Sermon Tone Analysis
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Good Unity
There’s this little Psalm that has at times perplexed me.
, “A Song of Ascents.
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 forevermore.”
I read it and then I came to the part about oil coming down the head, onto the beard, then onto the robes of a priest, and there they lost me.
It just sounded like a sticky, oily, mess.
That is until recently.
I’ve recently fallen in love with old school shaving.
I have started using double edged razors, and straight razors.
They are ridiculously sharp.
There has been a pretty steep learning curve.
And I like to say, one little mistake stays all week.
So if you see me with random cuts on my head and face, it’s not because of domestic violence, and I haven’t been getting in fights.
It’s me trying to figure out how to learn to shave again.
But in the process, I’m finding it’s something that I love to do.
Before my shower, I take a little metal bowl, and I fill it with hot water, and soak a badger hair brush in it.
When I get out of the shower, I empty the bowl, shake off the water from the brush, and I begin to rub the brush with shaving soap.
I then take that brush, with soap all over it, and swirl it around the metal bowl.
As I swirl it around, a thick warm lather builds.
Kind of like whipped cream cream, but warmer.
Once I have a good amount of lather in the bowl and on the brush, I apply it to my head and face.
The warm prickliness of the brush and soap feel like a nice head message, as it opens the pores on my head and face.
Then I proceed to shave my head and face.
The last thing I do, is I take a few drops of beard oil and rub it through my beard.
The result is that not only do I have a smooth shave, but I’ve had a nice relaxing experience.
Amanda jokes that it takes loner for me to prepare my bald head, then it does for her to style her actual hair.
But it’s become one of my favorite times of the day.
In the same way that my shaving ritual seems high maintenance and strange, when the Psalmist talked about oil on the head and beard, it probably sounds weird.
But
3rd Try
There’s this Psalm that seems strange to us, .
“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 forevermore.”
As I read that, perhaps the idea of oil on the head, running down onto a beard, then onto the collar of a man’s robes just sounds sticky and gross.
That Psalm, isn’t a lesson on beard care, nor is it a passage about the yearly average rainfall of Mount Hermon.
It’s a passage talking about unity among brothers and how it’s a good thing.
It’s called a Song of Ascent.
It would be sung by the Jews as they made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
They were songs of ascent because they were ascending to Jerusalem, going uphill.
It was a city on a hill.
Once a year, all the men of Israel, were required to leave their families and travel to the center of the nation to worship God.
As far as national security goes, this is dangerous.
Who’s going to defend the borders?
Yet, their travel was a demonstration that they trusted God, since He had promised to not let their enemies even desire their land.
And as they traveled, they’d sing these songs, these songs of ascent.
Though not actual brothers, in their allegiance to God they were closer to brothers.
To leave your family behind:
To leave the borders unguarded.
This is not something easily understood.
In the same way, unity among Christians, the Church, and the bond that we have is a confusing thought to the world around us as well.
It’s almost as foreign to people as hearing about oil dripping off a man’s beard and onto his clothes and this being a good thing.
This unity is a good thing, it’s a blessing.
This unity, this fellowship is why Paul would be willing to say that though he’s in jail, its good, because it benefits the church.
This unity is what caused Philippi to send the messenger, Epaphroditus, over 700 miles to deliver supplies and money to a man named Paul, who was under arrest in Rome.
This unity is what would cause the Philippian Christians and other Macedonian Christians, out of poverty, to send money to the Jerusalem Christians, whom they’d never met.
And this unity, this fellowship, is why 12 of us will be traveling to the Czech Republic later this week to a church we’ve never been to, and no little about.
Today’s sermon is one that I will preach again in 2 weeks when we are in the town of Kromeriz, in the Czech Republic.
2 churches, hearing the same message.
Though we are separated by thousands of miles, language, and history, the same spiritual truths ring loud to our hearts and ears.
Let’s read a bit more about this fellowship, this unity in our final verses from Philippians.
Please open your Bibles to .
Not only is this unity a good thing, but it’s required, it’s commanded.
Paul begins this conclusion with a command, “Greet every saint ...”
Intro
Please open your Bibles to
Read Philippians 4:21-23.
Today’s sermon is one that I look forward to preaching today … and again in a couple weeks.
I’m going to preach it to us here at Southwest Christian Church.
This Thursday, 12 of us make our journey to the Czech Republic.
And there in the town of Kromeriz, I will preach it again to the saints that are there.
2 churches hearing the same message.
What a wonderful thing to know that even though we are separated by thousands of miles, we share in something spectacular together.
And so we greet one another in Christ Jesus.
Good Unity
We come to the end of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.
He loves them.
They love him.
And he begins his conclusion with a command.
A final request of sorts.
And that final request, the final command is greet every saint in Christ Jesus.
It’s a command to greet one another.
When we see the word greet we think of a greeting.
“Hi”
“How are you?”
The word is much stronger than that.
This greeting is an embrace.
It’s to hold someone close.
describes the sweetness of this greeting by saying:
“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 forevermore.”
Some of the language might be lost on us.
The Psalmist comments on how good unity is:
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