Unity
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Good and Pleasant
Good and Pleasant
(Psalm 133)
133 A SONG OF ASCENTS. OF DAVID.
1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! 2 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! 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
Unity, Is it Nice or Necessary? Is it something we work to gain or something that has been given to us? Where does it come from? What does it do? What hinders it? In this passage we have a look at biblical unity, in song form.
Being a song of ascent, remember that this is pertaining to the annual pilgrimage to the temple. Now imagine the crowd is growing as they come closer to Jerusalem. We can imagine going to a sports event or concert or to hear a certain speaker and as you get closer to the venue you begin to identify with the crowd. You are all here for the same reasons with the same goals. You are all “fans”. Now when you left home, people would look at you funny for your team face paint, or the big foam finger, or your Taylor swift T shirt. But as you get closer to the venue, you see more and more people like you. And you are less out of place because you identify with these weirdos. I think that’s what is happening here as they draw closer to Jerusalem. What they would have noticed is that “we are all united in our dedication to go worship God.” we are all DEDICATED to God.
Biblical Unity is… A characteristic that marks us as different from the world, as God’s people, as a group of people who have a common relationship with God. This shows itself in a commitment to each other and the Gospel, mutual care for each other, mutual goals and desires among the believing community. And what we are first “united” in Is actually a pretty humbling thing. We are united in our inabilities to save ourselves from ourselves. We are united in our neediness. Church is not a club but if you wanted to borrow that framework for the sake of illustration we would be “the helpless sinners club”, or “hypocrites anonymous”, Or the “hopeless without Christ” club. Because we are first all unified in our sinfulness. That is our equality. Col 1: 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing :evil deeds,.
We are all united in our equal sinfulness, But what makes the church so different is that we are then unified in our salvation. We have a common lostness but those in here who have come to Christ have a common rescue. Colossians 1:12–14 (ESV) — 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Without the common thread of “You need Jesus and I do too”, this is a very worthless institution.
But think for a minute of the seriousness of this relationship. Or at least what should be a serious foundation. Imagine people drowning and dying on a stormy sea, being picked up by the coast guard together, being rescued, warmed, fed, and protected together. Those people would have things in common that they wouldn’t have in common with even close friends and family. they would have intimate knowledge of the terror and hopelessness of unavoidable death, as well as the joy and relief of being saved from certain death and given life. That is the ultimate foundation for Christian unity that the rest of the world will never get until they too see themselves as hopelessly lost apart from Christ. That is what you should have with other Christians. Not, similar tastes or backgrounds or status, or politics or generation. The experience of salvation in Christ is our common ground. and that makes us closer than flesh and blood. Now here is the pointed question I have for you behind all of that. Are you just in a club or are you experiencing unity with others who have found Christ out of lostness? Your answer to that question, will reveal the depth of, or the lack of a walk with Christ. Because unity with other believers is part of the package.
This is important enough to us that we have taken steps to facilitate fellowship centered around Christ. We have multiple small groups every week. We have a robust sunday school class. There are people getting together in each-others homes all of the time. I would strongly urge you to jump in and find out where you truly stand. This communion or fellowship is a mark of the Christian. That is why hospitality, which is mostly dead in our culture, is so important to Christianity.
Unity is Good, Pleasant, and Refreshing V 1,3
Unity is Good, Pleasant, and Refreshing V 1,3
Good vs pleasant. In Hebrew literature we find these types of dual descriptions everywhere, they paint a clearer, more complex picture for us. The words Good and pleasant seem similar enough but are just different enough that we should stop and look.
Good denotes what is healthy and what you need, what is NECESSARY (vitamins vegetables etc.) Pleasant denotes what is enjoyable. (dessert)
“Good” reminds me of the story of the hit and miss church attender. Sitting with the pastor around the fire he explains how he just doesn’t need that kind of stuff every week. The pastor takes a stick and teases an ember out of the fire and lets it sit there. He asks “what is going to happen to this ember?” the man says, “it’s going to die out”… “why?” asks the pastor. “because it is out of the heat of the rest of the embers.” That is exactly what happens to the Christian who fails to build relationships, and fellowship with other believers. Your heat for the things of the Lord will grow cold.
Hebrews 10:24–25 “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
Neglecting Christian Unity, is the opposite of encourage. It is in contrast with love and good works, and in this verse it is shown that neglecting to meet with fellow believers disregards the gravity of God’s judgement. So saying that “I don’t need to exercise unity in the Church of god with other believers”. It’s like saying, “God isn’t real, and his judgement isn’t coming.” Failing to build spiritual relationships in the local church is to be unloved and unloving, uncared for, and uncaring, discouraged and complacent. Fellowship with God is either the most vital thing in the world or the biggest lie ever, don’t be so dishonest as to ride the fence on that.
Christian fellowship is healthy and necessary for personal spiritual growth.
Pleasant actually has more weight behind it to me. It should be even more convicting than “good” is. What is good for us is not always pleasant and what is pleasant is not always good for us. But this psalm shows us where the two meet. Usually we feel guilty about not getting what we need. “I’ll eat my vegetables because I know I need them.” Or “I’ll go to church because I know I should.” That is common, normal thinking. What we should be rebuked by is the fact that we do not find it pleasant. It’s a necessary chore. But for MANY people that’s all it is. It’s not this kind of pleasant, and that means that it is not seen as vital either. V 3 actually fills out this idea for us. Psalm 133:3 “It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion!” If you want to know how your fellowship with other believers should feel then think of this… How pleasant a cold glass of tea is on a hot day. How pleasant deep sleep is after a hard day. How pleasant it is to go out for a meal with your spouse. The reason this is convicting is because we don’t see our fellowship as a refreshing necessity, like fresh dew on a mountain. We’ll go find a friend that we can vent and gossip to. Or we’ll go find some way to make us feel better about ourselves. Rather than develop a relationship with other Christians that point us back to the cross, relationships that we find as refreshing as a cold drink on a hot day, or rest when you’re tired. You can have that in the church, with other Christians. And as we go on in the passage we see that it is a Luxury.
Unity is Luxurious V 2
Unity is Luxurious V 2
(Read V2) Oil on the high priest.
English Standard Version Chapter 30
30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. 31 And you shall say to the people of Israel, ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. 32 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. 33 Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’ ”
The imagery is of the high priest being anointed by the oil set apart, HOLY oil to be used only in the temple and for the priests. ONLY to be used on the ones who can go before God for the people of God. That is the metaphor for Godly Unity. We should hear the Psalmist saying, “the unity and fellowship that you enjoy is not mundane, or normal, it is special. It is good (necessary), it is pleasant (enjoyable), it is luxurious (rare). It is Holy, set apart. You ever think about what goes on here with just a bunch of unimpressive, run of the mill people, as holy? I typically don’t. That’s one of the curses of our culture is that we are absolutely un-phased by the Holy. We are ignorant infants when it comes to spiritual things. We will grasp at myths and feelings that are loosely spiritual. But then ignore the little deficiencies, the malnourishment, that picks a life apart. All the while neglecting the Holy, luxurious, refreshing, nourishing unity that is ours in the church. We don’t hold our unity as believers high enough. We do not realize that these simple little relationships that are built, just because we have each come to Christ, are in fact a part of God’s Holy work on the earth.
Think about God’s purpose on earth, like what specifically is he doing to glorify himself? His purpose is to bring together and reconcile to himself the whole of creation. This desire for unity is a reflection of the unity within the Godhead; it is expressed in marriage, and demonstrated in the fellowship of the church. Just normal people, who have been changed by the gospel.
If the fellowship of believers is described as so Holy here, then how is it to be treated??
Revered: You should see it as something special. Not just another relationship. That means that your brothers and sisters in Christ get preference.
Romans 12:10 “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”
Many times that is translated as “preferring one another.” This means that the very first place that you should reflect the love and humility of Christ, is toward each-other. And then that, works its way out into the world. But the first benefactors of the fruit of the Spirit in you, are other believers.
John 13:34–35 (ESV) — 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Protected: You should work to keep this unity from being damaged. So then, what hinders this unity?
James 4:1–2 (ESV) — 1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.
This unity is threatened by shallow, materialistic, earthly desires that give no eternal satisfaction anyway. Simply put, this unity is threatened by a worldly mindset. The Godly mindset says that my satisfaction is only found in Christ, the earthly mindset says “I want and I will get.” This mindset starts to die when a person accepts Christ as their saviour. The same force that shows you your lostness is the same force that led you to Christ is the same force that kills the sin in you. It only happens to regenerate believers. Which is why it is....
Reserved: This unity is exclusive. Like the oil.
It’s exclusive, we don’t like the sound of that but the only group of people that will see this unity as "good and pleasant” anyway are those who have been lost and now found. That’s the special VIP class of sinner that Godly fellowship is reserved for. It is reserved for those that would take the journey to the temple, those who are dedicated enough to have their lives changed by it and change their lives because of it. That’s who this is for. And that’s not just anyone.
But I can’t help but think more into the imagery here. Something expensive is to be used sparingly. But here the imagery is drenching. So the unity that you find with fellow believers is, refreshing, pleasant, nourishing, luxurious, and abundant.
Unity is a Blessing, Not an Accomplishment V 3b
Unity is a Blessing, Not an Accomplishment V 3b
This unity is a work of Christ in us.
“Unity isn’t the result of preaching on unity; it’s the result of people adoring and emulating Jesus.” Talk about it until you are blue in the face but until it is an authentic gospel lifestyle, then its just empty morality.
This all starts as a work of Jesus. Salvation is the result of the spirit of God revealing the Son of God to someone.
What we accomplish is the opposite of unity. Isaiah 59:2 “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”
Remember Cain? “am I my brother’s keeper?” We will drop someone as soon as their passions and desires hinder our passions and desires.
What God does, is reconciliation. God puts together! Remember the illustration of the birds? That is what God does.
2 Corinthians 5:18–19 “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
Unity in the church is bigger than any other commonality you have with anyone. It is an image of the gospel. We are separated from God because of our sin… That same tendency to sin, puts us at odds with others. But the work of God is to take what is broken and make it new. We are Unified in the fact that we each saw ourselves as sinful and broken before God and went to Christ to get fixed. And what Christ did to fix us was to be ultimately broken in our place. The church is made up of those people. That means that the conclusions you draw about eachother are different. There is no room for “they think they’re better.” We are here on account of our brokenness. And the work that God has done in each of us who have come to know him in salvation, he is now doing in us corporately. Joining together in common fellowship and dedication to our saviour. I will encourage you, wade out into it. And grow and mature together as friends yes, but not just friends who happen to attend the same religious structure, but friends who are commonly dedicated to the worship of our saviour.