Summer Psalms: Psalm 133.

Psalm

133.

It is a song of a sense of David.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when

brothers dwell in unity.

It is like the precious oil on the head

running down on the beard on the beard

of Aaron running down on the collar of

his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon

which falls on the mountains of Zion.

For there the Lord has commanded the

blessing life forever more. Uh let's

pray again as we come to consider this

psalm together. Gracious God's loving

heavenly father, uh you've given us here

a short but sweet psalm and we pray Lord

God that you would help us to taste of

its sweetness and that by your holy

spirit you might minister to each one of

us. Lord I pray that you would give us

grace in these conditions and perhaps

particularly for those sat in the sun

and feeling the heat. Lord God, help us

amidst these things to hear your voice

speaking. And Lord God, would you

encourage us? Would you build us up?

Would you glorify your name? Amen.

Well, on our way to to camp in Wales a

few weeks ago, Sofh and I took the the

high road down into Mccun. Um it's a

very narrow, fairly winding road, which

Sofh of course was very grateful for

being in the throws of pregnancy

sickness. Yes. No. Uh and very glad as

well to be dragged away from the indoors

to a fully outdoor camp. But but it was

well worth the trip and going that

particular route because when you take

the high road coming down into

McCuncliffe, when you eventually crest

the top of the hill, you are rewarded

with a massive view. You know, one of

those ones which just stretches out

before you. Seemingly endless rolling

hills and valleys looking into Snowonia

and the mighty Cadaridas in the

distance.

Now, of course, driving up there, I've

done it many times before, and I was

trying to encourage Soph, you know, oh,

it's about to happen, and I kept kind of

mistiming the crest. So, and here it is.

And oh, no, that's another hill to go

up. And then eventually, there it was.

And it was one of those behold

moments. Behold, pause, stop, consider,

contemplate.

I'm sure you can relate. you've had

those views as well. Maybe a view or a

sunset. Maybe the eclipse did it for you

if you got to see much of it at all. Or

maybe a piece of music.

Maybe even a morsel of food. Oh, check

this out. This is amazing. Behold, here

is something good. And our psalm for

this evening starts in just that way.

Verse one. Behold, how good and pleasant

it is when brothers dwell in unity. Or

as the NIV puts it, how good and

pleasant it is when God's people live

together in unity.

This is one of the psalms of ascent.

It's actually this the second to last of

them, which as we discussed this morning

is a group of psalms most likely used by

worshippers heading to Jerusalem to

worship. They're ascending up the hill

into the city. And if you think about

it, a psalm considering the blessings of

unity

seems like a very wise psalm to be

singing as you enter into a city, most

likely at a very busy time of year when

you're all kind of on top of each other.

Many pilgrims would come to Jerusalem

for the major festivals. So very good

when you know you're all about to be in

each other's business most of the time

to be thinking about unity

and as we as Christ's church seek to

share our lives together you know not

living in the same houses perhaps but

very much in each other's lives it is

good for us to pause and to behold

unity

and the psalmist does that for us by

giving us two simileies that unfold the

goodness and pleasantness of unity.

We'll look at them one at a time and

then pause to consider how we might grow

and cultivate unity. So simile number

one, one thing that unity is like

anointing oil. Verse two,

it is like the precious oil on the head

running down on the beard on the beard

of Aaron running down on the collar of

his robes.

Now, I do own beard oil, and so I was

thinking at one point, well, we could

have an object lesson this evening. I

could put on too much and you could

watch it drip down onto my collar,

right? But of course, this is ancient

Hebrew poetry, and it's not very often

in ancient Hebrew poetry that visual

imagery is used. So, we don't need to

worry about putting any more stains on

the carpet and me playing around like

that. You see this imagery, the

particular precious oil, and it's spoken

of in relation to Aaron, brother of

Moses, the first high priest of Israel.

This is an anointing oil. So, it's not

so much the visual of the oil dripping

down, but the meaning of this particular

oil. Priests were to be anointed to set

them apart for their work.

Exodus 30:30, you shall anoint Aaron and

Exodus 30:30

his sons and consecrate them that they

may serve me as priests.

They put oil on them to prepare them to

be God's priests.

And so the simile is this. Just as

special oil is used to anoint Aaron to

set him apart for the work that God

called him to,

so unity acts as a kind of anointing.

a setting apart of God's people to do

what they have been called to do. The

oil made the priests holy, distinct. It

set them apart. And unity

marks out God's people as distinct, as

set apart.

And it's this very idea that Jesus gets

across to his disciples in John chapter

John 13 · chapter mention

13. A new commandment I give to you,

that you love one another. Just as I

have loved you, you are also to love one

another. By this all people will know

that you are my disciples if you have

love one for another. Their love was to

be like anointing oil. It would show

them to be who they are.

In Ephesians, which we spent most of

last year looking at as a church, we see

the same theme. The church is composed

of Jews and Gentiles together. And Paul

says this, this mystery is that the

Gentiles are fellow airs, members of the

same body and partakers of the promise

in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Two groups that were distinct, totally

distinct, would have very little to do

with each other. Uh indeed Jews were not

to eat in the houses of Gentiles but now

brought together in Jesus.

And Paul as he speaks carries on to say

that he Paul was made to be a minister

of the good news that everyone is

brought together in Jesus.

He was to explain it. He was to bring it

to the church so that through the church

the manifold wisdom of God might now be

made known to the rulers and authorities

in the heavenly places.

The unity of the church

amidst its great diversity

displays to the spiritual powers and

there we understand that to mean angelic

beings

heavenly creatures to display to them

the wisdom of God.

It gives the angels more reasons to

praise God.

Behold, unity is good. It is pleasant.

It sets God's people apart,

to humans,

even to the angels, to the glory of God.

That's simile number one. Simile number

two is of due. Um, and it is all too

easy, isn't it, to read our own context

into the Bible and to kind of get

confused. Now in a normal year we might

read a passage like this in Matthew

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 that God sends rain on the

just and the unjust and we would be

forgiven in a British context of

thinking yes quite right God makes both

the just and the unjust miserable by

sending rain on them both right that's

our context isn't it rain often we

associate with less good days but with

the summer that we've had we're

realizing we're realizing aren't we what

a blessing the rain really is

you start to realize I think there

moment probably about a week and a half

ago when people were really going, "Ah,

if it doesn't rain, we're done for."

One author describes the rain like

liquid grace pouring from the sky. Water

is the thing that's absolutely vital to

life. And God has decided upon a

delivery mechanism of the thing that we

absolutely need to survive. Not as being

in order to get water you must go to a

church and worship and then you get your

bucket to take home. No, God's delivery

mechanism is that he just sprays it out

of the sky at us. The thing that we

could not live without, he just pours it

out upon us. He is so good.

Now, the the dew on the ground is one of

those things that we in our temperate

climate either only see as something

very pretty, particularly when there's a

frost, or as really annoying when your

feet get wet when you're going out in

the morning to put the washing on the

line. Right? It's something irritating.

But it's different here. How good and

pleasant it is when brothers dwell in

unity. Verse three, it is like the dew

of Hermon which falls on the mountains

of Zion.

For there the Lord has commanded the

blessing life forever more. The dew

that water on the ground in the morning.

It's used in blessings in the Bible. Uh

may God give you the dew of heaven or in

mourning. You mountains of Gilboa, let

there be no dew or rain upon you, nor

fields of offerings, an absence of it is

supposed to be a reflection of mourning,

of grief,

a lack of life.

The withdrawal of due is a judgment. Now

Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbay in Gilead

said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of

Israel lives before whom I stand, there

shall be neither due nor rain these

years except by my word.

Due is certainly something good. A

king's roth is like the growling of a

lion, but his favor is like the dew on

the grass.

In the dry season, the dew is the only

water the crops might receive.

It's totally vital.

Verse three, it is like the dew of

Herman which falls on the mountains of

Zion. For there the Lord has commanded

the blessing, life forever more.

Mount Hermon stands on the northern

extreme of the kingdom of Israel, 2,700

meters tall, and it's often covered with

snow at its peaks. And so perhaps the

idea in the psalm is of the abundant

water on the top of Mount Herman. It's

known for being kind of covered in snow.

That's what ends up coming and

refreshing Mount Zion, Jerusalem as dew.

And the simile again, it's simple, isn't

it? Unity is like that lifegiving,

refreshing due.

It is the blessing of God for life.

If we consider the opposite of unity,

disunityity, and how lifequenching it

is, then this simile really proves

itself to be true, doesn't it?

So I hope we can agree that unity is a

good thing.

These two simileies help us to see that.

But this psalm also helps us to

understand where unity comes from. The

end of verse three states

for there the Lord has commanded the

blessing life forever more.

The blessing is commanded by the Lord.

Now that's not meaning God commands that

you have this blessing as some kind of

instruction

but that the blessing itself is

commanded by God to you. You know it's

like God is saying blessing go here.

Right? That's the sense in which is

being commanded.

And if you notice and if we pay

attention to the language of the psalm

the direction in which things are

traveling. Oh, I was one slide too

early. The oil is poured on Aaron's

head. And notice it says in verse two,

it runs down on his beard. It runs down

on his robes.

The dew

falls

onto Zion.

How good and pleasant it is when the

church exists in unity.

Now what's about to follow as we try to

apply this is not a discussion actually

on how we can foster unity. There is a

time and a place for those discussions.

You know what are the things that we can

do so that we are together and

encouraging one another. But ultimately

this psalm shows us unity travels in a

downward direction in that it comes from

God. It is a gift from him. He

consecrates his people, setting them up

apart.

After all, it's only because we have

first been loved that we love one

another. That's the oil. Or he sends the

blessing and provides for us through the

United Church. That's the due.

So, have you ever heard an orchestra

tuning up?

I think it's one of the most exciting

parts of going to hear an orchestra

play. It's all about to begin and this

kind of ethereal sound begins. The obo

plays the notes and everybody tunes to

the obo. Doesn't matter if you're

playing a giant tuber or a tiny piccolo.

They all tune to the obo.

And it wouldn't work if the tuber tried

to tune to the trumpet and the violins

to the French horn. Unless they all tune

to the same note, the result is going to

be a mess, isn't it?

And so too with unity.

Unity is not the end. It's the fruit.

The end is God.

We pursue God. Unity with him is the

end.

A fruit of unity with God is unity with

one another.

Because as we all tune to the same note

that is the Lord Jesus, then we are

drawn by nature closer together, aren't

we?

In first John chapter 1, we get this

1 John 1 · chapter mention

idea. Uh this is the message we have

from him and proclaim to you that God is

light and him is and in him is no

darkness at all. If we say we have

fellowship with him while we walk in

darkness, we lie and do not practice the

truth. But if we walk in the light as he

is in the light, we have fellowship with

one another.

And the blood of Jesus his son cleanses

us from all sin. And it's that part near

the end which is now about to become

pretty much invisible. Right? I'll go

back and then you can see it. You know,

it's that part. If we walk in the light

as he is in the light, you'd expect it

to them say we have fellowship with him.

Right? That would be the logic,

right? If we walk in the light, he's in

the light. We'll have fellowship with

him. But it doesn't say that. It says we

will have fellowship with one another

because as we are drawn to Jesus, then

we are united, truly united, because

we're tuning to that same note.

And the church is made up of people from

all kinds of different backgrounds. But

as we tune tune to the one note that is

Christ, we are drawn together.

And so actually

we should be careful

pursuing other people for the sake of

unity in and of itself. You know, oh I

ought to spend time with that person. I

I ought to do this or do that for them.

In and of itself

could mean we're ending up tuning in the

wrong direction.

Instead, we should pursue people as part

of our pursuit of God.

Yeah. Jesus, I love you.

And I know that spending time with this

person,

I want to spend time with this person so

that I might please you

as I help them, seeking nothing in

return. I honor their wishes, not

putting my own first, so long as what

their wishes are are consistent with

holiness. In order to honor Jesus,

it's Jesus we must be pursuing. And

there comes unity.

Our walk with Jesus matters because we

need Jesus. And a glorious side effect

of pursuing Jesus

comes a unity with others

because as we seek to please him, well,

he calls us to love one another.

A side effect of neglecting our walk is

to erode the unity of God's people

because when one drifts then we aren't

all same aiming for the same thing.

Unity is good and pleasant.

It is not uniformity everyone being

exactly the same but unity in our

pursuit in the direction of our lives

that truly unites us. We pursue Jesus

because he has pursued us.

He made the first move.

And not because we are lovely, not

because we are worthy, not because we

are righteous, not because of anything

in us. The origin of the love of God is

in God.

And so it is steadfast. It is

unshakable. It is immovable. It is

resolute.

No matter what we throw at God in our

sin and rebellion, he has an infinite

love displayed on the cross.

And it's him that we must pursue.

Psalm 133, a song of a sense of David.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when

brothers dwell in unity. It's like the

precious oil on the head running down on

the beard, on the beard of Aaron,

running down onto the collar of his

robes. It is like the dew of Herman

which falls on the mountains of Zion.

For there the Lord has commanded the

blessing

life forever more.