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Let's return to the Psalms of
Ascent this evening. We've been making our way through
a series that will have taken us through the 15 Psalms of Ascent. And for any of you that are new
here this evening, we welcome you towards the end of our journey.
We've been making our way through these 15 Psalms that are found
there. Some have the title of Song of
Ascent or Song of Degrees. This is beginning back in Psalm
120. It'll take us all the way to Psalm 134. Of course, we're
in Psalm 133 this evening. This is an inspired little hymn
book of poetry that has been put together as the Pilgrim Psalms,
often would be sung as they would make their way three times a
year up to Jerusalem on the Passover in spring and the Pentecost in
early summer, the tabernacles in the fall. And we are now in
the penultimate Psalm, Psalm 133. It's a very short psalm. You can see it there, just three
verses long. It's a wonderful song. What's
interesting is that in both Psalm 133 and Psalm 134, the final
two of our Psalms of Ascent, they both begin with the same
word. Behold, it says. It's an important
word. It's a word that sets the tone
for these two psalms. It's like an exclamation point
at the beginning of the sentence. Grammatically, this is known
as the demonstrative principle. And its purpose is to express
both surprise and delight, and to summon immediate attention
to the listeners. In fact, older English speakers
might have said low instead of the word behold. In fact, the
1599 Geneva Bible, which was the Bible the pilgrims used when
they came over on the Mayflower, started Psalm 133 and Psalm 134
with the word lo. And the idea would be like a
town crier coming in and saying, lo, look, I've got exciting news
I want to share. And that is the design of this
first word. It is meant to arrest your attention before you ever
get even into the meat of the psalm. Pay attention. Lo, this
is exciting. This is worth focusing on. And in this case, The focus of
Psalm 133 is a focus on unity. Saying, pay attention, delight
yourself in unity. That's the focus of Psalm 133.
He says in verse 1, Behold, or lo, how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious
ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's
beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments, as the
dew of Mount Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains
of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. If you were asked, if you came
into this room and a newscaster was standing outside the auditorium
today, and they asked you as you came out, how do you feel
about being with other brothers and sisters in Christ? What would
your answer be? Maybe you would say, well, you
know, it's kind of like oil that gets poured and drips down your
beard. They'd be like, I'm not sure
I quite understand your logic there. And the interviewer, maybe
you could fill us out a little bit. And they said, well, it's
kind of like dew that kind of comes down from the mountain
and kind of gets down into the grass. That's what it's like
being around brothers and sisters. They'd be like, I am not following
what you're saying. Now, I want us to understand
this context in light of the historical context. And you're
not going to understand it unless you did. And if you just look
at it in a contemporary context, that illustration seems silly
because it wouldn't make sense. But you put yourself in the context
with which this psalm was written, and suddenly it comes to light.
But even as you consider what it's like, what do you feel about
being with brothers and sisters, that alone is an interesting
question. There's been an interesting transition in political rhetoric
in the 20th century, and scholars have actually traced this transition. When a politician was arguing
a case to his constituents in the 20th century, he would often
say something like, these policies are right, and we're going to
pursue them. But all across the political
board today, you are far more likely to hear, and again, scholars
have demonstrated this, a politician saying something like, I feel
good about these policies. There's an interesting transition
in our society. The feel good factor has almost
become paramount. And what is right has become
marginalized. And as a result, I think it's
easy for us as Christians to say, we're only interested in
doing that which is right. And there's an element of truth
to that, but actually the scripture teaches us something rather marvelous
and quite fascinating in this regard that may explain why it
is that humanity is clamoring to feel good and they can't find
it. And here's what scripture says.
When things are right, God's people do begin to feel certain
things in response to that. And the truth of the gospel transforms
all of who we are, including our emotions. And so when someone
says, it's time to go to church, let me ask you, how do you feel
about that? How do you feel about going to
be with brothers and sisters? That's the question in some way
that this psalm is intending to answer. Here is our pilgrim
who has been singing these psalms for some time. This is now the
second to last of these psalms. He has now, as we saw in the
earlier two, come all the way pretty much to Jerusalem. In
fact, he's likely been in Jerusalem now for most of the week. He
has been round and round the city several times. He has seen
some of the magnificent liturgy that was built into these three
festivals. And now it's almost time for
him to go home. It's time to pack up and head
back down the mountain. And as we come to this Psalm,
it really is time to go home, but here in Psalm 133, he is
just pausing to think about what an experience he has just had.
What a moment it's been like. And it's obvious that it's been
a glorious experience, but what does he mean when he says these
things? What was it like? How did he
feel? What really stood out to him about being gathered together
with brothers and sisters in the family of God? And as he
pauses for a moment to reflect on the magnificence of these
feasts, he immediately says, oh, lo, it was awesome to be
unified. Let me ask you, what should it
be like to be among God's people? And I like the brevity and sharp
focus we get from a simple three-verse psalm. The whole subject is given
in the final word of the first verse. Again, this is a psalm
all about true unity. And the structure of the psalm
is actually very simple. It divides into three parts with
each verse being a part of the whole. Verse one, how unity is
good for your soul. Verse two, how unity sanctifies
the entire body. And verse three, how it refreshes
the land. Now the demonstrative principle
that starts the psalm, behold or lo, gives it the flavor of
a great sigh of relief, or a great prayer of thanksgiving, a gentle
plea. And this is a subtle admonition
to the brethren, urging them to maintain what we so often
struggle to maintain. Because the interesting thing
is that Christian unity is a dangerous subject because it is ironically
one of the very things we are most divided over. The idea of
a functioning body of people biding at one another over little
issues is almost germane to the very topic of church. We think
that's just how church is supposed to be. But that is not at all
what the Bible seems to indicate. The Bible seems to indicate that
there is this wash of relief. You actually can almost feel
the psalmist stepping away from the clamor and the division of
his world and getting into the unity of being with brothers
and sisters. And he says, behold, just low. Wow. What a wash of
a difference it is from being around fighting people to being
around people that are unified. What a blessing. And so I ask
you again, the question of the hour, how do you feel about being
around brothers and sisters? When you come into the body of
believers, is it like you're separating yourself away from
divisions and fightings and you come into church and it's just
like, wow, this is great. The psalm is presenting the positive
side of these spiritual principles. It's saying it is good and pleasant
for the people of God to dwell together in unity. And what we're
going to see is that God himself places a high value on this.
And I trust that every one of you has a sense of how good and
pleasant it is to gather together with brothers and sisters. It
is a blessing. A truly godly church should be
characterized by a unity where the people of God delight to
hear the Word of God taught, to sing hymns together, to worship
together. But to not have this is actually
to be a cause of great alarm. It should actually scare you
to your core if you can come to church and not have this attitude. There's something wrong there.
Is it good to be at church? Is it pleasant to be here? Is
it life giving? Now let's look at the three parts
of this Psalm as we consider the question of unity even in
our midst. And we see in verse one that
true unity is well pleasing. Let's talk about why unity is
such a virtue as well as what genuine unity looks like. Because
there can be union without unity, right? As the old preacher says,
tie two cats together by their tails and throw them over a clothesline
and you have union without unity, right? There is possibility there.
Now people today, I think have a totally skewed idea of what
unity means and what it's supposed to achieve. There's a true unity,
and that's what this psalm will celebrate. And there's a false
unity that's an artificial brand that is harmful and even hurtful. And that's what this psalm first
seeks to break down for us. If we're going to have unity,
we want to pursue the real thing. And true unity will be well-pleasing,
he says in verse one, both to God and to man. And false unity
then, by extension, will be displeasing both to God and to man. And so
as we parse out these verses, we want to parse out the well-pleasing,
true unity of God for God's people. And notice the two adjectives
of verse one. How good and how pleasant is
this unity? And that's an important descriptor. You ever notice that lots of
things that are good are not pleasant? Or lots of things that
are pleasant are not good? But unity is both good and pleasant,
and therefore it is the finest of all the virtues, and it is
well-pleasing, because it is first a reflection of God himself. True worship is a reflection
of God. Unity is embodied in the very
nature of the Godhead. We just sung about that. God
is a unified being, three in one. And he says, behold how
good, Nothing is good outside of God. And that's why we put
so much emphasis on the necessity of sound and accurate teaching. Unity is good because it reflects
the true character of God. It's virtuous and honorable. It's an expression of righteousness. But there are those who think
what we need is basically just a group hug with everyone who
claims to be a Christian, regardless of what they teach. And that
is a recipe for error and ultimately division. It is not a pathway
to unity. There's a notion that goes something
like this. Truth and doctrine are obstacles
for unity. Don't just sit around and talk
about doctrine. Let's just sit around and talk
about what we have in common. As if you could have unity among
people who don't agree with you on things. But lots of people
think precisely that way. They believe we might as well
be able to get along if only we would refuse to make truth
an issue. But that's not unity. In fact,
that's confusion. And it's also not humility, it's
actually arrogance. Because truth is settled from
God. God alone is truth. We are not
to sit around and debate truth, we cling to truth as God defined
it for us. And if you can't agree on truth,
you can't agree. And yet we are told to just accept
all lies as truth, all heresies as doctrine, and all false teachings
as proper revelation. And that's not good. In fact,
1 Corinthians 14 verse 13 says God is not the author of confusion. God is the author of peace. I found it interesting, Charles
Spurgeon's sermon on Psalm 133, and he said this quote, to remain
divided is sinful. Did not our Lord pray that they
may be one, even as we are one? In John 17, 22. And yea, a chorus
of ecumenical voices keep harping the unity tune. This is Spurgeon
speaking in the 1800s. He says, what they are saying
is, Christians of all doctrinal shades and beliefs must come
together in one visible organization regardless. You must unite. And such teaching is false, reckless,
and dangerous. Truth alone must determine our
alignments. Truth comes before unity. Unity without truth is hazardous. Our Lord's prayer in John 17
must be read in its fullest context. Spurgeon continues, look at verse
17. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And only those
sanctified through the word can be one in Christ. To teach otherwise
is to betray the gospel." End quote. He might as well have
been preaching in 2023. But real unity is not only about
being of one opinion. As Christians, we are driven
by one affection. our love for Christ. We share
one loyalty to the Lordship of Christ, and we have one duty,
love for God and love for our neighbors. Truth unifies. Unity without truth is not unity. But it is well pleasing when
it is divided, or when it is fully founded, rather, on God,
and it is also refreshing to God's people. More than that,
unity is described not only as good, but as pleasant. And there are two obvious facets
to this. It is pleasant to God. He takes
pleasure in it. He delights in it. And it is
pleasant to those who experience it. It is truly pleasant and
joyous, an exhilarating thing to dwell in unity with other
people. And this is perhaps the easiest,
most immediate path to tranquility on earth, and peace is the path
through which we have unity. Sad to say, though, there are
many who seem to have a perverse need for strife. There are the
kind of people who are always needing counsel because of a
new strife with someone in their life, be it at work or more often
with family. And unfortunately, there are
often the same people who are resistant to the counsel they've
heard time and time again. And I think some people are so
addicted to conflict that they simply cannot abstain from picking
fights. They just don't understand that
there is a peace only found here. But this is a sin. It creates
its own pointful and painful consequence. Unity is pleasant. Then by definition, living disunified
is unpleasant. In fact, the scripture bears
this out in Proverbs many times, but to give you some samplings.
In Proverbs 21, verse nine, it says, it is better to dwell in
the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide
house. I think you'd get his point.
In Proverbs 15, or 25 verse 24, Solomon actually repeats 21 verse
nine verbatim. So I gather Solomon must have
felt strongly about this, or at the very least he had a specific
ax to grind, but he repeats it twice. But he doesn't just talk
about bickering wives. Here's what he says in Proverbs
17 verse one. Better is a dry morsel and quietness
therewith than a house full of sacrifices with strife. Bottom
line, a lack of unity makes everything in the house unpleasant. You
don't even want to be there. But here's the pleasant point.
True unity is well-pleasing. It is pleasing for the heart.
It is good for the soul. In a family, it makes the household
pleasant. In a nation, it fosters prosperity. In the church, it pleases God.
It honors Christ. It cultivates joy. It stimulates
love. It is good and pleasant in every
conceivable way. It is well-pleasing. That's the
whole point of verse one. That is true unity. When things are right, God's
people do begin to feel certain things. It is well pleasing. But verse two, true unity is
also sweet smelling. Now the imagery of verse two
is vivid, but bear in mind the subject is still unity. And I
know Mike Schrock already preached a message on do you look good?
So now my point is, do you smell good? All right, you've got look
good, smell good here. And the imagery of the psalmist
now uses hearkens our attention back to the Old Testament practice
of anointing the high priest. Read with me at verse two. As
he hearkens back to the practice of anointing the high priest,
he says, unity is like this. It is like the precious ointment
upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard,
that went down to the skirts of his garments. And what I want
you to understand is if you're reading a different translation,
it might speak of oil running down to the hem of his garment,
or you might read that oil ran down to the collar of his robes. The Hebrew expression means going
down to the mouth of the garment. And the Hemer expression refers
to going down to an opening in the garment. In fact, the same
Hebrew word was used to speak of both the lower and upper openings
of a garment. So the text isn't really specific
if it's talking about a collar or a hem. Some commentators say
this is a reference to the lowest hem of the garment, and literally
the oil in that picture would have saturated the entire man. It would have gone from his head
all the way down to his feet just about. Other commentators
say no, this is not speaking of it going all the way down.
This is only talking about the collar, because the idea of a
priest literally drenched from head to toe in oil is not a pleasing
mental picture. In fact, John Gill says, for
example, that it wouldn't have been decent to have his clothes
greased from top to bottom. The fact is that the outer garment
of the priest's outfit was a sleeveless smock that was called an ephod. And the high priest would wear
the ephod. And you read about how the ephod
was made in Exodus chapter 28. In Exodus chapter 28, it would
say in verse 31, this is the instruction on how to make this
ephod that the high priests would wear. Thou shalt make the robe
of the ephod all of blue, and there shall be a hole in the
top of it, and the midst thereof, and it shall have a binding of
woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of
a habergeon, that it be not rent. So in other words, there was
a band of woven cloth encircling the opening of the neck. And
in one class of commentators, they'd say, that's why the oil
flows from his head to his collar, not down to the hem of his garments. It is flowing to his collar because
we know if he was wearing the ephod, he would have had that
there. Now, I don't know if it's vitally important how far down
the oil went. But I did find that study interesting,
and so now I just did it with you. But the point is, collar
or skirt, either way, this is a picture of the oil copiously
flowing down from the heights to the depths. And it is being
diffused over a long distance. And it comes from above, and
it saturates that which is below. And that's the picture. That's
how unity works. It comes from above, and it saturates
that which is below. A disjointed church can suddenly
be unified by abundantly flowing grace that comes only from God. A fighting couple can suddenly
come together when grace is poured out from above onto their marriage
below. A discontented workforce can
work in tandem only when God pours out unity. And the point
is, you can't make this You can't foster this. Unity comes only
when you allow yourself to be poured out from above down below. God is the source of true unity. And secondly, this scent fosters
an air of reverence. And what is described in verse
two is really something that is not normally done. Priests,
just regular priests, would routinely be anointed, but when they were
anointed, they were anointed only with a sprinkling. But when
a high priest was anointed, He was anointed with a pouring of
the oil. And this verse specifically mentions
Aaron and the oil being poured out on Aaron. And this is a reference
to the first tabernacle inauguration where Aaron was anointed. And we read about that taking
place in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus 18, verse 12, it
says, and he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head and anointed
him to sanctify him. And this clearly implies that
there was a large amount of this special fragrant oil used. Now this precious ointment we
read about in verse one in our psalm refers to something very
specific and very unique. This is not just going into the
cabinet and picking up your, you know, vegetable oil and using
it, if you will. This is a very unique And it's
an anointment oil that was prepared for the tempernacle and set aside
only to anoint priest and sacrificial offerings. And this oil was made
from a God-given recipe. And the recipe was not to be
used for any other purpose. And by the way, it's not a secret
recipe. It's actually described in full
in Exodus 30, verses 22 through 25. We know exactly the kind
of oil. So you can even read those verses
and maybe try to see what it smelled like at home this week.
And the passage describes a recipe for a very aromic oil. And the passage describes a lot
of this oil. In fact, it's about a gallon
and a half of this oil. That's how much they're gonna
make. And it was unique and holy, but most important were the instructions. It was such an important symbol
of holiness that anything that touched it, among the things
it was not meant to be touched, were thereby deemed holy. If
the oil touched it, it was holy. And anything it touched illegitimately,
if it wasn't supposed to touch that, if it flowed down and hit
the water bottle below and it wasn't supposed to hit that,
that thing that it touched was now supposed to be destroyed.
So it was only supposed to be used to anoint that which was
supposed to be holy. And the oil belonged to the Lord
and was set apart for one purpose and that one purpose always and
only was to sanctify instruments for worship and men for that
worship. So when our psalm compares unity
to oil running down through Aaron's beard and down into his clothes,
the message is very obvious when you understand the context. Here's
the message. Unity is actually a sanctifying
element. The church, the body of Christ,
is sanctified by our unity in a way that even exceeds the mere
symbolism of Aaron's oil. Many will say, man, how is it
that you could grow closer to God? Well, I'll tell you one
way you can't. You cannot grow closer to God
and have odds with someone else. You can't do that. But I'll tell
you one way you can. You can grow closer to God when
you work in tandem with someone else. Praise the Lord, you were
not saved into a lone ranger salvation walk. God did not intend
that for you. And God says this unity actually
has a sanctifying element to it. It flows from the heights
to the depths. It fosters an air of reverence. You understand now why it is
that we come to passages like 1 Corinthians and we read of
Paul's instructions on the communion and Lord's table, and Paul gives
them with such precise nature that he says, be careful when
you come to this moment to celebrate the Lord's Supper. Be careful,
some come unworthily. Why is he putting it so strong? Why does he say if you have aught
with someone, leave your gift at the altar and go and make
it right. Here's why he says it. You can't
walk in close relationship with God and have odds with another
brother and sister in Christ. It is impossible to do. But when
you have true unity, there is a sanctifying element to it. You will find yourself growing
closer to God in true and holy reverence. And that's what verse
two is all about. A special sanctifying influence
of brotherly unity. So again, verse one is all about
unity as good for the soul, and verse two is all about unity
being good for the body. But what about verse three? And
verse 3 says, true unity is life giving. Verse 3 pictures the
dew of Mount Hermon flowing down upon the mountains of Zion. If you have one of those Bibles
with maps in the back, you may want to look there. Otherwise,
I'll put it on the screen because you might be a little confused.
Say, Mount Hermon was the highest and northernmost point in all
of Israel. Those who know these things say
it stands about 9,000 feet tall. In fact, the peak stands over
9,000 feet above sea level compared to the shorter mountain, Mount
Zion. And Mount Zion was the furthest south, which is less
than 3,000 feet above sea level. So you have a high point, and
then you have a low point, and Mount Zion was not known for
its moisture. There is heavy dew that comes
upon it, but it is not known, and Mount Zion was known for
being dry region. It's the area surrounding Jerusalem,
but Mount Hermon was known for its moisture, its dew that would
come up, and it would be lush, and it would be green, and it
would be a lot of agriculture there. And now the psalmist says,
as the dew of Mount Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon
the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded blessing,
even life forevermore. And this statement seems a little
bit hard to unravel, because Mount Hermon and Mount Zion are
120 miles north as the crow flies, nowhere close to Zion. And given
the geography of the region, There is no way for the dew of
Hermon to literally run downhill and end up in Mount Zion. It
would actually have to go thousands of feet downhill, thousands of
feet back uphill, and then come into Zion. And for this reason,
there are many skeptics of the Bible who will cite this passage
as an example of an egregious geographical error. And they'll
say, clearly, God didn't know what he was talking about when
he wrote the Bible, because if he did, he wouldn't have given
this analogy. That's impossible. Now, what do we do with that?
I know I just opened up a huge can of worms to some of you.
The solution is actually really quite simple. It's right there
in the title of this book that we are reading. This is a psalm,
which makes it poetry. And what is the psalm doing here?
What is he describing? Well, the psalmist is describing
a hypothetical scenario where heavy dew gathers on Zion and
runs down. And Zion doesn't generally get
that kind of dew, but the psalmist is comparing brotherly unity
to what it would look like if the dew that they got on Mount
Hermon ever was on Zion. In fact, you could translate
the Hebrew more stringently this way. It's as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion. That's what it would look like.
And it would refresh the land by watering and enlivening what
is normally barren ground around Jerusalem, causing the whole
land to be refreshed and invigorated. And there's a similarity between
verse 3 and the illustration in verse 2. Both verses picture
unity flowing down, diffusing, and dispersing blessings. In
verse two, it's the blessing of holiness and the sweet-smelling
fragrance. And verse three is the blessing
of refreshment and life-giving hydration. Perhaps some of you
know what it's like to live in a more desert region of the world
or the country. And you're just kind of waiting
for that rain to come. And man, when it comes, it's
like all of those plants just liven up. They just stand right
up, and they're there. I was amazed when we were in
Florida, we had a fellow that worked in kind of the agricultural
world and some of the state parks. Florida is not at all like California
in the sense that they do do controlled burns. And they do
it in an effort to actually help the environment grow. And he
let me come one time to one of his controlled burns after it
was already done. And you see just everything just
kind of burned off. And then he said, now wait just
like a week or two. That's all it would take. and
wait for that rain to come. And when that rain come, you
come back, he showed me pictures of it, and you couldn't even
tell there'd been a fire there before. I mean, it was just,
it was just, it was all back. That's the picture here. What
if a dry place got tons of water? What would happen? Well, it would
be like unity. Psalmist is saying, that's what
unity in the brethren looks like. You ever been to a church that's
just so dried up? There's no life left. There's
no excitement in the song service. There's no encouragement from
the message. There's nothing going on. I mean, it is like
dead in the water. There is nothing happening. And
you say, man, churches ought not be like that. How can we
bring life back to this church? I'll tell you how, unity. But as I tell you how, I also
tell you why many churches are lifeless and dead. Disunity. Romans 15 verse 19 says, let
us therefore follow after the things which make for peace,
and the things wherewith we may edify one another. First Peter
three verse eight says, finally, be ye all of one mind, having
compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. That's the same message of our
song. Let me ask you, how do you feel about going to be with
brothers and sisters in Christ? Ever since the fall in Genesis
3, conflict seems to come naturally to us. And it's not getting better,
is it? It's not as though we can just
snap our fingers and all of a sudden there's no more animosity, belligerence,
or violence. It's all gone. The church, by
the way, has not been spared from this contention. In fact,
the church is often the home for most people's contention.
And the people we encounter as brothers and sisters in Christ,
sad to say, are not always nice people. Christians don't stop
being sinners the moment they believed in Christ. They don't
suddenly metamorphosize into brilliant conversationalists
who are always exciting to be around either. So what do we
do? J.R. Packer was right when he
said, fellowship is not always a means of grace and a gift of
grace, but most often it's a test of grace. Whether it's over milk,
or a personal grievance, or social issues, or just because of the
way we live, it's rare for churches to experience this kind of unity.
That's how Psalm 133 offers a better way. Behold, lo! A sigh of relief in the midst
of all this fighting. Behold how good and how pleasant
it is when brethren dwell together in unity. You were made for this. It was what Jesus died to create. In Ephesians, Paul describes
the salvation that God has given us through Jesus for three glorious
chapters. And then he begins to explain
what he means. After three chapters of riveting
conversation on the grace of God, he says, now what does that
mean? And he starts with unity. That's where he begins. 1 John
would say, by this will you know that you are my disciples, if
you love one another. When things are right, God's
people do begin to feel certain things. It was what you were
designed and wired to be. During World War II, a man named
Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived in Germany with 25 vicars. Hitler
and the Third Reich crushed everyone in their way, and this small
community lived in this destructive environment. And you would think
that in such a dangerous environment, the last thing you'd be worried
about is something like community. You would more think you'd be
worried about just staying alive. But it was there, in the midst
of all that unbelievable fighting, Bonhoeffer wrote his classic
work called Life Together. And he begins his work that he
wrote during the middle of World War II, he begins his work by
citing Psalm 133, verse 1. And in the middle of this polarizing
and hostile environment, he wrote about the beauty and the necessity
of Christians living together in community. And he writes about
the gift of community, and one that we only have if we have
fellowship with Jesus. And he invites us to enter into
that community. I want to close with what he
said in his work as we close our message. Here's what he said.
Let him, who until now has the privilege of living a common
Christian life with other Christians, praise God's grace from the bottom
of his heart. Let him thank God on his knees
and declare it is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed
to live in community with Christian brethren. Let's pray. Lord, we
thank you so much for your word and for the beauty and majesty,
goodness, and pleasantness of true unity. Lord, may we run
to it. May we run away from all those
things that would push us away from brothers and sisters in
Christ. May we run away from those things that would cause
our families to be divided, husbands and wives at each other's throats. parents and children no longer
on speaking terms, and brothers and sisters in Christ in the
church no longer able to speak even in the foyers and the atriums
because they are at odds. Lord, if we would ever find life-giving
wondrous joy and peace, it will only be found through true unity.
Lord, in a moment we're going to set aside what I pray will
be a sanctifying time of invitation. Lord, my prayer is even now,
before we take this invitation time, that there would be a seriousness
and sobriety that you would bring into this room, and an understanding,
Lord, that this is what you desire. You desire unity. And if there
are any in this room that would be courageous enough to say,
Lord, I'm the problem, would they use this time now to make
that problem right? Would they be unified? And may
that in itself bring life to our congregation. With every
head bowed and every eye closed, the instruments are going to
begin to play. I trust you will take this as a serious time.
Begin to examine your own heart. If there's something you need
to do and make right before the Lord, our aisleways are open. You can certainly come forward.
You can also go to any door and someone will be there and find
you and speak with you, counsel you. We want unity because God
wants unity. If you find yourself in disunity,
would you use this time to talk to God? Lord, we thank you for the pages
of your word and for the continuation of our journey through the Psalms
of ascent. Lord, how good it is, how pleasant it is to have
unity. We thank you Lord that we can
maybe even after this service celebrate some of that unity
in our atrium as we discuss with brothers and sisters in Christ
who care about each other what it means to walk in your word.
Pray that this has been a blessing to many as they continue to study
these passages. Bring us back together even in
the midweek service as we continue through the book of
True Unity
Series Songs for the Journey (Psalms)
| Sermon ID | 8212310345797 |
| Duration | 43:01 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Psalm 133 |
| Language | English |
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