Sermon series: A SUMMER IN THE PSALMS

Psalm 133
"Behold, 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 Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

An old story tells of a father who had a family of quarrelsome sons. One day he called his sons before him and, picking out the strongest of them, handed him a stick. "Snap it," he said. The son did so with a gesture of contempt. The father handed him two sticks. "Snap them," he said. Again the son did so. The old man gave him ever increasing numbers of sticks. "Snap them, he said--a bundle of four, five, six. Soon the young man was having to strain to snap the bundle of sticks, and finally, had to admit defeat.
"Unity is strength," the father cautioned his sons. "A house divided cannot stand. Anyone can overthrow you one by one. But stand together, in unity, and your united strength will give your enemies second thoughts!
The psalm that we are studying today is about TRUE UNITY, the UNITY of the Spirit, a unity that gives strength and on which God pours His blessing.
Our psalm moves us into the heart of the prayer that Jesus prayed just before going to the cross. Listen as He prays:
"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours. You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word...As you sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as WE are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that they world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." (John 17;6,18-23)
Jesus dies, leaving behind Him a new society standing out in marked contrast to the world. It is a society of believers, a people who belong to God, the property both of the Father and the Son. In this society, fashioned under the influence of His teaching and His example, the glory of Jesus will shine on through the ages, and the darkness will never destroy it.
But the Church, though outwardly in origin, is nevertheless in the world and subject to the world's evil influence; and the protective power of Jesus' physical presence is soon to be withdrawn. He prays therefore

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that the Holy Father, whose holiness separates Him from the world, will keep all who belong to Him holy and separate (v.ll). He prays too that by their love one for another they may reflect the unity of will and purpose that exists between the Father and Himself. While Jesus has been with them, the revelation of the holy Father given to them by the sinless Son has saved them from the corrosive and disintegrating power of evil. However much they may have failed, their failure has never been complete. There has been only one exception, Judas Iscariot who in fulfillment of Scripture was bound to perish (v. 12).
The society of the Church has been created by God for a specific purpose...it is to convey to the world the revelation imparted by Jesus, and to reflect the self-sacrificing love manifested by Jesus on the cross. "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16). The supreme joy of Jesus lay in His willingness to make that sacrifice, and in the assurance that by so doing He would win the decisive victory against the prince of evil. And He now prays that His disciples may experience the same joy when they proclaim the gospel after His departure (v.l3).
In answer to Jesus' prayers the disciples will become dedicated and consecrated men, the fellowship of Christian believers will increase as the work of evangelism goes forward. Jesus accordingly prays, in conclusion, that the unity which He has already prayed may be a reality among His original disciples, may also characterize all who will become believers through their ministry. (v. 20,21). This unity, like the love which produces it, is supernatural; it is fundamentally the same as the unity that exists between the Father and the Son. This is why the world, when it sees such unity will be led to recognize the divine mission of Jesus.
But the perfection of this unity will only be reached so long as the believers keep in touch with their exalted Lord and contemplate the glory which has been His from eternity.
Our psalm begins..."Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Behold! It’s a wonder seldom seen, therefore behold it! It may be seen, for it is the characteristic of real saints--therefore fail not to inspect it! It is well worthy of admiration, pause and gaze upon it! It will charm you into imitation, therefore note it well! God looks on with approval, therefore consider it with attention.
Unity...it is a sight worth seeing! It is what God covets for His people. It is what Satan dreads and what he works night and day to undo! It is that for which Jesus Himself prayed beneath the lengthening shadow of the cross. It is the one thing, God says, that will convince people that the church has something the world does not have. It is what the Holy Spirit came to achieve in His baptizing work. The unity God wants for His people is not deadly uniformity, not an imitation ecumenism; it is not a unity brought about by doctrinal compromise, political expediency, or organizational efficiency. (The church is not an organization but an organism; it's symbol for this age is a body, not a

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business.) The unity of the Spirit is not a unity brought about by some extrabiblical experience indulged at the expense of sound doctrine; the early church continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, as well as in fellowship.
Many earnest Christians in our time, deeply lamenting the divided state of the Church, and sincerely anxious to see the fulfillment of our Lord's desire that all His people should be one, are striving after unity of organization. Let us sink our differences, they would say, or at least throw some cloak over them. Let us find a formula upon which we can unite. And so, with the best intentions, it comes to pass that truth is subordinated to unity. It need hardly to be said that a union brought about by such means is not at all what Christ meant when He prayed that all His disciples might be one. It would be possible to have the whole of Christendom organized in one vast corporation and yet be as far off as ever from attaining Christian unity. On the contrary, such an institution would carry within itself evil seeds of variance and dissension which, though they might lie hidden for a while, would inevitably germinate and break forth in some fresh disruption. What our Lord prayed for was a spiritual unity, 'that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us.'
UNITY! How rare and exotic a plant it is on earth. Too often we see a world torn with strife and war, and, too often we see the Church, the Body of Christ, divided and at war with one another. The Church has always been challenged with internal strife! In the opening days of the Christian Church immediately following the Day of Pentecost, Luke, the historian, records the event of strife in the infant Church: "Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution." (Acts 6:1) As soon as we are introduced to the church at Corinth, we are told of internal problems of division: "Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you" (1 Cor. 1:10-11).
There are many exhortations to unity.
2 Corinthians 13:11
"Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you."
Ephesians 4:3
"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."
1 Peter 3:8
"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble."
Philippians 1:27
"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy

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of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel."
When there is one mind and one spirit, David, in our psalm tells us something of what it is like!
It is like the sacred oil poured out upon the head of the High Priest and consecrating him to his holy office. This image of the anointing oil was naturally more beautiful and expressive to Jewish than to modern minds.
Among the Psalmist's people anointing oil was in daily use to soothe and heal the body scorched with the sun and parched with dry winds. It was also the emblem of consecration. Messiah means God's Anointed One, and Christ is the Greek term of the same word. What the Psalmist, then, meant by the image of the holy oil poured out was that it seemed as if some soothing and sanctifying influence had been poured out upon his people so that old sores were healed and everywhere there was sweetness and grace.
The psalmist, himself an anointed man, dwells upon the manifestation of the ointment in the anointing of Aaron, Israel's first high priest. David has five things to say about that. First, that oil was poured on Aaron's head, which suggests the glory of his position. It speaks of Christ in His majesty, Christ the head of the church.
Then the ointment went down over Aaron's beard. That speaks of Christ in His manliness. He was a true man, the God-Man. There was a fragrance about Him. He was holy, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Yet at the same time He was loving, gracious, kind, forgiving and generous. All that manliness of His was anointed by the Holy Spirit so that everywhere He went it was seen and sensed.
The ointment ran down on Aaron's garments. That speaks of Christ and His ministry. Aaron's garments were the garments of a ministering priest. The Lord Jesus came "not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom of many" (Mark 10:45). He had a Calvary ministry, and He has a continuing ministry at God's right hand.
The ointment went down to the skirts of Aaron's garment. This speaks of Christ in His mercy. His grace reaches right down to the ground. He has a down-to-earth ministry—not just a remote, distant ministry in heaven, but a ministry that reaches down to where we are on earth.
He was made like unto His brethren. We can come to Him and find grace to help in time of need.
The ointment was poured on Aaron; it ran down Aaron's beard. That speaks of Christ in His members. Although Aaron was not Christ, during Christ's absence and during his own lifetime, Aaron represented Christ. He stood for Christ, he reminded people of Christ, he ministered as for Christ, on Christ's behalf. His was an anointed ministry. The fragrance of that wondrous ointment clung to Him. That is what people sensed when they came into his presence; they sensed something of the fragrance that belongs to Christ alone. And so it is with us today. We are Christ's representatives on earth, here to carry with us something of the loveliness that belongs to Him, the Head of the Body of which we are members.

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As that anointing of oil on the High Priest filled the sanctuary with a beautiful fragrance, and as the Anointed Christ lived and ministered amongst men and women, transforming their lives and hearts, so the Psalmist is comparing that transforming fragrance to the unity and its effect upon all in the Body of Christ and in our world.
Our Psalmist uses another illustration in his discussion of the blessings of unity...he says it is like the dew of Mount Hermon falling on Mount Zion. Hermon was the highest mountain in Israel, located several miles north of Jerusalem. It was proverbial for the dew that fell on its lofty reaches. Here that dew is also said to fall on Zion, which is not very high. Like the preceding metaphor, dew comes from above and illustrates that unity is from God, but the chief paint of this image is that the dew is for little Zion as well as great Hermon. It is not the refreshing nature of the dew, nor its gentle, all-pervading influence, which is the prominent feature. That which renders it to the poet's eye so striking an image of brotherly concord, is the fact that it falls alike on both mountains!
When a country, a church, or even a family is at peace, it benefits not only the most prominent or most important persons but also everyone. All are blessed, especially the small, the unimportant, and the weak. Likewise, disharmony hurts everyone.
The blessing of unity flows from one person to another. The anointing of Aaron was a blessing from God for him, but he was the high priest, which meant that he in turn blessed others. When a person who is at peace with himself or herself, or a people who are united...they bring a blessing wherever they go! Unity is a foretaste of heaven.
But while we are still here on this earth, very frequently misunderstandings and hurtful actions between persons disturb and destroy unity. Jesus was very much aware of this possibility, so He gave us a procedure to follow in order to heal and mend relationships in the church.
"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:15-20).
Christians are called BRETHREN because they belong to the same redeemed family, having a common Father—God: and because they are united in the same feelings, objects and destiny.

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Our scriptures suggest that when a brother trespasses against you, that is, injures you in any way, by word or conduct, the matter must be cleared and made right.
How? "Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone." This was required under law. "You shall not go up and down as a dispenser of gossip and scandal among your people, nor shall you secure yourself by false testimony or by silence and endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart; but you shall surely rebuke your neighbor; lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take revenge or bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:16-18).
From the passage, we learn that it is very important we keep our heart pure from any grudge and this is done by immediately confronting the matter in a Godly way.
Seek an explanation of his or her conduct, and if they have done wrong, administer a friendly and brotherly reproof. AND PLEASE NOTICE! This action is done with only the other person involved. We do not go around sharing our feelings with others...we go immediately and seek to clear the matter in private! "GO AND TELL HIM HIS FAULT BETWEEN THEE AND HIM ALONE!"
Barnes Commentary gives the following explanation of this verse: We are to do this alone because: (1) That he may have an opportunity of explaining his conduct. In nine cases out of ten, where one supposes that he has been injured, a little friendly conversation would set the matter right and prevent difficulty. (2) That he may have an opportunity of acknowledging his offense or making reparation, if he has done wrong. Many would be glad of such an opportunity, and it is our duty to furnish it by calling on them. (3) That we may admonish them of their error if they have done an injury to the cause of religion. This should not be blazoned abroad. It can do no good--it does injury; it is what the enemies of religion wish. Christ is often wounded in the house of His friends; and religion, as well as an injured brother, often suffers by spreading such faults before the world."
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court.
But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice, enmity of heart, against him shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin; and whoever says, You cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot]! shall be liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire. So if when you are offering your gift at the altar you there remember that your brother has any grievance against you, leave your gift at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your gift" (Matthew 5:21-24 Amplified Bible).
The purpose in taking the action of going to the person who has offended us is to restore peace and unity.

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Jesus recognized that there will be situations in which it is impossible to come to an agreement or closure of a misunderstanding between two persons. So he continues his discussion by saying: "But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established."
If a private and personal meeting fails of its purpose, then we should take some wise person or persons with us.
Deuteronomy 19:15 has it: "One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth; at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established." That is the saying which Matthew has in mind. But in this case the taking of the witnesses is not meant to be a way of proving to a man that he has sinned. The taking of two or three wise people is meant to help the process of reconciliation. It may well be that it is me...and not the other person, who is in the wrong! A man often hates those whom he has injured most of all; and it may well be that nothing we can say can win back the other person. But to talk matters over with some wise and kindly and gracious people present is to create a new atmosphere in which there is at least a chance that we should see ourselves as the other sees us. The Rabbis had a wise saying, "Judge not alone, for none may judge alone save One (that is God)."
Jesus continues: "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church." If every other effort is nonproductive of unity and peace, then we must take our personal troubles to the Christian fellowship. Why? Because troubles are never settled by going to law, or by Christless argument. Legalism settles nothing; it merely produces further trouble. It is in an atmosphere of Christian prayer, Christian love and Christian fellowship that personal relationships may be righted.
Paul writes on this matter: "Does any of you dare, when he has a matter of complaint against another brother, to go to law before unrighteous men [men neither upright nor right with God, laying it before them] instead of before the saints (the people of God)? Do you not know that the saints (the believers) will [one day] judge and govern the world? And if the world [itself] is to be judged and ruled by you, are you unworthy and incompetent to try [such petty matters' of the smallest courts of justice? Do you not know also that we [Christians] are to judge the [very] angels and pronounce opinion between right and wrong [for them]" How much more then [as to] matters pertaining to this world and of this life only!
If then you do have such cases of everyday life to decide, why do you appoint [as judges to lay them before] those who [from the standpoint] of the church count for least and are without standing? I say this to move you to shame. Can it be that there really is not one man among you who [in action is governed by piety and integrity and] is wise and competent enough to decide [the private grievances, disputes, and quarrels] between members of the brotherhood. But brother goes to law against brother, and that before Gentile judges who are unbelievers [without faith or trust in the Gospel of Christ]? Why, the very fact of your having lawsuits with one another at all

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is a defect (a defeat, an evidence of positive moral loss for you). Why not rather let yourselves suffer wrong and be deprived of what is your due? Why not rather be cheated (defrauded and robbed)? But [instead it is you] yourselves who wrong and defraud, and that even your own brethren [by so treating them)! Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? (1 Cor. 6:1-9). Amplified Bible.
Christians have a sacred responsibility to settle their disputes in a Biblical way so that there may be unity in the Body of Christ! UNITY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR FEELINGS OR OUR RIGHTS!
There is one more section of verses that I would like for us to read before closing our lesson today. Proverbs 6:16—19 reads: (Amplified Bible) "These six things the Lord hates, indeed seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and HE WHO SOWS DISCORD AMONG HIS BRETHREN." God hates and considers one who causes discord and friction in the Body of Christ...an abomination!
Now this is a serious warning! Jesus Christ died for His Church and anyone who brings shame and hurt to the Body of Christ is showing contempt for that which is dearest to the heart of God! In the verse just preceding the one quoted from Proverbs 16, verse 15 reads: "Therefore upon him shall the crushing weight of calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken, and that without remedy."
During my fifty-plus years of ministry, I have observed the fruition of this verse. Persons I have known who were instrumental in bringing division and discord in the church have been severely punished by God! Their families have suffered, the children forsake their faith, sickness and trouble fill their pathway, regret and remorse disturb their minds day and night!
The Church, the Body of Christ, is sacred! Our constant effort should be to keep peace and unity foremost in our thoughts and actions. Over thirty years ago, a man came to me and shared his experience of joining a band of disgruntled members in a congregation. He was involved in splitting the church and killing the ministry of a very gracious and sincere pastor. His heart was filled with regret, but it was too late to mend and heal a broken and destroyed church family. Today, he is nearing the end of his journey on earth, but he is dying a broken man who has never been able to succeed at anything. He is a total failure and his wife and family have almost completely deserted him. He has no friends and his heart is void of feelings...he has died already! It is the price one pays when they injure and destroy the unity of a church, because when that is destroyed, the cause of Christ is deeply injured. When there is unity and peace, our scripture tells us...The Lord commands His blessing, even life for evermore!