Sermon Tone Analysis

How many of you have ever taken something for granted?

No show of hands necessary, as we all certainly are guilty.

We are riddled with that guilt constantly in our modern culture and our society of convenience.

We take people for granted, we take our cars for granted, we take our food for granted, we take our healthcare for granted, we take our freedoms for granted.

Perhaps a most absurd, yet applicable, example of this phenomenon is oxygen.

It is most certainly true that hardly one of us examines with any great detail the breath that we inhale at any given moment.

We rarely pause to give it a thought, and if we give it a single thought, we certainly don’t give it a second.

The oxygen with which we are provided on earth is totally essential to our survival, it is expected to be available and prevalent around us, it is taken advantage of constantly both consciously and subconsciously, yet hardly a moment is spent in consideration of it.

Truly, oxygen is one of those things of which it can be said, “we hardly consider the value of its presence until we experience the detriment its absence.”

“We hardly consider the value of its presence until we experience the detriment of its absence.”

Psalm 133 addresses another such thing, only this thing is not physically measurable and tangible like oxygen, rather it is transcendent and spiritually vital.

It is that of Brotherly Unity.

Psalm 133 is, in its short and sweet form, about unity.

Specifically the unity of those who dwell together as brothers, and by implication, sisters as well.

It is one of the Psalms of Ascent, or Psalms of Degrees, depending on what translation you are reading out of.

The Psalms of Ascent are believed to be either songs that would have been sung by those making pilgrimage up to Jerusalem, or those ascending the temple mount or temple steps themselves.

In either case, they were songs sung in preparation of the mind to worship.

In other words, the idea of unity would have been one of the major facets of the worshiper’s thinking as he journeyed closer to that appointed time.

This specific one is attributed to David.

And although David never saw complete unity during his reign, it seems most likely that this could have been written to commemorate or encourage the general sense of unity in Israel that was present at the beginning of his reign.

Later in Israel’s history as the uprising of war came, the nation split, and ultimately both sides were carried separately into captivities by pagan nations, this Psalm would become a lament and a distant memory.

While David may have originally sung it in praise to God for giving the blessing of unity, People of God throughout the ages have often and unfortunately seen it only as a wish of what could and should be, rather than a testimony to what is.

Because, after all, when it comes to unity, we hardly consider the value of its presence until we experience the detriment of its absence.

In itself Psalm 133 is a short but beautiful poem.

An English pastor of years gone by put it this way, “Nowhere has the nature of true unity—that unity which binds men together, not by artificial restraints, but as brethren of one heart—been more faithfully described, nowhere has it been so gracefully illustrated, as in this short ode.”

Unity, as it is used specifically here in the Hebrew, is pictured well in a large group acting as one.

As in a choir and orchestra all cooperating and functioning together as one body for a beautiful production, so it ought to be with the brothers and sisters in Christ.

I have been told, although I have not experienced it in my lifetime, that in our culture we have experienced a fundamental shift in the way that persons view themselves.

It seems to many who have lived much longer than most here, that the shift that has taken place is that of morphing out of a sense of greater responsibility to our fellow man, and morphed into a greater sense of the needs and desires of self.

Self-reliance, self-sufficiency, american individualism, selfishness, whatever you may coin it as.

When i say i have not experienced it, i mean that I have not experienced the shift.

Rather what I have experienced in being brought up in our modern culture is a pattern in which the greatest factor in any given decision or situation is the satisfaction and fulfilment of individual desires.

We see the destructive patterns that this mindset creates.

But of course, this is not a new beast.

Scripture does not speak blindly as if unity in brotherhood is the automatic position that human beings take, and that is why here in our text it is so highly extolled.

It is extolled exactly for the reason that it is not the default position.

Rather, really, it is the opposite of the default.

And for this reason, because we wrestle against spiritual wickedness, we find that same detriment trying to rear its ugly head in our congregations.

It is ugly enough when an individual in a secular context is self-seeking, but there can be nothing more heart-wrenching and painful to experience than when we find that pattern in church life - the pattern in which the greatest factor in any given decision or situation is the satisfaction and fulfilment of individual desires.

Psalm 133 extols unity because it is rare, it is miraculous, but it is so essential to the lives of brothers and sisters both in the days of temple worship in Jerusalem, and transcending now to Christ’s Church.

So together as we briefly view this short psalm, may we see that

Brotherly unity is a blessing from God that stems from Christ’s work of reconciliation.

In doing so, I want to point out

The Wonder of Unity

The Working of Unity

The Wellspring of Unity

1.

The Wonder of Unity - Vs. 1

Notice that the first word in the text of the Psalm itself is “Behold!” “Look Intently” “Pay attention to this.” If, in fact, David was writing this during the time when Israel was experiencing some level of peace and unity, he certainly was not taking that for granted.

Rather, he chooses here to place great emphasis on the presence of it.

To lengthen in paraphrase, we might say, “Pay attention to what God has blessed us with!” “Don’t be jaded and calloused to the experience of unity.”

And that should be our first warning in this regard as well.

If God has blessed us with the presence and sense of unity, don’t take it for granted!

Don’t imagine for a moment that it is the automatic outcome of human nature.

He extols the wonder of Unity in two ways.

He says it is good, and it is pleasant.

That unity is good refers to its inherent nature.

It is an inherently good thing to be at unity with your brothers and sisters.

It is Good because it is part of God’s design, part of His will of command for us, to dwell together and have the same mind.

Just as David extols unity as being inherently good, Paul URGES believers to maintain the unity of the Spirit.

In other words, although it is not something that is the default position of human nature, unity is something that is worked within us spiritually as reflecting the very nature of God.

S0, that unity is good refers to its inherent nature.

That unity is pleasant refers to its experiential nature.

It is an experientially pleasant thing to have unity as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Just as in any relationship, when there is strife and discord, there is no warm fuzzy feelings.

If i may be candid, there are times in my marriage when i may act out in the flesh, when i may respond carnally and show the ugly head of my indwelling sin.

In those moments, there is no enjoyment of the marital bond i have with Lizzy.

The bond is still there contractually, but in the moment i have given in to the sin of strife or resentment, I have willfully traded the blessing of a peaceful bond of unity for the temporary satisfaction of wielding the power of my selfishness.

Listen to how Paul talks about unity in Romans 15.

To paraphrase, Paul is saying, “My prayer is that God will bless you with harmony in Christ so that you can all live the life of glorifying God together.”

You can hear the same tone that David has in Psalm 133.

How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity!

Although this is not explicit in the text, it certainly is implicit.

If David says how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity, then we may safely imply the opposite is true.

That is to say,

“How evil and unpalatable it is when brothers dwell in discord.”

And this is not pastor Aaron speaking, but listen to Peter in 1 Peter 3.

While encouraging unity in the lives of the believers, he brings the warning of Psalm 34 to bear on those who seek to do the opposite.

The reason Unity is a wonder is because it is good, yes, and it is pleasant, yes, but it is miraculous.

And we see that in the next verses.

2. The Working of Unity - Vs. 2-3a

After extolling the wonder of unity, David then gives two visual illustrations that would have been vivid pictures in the minds of his audience.

We in 2019 need a bit of an imagination to see the imagery, but it really is not difficult.

The first picture he gives is that of the anointing oil running down the head of the high priest, Aaron.

The Oil that moses used to anoint Aaron would have been made especially for that purpose, and it was done according to God’s design.

It was a fragrant ointment, and it would have been poured so profusely upon the head of Aaron that it would run down and drip from his beard on to the collar of his robe.

Anointing was done at God’s direction, in his way, and was a symbol of His authority.

The blessing of anointing of Aaron was a work of God, and such it is with unity.

The second picture he gives is that of the dew of mount Hermon.

Mount Hermon is a 9,000 foot peak north of Israel, it is visible for over 100 miles in several directions, and it is known for its profuse precipitation.

Perhaps David often gazed into the distance at mount Hermon.

He thought of the rainfall there, the heavy dew as a blessing from heaven, and how that water eventually flowed down into Israel in the Jordan River.

The Dew that descends on Mount Hermon and the Mountains of Zion was seen as a direct blessing of life from God himself.

It breeds life, productivity, and success in an agricultural sense.

So it is with unity.

It is a blessing that flows directly from God, and in Christ’s church it breeds life, productivity, and success.

Roger Ellsworth puts it this way,

“A divided church is always a distracted church.

The dissension becomes the focal point.

But unity allows the church to focus on its high task and glorious privilege of preaching the gospel.”

- Roger Ellsworth