Unity is a choice

25 August 1999

Psalm 133

A son of ascents. Of David

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!

It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.

It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion:
For there the LORD commanded the blessing -
Life forevermore.

As we ended last week's message, so we begin this week with the words of David from God's Holy Word.. As we look at church history over the last 500 years, do we see much of that unity that God through David's poetry asks us for?

"Well if they were not so stupid and were wise (In our own eyes?) like we are, they could and should repent of their foolishness, get right with God, and follow Jesus." Briefly, that is Protestant church history for the last half millennia. Oh, I forgot the many souls who were martyrs, not for preaching the gospel to the unsaved, but because they dared to preach a gospel message within a "Christian" nation. And then there are those by passed people of God, those who live with the law unto themselves and not under grace, those Jews, let us make them eat pork and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Let's call it an inquisition and win them to the Lord.

Unity is a choice, not a choice about how salvation occurs. That debate will not be settled until Christ returns. Just because God gives you free agency in all matters, it does not mean you have a free will, to choose salvation for yourself outside the Word of God, through Christ alone, and the work of the Holy Spirit. Debates are religious argument that change nothing except the blood pressure and the heart rate. But unity is a choice! A choice after we are saved and we begin the work of God changing us into the image of his son (sanctification). It is our walk not our talk. and in this case too many of us want a ride, we don't want to walk!

Psalm 133
A son of ascents. Of David

As those pre exiled Jews, were going up to the temple, they would recite and repeat these words of David:

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

As they left there lowly lives behind, focused for a time on the God, who chose them from all the nations of the world, and climbed the hills to the city of Jerusalem and to the temple mount, to celebrate a festival ordained by God, they outwardly and I'm sure inwardly, could see a unity and a peace that far surpassed their worldly pressures and struggles.

It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments.

Just how is it that the brethren dwell together in unity? Aaron the priest has the precious oil upon his head, running down his beard, to the bottom of his garments. A type of the Holy Spirit, of course. We the priesthood of believers need to have that oil make us slippery and slimy too. That is so if we rub some one the wrong way, there is no friction only lubrication. So from the Pope, to the Bishop down to the lowest peasant, God must poor out the oil of his spirit upon each and every one of us. The choice is ours to utilize it for God's glory, or get all lathered up and wash it off, in the name or ceremonial or physical cleanliness. I chose the words Pope and Bishop to allow us to focus on a universal or orthodox catholic church, of which all Christians are members, that oil must flow from Christ the head to the whole body.

It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing - life forevermore.

Mt. Hermon, (sacred mountain) is the highest mountain in the region of Israel, some 9101 ft.above the Mediterranean is the source of the dew, another type of the Holy Spirit, Dew this time signifying water, but as dew it appears from nowhere, surrounding the objects it anoints on all sides. The snows of Mt. Hermon are the primary source for the Jordan river that waters most of the region, and these same snows condense all water vapor from the area as dew, while the remaining land remains parched and dry.

Zion of course refers to, in a greater or lesser extent, Jerusalem and it surroundings. In Zion, David foretold the blessing of the Lord, through that propitiatory sacrifice some two thousand years ago on a cross, I am justified by Christ's righteousness imputed to me a sinner, and through his bodily resurrection from the dead, by the oil of anointing, and the dew of Hermon, I, (we) have received the blessing commanded by the LORD - life forevermore.
That was God's choice, through this blessing I have been given a choice, to seek a life of unity within God's people or to go the way of self, religion, church, denomination, and the world.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

And God''s people said. Amen!

Prayer Fruit

As my non-believing cousin Stan, who accompanied me on this trip over the weekend, has retold the story:

"The most amazing thing happened on the trip, just as we were getting off I-5 at Woodland (over 120 miles out of Seattle) to drive out Mt. St. Helens the a spark plug literally blew out of Jerry's old truck. Pop, pop,pop. We pulled over and got out and confirmed that was what the problem was and within a few minutes determined that there was nothing we could do to fix the problem. While Jerry was still fooling around with it I went over and ask at the gas station if they knew anyone who might be able to help, they said there was a NAPA (auto parts) store a couple of blocks down the street.

Starting the truck and popping down the road, Jerry pulled into the shade of the building, we went in and I wandered around as usual, trying to think of a way we could solve the problem, while Jerry went up and began to talk to Terry the girl behind the counter. With in a few minutes, and the new spark plug we were trying to put in Terry appeared with two kits that might solve our problems. After determining that the one with the reamer was the one required and paying for it we went out to see if we could put it in.

Jerry was still too stunned from the whole thing to be of much help, so I used the reamer to make and thread a new whole for this sleeve to fit into. I had him fire up the engine to hopefully blow out the aluminum shavings. He oiled the threads of the spark plug and put on the compound to hold the sleeve in place and I put the whole assembly back together. Who would have believed that from the time we pulled off the freeway until we were back on the road would be less than forty minutes. It was amazing.

I would call it a miracle, but as he told the story, several times over the next few days. "The most amazing thing I have ever seen!" Will do for starters. How many of us, as believers in God and in Jesus Christ, see similar events all the time, so much so, sometimes we cease to be amazed. To me the amazing thing is that there really is no human being, other than my self, that knew that this potential problem existed, little more could set up the complex circumstances that we would require to be in that situation, late on a Friday afternoon, in a truck with a problem with the number four spark plug, have it occur precisely as we got off the freeway, at that location, a couple of blocks from an auto parts store, which would have someone, who so quickly could provide a solution, for so little money, in so little total time. You see until that morning the plan was to take his truck with 150,000 fewer miles and be three or four hours earlier. So you can add that also to the list of amazing or miraculous events.

How God works so miraculous to save sinners, his way, in his timing, for his glory. How miraculous it is for us, in insignificant ways, in plans beyond our comprehension, to be chosen to be part of that work.

Until next time, Shalom!

Jerry