and this is what David is rejoicing in.
That God has done something supernatural in each of us.
He gave us all a common life.
Read it again in verse 3 “For there the LORD commanded the blessing – life forever.”
Jesus spoke of it through the agent of the Holy Spirit
Who would come and indwell every believer.
We would all get the same common life.
• We WOULD NOT all look the same or talk the same or even share all the same preferences.
• We would even be gifted differently
• Some would preach, some would lead, some would give, some would have mercy.
• We would serve as various parts of the same body.
• But there would be one common bond that would knit us all together.
• We would all share the common life of God within ourselves.
It would be that which would distinguish us from the world.
AND THIS IS THE BASIS FOR OUR UNITY.
I had a lady one time come and tell me
That if I wanted to learn unity then I should attend a graduation at Texas A&M.
• We all know how committed Aggies are to one another.
• Aggies hire Aggies. They are dedicated to it.
But that’s NOT spiritual unity.
• That’s a man-made commitment to people who have a common interest.
• They graduated from the same school.
• And they have chosen to rally around that common interest.
CHRISTIAN UNITY IS FAR DEEPER THAN THAT.
Christian unity is not man-made, it come down to us from God.
You know this.
TURN TO: EPHESIANS 2:11-22
Paul begins by pointing out our lack of common interest.
• We had absolutely nothing that would have caused us to dwell in the same room with one another.
(READ 11-12)
You don’t get any more opposite than Jew and Gentile.
• Circumcision VS Uncircumcision
• Included VS Excluded
• Covenants VS No Covenants
• Hope VS No Hope
• God VS No God
These two groups were on opposite ends of the spectrum.
And then we read:
(READ 13-16)
Paul says that Jesus came and brought near those who were far off.
HOW?
He “broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity”
WHAT WAS THE DIVIDING WALL?
“the Law of commandments contained in ordinances”
• The Law is the great divider.
• It not only condemns men and separates them from God, but it also separates men from men.
• The reason Jews and Gentiles were separate was the Law.
Jesus came and fulfilled it for both Jew and Gentile.
In Jesus there is no longer a person who has not fulfilled the Law.
Jesus fulfilled it for Jew and Gentile alike.
He made “the two into one new man, thus establishing peace.”
Now Jews and Gentiles in Jesus have the exact same life within them.
It is the life which Jesus put inside of them.
And he reconciled “them both in one body to God through the cross”
Do you understand the point here?
• Jews and Gentiles now have a common bond.
• They both stand approved before God only because of what Jesus did.
That is Christian unity.
We look around the room and realize that
• In spite of all our differences…
• In spite of our various levels of morality…
• In spite of our past records of failure…
• In spite of the level of our mistakes…
We all share the common bond that we stand approved by God
Only because of what Jesus did.
• None of us are more or less approved by God than the other.
• None of us are more or less worthy than the other.
• None of us draw closer than the other.
We all come the same way and this is a common bond.
(READ 17-18)
That is what we are saying.
All of us come the exact same way.
And the final reality?
(READ 19-22)
There is our unity.
• We all stand on the apostles and prophets…
• Jesus is the cornerstone for us all…
• We are all God’s building…
• We are all God’s temple…
Do you notice how he uses both Jewish terms and Gentile ones?
And it doesn’t matter for “you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”
THAT IS UNITY.
• We have the common life of Christ.
• We have the common righteousness of Christ.
• We have the common atonement of Christ.
Listen to Paul to the Galatians:
Galatians 3:26-29 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”
Do you see it?
• While certainly there is a difference between Jews and Gentiles.
• While certainly there is a difference between slaves and free men.
• While certainly there is a difference between men and women.
We still see that we share a unity in that we all need Jesus.
And in Jesus we are all “heirs according to promise.”
AND THIS IS THE UNITY WE CELEBRATE.
We don’t fellowship with anyone like we fellowship with one another.
• You can be an Aggie and go to an Aggie reunion and there will be people there who will absolutely offend you and with whom you will have no fellowship.
• You can actually go to Thanksgiving with your genetic relatives and have no fellowship or joy around the table.
Jesus actually said it:
Matthew 10:34-36 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.”
There can be no fellowship among even those people.
But the unity we enjoy is that which comes down from heaven.
And this is the unity David is rejoicing in.
• I might not get along with my brothers…
• Absalom may be a black sheep about to cause trouble…
• I may have no joy in hanging around other shepherds…
But when I gather with God’s people…
• When I gather with those who share the common life of God…
• That is “good” and that is “pleasant”
This is what the writer of Hebrews
Wanted those struggling Jews to understand.
• They were lamenting being cut off from the temple.
• They were saddened at being excommunicated from the synagogue.
• They would no longer have access to the feasts and the ceremonies.
They were like Aggies who were no longer welcome at the Aggie bonfire
And they thought the grief would be overwhelming.
But listen to what the writer of Hebrew told them:
Hebrews 12:18-24 “For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command, “IF EVEN A BEAST TOUCHES THE MOUNTAIN, IT WILL BE STONED.” And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “I AM FULL OF FEAR and trembling.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”
You see that first reference to Mt. Sinai
Where physical Israel found their identity.
• They got the Law and that is what they rallied around.
But notice what the writer says:
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”
The common bond you share is much deeper and real
Than some bond of traditional feasts and celebrations.
• The bond you share is with the heavenly Zion…
• The bond you share is with the city of the living God…
• The bond you share is with angels…
• The bond you share is with the church of the firstborn…in heaven…
• The bond you share is with the Judge of all
• The bond you share is with the righteous who are made perfect…
• The bond you share is with Jesus…
This is a deeper and better
And more glorious unity than anything the world offers.
WE SHARE A COMMON LIFE FROM GOD.
That is what makes going to church so awesome!
• It’s not about powerful music from skilled musicians (as good as that is)
• It’s not about skilled speakers who are good to listen to (as much as you would like to have one of those)
• It’s not about beautiful buildings or comfortable seats (as thankful as we are for them)
The blessing and joy of this place is that it is filled with
People who share the common bond of the life of God.
And this life descended upon us.
“It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron’s beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion;”
God sent his down on us and this is what makes us one.
This is our unity.
When you look around this room
• You see people who have the same Spirit you have.
• You see people who have the same righteousness you have.
• You see people who received the same forgiveness you received.
This is our common bond,
And that is what makes corporate worship so wonderful.
• We are a family.
• We are the people of God.
• We share His life.
THE PRESENCE OF THE CONGREGATION
IS A GIFT FROM GOD THAT WE ENJOY!!!
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!”
And the emphasis is on that “dwell together” part.
• Thank God there are other believers that we can live with.
• Thank God there are other believers we can dwell with.
• Thank God we are not alone in this wicked world.
And you see why this song was added to this group of hymns.
You can see how this song leads you to anticipate worship.
All I know to say to such a marvelous truth is: GO TO CHURCH.
Maybe the music could be better…
Maybe the preaching could be better…
Maybe there’s things you don’t like…
Then walk in love…
Walk in forgiveness…
Pray for your music and your pastor…
But get away from the world and go dwell together
With other people who share your common life.
That is good and that is pleasant.
HAVING A CHURCH BODY IS A GIFT FROM GOD!!!
