“Eighteen
Years” Psalm 133 May
2, 2010
SI: The Scripture reading for the sermon this morning is
printed in you bulletin.
It’s
Psalm 133. This is a metrical version
from the Scottish Psalter.
It’s a Psalm about life in the church of
Jesus Christ.
Let’s
stand and sing it.
INTRO: Presbyterians are notorious for church splits.
I
have a chart in my study that visually depicts all the divisions of the
Presbyterian
church in America
since the first Presbytery in Philadelphia in 1706.
It looks like a wiring diagram for a
car.
And
there were divisions back in Scotland too, the home of Presbyterianism.
A
Scottish Presbyterian was crossing a bridge and he saw a man about to jump.
He said:
Don’t jump, man. You have lots to
live for!
Like what?
The man said.
Well,
are you a Christian or a pagan? I’m a
Christian.
I am too, said Presbyterian, and that’s a
great blessing.
Are
you a Protestant or a Catholic? I’m a
Protestant.
I am too.
Another blessing.
Are
you a Presbyterian or a Baptist? I’m a
Presbyterian.
Well, what do you know. I am too.
That’s a great blessing, man.
Are
you Free Church Presbyterian or Church of Scotland? Free Church.
I am too.
You see, you are greatly blessed.
Are
you a Psalm-singing only Free Church Presby or
a Psalms and hymn-singing?
Psalms and hymn-singing.
When
he said that the other man pushed him off the bridge and said:
Die heretic!
A
Scottish Presbyterian was stranded on a desert island for ten years.
He was finally rescued by a passing ship.
His rescuers were impressed that he had
built three buildings by himself.
Asked him, What are
these three buildings.
He
said: This one is my house. Many a night it’s sheltered me from storms.
And this one is my church. Many a Sabbath I’ve met with the Lord.
They
asked: What’s this other building?
He said:
That’s the church I used to go to.
No
matter what your denominational background, we’re all familiar with church
battles and splits,
some necessary and some not.
On
a more personal level, perhaps some of you have actually been in local
churches that have
been torn apart by church fights.
Battles
within a congregation are often worse than at a denominational level.
Psalm
133 is about the very opposite. It’s
about the happy subject of church unity.
“How good and pleasant it is when brothers
live together in unity!”
The
“brothers” David refers to are his brothers in the faith.
This was a Psalm sung as Israelites went up
to Jerusalem for the feasts.
This psalm presents to our imaginations a
marvelous vision of church unity.
As
we examine this vision of unity on this 18th anniversary of Christ
Covenant,
it ought to fill us
first of all with gratitude. Gratitude
for the unity we’ve
enjoyed as a
body. And it ought to also fill us with longing, that will experience
more of it, and to
a greater measure, in coming years.
Before
begin our study of this Psalm,
let’s put the
importance of church unity in perspective.
The
very last thing that Jesus Christ prayed for
before He went into
“May they be brought to
complete unity to let the world know that you sent me
and have loved them
even as you have loved me.”
Church unity is proof of the
power and divinity of Christ’s ministry.
The fact that Christ is able
to take a bunch of people who are not only
different in age,
personality, education, experience—but also selfish sinners,
And melt them and their
hearts and lives together so that there is a sense of oneness,
and appreciation,
and understanding—that is a powerful witness
to the world of the
truth of the Gospel and the power of Christ.
This is no little subject,
church unity.
It captured the imagination of David, and of
David’s greatest Son, Jesus.
And it ought to capture us as well.
Follow along in your
Bible. We’ll look at this under three
points.
The blessings of church unity
The source of church unity
The responsibilities of church unity
MP#1
The Blessings Of Church Unity
David says that church unity
is good and pleasant. That’s quite a
claim.
Lots of things that are
good for you that aren’t pleasant.
Lots of things that are pleasant that aren’t
necessarily good for your.
But unity of God’s people is
both good and pleasant.
David proves his point, not by giving us a
list of reasons.
Instead, he gives two illustrations—two
similes.
1. Church unity
is like:
2precious oil poured on the head, running down on the
beard,
running down on
Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes.
That’s a strange picture of
church unity. It doesn’t sound pleasant. Sounds messy.
So much oil poured on head, runs down face
and on to collar.
It would make us want to wash our hair and
change clothes.
But in Ancient Middle East, olive
oil was a cosmetic luxury.
It softened the skin in that dry climate, it picked up the warmth of the sun.
For the Hebrew, oil became a symbol of God’s
presence, Holy Spirit.
And the oil David mentions is
not just any oil—it’s the fragrant anointing oil
used to anoint and
consecrate Aaron, the High Priest, and all the other priests.
It was a fragrant blend of olive oil and
spices, the work of a perfumer.
If you’re interested, you can
read the formula in Exodus 30.
But it was so special, that it was against
the law to copy it for common use.
You have to imagine
this:
When High Priest walked into
congregation to minister—
abundant oil gave
off a fragrance that announced his presence.
All who smelled that
fragrance knew that the High Priest was among them.
They knew that their High Priest was
interceding for them.
One of the good and pleasant
blessings of church unity is that the fragrance
of our High Priest,
Jesus Christ will be noticeable in our congregation.
We will sense the presence of
Jesus Christ.
Our church will smell good in a spiritual
sense.
There will be a warmth, there will be a soothing presence of Spirit of
Christ.
The fragrant love and glory of Jesus Christ will
be evident in our unity of
doctrine and
worship and fellowship and everything else we do together.
That sounds very subjective,
but it’s real. The fragrance of Christ
our High Priest
wafts though our
church in your priestly ministry to other members.
All believers are priests. Did you know that? You are a priest. Bible says so.
Says Christ has made us to be a kingdom and
priests.
The ministry of a priest is
to pray for people and offer sacrifices.
That is exactly what you are called to
do—pray for other people,
make sacrifices for
them (your time, council, encouragement, self. ).
Through priestly ministry of
each member, the presence of the High Priest,
Jesus Christ is noticed. And our church smells good and pleasant.
In vs. 3 David says something
else. 2. Church unity is
as if the dew of Hermon were falling on
Mt.
Winds blow across
If visit
David imagines what it would be like if
mountain dew of Hermon
fell on hills of
Point is this—when a church
is unified—refreshing, fruitful place.
When people come, spirits refreshed—not just
by preaching, worship service,
but by the very
spirit of the church, by the fellowship.
Over time, fruit begins to
grow, nourished by dew of heaven—
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Just as David imagined this
dew falling on the big mountains and the little hills,
so the refreshment
and growth in a unified church is not just the experience
of the spiritual
giants, but also the babes in Christ, adults and children.
One of the blessings of being
in a unified church to be able to get to know
believers who are
at very different places in walk with Lord—
hear them express
delight in spiritual refreshment, see them becoming fruitful.
That is something we thank
the Lord for these past 18 years.
This is how one preacher
described a church like this:
It’s a church filled with “
an ever-renewed expectation in what God is doing
with our brothers and sisters in the faith.”
Unified church is a blessed
church, good and pleasant church.
Filled with the fragrance
of Christ our High Priest, refreshed by dew of heaven.
Lord has given us that. And we ought to want more of it.
So where does it come
from? Let’s consider . . .
MP#2
The Source Of Church Unity
Look again at David’s
images—anointing oil and mountain dew.
From which direction do both come? The come from above.
Oil is poured on the head,
Dew falls on the mountain.
Oil runs down Aaron’s head, face, on to
collar.
Dew—in David’s imagination—falls from high
They are poured out, they
fall, and then they flow downward.
So where does unity come
from? It comes from above.
Church unity is purely and completely a gift
of God’s grace.
It doesn’t come from us at all. It comes from Him.
Psalm 133 makes it clear that
we can’t manufacture real church unity
by anything that we
do. We can’t make our church unified.
It is a work of God’s Spirit.
Everything good that has
happened for the past 18 years, every sweet moment,
every time of
refreshment and growth and encouragement came from the Lord.
Every time members of our
church have had disagreements with each other,
or rubbed each
other the wrong way, or even sinned against each other—
and then resolved
those things and reaffirmed their love—that’s God’s grace.
It is tempting to think that
programs, events, planning will create unity.
If we can just get everybody participating
and excited enough,
then we will have a
unified church.
But unity doesn’t come from
our efforts, doesn’t come from below,
it is poured out
from on high, falls upon us through the work of the Spirit.
And not only are these images
that David used things that come from above—
they are also
delicate and subtle things, aren’t they?
The
fragrance of the anointing oil.
The freshness of the dew.
These are things that you
could easily miss if you had other things on your mind.
These are things that you could easily dismiss
as unimportant.
They are delicate. They are subtle.
One night this spring I was
getting gas down here at Five Points.
And I was smelling
all the gas station smells but then a caught a scent of
something
else. Thought, what is that? Just a hint in the air.
It was familiar but I
couldn’t quite remember. Then it came to
me—wisteria.
Big vine of it on the
fence in my back yard as a boy.
And it took me back.
Often times the movement of
the Holy Spirit is like that.
He moves subtly, He moves delicately and
softly—wind, breath.
This is a humble reminder
that we can’t always qualify church unity
as 100%
participation in this or that church event or ministry.
It’s great when church has
strong participation in its ministries and programs.
I pray every Sunday for good
attendance. I want everything we do here
to be full.
But the fragrance and freshness,
the oil and the dew of church unity,
will be experienced
and enjoyed when the Spirit gives it.
It’s possible to be so busy
and so focused on numbers as a benchmark of unity—
that we miss it when
it comes.
Allison and I have done Covenant
Kids a few times,
and all the other
times we’ve been in a Covenant Group.
I have a mixed record as a
Covenant Group leader.
Some years I’ve done ok, and other years
I’ve bombed.
One year the group dwindled
and dwindled and then one night Allison
and I got ready, it
was at our house, and we waited and we waited—nobody came.
We said to each other: Date night!
No,
seriously, I thought, I’m a failure as a Covenant Group leader.
I’ve killed our Covenant Group. The church is going down hill.
And then one couple showed up
late.
And it was almost worse for me than having
nobody, because it seemed that
my failure was on
display. If they hadn’t come, nobody
would know.
But this is what
happened. The four of us sat at the
table, and we started to talk,
and the fragrance
of Christ filled the room and the dew of the Spirit fell
And things were talked about
that would have never been discussed in a bigger
group. And I could have easily missed it if I had
kept thinking that this was all
about me and about
numbers and participation.
Because it was subtle, it was
delicate. It only lasted for a short
time, but it was real.
All of you who’ve participated in life of
body could tell your own stories.
Does this mean that we are to
simply be passive recipients of the heavenly gift
of church
unity? Not at all.
No more than we are passive
in our reception of any spiritual gift.
Let’s consider now . . .
MP#3
The Responsibilities Of Church Unity
It comes from above, but there are things we
have to do to prepare for it.
1. Pray for the
unity of Christ Covenant
If unity does come from
above, if a gift of God and a work of the Spirit,
then it is
essential that we ask Him for it.
We’re not going to get it
anywhere else. He is the giver of this
wonderful gift.
Pray for your church.
Pray that on the Lord’s day, when we gather for worship,
that the fragrance
of Christ will fill this sanctuary. .
When visitors come, we want
them to sense the presence of the Lord Jesus.
2 Cor. 2:14 “God through us spreads the
fragrance of the knowledge of Christ.”
Pray that the dew of the Holy
Spirit will fall.
Pray for one another. Pray for the elders and deacons.
Pray for the covenant
children of this church, pray for our youth,
that they will grow
up knowing the Gospel and will commit their lives to Christ.
That the spiritual giants
and the babes in Christ will be refreshed.
Pray for yourself as a church
member. That you will
be an instrument of unity.
If you are out of sorts with
somebody in the church, pray that the Lord will
change your heart
toward him or her, because it is your heart that needs changing.
You have to recognize the
unity that the Lord has established.
Your fellow church members serve the same
God as you, they
are recipients of
the same grace, and
they have been saved for the same purpose—to glorify Christ.
Jesus said that if you bring
your gift to the altar and there remember that your
brother has
something against you, to leave your gift there, in front of the altar,
and first go and be
reconciled to your brother.
And the Apostle Paul said
that if there are divisions among you, and you take
Communion anyway, then you are partaking in an
unworthy manner,
and sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
Pray for unity and God will
answer. An old hymn says:
Brethren, we have met to worship And adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power, While we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit Of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray and holy manna Will be showered all around.
2. Enjoy the
unity of Christ Covenant
One of the greatest
responsibilities of church unity—one that clearly
pulses through this
psalm—is that you must enjoy it.
The fragrant oil and the
refreshing dew are to be enjoyed.
Our catechism asks the
question: What is the chief end of man?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to
enjoy Him forever.
Part of enjoying God means
enjoying his gifts.
And one of his gifts is the unity of the
body of Christ.
You enjoy it primarily by
participating in the life of the church.
That means participating in the weekly
rhythm of worship, prayer, and fellowship
that the Lord has
established. That’s one thing that
hasn’t changed from Old
to New
Testament. In both, God established a
rhythm of worship for his people.
And even Jesus himself, as a
boy and man, participated in that worship
through the synagogue
and temple.
It also means getting
involved in the life of the church so that you get to enjoy
the mutual
experiences of God’s faithfulness over the long haul.
So that there will be stories
you share with people in this church.
Remembrances of trials and
tears and answered prayers.
Remembrances of sweet
times.
There are times when this
will be particularly intense.
I’ll never forget our 10th
Anniversary Sunday, eight years ago.
Charles Garland preached on Isaiah 60, and
there were testimonies afterwards.
Those of you who were here on that date can
attest oil poured out, dew fell.
Some Christians find it easy
to enjoy the unity of the body.
For others it’s an acquired taste. I’m not sure why.
May have something to do
with personality or early church experience.
But this Psalm unequivocally
presents church unity as something worthy of the
highest
enjoyment. Like good wine, it’s worth
acquiring a taste for it,
if don’t have
already.
Look at the very last line of
Psalm”
For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
Life
forevermore. What’s that?
It’s heaven. Church unity is a
foretaste of heaven.
Listen to the way one preacher explains this
last line:
Heaven is nothing quite so
much as a good party. Assemble in your
imagination all the friends you enjoy being with most, the companions who evoke
the deepest joy, your most stimulating relationships, the most delightful
shared experiences, the people with whom you feel completely alive—that is a hint
of heaven, “for there God commands the blessing, ordains eternal life.”
CONC: As we come to the Lord’s Table, we’re going to sing a
famous hymn:
“Blest Be The Tie
That Binds.”
It was written in 1782 by
John Fawcett, a Baptist minister.
At age 26, he and his new
bride Mary accepted a call to a little congregation
in the village of Wainsgate, England.
After 7 years, he received a call to
a large,
influential church in London—Carter’s Lane Baptist.
And he accepted the
call. His last Sunday at Wainsgate, he preached
and then read a
poem he had written for the occasion.
“Blest Be Tie That Binds”
The next day the wagons were
loaded, and the church gathered for final farewells.
Mary said:
“John, I cannot bear to leave. I
know not how to go.”
John replied: “Nor can I either. We shall remain here with our people.”
So they unloaded the wagon
and stayed for 54 years.
Fawcett was a gifted preacher.
His sermons were published
and King George III enjoyed them so much
that he promised
anything to get Fawcett to a church in London.
Fawcett said: “I have lived among my own people, enjoying
their love.
God has blessed my labors among them, and I
need nothing which even
a king could
supply.”
Let’s pray for and enjoy that
blessing of unity.
Let’s proclaim with David
this Anniversary Sunday—
How good and pleasant it is when brothers
live together in unity.