Love Unity More

In 1961, President John F.

Kennedy was at Rice University, and he was there for the purpose of giving a speech.

And in the speech, it was the goal, the mission was to land a man on the moon.

And he said by the end of the decade, he actually put a date on this.

By the end of the decade, the United States would actually accomplish this mission.

So a year later in 1962, President JFK was visiting the NASA Space Center.

And he's touring it.

And in the midst of the tour, he notices an individual, a janitor, off to the side.

He pauses the tour.

I guess he had the ability to do that.

And he goes over and he introduces himself, which I think is funny at this point.

Who would not know who the president is?

But he introduces himself and he asks him, What are you doing?

Which is another funny question.

And the janitor responded, Well, Mr.

President, I'm helping to put a man on the moon.

For most people doing this job, they would be cleaning, they'd be sweeping, they'd be mopping, they'd be uh fixing up the building, making sure it looks appropriate so that people can do their jobs in an efficient manner.

But this janitor understood that his contribution was playing a role in a greater mission.

President JFK had rallied a nation to unite around the common goal of getting a man to the moon.

The people united around this common goal, so much so that a janitor believed that his sweeping and cleaning a facility was contributing to putting a man on the moon.

Now here's what's interesting unity is never the goal.

Unity is a fruit of a common goal.

And this morning we are continuing our series more, learning to love the things of God.

And more specifically today, we're looking at this idea of love unity more.

So to get a better picture, what we're going to be looking at today is actually Psalm 133.

And if you were to open up your Bible or you were to open up an app, a Bible app on your phone, what you would notice real quick in the subtitle of Psalm 133 is A Song of the Ascens.

A Song of Ascents.

Now the Song of Ascens were a group or a collection of psalms in the greater book of Psalms from 120 to Psalm 134.

It was 15 of them.

And they're a group of psalms that were memorized and recited through song as Israel would journey to Jerusalem during different annual festivals or feast.

As Jerusalem sat on the top of a hill, no matter where you traveled from to Jerusalem, you would be ascending a hill.

And so this collection of Psalms 120 through 134, this is why it's called the Song of Ascens.

And today we're going to be digging into Psalm 133.

David is the author here, and he's really going after this concept, this idea of unity, what he's trying to address here.

So let's dig into this text to understand what it meant a little more for Israel then and what it means for us today.

So if we were to jump in and we were going to summarize verse 1, this is what we'd get.

Summary of verse 1 is this that unity is good and pleasant.

David immediately wants to grab our attention in verse 1 when he declares, behold.

He makes a statement.

And whenever we hear this word behold, it should draw our attention, it should draw us to capture what is being said here, to look at something a little deeper.

And he's driving our attention to the end of verse 1.

He's driving our focus to unity.

Let's just get on the same page here, real quick, to define unity.

If you were to ask people around the country or maybe around the world, they'd give you all sorts of answers of what unity is.

But let's let's understand a little bit better from a biblical perspective.

Unity can be defined as oneness.

If we were going to look at it that way.

And from a biblical perspective, we see unity as defined as oneness when we talk about the doctrine of the Trinity.

It's a great example of looking at what unity is.

We see in the Trinity the coexistence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the unity of the Godhead.

If we were to define it even further, the doctrine of the Trinity means that within the being and activity of the one God, there are three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We can also understand a little better what unity is if we look at the context of the local church.

We are many members of one local body, the church.

One church, many members.

So when we come back to Psalm 133, 1, David is not just driving our attention to this abstract concept of unity.

More specifically, he's wanting us to focus on what it looks like when brothers dwell in unity.

Since this is a Psalm of Ascent and it was attended for Israel as they came to the temple in Jerusalem, it was a reminder for them constantly because they would do this annually, regularly.

It was a reminder that they should be focusing on this, to live in unity.

Sometimes it's good though to look at the opposite of unity or the opposite of a concept when you're trying to understand a little better.

And if we were to look at what it looks like for the opposite picture of unity, we could go back to Genesis and see two different occasions where disunity took place and caused not to dwell in unity but to separate.

The first would be in Genesis 13, 6, between Abram and Lot.

And if you understand who Abram was, he eventually becomes Abraham, who we would read in the rest of the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

And Abram was the uncle of Lot.

Listen to Genesis 13, 6.

So that the land could not support both of them dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.

The opposite took place of unity, so much so that disunity was happening, causing relatives to physically separate.

Then you have Jacob and Esau, who are brothers, and the grandsons of Abraham.

In Genesis 36, 7a, we see, for their possessions were too great for them to dwell together.

In both of these situations, they could not physically dwell together, and as a result, there's no unity.

But when we come back to Psalm 133 here, David makes the case that when unity takes place, it is good and pleasant.

Let's first look at this idea of good.

When David calls unity good, it should drive us back.

If we're familiar with that word and we hear it and we have read, spent any time in the Bible, it should drive our attention back to Genesis 1.

At the end of each creation event, we read that God saw that it was good.

Then after God creates man and woman, he looks out and he sees and he makes a statement that it's very good.

But this was before, you have to remember, this was before mankind had rejected God and sin entered the world in Genesis 3.

We need to look at this idea of good from the viewpoint of God.

After God had created the world and everything in it, then it was good.

Everything God creates is good.

And from this we see that goodness flows from God.

Here in Psalm 133, David is drawn upon this idea of good, that when unity takes place, it is good.

Why?

Because unity is from God.

This is how it was supposed to be.

This is how it should be.

But then listen to Psalm 135, verse 3.

Psalms 135:3

Just two Psalms later, from where we are in Psalm 133, this is what we read here in Psalm 135.

You can see it on the screen.

Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good.

Sing to his name, for it is pleasant.

In Psalm 135, the adjectives of good and pleasant are being used in relation to the character of God.

The Lord is good, his name is pleasant.

When brothers dwell in unity, it is characterized in the same way that is being used to explain the character of God.

David wants us to grasp that unity is godly.

True unity comes from God.

But what does that mean?

How can we understand more fully what unity looks like?

It was not enough for David just to tell us that unity is good and pleasant.

He wants us to grasp how good it is more fully.

And this is where he comes into help.

He uses these pictures, and we see this in verses 2 through 3.

So if we were to have a summary of verses 2 through 3, we would see this pictures of unity.

It's not hard.

Just pictures of unity.

David's intentional here.

He uses two illustrations or two word pictures to more fully describe unity that Israel would have been able to grasp because of what they meant to Israel.

The two illustrations were Aaron and the oil running down from his head to his beard to his collar.

And then also the dew falling on the mountains of Zion.

Now, to us today, these might not grab our attention.

It wouldn't strike us potentially as something to really grasp onto.

But to Israel, these examples would have lit up their minds, their history.

It would have drawn their attention to something in their past.

Think about it this way: words and stories have the ability to capture our attention and remind us of something in our history or the history of the country.

If you were to, if I were to say some phrases, it would it would draw your attention to something specific.

If I were to say something like, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

A lot of us in this room weren't alive for that to take place, but we all are drawn to the moon.

Y2K.

If you're old enough to remember, midnight was gonna hit in 2000, everything was gonna fall apart.

I remember that night, midnight coming and thinking, oh man, computers are gonna shut down, they're saying banks are gonna just collapse, like the world is just gonna crumble.

Nothing happened.

But every time you hear Y2K, you remember the hysteria around that moment.

If I were to say 9-11, it draws your attention back to probably where you were on September 11th, 2001 when you heard the news.

I can still remember where I was standing and what took place the rest of that day on September 11th.

2020.

All of us in this room, our kids, grandkids, when they hear 2020, we'll forever probably be reminded of COVID.

See, that's a collective memory we all might have together.

We hear those things and it draws our attention.

We might have some aspects that differ around it, but it takes us back to the same place.

Then there's memories that are triggered for you specifically in your own life.

When certain words are mentioned, they drive your attention back.

Words trigger memories or historical moments that capture our attention and carry a certain meaning for us, whether good or bad.

So when we come back to Psalm 133 for Israel, these two examples David uses drew Israel's attention back.

And if we don't understand why David used these examples, we could just read through these, scan over them, just move right on.

But to Israel during this time, this would have caused them to stop and really point them back and understand how good and pleasant unity really is.

The first illustration that David uses for us here is the oil running down from the head of Aaron to his beard and onto the collars of his robe.

Now imagine for a moment a long beard.

You don't really have to imagine.

You could just take a look at Pastor Rick.

Or anyone else who has a nice flowing long beard.

But you imagine this for a moment.

David is not actually drawing our attention to Aaron's beard, but to the precious oil used on his head and his beard and his collar.

See, when Israel heard these words or read them, and it mentioned this precious oil, their attention was brought back to a special moment in Israel's history, something that was massive for them.

If we were to read Exodus 30, 25, you can follow along on the screen, it says this and you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer.

It shall be a holy anointing oil.

Exodus 30, verse 30.

Exodus 30:30

You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priest.

And you shall say, if we were to keep going a few more verses, and you shall say to the people of Israel, This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations.

It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition.

It is holy and it shall be holy to you.

Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on an outsider, shall be cut off from his people.

Now, why was this oil so special?

Because it was used to set apart priest in their mission going between man and God.

This oil was a reminder to Israel of God giving them a priest who represented them to God.

It was a reminder that they now had someone who could go between them, who could represent them, and who could help their sins be forgiven.

It was a massive moment of also pointing them forward to one day when the Messiah would come.

But then David uses a second illustration.

He uses the picture of dew coming down from the Mount of Hermon.

Now, Mount Hermon was a mountain that rose about 9,000 feet above sea level.

It was located about 120 miles north of Jerusalem.

And if you looked out, you could see it was typically covered in snow.

It was known for its abundant dew.

Now, during this time period in this area, from the months of about April through October, it was a very dry season, which meant they couldn't hardly grow crops.

It was a struggle, and rain was not in abundance.

This dew that David mentions was crucial for vegetation growth during the dry season.

I want us to notice something about these two examples that David is giving us.

First, you have the oil coming down, flowing down.

It was poured on the head of Aaron, flowed into his beard, and onto the collars of root.

We're not talking about a sprinkling.

We're talking about, like if you have oil flowing down onto the collars of the robe, like there is a lot of oil coming down.

In the same way you have the dew coming down from Mount Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion.

So you have the oil and the dew both coming down.

Grasp this picture.

David is drawing our attention here to the fact that the priest also did not anoint himself, and the mountains of Zion did not water themselves.

Both of these examples are used to show us that both of these blessings are coming down from God.

When David says in Psalm 133, 1, Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity, and then goes on to use examples of oil and dew, both coming down.

David does this to show us today to help us understand that unity only comes down from God.

And this unity that comes down from God.

We see in the second part of verse 3, what does it do?

It brings blessings.

It's at the end of Psalm 133 where we see the blessing, which David says is what?

Life forevermore.

But how is this blessing connected to Psalm 133 as a whole?

David starts out in verse 1, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

Then he gives two pictures to help us understand what unity is like.

Then he ends verse 3 with, For there the Lord has commanded the blessing.

What is the blessing?

Life forevermore.

But listen to what David said.

There the Lord has commanded the blessing.

What does that mean that the Lord has commanded the blessing?

It's a guarantee.

Look at Leviticus 25, 21.

We see a similar situation for Israel.

I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years.

This was in reference to God supplying Israel with enough food from their farming that it would supply them what?

In year six, in year seven, which was a sabbatical year, which meant they could not farm.

But then also in the following year, the third year, where they are farming, but they have to wait for the crops to be produced.

Three years.

They would literally have to wait.

The blessing for Israel in Leviticus 25, 21, was that God would provide enough food.

It was commanded by God.

And then we come back to Psalm 133, we see that the Lord also commanded this blessing here: the blessing of life forevermore, as a result of unity.

The unity David is talking about here is also a picture of the future unity that we will share.

That's why when we experience unity here today, it is good and pleasant and brings life.

You've all, we we all have experienced unity in different ways.

For example, take your favorite sports team.

Your favorite sports team.

You experience unity together with those who are also fans of that sports team.

I'm a Chicago fan all around.

Sorry.

Some rough years for me.

But I can be anywhere.

I can go to a baseball game in any stadium and I will see a Chicago Cubs hat.

Doesn't matter where I'm at.

I can be anywhere in the country.

I see that and I'm like, ooh, I like that person.

I'm tempted to chant something out, but then I'm like, they might have no idea and look at me like I'm strange.

The problem though is when we experience that type of unity, it really pales in comparison to the unity that David is trying to help us understand in Psalm 133.

Why?

Because the unity you are experiencing with your favorite sports team is based on a team that has, will, or does let you down regularly.

It's not consistent.

But when we talk about the unity here that David is describing, it's based on someone, someone who will never fail or let you down.

It's based on God who has commanded the blessing of unity.

The blessing of unity from God is guaranteed.

And this brings us to our main idea today, which is this true unity is a blessing.

True unity is a blessing.

Now let's consider this idea of blessing.

What is a blessing?

What is a blessing?

Because before we can consider what a blessing is, we must first understand what it truly is or how unity is a blessing.

It's always good to grasp a concept when we're when we're reading in the Bible what that concept is.

It's always good to try to define it from the biblical point of view, from another area of the Bible, to get that concept down.

So if we're going to have a starting point of what a blessing is, it would make sense for us to go to another section of the Bible to really understand that.

One of the best places to understand what blessings truly are is if we were to go over to the Sermon on the Mount, right at the beginning in Matthew 5, verses 3 through 12, where Jesus is talking about the Beatitudes.

Matthew 5:3–12

He's preaching the sermon.

It goes on for a few chapters, but right at the beginning, he talks about what a blessing is, and he talks about specifically how they're played out.

Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 5, 3 through 12.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others rebile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Now every beatitude that Jesus declares here starts with blessed are.

Nine times Jesus says, blessed are.

What Jesus is trying to help the listeners here understand, those who are sitting down and listening to the sermon, is this idea that to be blessed is not a temporary or circumstantial feeling of happiness.

That to be blessed is a state of well-being in relationship to God through Jesus Christ.

So let's get to this idea of blessing.

A blessing is not a temporary or circumstantial.

It is not temporary or circumstantial.

It's a state of well-being.

This is why blessings can really only come from God.

Anything that someone considers a blessing outside of God will be temporary.

Think about how people use the word blessing most of the time.

Something good happens in their life that's really temporary, and they say, I'm just blessed.

Someone eats an amazing meal, they post a picture on Instagram or whatever social media platform they're using.

They get a new outfit, they put it on, they take a selfie, they take a picture somewhere, they put a picture up of them on vacation, and they put that little word at the end.

We've been led to believe that this is what it looks like to be blessed, to have these temporary moments where someone really wishes they had your life.

Or you look at it and you go, hashtag blessed.

It would be blessed.

Man, I'd have a good life if I had their life.

But if we go back to the Beatitudes of Matthew 5 through through 12, Jesus is very clear to be blessed is what?

Those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, and finally those who are reviled and persecuted because of Jesus.

This is what it means to be blessed.

It doesn't sound like the good life that's Instagram worthy to me.

Remember, to be blessed is not temporary or circumstantial.

It's not this feeling of happiness.

Now, don't take me out of context.

Don't walk out there saying, Whew, I can never be happy.

That's not what I'm saying either.

It doesn't mean that you don't experience feelings of happiness in the blessings of God.

There is a very realness to the fact that there are moments of great joy in Christ.

There should be daily.

What I'm trying to help us understand is this: that if we only base blessings off of our feelings of happiness, then we're missing the point.

To be blessed is a state of well-being in relation to God through Jesus Christ.

Now let's understand unity a little better here.

Listen to what Jesus said in John 17, verses 21 through 23.

John 17:21–23

You can follow along on the screen.

That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

The glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.

I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

So three in one.

We don't have to get into the doctrine of Trinity.

But how do we understand this a little better?

What about if we looked at the example of marriage?

The unity we see between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit is a picture of unity we see within the relationship of the husband and the wife.

In Ephesians 5.31, the Apostle Paul actually quotes Genesis 2.24 when he says this.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

Two people, one flesh.

In marriage, a husband and wife become one, but they're still two distinct people.

Another example of the unity of the Trinity is the church, the body of Christ.

I mentioned this earlier.

The unity we see between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a picture of unity we see within the body of Christ.

Listen to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, 12 through 20.

It's a little bit longer passage, but just hang with me and listen to this.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

If the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less part of the body.

And if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?

If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose.

If all were a single member, where would the body be?

As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

The body of Christ is one body made up of many people.

So now that we understand better what unity is, and we understand that a blessing is a state of well-being in relationship to God through Jesus Christ, let's understand how unity is a blessing now.

Our unity as the body of Christ is a direct result from being united in God through Jesus Christ.

It all starts with Jesus.

As we are continuing our time in the series of more, learning to love the things of God, the reason we can love unity more is because of Jesus Christ.

This is why unity is a blessing, because us being united in to Jesus Christ, through Jesus, life, death, and resurrection is a blessing.

And that blessing flows into our unity as the body of Christ, which we know of as the church.

True unity is only found in Jesus Christ.

The problem, though, for a lot of us is that we don't always believe this.

We actually believe that we can have true unity outside of Jesus Christ and outside of the church.

And at times we actually settle for lesser forms of unity, thinking that they will suffice, thinking that they will make us happy, thinking that they will bring us joy, and actually believing that.

And we see this in two different ways this morning.

The first way we don't believe true unity is only found in Jesus Christ is this.

We seek unity with the world.

What do I mean by that?

Listen to Romans 12 2 this morning.

Paul says this do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Now, what am I saying here?

It is easy to get sucked into all the world has to offer.

It's really easy.

And in this world, there are good things that God has made.

Like, don't walk out of here today going the world is terrible, in the sense of like, I can't enjoy anything in this world.

No, no, no.

God has given us all of these things to enjoy.

We can enjoy the things in this world that God has made.

But stop for a moment and consider how the things of this world are temporary.

The pleasures this world have to offer don't last and leave you desiring more and more and more.

So if we go back to Romans 12, 2, what does it mean to conform to the world?

Think about a mold for a moment.

What is a mold?

Now, not mold that you find on food that's been left in your fridge for far too long.

The purpose of a mold, a mold, is to create a replica of the shape of that mold.

So you pour something into that mold, you press something into that mold, and when you take it out of the mold, you now have the shape that you were intending to create with that mold.

And when we conform to the world, we are being shaped like the world.

We're being pressed into the world's mold.

When we conform ourselves to this world, then we are uniting ourselves with this world.

So what is the world?

The world here I'm referring to is any perspective that runs contrary to the word of God.

Any perspective that runs contrary to the word of God.

One way we seek unity with the world is that we can start to believe deep down that our feelings actually define our reality.

Our feelings define our reality.

How I feel is who I am.

Well, that's just how I feel.

That's why when you're in conversations with anyone, maybe it's at work or you ride somewhere with someone and they start to share what's going on in their life, they're like, well, that's just how I feel.

They'll make statements like that.

That's how I feel, so that's who I am.

When in reality, God is the one who decides who we are and what we are.

Another way we seek unity with the world is that we believe life has value as it relates to my current circumstances and what is convenient for me in that moment.

When in reality, what we know is God determines the value of life, not us.

Because God is the creator of human life.

Mankind is made in the image of God.

Another way we seek unity with the world is that we believe social approval is the most important.

Rather than ultimately, our approval comes from God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The problem we face when we seek unity with the world is that we begin to build our entire foundation and our entire lives upon what Jesus warned us about in Matthew 7, 24 through 27.

Some of you are very familiar.

This takes place also in the Sermon on the Mount, a few chapters after the Beatitudes.

Jesus says, Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall.

Because it had been founded on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

When we conform to the world and we seek unity with this world, then our entire foundation is ready to crumble at any moment.

The question we must answer is are we conforming to Jesus Christ and his word or upon the world and what the world believes?

But then there's another way we don't believe true unity is only found in Jesus Christ, and it's this.

We reject unity with the church.

Now let's be honest here.

Unity is not easy.

Unity is hard.

Unity is difficult.

Nowhere does God promise that seeking unity in the church will be easy.

In fact, when you read through the New Testament, a lot of these letters that Paul writes and these New Testament authors write are addressing issues of disunity.

People are arguing, they're frustrated, they're not getting along.

And at times it can seem easier to seek unity with the world.

But why?

Because unity with the church means dying to self and sacrificing for one another.

Whereas unity with the world seeks commonality in one area, whether it's a sports team, a hobby, a passion, or whatever it might be that draws you to that group.

A lot of times the reason why we struggle with unity in the church is because of pride.

We don't want people in our business.

That's why we struggle to get into a mission group.

We don't want people calling us out in our sin.

We don't want people in our business.

Because when you reject what God says is good and pleasing and someone calls you out on it, you don't want that.

None of us like to be corrected.

None of us like this.

How do we know this?

Well, look at the issue of gossip for a moment.

It's an easy target, right?

But it's so real, and some we just gloss over a lot of times.

In the moment, it feels really good to talk negative about someone else.

Why?

Because when you gossip and talk negative about someone else, what are you doing?

You're in essence lifting yourself up.

Think about it.

Did you see what they did?

You know what you're saying in that moment?

I would never do that.

You make yourself look better.

What about jealousy?

Jealousy is an emotion or feeling or thought when you believe you should have something that someone else has.

Deep down, you believe in that moment that God owes you something.

You believe deep down that if God is really as good as the Bible says he is, then he should actually give you all of your desires and dreams.

So when that doesn't happen, what do you do?

You get angry.

You become mad at God as if he owes you something.

And then you just not only reject him, you reject his word, you reject the church.

It all comes down to pride.

We believe we are better than other people.

We don't want anyone in our lives telling us what we can or can't do, and that includes God and what he says in his word.

But do you know what brings unity in those moments?

Reconciliation.

When we follow the steps of Matthew 18 and you have sinned against your brother or sister in Christ, and they come to you, they share with you how you have sinned against them, then you have the ability to seek forgiveness.

I'm sorry for hurting you when I said this or I did this to you.

Will you forgive me?

And reconciliation has taken place.

Unity is not only restored, but it's elevated in that moment.

If we love unity more, then we will seek out reconciliation.

But the only reason that reconciliation, the only reason that unity is even possible is because of this.

In Christ, we are unified.

In Christ, we are unified.

When Israel would recite Psalm 133, as they would ascend the hill, it would drive them to look back at Aaron as their first high priest, who would go between them and God.

As the oil was mentioned running down the beard, they would think back to Aaron where we no longer have to look back to Aaron as the high priest, but we look forward to the final high priest who is Jesus.

Listen to the author of Hebrews in Hebrews 10, 11 through 14.

And every priest stands daily at his service.

You can follow along on the screen, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool to his feet.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Now, why is that a big deal?

Because when Israel would look back, they would think back about every priest that came along after Aaron.

Wasn't just Aaron, it was every priest after him.

One would die, the next would rise up, one would die, the next would rise up, over and over and over again.

Their sacrifices were never enough.

Whereas we look to Jesus, our final high priest.

All of the priests before continued to stand.

Jesus, who is God, sat down and today is seated at the right hand of God the Father.

Why could Jesus sit down at the right hand of God the Father?

Because Jesus offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins.

Here's the best part.

Jesus established true unity through his single sacrifice.

And because of Christ, we are in Christ.

We are united in the body of Christ, the church.

A.W.

Tozer was a pastor and an author, and in one of his books titled The Pursuit of God, he said this about unity.

Has it ever occurred to you that 100 pianos, all tuned to the same fork, are automatically tuned to each other?

They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard, to which each one must individually bow.

So 100 worshippers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become unity conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.

Isn't that incredible?

If we focus on unity, we will fail.

So it's interesting.

I titled this message, Love Unity More.

But think about this.

Since Jesus established true unity, then our only hope of becoming more and more unified is if we keep our eyes focused on Jesus Christ.

Everything begins and ends with Christ.

He is the Alpha and the Omega.

If we ever take our eyes, our focus, off of Jesus, we will fail.

So what does it mean we should do?

How does this mean we should live today?

Well, this is what we need to do.

We need to walk in unity.

Now remember that if we ultimately focus on unity, what?

We will fail.

Why would you title the sermon that?

Because if we focus on Christ, then we will ultimately walk in unity.

Listen to the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2.6.

Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.

Now look at Paul's emphasis there in Colossians 2.6.

It's not on the walking, it's on him.

Paul is emphasizing the focus is Jesus Christ.

Think about it.

Wherever, whenever there is disunity, is because we have taken our eyes off of Christ.

As we continue our series more, learning to love the things of God, the only way we will love unity more is if we love Jesus Christ more.

So what does this mean for you and me to walk in unity?

It means we must love Jesus Christ more.

When we yell at our kids for the fourth time that day, it's not because we love Jesus more.

It's because we love ourselves more and don't want to be inconvenienced.

But what does it look like and what does it mean to walk in Christ each and every day?

Listen to the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2, 1 through 2.

You can follow along on the screen.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Same mind, same love, one mind.

All of this is because of being in Christ.

One of the easiest ways to walk in Christ and pursue unity with one another is to seek humility.

Humility prepares us to serve instead of being served.

For example, there is nothing then, if we take that mindset that is too small for any of us to do.

Humility helps us overlook an offense from someone who has offended us.

For example, if we if we focus on Christ, we realize how much we have offended him and he still died for us.

How can you not forgive others?

Humility helps us see others succeed where we fail.

For example, focusing on Christ helps us celebrate when others succeed in areas where we are not gifted.

We should be excited about that.

We should be excited.

The worship is always incredible, and it's like, man, that is incredible.

I can play the guitar.

Not as well as they can.

And we celebrate that.

We rejoice.

Listen, there are people that are baby whispers.

And I'm thankful that they do that.

I have four children, but I can help with my kids, but like other kids, no, not all the time.

There are people who do so well with seven through eleven-year-olds teaching them the gospel.

And guess what?

When we break those apart, we'll be even better.

So we need volunteers.

Amen.

This is where we rejoice, where others succeed, where we fail, where we are not gifted, others are.

That's the unity of the church.

It's this beautiful picture.

We we celebrate that and we get excited over that.

In 1961, when JFK made that speech, he united people around this mission.

In order to get a man to the moon, and if you know history, that he actually was assassinated, he never actually got to see this take place.

But here's what's incredible.

All he could do was give a speech.

That's all he did.

That's all he could do.

He couldn't actually get on that spaceship.

He couldn't take part in the training.

He didn't even clean the building like the janitor.

He wasn't even at the space center very often.

The difference, though, for us is that Jesus didn't need us.

Jesus carried out his mission of a perfect life, death, and resurrection so that we could be united.

JFK needed others to be united, but we all need Jesus to be united.

So how do we love unity more?

We start by loving Jesus more.

Let's pray.