Sermon
Unity in the Church -- Psalm 133
June 22, 2003
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles, as well as your notes that you have there, and our subject in our series from the Psalms is the subject of unity, and we have chosen a very, very short Psalm for our study today - 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."

It's a tremendous subject. A very practical subject, but an exceedingly important one, and that is, unity in the body of Christ. Possibly the thought that comes to your mind as it did to mine as I approached this subject was the prayer that Jesus prayed. And it's recorded for us in John 17. Here's a prayer that Christ prayed just before going to the cross. And after His opening thoughts we come to first 20, and notice what He prays, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word." That's us. "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."

The prayer of Christ before going to the cross was a prayer for unity. And this is what His prayer is: Father, may be so that the unity that we share together in thought and purpose and in goal be the unity that is expressed by the body of believers, by the church that I will leave behind. Because He has already said, Father, I am coming to You and I am praying for these. And His prayer was: dear Father, may the unity that We enjoy be a unity that's displayed within the fellowship of the body of believers.

Then He goes on to pray, "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are." That to me has always been a challenging verse. What Jesus simply is saying is that glory that produced such a marvelous obedient relationship between Father and Son is the glory that I want the church to demonstrate, and as the church worships together, as it fellowships together, as it prays together, as it laughs together, as it cries together, may that unity be such a glorious thing that it becomes a magnetic force to those who are outside the body of believers.

Then He continues, "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." Here's His prayer, Father, this unity is so important because it's in the demonstration of that unity and peace and love that will flow between them, that will prove to the world that My divine mission was a mission sent to save mankind, and to take human beings so diverse and so different and to melt them, their hearts and their lives together so that there is a sense of oneness, fellowship, appreciation and understanding. Father, I pray that My mission shall not have been in vain, that through the demonstration of unity and love from the church may the world know 'why I came' was fulfilled in the church.

There's nothing more beautiful than a church in unity, a church with love and understanding, realizing that all of us are diverse and we are different and we have different personalities, but within the body of Christ blending our differences and melting our hearts together, not always maybe in perfect agreement, but in perfect love realizing that it's not my opinion or my particular feelings that are most important, it's the sense of unity and love and understanding and forgiveness and peace that pervades the body of Christ. That's what's important. Jesus said, Father, all the world will know that my mission was accomplished if the church lives in unity, and if it doesn't.

I've always said, folks, that a church that suffers from disharmony and disunity is a tragedy. It is a tragedy for the cause of Christ. And I don't mean to be dramatic, but I mean to be very purposeful in this statement: I have the deep conviction that churches that go on and struggle with strife and dissension and disharmony year after year, it would be better that that church be burned down and its existence become nonexistent; because a striving, fighting, bickering body, they call themselves Christians, is a terrible testimony for the cause of Jesus Christ in a community.

Jesus said, My prayer is, Father, may there be such a beautiful unity and a blending of lives and purposes and goals and talents to together, that the message of the cross becomes vibrantly alive in the world.

Now we come to that psalm that we have just read as our text, he said, how pleasant and how good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. And then he uses two illustrations he says, like the anointing oil, the oil that flowed over Aaron's head, he was the high priest, and down his beard and down through his garments and all the way to his feet. He said, like that fragrant oil that flowed which was the fragrance of anointing such is the unity I pray will be in the body of believers.

Now here's what he had in mind: when Aaron the high priest was consecrated for service they poured over his head this marvelous fragrant oil, anointing oil, and it flowed over his head and down through his beard and over his clothes and clear down to his feet. When he walked out into the congregation his fragrance was witnessed by all. They knew that the priest was present by his fragrance. You know, it's my prayer every week as we come together I say, Lord Jesus, my prayer is that Your presence, the awesome wonder of Your glory, the fragrance of Your love be so witnessed it our gathering together. I'm not concerned if people are impressed with the building or the sermon, what I want them to be impressed with, Lord Jesus, is a sense of Your presence, the fragrance of Your love being manifested in our worship service. And I thank God that prayer is answered week after week. I have folks that come to me and say, pastor it's my first, or second, or third occasion to come to your church: I want you to know that when I walked through the doors I sensed the presence of Christ.

That's what I pray for; that the fragrance of the great high priest Jesus Christ amongst us will be witnessed because of the unity that is within us. And not only the fragrance of the high priest, but may there be such a fragrance in the sense of our own lives and peace with ourselves and peace with one another that we bring to the body of Christ this sense of fragrance of Christ. You know what I mean. When there are people in tension between others you can feel it. You can feel tension. I sense that on occasion between persons. And sometimes when I'm called into a home for counsel the first thing I meet is I'm face to face with that tension between two personalities in conflict. You can feel tension.

And you can also feel love. You can sense unity, and when you walk into a church you know if the fragrance of Christ is radiating throughout that congregation. So here's what our poet is saying in the psalm: As Aaron bore the scent and the fragrance of that anointing that flowed over his body, over his beard and down his face, as he walked amongst the congregation that fragrance made them to know that the high priest was amongst them.

Then he goes on to say something else, he said, as the dew of Hermon, and the dew on the mountains of Zion. What's he talking about? Well, when you look at your map of Palestine it's a long narrow piece of real estate and clear up here to the North East, almost directly across from Beirut, are the mountains of Hermon. They're very high mountains for that part of the world, and as the winds blow across the Mediterranean Sea and up over Lebanon and down over Mount Hermon, it always leaves this beautiful dew. It's much like living here in San Bruno as the fog blows in, and the dew, the liquid dew, is all over.

But, also in that part of Palestine there were the low mountains of Zion, the insignificant mountains, and what the poet sees is this: as the dew not only floods the mountaintops of Hermon, the dew floods the mountaintops of Zion. What he is saying is everybody is blessed when there is unity, the significant and the insignificant, the large and small. All benefit from unity and they hurt when there's disunity.

Let me illustrate. You take a family and if dad and mom are fighting the kids hurt, and they pick up that sense of disunity and that sense of conflict and it marks their little personalities. I stand in the doorway sometimes morning after morning and I watch hundreds of children come in through those doors, and I can tell you the homes that some of them come from, homes that are filled with controversy and conflict. It reflects in those little children. And those who come from happy homes where there's been joy around the breakfast table and joy in the car, those kids are marked by that sense. They are blessed by the unity of dad and mom in the home. You know that to be true.

That's his thought. As the dew settles not on only the significant mountains, but on the little mountains; the blessings that flow from unity are a benefit to all, and it's true in the body of Christ. Those who have walked many years and matured in their faith they enjoy maturity, but the young ones who come along and they are new in their faith, they walk in amongst us and they share fellowship. And many of you are here today, and you benefit from the sense of unity and peace and understanding and blessing in the body of Christ.

Some of you have come from churches where there has been strife and bickering and fighting and as the result you hurt. It's interesting; I wrestle with this almost weekly. Last night in our Saturday evening service a family came in and they were here early. I went back to them and I talked to them, and when they opened up their heart, they had just come to find some peace because they had left a church filled with strife and they were hurting. And I thought to myself, dear God, if only we could realize how precious unity is and how terrible disunity and disharmony are because it affects everybody.

Now ladies and gentlemen, if you're a guest with us today, I want you to know I'm not preaching this sermon because I have to -- not to correct a problem. I've been the pastor for 44 years here, and I can honestly tell you for 44 years we've never had a major nor a minor disruption. God has blessed us with a sense of unity, understanding and joy that is absolutely phenomenal. That doesn't mean we all agree with each other. We're human beings and I make my mistakes and you make yours, but we are mature enough and grown up enough spiritually that we can handle those differences in love and respect. And so I stand here today and I tell you ours is a church blessed with a magnificently high degree of unity, and I tell you I thank God for that. I am a pastor uniquely blessed to have a congregation that shares the same desire I have to have unity and love and understanding always amongst us. But, it's not always like that.

Now what I'd like for you to do is take your notes and go with me to page 5. And what I did is went through the Scriptures and I found some portion of Scriptures that deal with this whole issue of unity and conflict. Down about two-thirds of the column this is what we say: But while we are still here on this earth, very frequently misunderstandings and hurtful actions between persons disturb and destroy unity. Now remember, Jesus prayed, Father, I want them to be one. I want unity to flow in the body of believers. But Jesus is practical enough to know that the church is made up of human beings just like you and me. He knows that. And there's always the potential of misunderstanding and conflict of personality. It's always amongst us. Just to get saved doesn't perfect your character, your personality. We still carry with us our opinions, and our feelings, and our prejudice.

So what does He say. He's going to give us a method or a procedure to bring about healing and mending within relationships. So He starts and He says, "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."

Now notice He opens the dissertation with the word brother, and so Christians are called brothers or sisters because they belong to the same redeemed family having a common Father and that's God. And because our thoughts, our feelings, our objects, our destinies are the same -- we're all headed for heaven.

I'm at the top of page 6. So 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. Now let's stop there. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that the greatest thing about this matter of correcting misunderstanding is timing. It's important that we resolve the matter as quickly as possible. That's why Paul said let not the sun go down upon your wrath. In other words, before the night descends you solve and you correct the relationship.

Now there're a couple sitting here, Vernita and I have been married for 48 years, but I'll tell you we've had some very difficult disagreements. Sometimes we have to talked all night long before we resolve the disagreement. But if couples would solve their problems before they lay their head on that pillow, there never would be a divorce. The Scripture says, when there are misunderstandings, and there will be, solve them immediately.

In our church I think that's been one of the reasons why we've enjoyed such a high degree of unity. It's because moving amongst our congregation are a lovely group of elders and people who are mature, and when they sense something needs to be corrected--a misunderstanding, they'll come to me immediately. And I will immediately get on that phone; whatever it takes. I've been here till 3:00 Monday morning at times correcting misunderstandings. We struggle and we strive always seeking to keep peace. It's something we all have to work at.

Now what Jesus says here is you go tell him his fault, to him alone. Look at what the book of Leviticus says, 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."

Now you'll notice He says, go to him alone. One of the things that creates great problems in a church is a person gets injured and they go out telling a dozen people. I mean they just spread their gossip all over. 'This is what she did'; 'this is what he said to me', and that is unchristian. The Bible is very clear. When we have felt that we have been offended we keep that matter to ourselves and the person that we're dealing with and we go to them alone. We don't disperse that gossip all over the place. We don't do it. It's not biblical and it's hurtful. You go to them alone.

Now I'm at the top of page 7. 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. It's not always easy sometimes to correct something when I go to that person and we just cannot get our thoughts together, and so what is the next thing I do? As a person concerned for reconciliation, I go out and I get two or three other people. Now I get them to bring along, not to prove that I am right and they are wrong. That's not reconciliation. I get those persons and I take John and I take Harold and Kiki and we all go together, because maybe with two or three different opinions maybe it might be that I'm wrong, and I'm the one who needs to seek forgiveness. And that happened a few months ago when I was taking an issue on something, and thank God for my eldership. One of the elders came and he said, Pastor, if you'll just sit down I'd like to share something with you. Look at it this way. And when he finished I said, I'm wrong. I'm going to correct this immediately.

The purpose of witnesses is not to confirm your opinion or your position, it's to have people who will be honest with you and lovingly say, look at, this is the way I see it and I think this whole matter can be resolved if we do it this way. That's the benefit to have many counselors. So Jesus said, if you can't resolve it on a one to one, then get some folks together, a small group. You always keep the problem as contained as possible. And I'll tell you, usually when it goes that far you've usually corrected 98% of your problem. You really have. If you're open and you want reconciliation, you want understanding, that's your prayer, that's your desire and you're honest enough to say, I'm the one that's wrong and I want forgiveness.

Now Jesus went a step further. He said if it can't be done with a group then what you do is you take it to the church. Now caution -- He didn't mean the whole body of believers.

What happened, some years ago a pastor down in San Jose, and I knew him well, he had a problem; he had adultery taking place within the leadership of the church. And in order to resolve that he called 300 members of his church together to make the accusations for the guilty party. And the guilty party brought along his attorneys, wrote up a lawsuit and it cost the church $750,000 to get out for liable. That's foolishness. It should never have been done

When it says the church, it means those that are in charge of the leadership of the body of believers. That's why our church has been blessed with a great number of elders, and we gather together, we pray together, we think together. How can this matter be resolved and we can march on in our Christian unity and love. And I'll tell you folks it's very, very seldom that a matter ever goes to the eldership. But we have these godly men who serve with a purpose of keeping love and unity in the body of Christ. It's beautiful in our church. That's why we've enjoyed 44 years of unity.

So Jesus said, I really want you to be at peace with each other, but I know you're human beings and I know you'll have misunderstandings, so here's the way to correct it -- one-on-one. If you can't resolve it, two or three others that are spiritual people that will help me bring reconciliation. If that can't be, then it comes to the eldership of the church. So there is a resolution. And I'll tell you folks, it works. I stand here as a witness after pastoring a church for 44 years, and say I've had the most happy -- not always everybody agreeing with each other, that's not important whether I am right or wrong, it's the fact that we have a purpose in mind and that's to enjoy each other as a family of believers and demonstrate to our community the love of Jesus Christ. That's what our desire is, and when that ties us together we're going to be a powerful force, and the cause of Jesus Christ is going to be honored in our community.

Now there's one other set of verses and then we're going to go home. Look on page 8. This is a serious part. It comes out of Proverbs. And what I've done, I've selected portions of Scripture that deal with this whole matter of unity. Look at what Proverbs 6:16 says, "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]." Look at number 7. "He who sows discord among the brethren." Now that's an abomination to God.

And I went back and looked at the verse just preceding, look at what it says, "Therefore upon him shall the crushing weight of calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken, and that without remedy." Now ladies and gentlemen, that which is dearest to the heart of Jesus for which He died, is His church. Assembled here we are today and we've sung together, we prayed together, we rejoiced together, we are a delight to the heart of Christ! And He cherishes, He loves the church. He loved it so much He died for it! And He died for this body of believers and for every body of believers. He loves us, and when someone wants to tear His church apart God said that person is an abomination and calamity will come.

Now I've lived long enough, and I can give you many illustrations, but I'll give you just one this morning. Vernita's father was a wonderful pastor. He pastored down in Escalon, a little farming community at that time, 65 years ago. In a little farming community of 800 people he had nearly 300 in his church. The church was thriving. The farmers were getting saved. There was peace, there was joy in the body of believers. It was just a marvelous testimony when nearly half the community are in church on Sunday morning. But he's got this one ugly farmer who doesn't like what's taking place, because now the church is too big and he's lost control. He's against everything and He's against the preacher, and He doesn't like his sermons, and one Sunday morning after all of his ugliness He stood on the porch of the church while everybody's leaving and he had something ugly to say about the church and something ugly to say about the pastor.

And Pastor Persing, a great man of God standing there weeping inside, realizing here's one sewing discord among the brethren and God's word is true. The next morning out on his farm, he was a chicken farmer, and he was collecting eggs. And right in the midst of his task God struck him dead, and his face landed in a pile of chicken manure. He was a young man. What God was saying is My church is a cherished possession and I'm not going to tolerate it being torn apart.

Don't ever -- don't ever -- be a part of a group small or large that seeks to bring discord in the church. We have been given a ministry of reconciliation. Some people think they've got a ministry of demolition, and some churches have suffered because people have sought to demolish and to hurt. Our God-given assignment is to be reconcilers -- bringing about peace.

Now listen ladies and gentlemen, there's a vast difference between peace lovers and peacemakers. Think with me. We can all love peace, but it takes initiative, concern, prayer, tact, and almost vulnerability to be a peace maker. Because as a peace maker you're protecting what is cherished in the heart of Jesus, that for which He prayed, and when we sense that something needs correcting, when we see that something needs to be approached, we're going to do everything we can to bring about the conclusion to that matter as a peace maker. May God help us always to be peacemakers in the body of believers -- never, never a part of those who sew discord.

Now one other thing: remember that Scripture verse says we don't run around with gossips and slanderers. We don't do that ever. That's disallowed in the body of Christ. I've suggested this for 44 years, and it always works. If somebody comes to you and they want to start dishing out negative slander and gossip, you just say, hey, hold it just a moment. You just insulted me. Because you're handing out that verbal garbage you're implying that I'm a garbage pail -- and I'm not a garbage pail! And I belong to the kingdom of God. And I love Jesus Christ and the church. I know we're not all perfect, but I know I have one task and that's to strive for unity and peace within the body of Christ, and I'm not interested. Don't ever insult me with your garbage.

I'll tell you folks, you'll stop a conversation (snaps fingers) that quick. Because what you're saying to them: I know we're not perfect, and we're not, but at least we've been brought together in the love of Christ and we're brothers and sisters in Christ, and Jesus died for us, and He prayed that we would all work together to live in unity. Amen?

And he says when you do that I command the blessings to fall. When we strive together, work together, love and fellowship together this world out here, outside this church, is going to know those people are different. The love of Christ reigns there, and His fragrance is witnessed in the worship. Amen?

It's a very simple, practical message, but it's an exceedingly important message for all of us. Let's all strive always to be peacemakers and reconcilers. Amen? That makes us Christian.

Father, we've taken the lesson today and the Scripture verses are very clear. We don't have any question as to what You said. You gave us the instructions to correct relationships that have been injured, and You've warned us not to bring discord into the body of believers. We got the message. Now help us to live every day as Christians, reconciling, making peace, and contributing to the unity of our church -- in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you folks, God bless you.