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The Blessing of Church Unity

Psalm 133

Strive to Appreciate the Blessing of Church Unity

Text: Psalm 133

Introduction: Series Context and the Paradox of Unity

  • Psalm 133 is preached near the end of a series on the Psalms of Ascents (Pss. 120–134), which trace the pilgrim's journey from distress to rejoicing
  • The psalms voice the emotions, hopes, and prayers of God's people ascending toward Jerusalem — and by typological extension, the church's pilgrimage toward the heavenly Jerusalem
  • Central paradox introduced: the same things that produce the deepest joys also produce the deepest wounds — body, work, food, and above all, family
  • Family dwelt together in unity is the highest relational good most people pursue; yet church family gone wrong or gone entirely can produce equally severe pain
  • Doctrinal anchor (James 1:17): every good and perfect gift descends from the Father — including the gift of church unity, which cannot be separated from union with Christ
  • Main point: Strive to appreciate the blessing of church unity.
  • Three movements: (1) Joyfully treasure church unity; (2) Honor church unity as a sacred gift; (3) Protect the unity of the church

I. Joyfully Treasure Church Unity

(Psalm 133:1–3)

What Church Unity Actually Is

  • Unity is familial: the Hebrew word for "brothers" is broad, covering kinsmen — here it denotes fellow covenant members, those who worship the same God
  • Unity is embodied: "dwell together" (Heb.) refers to physical proximity — eating, living, assembling face to face, not merely an abstract status
  • Unity is loving/harmonious: not the erasure of differences but different people from different tribes worshipping as one — analogous to musical harmony; love unites, hatred divides

The Old Covenant Context (Davidic background)

  • David composed this psalm knowing firsthand the cost and value of unity: after Saul's death, the northern tribes rejected him for Ish-bosheth; only after the civil war ended did they come to Hebron (2 Sam. 5), call him their own flesh and bone, and unite under one king
  • Israel's unity was covenantal, not merely ethnic — anyone who entered covenant with Yahweh joined the family

New Covenant Continuity

  • The church is not a fundamentally different institution from Old Testament Israel; it is the same one people of God in a new covenantal order
  • New covenant members are united not by their own blood but by the blood of Christ; born of the same Spirit, children of the same Father, in union with the same Christ
  • "Church" (Gk. ekklēsia) means assembly — church unity is inherently embodied, gathering in one place

Why Unity Is Good and Pleasant: The Two Metaphors (vv. 2–3)

  • Precious oil (v. 2): costly, fragrant, refreshing — used at feasts to honor guests (cf. Ps. 23; Luke 7:46 where Jesus notes the Pharisee's failure to anoint him); if unity is like precious oil, it is worth treasuring and delighting in
  • Dew of Hermon (v. 3): Mount Hermon's elevation made it unusually moist and fertile even in summer; its dew falling on Mount Zion symbolises life-giving refreshment descending to God's people — unity is similarly life-giving and renewing

Practical Application: How to Treasure Unity

  • Think about it — let unity factor into decisions: Will this action, comment, or message promote or undermine harmony?
  • Delight in it by engaging in it — the Sunday gathering (worship, preaching, Lord's Supper, fellowship) is the primary embodied expression of church unity and the closest earthly anticipation of the final assembly
  • Additional contexts: evening worship services (corporate prayer, testimonies), members' meetings (church discipline, elections), community groups (deep relational bonds)
  • The motivation is not duty alone but promise: God blesses his people in the context of gathered worship, edification, and fellowship

II. Honor Church Unity as a Sacred Gift

(Psalm 133:2–3; Exodus 28; Hebrews 4:14; Acts 2:32–33; Ephesians 2:13–18)

The Descending Movement in the Psalm

  • Both metaphors share one structural feature: they descend — the oil runs down Aaron's beard to his collar (v. 2, repeated twice); the dew falls on Zion (v. 3); the same Hebrew verb governs both
  • Unity is therefore not manufactured from below but received from above; it is a gift that descends

Aaron and the High-Priestly Garments (Exodus 28)

  • Aaron was consecrated as high priest and clothed in garments made for "glory and beauty" (Exod. 28:1–4)
  • The breastpiece of judgment bore twelve precious stones engraved with the names of the twelve tribes — the people's names rested literally over Aaron's heart when he entered the Holy of Holies (Exod. 28:15–29)
  • Aaron as mediator: he brought the people before God (bearing their names on his heart) and brought God's blessing back to the people
  • The anointing oil (Exod. 30) made holy whatever it touched and represented life and blessing; Aaron was anointed so that he could mediate that blessing downward to the people

The Typological Reading of Psalm 133

  • David's poetic image: the oil running from Aaron's head down his beard to the garments where the tribe-stones rested = God's blessing flowing from the high priest down to the people he represents
  • Unity is therefore a sacred, holy blessing descending from God's own presence through his appointed mediator to his people
  • The dew of Hermon falling on Zion reinforces the same theology: life-giving unity descends from heaven as a divine gift

Fulfilment in Christ

  • The Levitical priesthood and earthly temple gave way to a new and better high priest — Jesus, who "has passed through the heavens" (Heb. 4:14)
  • At his ascension, Jesus received from the Father "the promise of the Holy Spirit" and poured it out on the church (Acts 2:32–33)
  • Application: just as Aaron received anointing oil to mediate blessing, Jesus as our great high priest received the Spirit in fullness and pours that same Spirit — like precious oil, like life-giving dew — down onto his body, the church, to unite it
  • The oil and dew in Psalm 133 are therefore types of the Holy Spirit who anoints Christ as head and flows to his body

The Cost of This Gift (Ephesians 2:13–18)

  • Unity required a death: Christ shed his own blood to bring those "far off" near, to break down "the dividing wall of hostility," and to "create in himself one new man" — reconciling Jew and Gentile to God "in one body through the cross"
  • Doctrinal claim: Christ himself is our peace (Eph. 2:14); to violate the church's peace is to dishonour his blood
  • The Holy Spirit creates this unity; to grieve the Spirit by promoting division is therefore a serious spiritual transgression
  • Application: Honour unity as a sacred gift by remembering what it cost and who gave it

III. Protect the Unity of the Church

(Psalm 133:2–3; Ephesians 4:1–3; Colossians 3)

The Church as a Royal Priesthood

  • Aaron as high priest represents a whole nation of priests (Exod. 19:6); Israel was called to steward God's holiness before the nations as a holy priesthood
  • The church inherits this calling (1 Pet. 2:9): a royal priesthood, guardians and mediators of God's blessing and the display of salvation
  • "For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore" (Ps. 133:3) — eternal life is found in God's assembled people; the church therefore guards and displays that life

Why Protection Matters

  • The world has sought unity since Babel (Gen. 11) — nations, families, businesses, sports teams all seek the life-giving power of harmony, but cannot manufacture true unity apart from God
  • True, everlasting unity is reserved for the people of God; the church's unity both condemns the counterfeit and attracts the nations
  • Division in the church blasphemes God; the church is meant to reflect the unity of the triune God (Father, Son, and Spirit) and fails its witness when it fractures

How to Protect Unity: Ephesians 4:1–3

  • Paul urges walking "worthy of the calling" and being "eager to maintain [guard, protect] the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" — the unity is already given; we are called to keep watch over it, as priests guarded the holy things of the temple
  • Humility: counting others more significant than oneself; pride is the foremost cause of division; every member is blood-bought and should feel like family
  • Gentleness: speaking and acting carefully so as not to unnecessarily harm; even correction should communicate solidarity ("I am on your side, I am your brother/sister")
  • Patience and forbearance: bearing with the sins and weaknesses of others; not adding sin to sin; meeting harshness with grace; forgiving rather than keeping a record of wrongs
  • Love (Col. 3): "above everything, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" — the integrating virtue
  • Practical vigilance: monitor movements in the heart — anger, jealousy — and address them early before they become division

The Resource for Protection

  • These virtues cannot be self-manufactured; they are gifts of the Spirit
  • The prescribed means: behold Christ — his humility, patience, forbearance, and love toward us; fall in love with what you see, and display it

Conclusion: The Already and Not Yet of Church Unity

  • Unity in the church is a foretaste — it cannot be fully satisfied this side of eternity; many will be hurt by the church
  • The promise of Psalm 133:3 ("the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore") is an eschatological anchor: look to the final assembly in the heavenly Zion
  • Personal illustration: the preacher's father and grandfather, long at enmity, reconciled through the grandfather's dementia and the father's softened heart — a picture of how the peace Christ died to establish will come to pass; those formerly at odds will sit together in the heavenly Jerusalem with joy
  • The Lord's Supper is the present sign of that future reality — it proclaims Christ's death that established unity, and it points forward to the final feast (1 Cor. 11:26); it is a holy supper for a holy church
  • Invitation to unbelievers: consider what the Supper signifies; turn from sin and trust Christ, joining the family of God that will never end
  • Invitation to believers: "Come to the table… taste and see that the Lord is good" (Ps. 34:8)

Subplots and Secondary Threads

  • Passover/New Covenant typology: brief overview of the hermeneutical method used throughout — old covenant types (Passover lamb) point forward to Christ; the church reads old covenant texts through their new covenant fulfilment; this framework governs the entire sermon's movement from Aaron to Jesus
  • Illustration — food and spoiled whipped cream: used in the introduction to illustrate how the same source of pleasure can become a source of pain; sets up the central paradox applied to church community
  • Davidic superscript: the preacher explains how the psalm's superscript ("of David") is part of the inspired text and provides historical grounding — David's experience of civil war and the northern tribes' reconciliation at Hebron (2 Sam. 5) gives personal and political weight to his exclamation in v. 1
  • Musical harmony analogy: unity is not the eradication of difference but different parts sounding together beautifully — used to illuminate "dwell in unity" as harmonious rather than uniform
  • Luke 7:46 (Jesus and the Pharisee who did not anoint his head): brief citation to show anointing with oil was a culturally recognised gesture of honour toward a valued guest, grounding the metaphor of precious oil in everyday social practice
  • Tower of Babel (Gen. 11): referenced as the origin of humanity's striving for unity apart from God; shows that the desire for unity is universal and deep but cannot be fulfilled apart from divine gift
  • United States as an illustration: the very name "United States" reflects the universal human longing for unity among diverse peoples; the nation has never fully achieved its own ideal — used to show the world's inability to manufacture true unity
  • Gospel appeal embedded in Point II: the exposition of Ephesians 2 becomes a full evangelistic call — the holiness of God, the reality of judgment, the substitutionary death of Christ, the call to repentance and faith; explicitly directed at unbelievers present
  • Priest as "guardian of holy things": the word maintain (Eph. 4:3) is unpacked as the same activity priests performed guarding the temple — used to bridge the OT priesthood imagery of Psalm 133 into the NT application of Ephesians 4
  • Father/grandfather illustration (conclusion): a personal account of long-standing family enmity being softened through dementia and caregiving; used to illustrate the eschatological hope that estranged believers will be fully reconciled at the final assembly