Good morning, Village. Hey, try it one more time. Good morning, Village. Hey, there we go,
we're awake now. All right, all right. All right, my name is Jay. I've been
attending the Village for a short time, but nonetheless, it's home and you guys
are family, so thank you for coming today. Today's scripture is from Psalm 133.
How delightfully good when brothers live together in harmony. Amen. It is like fine
oil on the head running down on the beard, running down Aaron's beard into
his robes. There we go, you smile in the crowd. All right. It is like dew of
hermit falling on the mountains of Zion, for the Lord has appointed the blessing
life forevermore. That is God's word. Thank you.
Thank you, Jay. He's not gonna let you just sit there and look at him. It's gonna
get you going. That's right. One other thing we could add to the the fall launch
is another B, which is we had barbecue, we had baptism, we had something else on
there. Bingo, and you could add bounce house to it too for you kids. All right.
We'll pack more in there, we'll figure out. All right, we are on a journey with
the pilgrims of Israel as we have made our way through the Psalms of Ascent and
today, man, what a sight to see coming out of Psalm 133. Have you ever taken a long
road trip? I've had many, many long road trips. I commute, I love to go on road
trips just for the heck of it. I've driven, my family drove from California,
from the Bay Area to Houston when I was a teenager when we made a move out there.
Very, very long trip. And on those trips, you typically track the time, you make
notes of the waypoints. Have we made it to such-and-such town or such-and-such
city? Have we passed that one roadside stop that we always made? You look for
the signs to tell you how much further do you have to go before you get to your
destination. Or maybe nowadays you take a look at that navigation system,
right? And you watch it like you're watching water boil, waiting. It's only
been one mile, oh my goodness, felt like a lifetime. If you ever drive I-5 down to
Bakersfield, long stretches of nothingness and it can feel like an
eternity. But something happens, it's something that I took note of at least
in my journeys and trips, something happens around 20 to 30 minutes before
you get to your destination. You look down and you see, oh, we're almost there.
And you begin to think of, hey, what am I, what do I need to get out of the car?
What am I gonna do when I first meet that person that I'm going to see? Where
or maybe that place that I'm going to vacation at? Your thoughts begin to move
forward in time to what it might be like when you get to that point in time, to
the fulfillment of your journey. Our singing pilgrims that we have been
following through the Psalms of Ascent have all traveled some way, somewhere to
get to Jerusalem. Some have traveled only a short walk. If you were a part of the
families of the tribe of Asher, you would have traveled over a hundred miles to
get to Jerusalem. Imagine as your journey comes to an end and the mountain of
Zion is before you, Jerusalem comes into sight. The families from the 12 tribes of
Israel are pouring into the city and they're eager to find rest from their
long journey as well as eager to celebrate the Lord with whatever
festival they've come to Jerusalem to celebrate. Normally these tribes are
separated by harsh conditions or treacherous roads or mountains and
finally again, finally we are together. Together going up, going up Mount Zion to
meet with God. Psalm 133 gives words to express that moment of jubilation, that
moment of excitement. And there's actually something that's concealed a
little bit behind the English translation of the first verse, especially
in the CSB which we read from this morning. The first verse reads how
delightfully good when brothers live together in harmony and the sense of
what is concealed is kind of behind the meaning of those words. It's there but
maybe it lacks a little bit of the awe and wonder that I'm looking for in this
moment. Another way to translate the original Hebrew word there at the very
beginning of Psalm 133 is with a single word and an exclamation point after it
and that single word is behold. We sang that song today, behold Him. Behold. Look.
Study with your eyes. Perceive with your mind. Feel with your heart. What a sight
to see. Or to translate into modern English, whoa dude. Like, whoa, you've got
to see this man. Sometimes in the Word of God we are given things to obey and when
we obey those things we experience blessing in our life. But sometimes in
the Word of God we are given things to simply behold. Simply look at. Simply look
to study. Engage your mind. Engage your heart. Engage your spirit. And Psalm 133
begins there with behold. How good. How delightfully good it is when brothers
live together in harmony. When brothers live together in harmony. In Charles
Spurgeon's Treasury of the Psalms commentary he says, it is a wonder seldom
seen. Therefore, behold it. It may be seen for it is the characteristic of real
saints for brothers to live together in harmony. Therefore, fail not to inspect it.
It is well worthy of admiration. Pause. Gaze upon it. It will charm you into
imitation. Therefore, note it well. For God looks on it with approval. Therefore,
consider it with great attention. Behold when brothers live together in harmony.
It is a sight to behold. We are going to dive into this Psalm 133 and we're
gonna look at it under three points. The first point we're going to look at is
the picture of unity. The picture of unity. How delightfully good when
brothers live together in harmony. Some things are good. In fact, many things are
good for you, right? A diet that consists of moderation and self-control, that's
that's good for you. Eating your vegetables, we're told, is good for you.
It's good to exercise. It is good to limit your consumption of digital media,
your TV, your smartphone, any screens you might be looking at. It is good to not
lie to your loved ones, to put up a false front or face, to live a lie with those
around you. It is good to not murder, right? We're all on the same page, right?
There are many things that are good for us, that are right for our flourishing
as humanity, but can we say that all of those good things are delightfully good?
The psalmist begins by saying to you and I that brothers living together in
harmony is both good, it's right, but it's also delightfully good. Another
translation of that same verse says that is good and pleasant when brothers dwell
together in unity. One pastor pointed out that goodness, it being good implies
that it ought to be. It ought to be. It is right. Whereas pleasant or delightfully
good, delightful implies what we want it to be. And Psalm 133 says that it's not
only good, it ought to be. It also says it's something that we should want. We
want it to be. Good is what God requires. Delight is what we rejoice in. Good is
our duty. Pleasant is our delight. And this is not just about being together
when brothers dwell together in unity or harmony. Unity isn't the same as
proximity. If I have any married people in the house, you know that unity isn't
the same as proximity when your spouse rolls over in bed and gives you the cold
shoulder refusing to talk or continue in the conversation, right? You know that
just because you're near in the closest human relationship at the closest point
that that doesn't mean you're in unity or harmony necessarily. Unity isn't the
same as proximity. What it is getting at though in Psalm 133 is the author is
excited about the unity that these brothers have and you have to have the
whole loaded context of all the history of Israel, the law that was given, who
these people are, the covenant all packed into this statement. The author is excited
for a unity of ultimate allegiance, a unity that finds its root in their
allegiance to following God. These are God's people. Unity of devotion among
God's devoted worshipers. Unity of passion. These are God chasers and the
migration of the tribe to Jerusalem isn't just some big family reunion. I
don't think you have been a part of a big family reunion yourself. Sometimes that
could be good, sometimes it can be a train wreck and this Jerusalem journey
isn't just a family reunion as you and I might think of it but it is the devoted,
the lovers of God, the God chasers, the ones who are hungry after God coming on
a long journey to meet together and that's the unity the psalmist sees in
mind. A unity of purpose, a unity of passion, a unifying point to come
together around the worship of God. The author sees the sum total of the tribes
is greater than the individual parts in their unity and purpose and devotion and
passion and he says that's pleasant, that's delightfully good but it is also
more than just good and pleasant, it is also precious. The next point is the
preciousness of unity. It is like fine oil on the head running down on the
beard, running down Aaron's beard onto his robe. The preciousness of unity. The
psalmist next makes a comparison. The harmony, the unity of brothers is like
fine oil on the head. The word fine or precious is speaking of its unique
composition and its unique purpose. This oil is something that was set apart and
unique. We see this because the psalm makes reference to who? What's the name
in there? Aaron, right? And who was Aaron? Anyone know? Moses' brother, he was also
the first high priest, right? The first high priest of Israel and it's almost
like we're reimagining or revisiting that anointing of the high priest of
Israel, Aaron, as the anointing oil comes over him. Aaron was anointed with oil
when he was set apart for the ministry. In Exodus chapter 30 verse 22 through 33
we are told about the anointing oil that was actually used on Aaron. What it was
made of, it was this rich fragrant blend of spices, it was heavily perfumed oil, it
was to be consecrated oil, meaning it was to be used only for a special purpose,
only for a very special holy purpose. In Exodus 20 verse 31 it says, tell the
Israelites this will be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations.
It must not be used for ordinary anointing on a person's body and you
must not make anything like it using its formula. It is holy and it must be holy
to you. Anyone who blends something like it or puts it on, puts some of it on an
unauthorized person must be cut off from their people. This oil was special, it was
precious, it was consecrated and it was only for
consecrating and setting apart the most holy things in service to God and that
include the articles in the tabernacle in the temple and that also included
the servants who would go in the high priest and his sons, Aaron. And we see in
Psalm 133 that the kind of unity that is described in Psalm 133 is a kind that is
like the high and holy anointing of the high priest for service before God and
before man. That's what the psalmist likens it to. It's like that moment when
that that priest is set apart for God's holy purpose. Now I don't know if you've
ever been anointed with oil. Nowadays typically if you're ever anointed for
for maybe you have a sickness or you want you're being set apart for
something or you're being commissioned to go do something you might get anointed
with oil and it's usually out of a little vial and a little dab on the
forehead right? And then you're good right? You're anointed. Well I remember
one time I had an opportunity where I was being prayed for and I think the
prayer was something along the lines of hey the Holy Spirit would use you and
pour his anointing on to you so that you might be useful in the ministry in the
future. I don't recall the exact nature of the prayer I just remember people
around me and whatever the nature of it it was about abundance and it was about
overflow and so whoever was praying got the idea that that meant they should
pour the whole thing on my head. Now if you've ever had any oil on your head
maybe you've put it in your hair or something it it gets in there it's hard
to get out it begins to run down it's in my eyes it's on my mouth it's going down
my you know the back of my hair it's on my collar it's in running down my back I
mean it's everywhere and you can't get away from it and not only that but this
was special oil because they were trying to be you know like that original oil
they had mixed it up in a certain fragrant way and so now you now I just
you know I'm walking around like a walking talking you know greasy garden I
smell like beautiful flowers walking around the church afterward you know and
then afterward obviously you're gonna be greeting people and welcoming people and
and saying hi to your friends and stuff and you can imagine being smelly and
greasy I think that that that's part of though of the imagery here why else
would the psalmist talk about not only being poured on the head but it running
down and a running down further and to the robes part of the imagery that the
psalmist is trying to convey is something about this overflowing
abundance of oil over Aaron the beard the robe it's not just precious in
composition and purpose but it's also in its abundance life-giving spirit-filling
outcome it's sanctifying it's setting apart for something great a great work
of God to do ministry for God to minister to the Lord and to minister to
people the anointing oil is like life being poured out and it's running down
it's running down it's maybe you haven't maybe you haven't experienced the oil on
the head but have you ever had really good barbecue ribs I know they're
similar right I have great barbecue ribs I remember when we first came here
getting taken out to the great barbecue place up the street that I remember all
the time momos I think it is called right up the way right and getting some
barbecue up there and something about ribs I just recently had them at Ray
Lee's and then you dig in and they're amazing and then pretty soon five
minutes later you're like there there's there's sauce on my arm like how did it
get there and then it's on your pants and then it's it's on the back of your
head and somehow it's on the steering wheel now and you're like the sauce is
abundant and overflowing and it's very very messy messy good right it's good
there was I remember back in the day Carl's jr. had commercials about I think
they were trying to compete and they realized that they they couldn't get
their workers to make anything without making it look sloppy and sauce
everywhere and so they just leaned into that and marketed as like man if it
doesn't get all over the place it doesn't belong in your face right messy
good in all the right ways none of the bad ways none of the barbecue sauce ways
the kind of unity that is being described in Psalm 133 is a kind of
unity that is overflowing that is it's kind of messy good it's delightfully
good and holy and precious it's not ordinary or common it's fragrant and
sacred it's precious that leads us to the final points the provision of unity
we move to verse 3 which begins it's like the dew of Herman falling on the
mountains of Zion for there the Lord has appointed the blessing life forever more
and another thing might be missed here too in in our English translation
because there is a repeated phrase over and over again and it actually begins in
verse 2 where it talks about the oil and it says running down in CSB but what
more literally means like coming down or going down coming down coming down on
the beard coming down on Aaron's beard and then that phrase gets repeated again
in verse 3 it is like the dew of Herman coming down on the mountains of
Zion coming down if something is coming down where has it come from somewhere up
right Mount Hermon or Herman is in the northern most parts of Israel at that
time now it's a part of Lebanon and right on the border of Syria it was the
highest mountain in Israel at the time of Psalms was about 9,000 feet in
stature and it was well known in the area for its lush green and moisture it
was like dew that fell on Mount Herman it had something like over 60 inches of
rainfall each year a lush place and from its streams and its tributaries Mount
Herman feeds the headwaters that become the Jordan River and the Jordan River
makes its way down to the Sea of Galilee and then it spills out of the Sea of
Galilee and makes its way past Jerusalem and down to the Dead Sea Psalm 133 says
that unity of the people of God is like the life-giving moisture of Mount Herman
but it's falling on the dry dusty mountains of Zion it's like the moisture
the life-giving water of Mount Herman falling on Mount Zion the same mountain
Mount Zion is a place where Aaron's offspring the high priests would minister
before the Lord and they would act as mediators between God and his people
unity is like life-giving dew falling there right what is what does the
scripture say it says it is like the dew of Herman falling on the mountains of
Zion for there the Lord has appointed the blessing there Mount Zion on Mount
Zion the Lord has appointed the blessing and it's like dew falling there because
there on Mount Zion is the place where the restorative and atoning work takes
place in the temple in the tabernacle the Lord has commanded his blessing
where where he saves where he covers where he anoints and he's commanded what
blessing everlasting life or another translation says life forever more or
the literal Hebrew says life unto the eternity how is it like this how is it
what is the connection between this dew of Herman and Mount Zion and the
commanded blessing that God says is there it is like that because the kind
of unity that the psalmist has in mind the kind of unity that we have been
exploring and extol the psalmist has been extolling and glorying and remember
it began with behold behold this beautiful sight when brothers live
together in harmony that kind of unity is the fruit of that blessed everlasting
life in other words the unity is not something that leads to everlasting
life it is something that is born out of everlasting life or the fruit of eternal
life in us the blessing that God has commanded where heaven and earth meets
through the mediator through the mediator at one time pictured as Aaron
only to be fulfilled in maximum view in Christ on Mount Zion the life-giving dew
would fall on Zion and from that life a kind of unity that the world has never
seen before I don't know if you read the song 133 and you go that's not how the
world works we might get along for a little while but underneath we're really
divisive and we're trying to tear things apart what about a that kind of unit the
scripture says that kind of unity that is delightful and good would come to
Zion where God's commanded blessing of life eternal would come and from there
that kind of unity would go out into the world that the world had never seen
before so that we could behold it so the world could behold that kind of unity
Aaron in his offspring served the Lord on Mount Zion making sacrifice and
atoning for the sins of the people but we also know that Aaron's priestly
ministry eventually came to an end we know that for all the goodness of the
high priest ministry that no matter how many offerings were made more was always
required we see that no matter how many unity movements rise up in this world
unified around some common goal they are not sufficient and they crumble under
the weight of sinful man who always seeks to undermine and elevate himself
this unity is described in Psalm 133 is not possible by our own efforts but it
is a gift from God coming down remember coming down on the head down on the
beard coming down in Christ who came down to bring this gift listen to these
words from the scripture for this is the kind of high praise we need holy
innocent undefiled separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens he
doesn't need to offer sacrifices every day as the high priests do first for
their own sin and then for those of the people he did this once for all time
when he offered himself for the law appoints as high priests men who are weak
but the promise of the oath which came after the law appoints a son who has
been perfected forever not only was this unity achieved in Christ but he also
accomplished another feat another feat that much of the New Testament glories
in and finds great joy and satisfaction and glory in God and that feat is this
he tore the dividing line between Jew and Gentile he effectively kicked down
the doors of hostility between them and in doing so Christ did something for
unity that no one could ever do on earth and that is he expanded or exploded the
meaning of what brothers in unity could look like brothers in unity could
include people from every nation tribe and tongue and so delightfully good is
the unity we find in Christ that he is said to be making out of the two the Jew
and the Gentile those at odds one new humanity out of the two he's making one
new humanity ultimately unity and peace in his body and that one new humanity
we've talked about this before we said it before many times from here that one
new humanity is the church that one new humanity that God is creating out of the
two one in Christ is the church it is all of those who have their hope
exclusively found in Christ Jesus they are the ultimate expression of the
reality of this truth reality of this unity and this peace you may not have
been here at the very beginning when we read the scripture Ephesians 2 as our
call to worship but I want you to listen to it now in light of Psalm 133 and in
light of the provision of unity we have in Christ Jesus Ephesians chapter 2
verse 11 to 21 so then remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh
called the uncircumcised by those called the circumcised which is done in the
flesh by human hands at that time you were without Christ excluded from the
citizenship of Israel and foreigners to the covenants of promise without hope
and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you who were far away have
been brought near by the blood of Christ for he is our peace who made both groups
one and tore down the dividing line of hostility in his flesh he made of no
effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations so that he
might create in himself one new man one new humanity from the two resulting in
peace he did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body
through the cross by which he put the hostility to death he came and proclaimed
the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were
near for through him we have access in one spirit to the father so then you are
no longer foreigners or strangers but you are fellow citizens with the Saints
members of God's household built on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets
with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone in him the whole building
being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord and him you are also
being built together for God's dwelling in the spirit where was the temple
located Mount Zion Jerusalem what is God building now he's building one humanity
out of the two in him that it might be grow up to be the new temple the church
in Christ Jesus and a place where the spirit of God dwells which anointing
oil always represented the spirit or the presence of God how delightfully good
when brothers and sisters live together as one new humanity in Christ that is
the fulfillment of Psalm 133 how good how delightfully good when brothers and
sisters live together as one new humanity in Christ God's people in God's
place under God's rule a kingdom of priests to our God