Psalm 133
1 How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
This has such a pleasant ring to it, such a sweet sound. What a lovely psalm. Brothers loving each other, caring for each other. Brothers like Cain and Able. Oops! How about Jacob and Esau? Oops again. Joseph and his brothers? Not unless you call being sold into slavery an example of unity. David and his brothers who thought he was a little runt and didn’t belong on the battlefield?
Brothers living together in unity. Fighting and squabbling as children, fighting over family inheritances as adults, jealous about which parent loves which child more.
Well, but that’s brothers in a family. How about Christian brothers who argue about the color of carpet in the sanctuary or the nuances of obscure doctrine or the personality of the pastor and leave to start a new church. How can we talk about Christian unity when there are more denominations than any of us can remember and when each week there is another church somewhere splitting off to form a new church?
Just this week I received an email from the former associate pastor at my church in New Jersey. He left about six months before I came here to be pastor of a new Baptist church in Baltimore, Maryland in the Eastern United States. He was looking for a name for the church since they are leaving their Southern Baptist Denomination because of some theological issue he did not specify. I suggested One Way – Our Way Church and told him it bothers me to see churches continually splitting off. What testimony do all these splits present to the world of unity in the Body of Christ?
Psalm 133 is the 14th of 15 Psalms of Ascent that Hebrew pilgrims chanted and sang as they made their way up to Jerusalem for one of the three annual worship festivals. As they approached Jerusalem, this psalm reminded them that brothers living together in unity was a blessing to be valued.
1 How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
1 How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
When the Hebrew pilgrims heard these words, who did they have in mind? Consider the Scriptures available to the Hebrew pilgrims chanting or singing this psalm.
Deuteronomy 15:3 speaks about the requirement to cancel debts at the end of every seven years. There is one exception to this.
3 You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you.
Your brother includes all in Israel, even those unable to repay a debt.
Deuteronomy 15:12 speaks about a fellow Hebrew who sells himself or herself to you. But in the seventh year, that brother or sister must go free and must be supplied liberally with sheep and goats, wheat and wine.
Your brother includes all Israel, those unable to repay a debt and even those who are your slaves.
Deuteronomy 25:3 talks about a man who is determined to be guilty of an offence. The man is to be flogged in the presence of the one he wronged according to the severity of his offence,
3 but he must not give him more than forty lashes. If he is flogged more than that, your brother will be degraded in your eyes.
Your brother includes all Israel. Not just the ones who you invite over for tea and parties, but even those who owe you money and are not able to repay. Even those who are your slaves and even those who commit an offense against you. All Israel is your brother, including deadbeats, slaves and criminals.
This is the first lesson of this psalm for us. When you become a Christian, you become part of the family of God with all those wonderful Christians you love meeting with and also all those Christians you try to avoid as much as possible. In American politics, feelings about our leaders can run very strong. But to the dismay of many American Christians, I suspect we will spend eternity with Bill Clinton and Rev. Jesse Jackson. To the dismay of other Christians, we will likely also spend eternity with Jerry Falwell and Oral Roberts and maybe even Benny Hin. I don’t have access to the Book of Life. I don’t know who is and who is not a child of God. Only God knows that. But I think we are often more strict with our requirements of what is needed to be a child in the family of God than God is. I believe that if we are to err on one side or another, we ought to err on the side of accepting people into our fellowship who will not make it into the Book of Life than exclude those who will be with us in eternity.
But I digress. The point is that we are connected whether we like it or not. In families, we talk about blood relatives. Mothers and fathers, our siblings, our children and grandchildren, all these are connected by blood and genes. We distinguish between blood relatives and those who marry our children or siblings. We cannot cut ourselves off from our blood relatives because we are connected by the DNA that passes along through the family.
In the same way, we cannot cut ourselves off from our Christian brothers and sisters because of our blood connection. We are all adopted into the same family because of the blood of Christ shed for us. We can decide not to go to church but that does not sever our connection with those who go to church anymore than declining to go to a family reunion means I am not a member of that family.
The question is not “Am I going to be part of the community of Christians,” but “How am I going to live in this community of Christians?”
How am I going to live in this community of Christians, some of whom are a delight to be with and others who irritate me, annoy me, bore me, and bother me. There are those who choose not to associate with the community, but they are connected whether they like it or not.
The writer of Hebrews which will be our focus for preaching in the next couple months, understood the need for community. To the struggling believers who received this letter came these words:
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
The first lesson of this psalm is that we are connected to the fellowship of Christian believers, to all Christian believers, even those we dislike and even those we disagree with politically and even sometimes theologically.
We declare this to be true each week when we gather for worship. We come to our Sunday morning worship service with people who dress differently, have different cultural values, who talk with strange accents, who act differently in worship. Some people raise their hands in worship, others look strangely at those who raise their hands wondering what exercise class they have mistakenly wandered into. Sometimes the service can make us uncomfortable because of the style of worship. Some people want more hymns and others think we don’t sing enough praise choruses. Some people long for a more structured liturgy and others think that what we have is too structured and want more spontaneity.
But each Sunday when we step in this sanctuary to worship God, we make a declaration with our presence that we are united by the blood of Jesus and are one family. We choose to live together in community with all our differences to proclaim the truth of this psalm, “How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along.”
Psalm 133 uses two images to describe the blessing of a community of believers who get along.
The first image describes community as
precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
This picture is taken from Exodus 29 which describes the process of ordination for Aaron and other priests. After describing the sacrifice to be made and the garments to be worn, God instructed
7 Take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head.
The oil is to be poured on the head, but it cannot be contained. It is precious, costly, sweetly perfumed oil and it is poured on the head generously so it flows down on the beard and onto the collar of the robe of the priest.
When brother and sisters live together in unity, the community that results spreads out and brings others into its sweetness.
The second image is that of dew on Mt. Hermon.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
Mt. Hermon is the tallest mountain in that part of the world. 9,000 feet or 2700 meters high. At those heights, the morning dew will drench you if you sleep outside in a sleeping bag whereas the dew falling on Mt. Zion is relatively light. But this image pictures that drenching dew of Mt. Hermon falling on Mt. Zion, far greater morning refreshment than expected.
When brothers and sisters live together in unity, the blessing is far greater than can be expected.
Both these images reveal the generosity of God’s blessing on the obedience of his children when they live together in unity.
When I was in college and seminary, I was part of a large fellowship at Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts in the northeast US. There were six hundred college and graduate student aged people in our group. In retrospect, we were part of the revival in the US that brought 7 to 8 million people to Christ in the late 60s and early 70s. We had a rich, alive fellowship and we discovered that one of the most effective forms of evangelism was to have new people attend our fellowship meetings. The richness and generosity of God’s blessing in our group flowed down to those who visited with us and drew them into our fellowship.
Isn’t this what Jesus prayed for in his high priestly prayer in John 17.
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. 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.
This is the second lesson of this psalm. Our unity is used by God to draw those who are not part of the community of believers into the family of God. Jesus prayed for us that we would be brought to complete unity so the world would know God sent Jesus into the world and so the world would know they are loved by God even as Jesus experienced God’s love.
Psalm 133 teaches us that whether we like it or not, as Christians, we are all part of the community of believers – united by the blood of Christ shed for us.
Psalm 133 teaches us that when we are united in our community, the blessing that results is generous, overflowing and refreshing to all around us.
The third lesson of Psalm 133 is that true unity, like all good gifts, comes from above.
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
says James in his letter and that is a theme repeated three times in this short psalm. It is lost a bit in translation, but in the Hebrew it is repeated three times, oil descending on the beard, descending on Aaron’s beard, dew descending on Mount Zion.
Descending, descending, descending.
There have been continual attempts in history to create community. One such experiment was the Communist revolution in China just after WWII. I’m reading a book titled Wild Swans that is the story of three women, grandmother, mother and daughter – who is the author of this wonderful book. The revolution was a relief at first. There was an insistence that the privileged would not have a better life than the peasants. So land was divided equally. A discipline was exerted that did not allow the Communist soldiers to rape and pillage the people as had the Japanese and the soldiers of the Chiang Kai-shek.. Their leadership was a blessing.
But then the rules that governed behavior became oppressive rather than a blessing. The author’s mother suffered hardships during her pregnancies because her husband had to make sure not to allow her privileges denied to peasant women. The rules were meant to enforce unity but they came from without rather from within and forced people apart rather than draw them together in true unity. Everyone paid so much attention to the rules put in force to unify the people that love and kindness were not permitted.
The rules meant to unify began to oppress and divided people.
This is always the case. In the 60’s in the spirit of Woodstock and the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, many communities were created that attempted to create utopian communities with everyone loving everyone and everyone happy. But these did not last. Dissension and disillusionment resulted from these utopian communities and they faded away, a failed experiment.
True unity is not often experienced, but when it is experienced, it is bestowed rather than contrived, a blessing far more than an achievement. It is something given to us rather than something we can grasp or fabricate. We cannot with our efforts alone create unity. Unity is something that is given to us by God.
What brought unity to the disciples in Acts? This period is a highlight in church history with the church acting in power and with a unity not often seen since then. We read in Acts 2 and 4
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.
What allowed the early Christians to experience such unity and power in their lives? In Acts 1 we discover that when the believers returned to Jerusalem after Jesus ascended to heaven
14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
For forty days they devoted themselves to prayer and it is this that led to God’s blessing on them. A unity that flowed down on them like oil on Aaron’s beard and the dew of Mount Hermon on Mount Zion. They put their focus on God. They sought God with all their heart, mind and soul. They worshiped, they prayed and what resulted was
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind.
To the extent that we at RPF have experienced unity in our community, it is because of the prayers lifted up by the members of this community.
In our communion service this morning we have departed from our practice and for our bread we do not have just the hops you buy in the hanutes. We have four different kinds of bread this morning as a reminder of the diversity in our community. We come from different continents, different countries, different races. We also have different personalities. Even if we come from the same continent, country and race, we are different and need the oil and dew of God to bring us together, to enable us to experience true unity.
As you come forward this morning, look around at those sharing this Lord’s Supper with you. These are your brothers and sisters. Because of Christ’s blood shed for you, you are unable to separate yourself from them. As you look around, do not ask if you are a part of this community, ask how you are going to live in this community.
Psalm 133 concludes with a warning.
1 How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
The Hebrew pilgrims making their way up to Jerusalem were well aware of what happened in Jerusalem to the writer of this Psalm and to his kingdom. This is a psalm of David and there is irony in this last line because on Mt. Zion was available the source of unity that this psalm praises. But because of King David’s actions, discord was sown in his own house and spread throughout his kingdom, leading to the division of his kingdom.
1 How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
But there is no guarantee. If we decide to focus on the people in our community we do not like, we will not experience unity. If we decide to focus on the personalities that upset us, we will not experience unity.
If we decide to seek our Lord in prayer — not just individual prayer in our homes — but corporate prayer, praying with each other for ourselves and for the church, then the possibility exists that we will be blessed with unity, flowing down from above, generously spilling out to draw others into our fellowship.
Many who come to our church are impressed with the love they experience and many who come to this church for the two or three years they are in Rabat leave impressed with the love they experienced But this is not the universal reaction. Some come to church and feel there are cliques. Some visit us and do not feel that anybody reached out to them and cared for them.
God has blessed us but we need more of his generous blessing that will flow down from above.
1 How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
Let us seek God and ask for his blessing on us.
