That Precious Unity #2

What a beautiful picture of what unity does. The unity among brothers is like that which refreshes the people of God and helps them to reach their fruitfulness, helps them to accomplish what God wants them to do. This is the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, Founding Pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello, I'm Bill Wright. Today, Don brings our series called The Priority of Unity to a close with part two of a message that explains how being a more effective witness for the Lord begins at the communion table. Right now, let's join our teacher as he continues teaching God's people God's Word on the Truth Pulpit. This is part two of a message called That Precious Unity.

Coming back to verse two. This is at the heart of true worship. The unity among brothers is at the heart of genuine true worship that is good and pleasant, not only horizontally but vertically. This is what pleases God.

This is what pleases God. And so, the rare oil and the unique event represent the special presence and blessing of God. Now, what he's saying here is as the oil is poured onto Aaron's head, the oil would not just stay in a puddle on the crown of his head.

It would come down. It would drain down, as it were, and spread down his beard and start to drip upon his priestly garments, indicating that Aaron was being consecrated in his entirety. Not just his head, but it spread down onto his body as well.

And so, the picture here is this. The oil didn't simply stay on his head, it spread down in the same way. This kind of spiritual unity spreads beyond its initial sphere. It spreads, this unity spreads and produces a fragrant blessing upon the people of God. This unity is designed to be that which gives a sweet spiritual aroma to the entire act of worship. Remember, the oil, the literal anointing oil was precious and it was costly. What does that say then about unity among the people of God? What does that say about that spiritual dynamic among the people of God? It says this, the oil, the literal anointing oil, exquisite and precious.

Unity in like manner, exquisite and precious, not to be violated, not to be polluted, but to be kept pure and precious in the sight of God so that the blessing would spread to the people of God as well. The anointing started with Aaron, but as he exercised his priestly role, his ministry spread to benefit the people. It carried its blessing to the others as well. And on his breastplate were the 12 precious stones that were engraved with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. As that oil came down, it splashed onto the 12 and the stones which represented the 12 tribes were receiving the symbol of the blessing of the anointing. And so that blessing carried to others and wasn't just for Aaron. The oil symbolized the unity of the nation in worship under their consecrated priest. And now here's what we need to see.

I'm laboring to make this point, and it's a point worth laboring to make. As the oil set Aaron apart for his ministry, beloved, the unity of worshipers consecrated the nation unto God. Their unity together set apart their worship as something that was precious and exquisite as they gathered together and offered their worship up to God.

Precious picture and one that carries over the spiritual significance of unity carries forth into New Testament worship today, as again we'll see a little bit later. Now, look there again at verse 2. It's striking, the phrase coming down. Three short verses, and this phrase coming down occurs three times in the last two verses. It's like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard. Coming down upon the edge of his robes. Then in verse 3, with a different simile being used, coming down upon the mountains of Zion. It's coming down, it's coming down, it's coming down. And he's talking about more than simply gravity bringing the oil down from Aaron's head. It's about so much more than gravity.

Coming down does this. It pictures the blessing coming down from God himself. This is God sending down the blessing coming down from God upon his people. As the oil came down Aaron, so the blessing of unity is coming down as a blessing from God above upon his people. Stated three times in order to present the emphasis of it. It reminds me of perhaps a more familiar text from the book of James in the Old Testament.

You don't need to turn there, I'll just read it briefly. James chapter 1 verse 17, where it says, Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. Every good thing given is coming down. A picture of God in heaven sending his blessings and they're coming down in order to be a blessing to his people.

And so with this understated language, you might say, if I can say it's an emphatic point being made in an understated way, that almost seems contradictory in a picturesque way. He is picturing the blessing coming down from God, that unity, watch this, unity is a gift to the people of God from him. It comes down from God.

It's not something that we can manufacture on our own. It's something that comes down from God. So it says there in verse 2, coming down upon the beard, coming down upon the edge of his robe, the picture is this. Aaron's lengthy beard would reach to his priestly robe, showing that the oil was abundant. There was enough to flow down his beard and to reach his robe. The edge of his robe that is described there at the end of verse 2 isn't referring to the bottom hem of his garment, but rather to the collar of the priestly garment, not the bottom hem near the floor.

So the oil would run down from his head to his beard and onto the upper edge of his priestly garment. The whole picture here is that unity in worship is a precious gift that has come down from God himself. Central to the act of worship itself. Now, as he goes on in Psalm 133, he moves on to a second comparison to show how good this unity is there in verse 3.

And again, it's an explanation that needs some explanation in our day, at least on this side of the ocean. Look at it there in verse 3 with me. It is like the dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, life forever. He's referring to a couple of different mountain peaks over in the lands of Israel. Mount Hermon was the highest and northernmost point in all of Israel. Those who know these things say that it stands over 9,000 feet. The peak stands over 9,000 feet above sea level compared to Mount Zion further south, which is less than 3,000 feet above sea level.

So you have a high point and a lower point. And Mount Hermon is known for its moisture. There is heavy dew that comes upon it that makes it a lush area.

It's green. It's lush. There's agriculture there, especially compared to the dry regions around Jerusalem. And so the summer crops that are planted up there depend on that heavy dew in order to reach maturity. The moisture is crucial to the successful agriculture.

It's important for the refreshment of the crops in order that they might flourish and become all that they could be in their fruitfulness. What a beautiful picture of what unity does. The unity among brothers is like that which refreshes the people of God and helps them to reach their fruitfulness, helps them to accomplish what God wants them to do. The literal moisture on the mountain peak was God's gift to a dry land.

And so just as the dew fell on the head to the beard to the garment, so the dew comes down from God falling on the higher mountain and picturing it as extending to the lower peaks as well. The blessing wasn't simply for the highest peak, but also would spread to the lowest. And thus, beloved, and here's where this just becomes so crucial to us and involves every one of us, involves everyone that names the name of Truth Community Church as their home church, and certainly everyone that is a member of Truth Community Church. When a worshiping body experiences unity, everyone benefits from it. Everyone benefits from unity.

When any one person violates that unity, everyone suffers for it. And this unity, as we have already seen, is something precious in the sight of God, something that he gives to his people that comes down from God in order to be a blessing to his people. And so I just don't know how else to, what else I can say to help us all collectively understand what a blessing we have in the unity of the people of God, and what a responsibility we have to maintain it and to protect it, and how high and how great is the responsibility and how deep the sin of someone who would violate it. These are great and lofty manner. Great and lofty matters. Unity is the gift of God to the worshiping community. And beloved, those of you that come from, perhaps you're here alone, you come from difficult family situations, or you have difficulties within your home life, difficulties at work, difficulties at school, just the conflict of all of that, and just the grind of all of that, of a demanding boss or an incompetent boss or, you know, disgruntled employees, all of that. Isn't it a wonderful thing to be able to step out of that and come together with the body of Christ and experience the sweetness of unity, to have that place of refuge where you can come with like-minded believers who love you and accept you, who share a like-precious faith together with you?

Isn't that refreshing to have? Well, listen. Scripture calls us to recognize that as a blessing that God gives to us, to give him thanks for it and to protect it, and to not let petty grudges, petty little injuries grow into resentment that causes you to resent or to inject conflict into the body of Christ.

No, no, no, no, no. It's not even about us individually. This is about a gift from God to his people that we are responsible to receive, to protect, to cultivate, to deepen, and to treat as precious. Now, Zion there is, in verse three, is a poetic reference to the city of Jerusalem. And there at the end of verse three, with the poetic reference to Jerusalem there, this is just such a great psalm. He says, for there the Lord commanded the blessing. There, meaning there at Zion, there at Jerusalem, God commanded the blessing to take place. It was there in Jerusalem that God made his salvation known. It was there where God had the temple built. It was there where God manifested his presence. It was there in Jerusalem where the twelve tribes gathered together to celebrate worship in their national feasts.

It was there. It was all centered in Jerusalem. It was at Jerusalem where God made himself known. So this geographic location in the Old Testament symbolized the great blessing of God that is being celebrated in this psalm. Now, he makes himself known in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we'll talk about that in a moment as time gets away from me. But combined between the anointing oil and the dew on the mountains, what are these images teaching us? Well, they both picture something that is rich and luscious, which has come down from God as a blessing to his people. These things come down from God. It comes down, and it's a blessing to his people. That is designed to help us understand unity among spiritual brothers. It is a rich blessing from God for his people. Now, with that Old Testament picture established in our minds, we come now to the New Testament, and we find this theme being emphasized in the New Testament in even more dramatic, even more direct ways. Turn to the Gospel of John 17. John 17, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the night prior to his crucifixion, in his great high priestly prayer, what was on his mind as he's praying to his Father in this hour of extremity, as he's praying for his people, what does he pray for? It's not for material blessings of health, wealth, and prosperity. It's not about miraculous spiritual gifts that everyone would always experience in the life of the church. No, that was not what was on his sacred lips as he prayed in this great intimate communion with his Father on the eve of redemption.

No, quite to the contrary. In verse 9 of John 17, he says, I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom you have given me, for they are yours, and all things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are. The Trinity and indivisible essence, one essence with three persons, with three realms of consciousness, and a perfect indivisible essence, Jesus says, I want them to have that kind of unity, that they might be one, that your people, that our people, O Father, they might be one just like we are.

How sacred is the unity of God's people? Christ compares it to the indivisible essence of the Godhead. In verse 20, he goes on and says, I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. Verse 22, the glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me, and love them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me, be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. As Christ prays for the outworking of the unity of believers, he injects these great eternal themes of the eternal love between the persons of the Trinity and the purpose of God established before the foundation of the world. Trinitarian unity existing before the foundation of the world, it is part of the divine glory. And Christ says, that kind of unity is what I want for my people.

Do you see what's happening here? This divine glory, this divine unity, as Christ prays and the Spirit of God works it out, what's happening? It's flowing down. Flowing down from Christ, our high priest, flowing down through the Spirit to all of the true church. That's how precious this is.

Far more precious than the anointing oil in the Old Testament even. This unity is something good and pleasant and desirable and holy. And we have that unity based on our common participation in Christ, our common union in Christ by faith.

What unites us far transcends anything by which there might be differences. And in his prayer, Christ says he wants his people to know that. And what you and I have, we get a foretaste of it in the local church. We'll know it fully when we are with him in heaven.

I can't grasp what that must be like. An indivisible unity of the people of God around the throne of God worshipping the indivisible essence of the triune God. Without all of that which distracts us, without the friction of the fallen world, and frankly the friction that sometimes comes into a local church body even.

As we hear these things, it should well up within us a desire to know that, to experience that, to have that. Oh, our Lord, come! That this might become our immediate experience in perfection, not merely the reflection that we see here, oh, the fullness of it, gathered together in union with the saints of all the ages around the throne of God. Now the worship going up, up, up to the majestic throne of God.

Kind of just have to take a moment to contemplate how great that's going to be. Here in the church, the body of believers, not just the local church, but all the people of Christ. The presence of Christ and the Spirit promote harmony and like-mindedness in the people of God. It's no wonder then that in Ephesians chapter 4 and Philippians 2 and in other parts of the New Testament, you see such a great emphasis being placed on the unity of the people of God. We end on this note, having glanced back at the earthly Jerusalem. One day, one day, you and I who are in Christ, we are going to reach the heavenly Jerusalem. And all that causes disunity will be banished, never to be seen again. We will worship together unhindered around the throne. And my friend, I want you to be there. I call you to Christ if you do not know Him.

If you've lived in rebellion to Him, come out of the world. Come to Christ that you might be saved and join in this unified heavenly choir because the glory of it all is not something to be missed. That's Don Green with part 2 of a message called That Precious Unity. And friend, if you'd like to have a copy of this message, just visit thetruthpulpit.com. When you're there, you'll find a library of Don's sermons available to you at no cost. And if you'd like to support this ministry financially, you can do that at the same web address.

Again, it's thetruthpulpit.com. Well, Don, as we bring this series to a close, would you please apply the final brush strokes for our family of listeners? Well, I'd be delighted to do that, Bill. You know, my friends, in this series that we've had, the priority of unity that we're completing with this broadcast, we have seen the importance that God Himself places on unity among His people. It is a serious matter. And as a pastor, I've had the sad responsibility to watch people and to deal with people who were violating church unity. Scripture says divisive people should be put out of the church in Titus chapter 3.

That's how important God views it. And so rather than getting to that point, my friend, let's you and me build up unity in our local bodies as we walk together with the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks, Don. And friend, we're out of time for today, but we'll see you next time as Don continues teaching God's people God's Word on the Truth Pulpit.