1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.
Introduction
A student once said that in their seminary every student was required to memorize four psalms. For example they must know Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd …” They then must be able to say from their own personal experience, “I know the Lord, and he is my shepherd.” They were also required to memorize Psalm 21, which says, “The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” The seminary students had to be willing to go anywhere without fear, having confidence that God would go with them and that God would bless them. They were also required to learn Psalm 126, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Passion for souls and a broken heart over the sinfulness of the world was expected of the students for them to be effective in God’s kingdom. And then they were required to learn Psalm 133, “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” If they were to be effective in God’s service, they had to learn to get along with other people.
So very often we realize the importance of knowing the Lord as our shepherd, of being sure that God goes with us wherever we go, and of having a passion for souls. But sometimes we overlook the importance of unity in the Christian faith and in the Christian fellowship, so I felt the need for us to think together about the subject of unity.
What is unity? God says that it is good and pleasant to dwell together in it. I think unity is basically a common commitment to a task or to a cause outside of ourselves that is greater than personal desires and differences. And in pursuit of that task, purpose, or cause we work together in love, respect, and consideration of one another—putting aside our differences.
You know of course that there is a vast difference between unity and union. Union is simply the bringing of people together in a group or organization so they are tied together by some external means. But union and unity are not the same thing. You can take two cats and tie their tails together and hang them across the clothesline wire and you have union, but you sure don’t have unity. Unity is a matter of the spirit, the heart, and the attitude.
Total agreement is not necessary. It’s important to understand that unity and being unanimous are not always the same thing. In a pursuit of a goal, a purpose, or a work, it is not necessary that we all agree on every point or every detail that is to be done. Many strong men from Churchill to LBJ have been cited as saying, “If two people agree on everything, one of them is not necessary.”
I think one good example of that came a few years ago when we were planning to build our Family Life Center. I did not hear a great deal of opposition, but there probably were some people who did not agree with that project, or they did not think it was the best. Only one person voiced his strong opposition to me. He came to see me one day and said, “Pastor, I have prayed about this earnestly and as openly as possible and I cannot feel good about it. And I just want you to know that I am opposed to it, and I intend to express myself in a vote.”
I said, “That is fine. That is good. That is all anybody could ask—that you pray as open mindedly as possible.” But then he went on to say, “I want you to know that if this carries, then I will support it as liberally, as faithfully, and as generously as anyone else.”
When the time came for our church to vote, to the amazement of almost everyone (most especially to the pastor), there was only one person who stood to vote against it. But when the time for the pledge cards came his was one of the first in and he has already paid his pledge in full. You see it is not necessary for us to all agree on every detail or every project for everything to still be unified. We can still seek after the same goal and pursue the same great purposes. Unity does not mean that we lose our individuality. We can be brothers without being identical twins. We can still work together without agreeing on everything that is presented before us. And so we ought not to be afraid to disagree—we ought to be afraid to be disagreeable. We ought not to hesitate to hold to our own opinion, but we ought to be afraid of an unbrotherly attitude.
Unity is that spirit or that disposition that is willing at the right time and the right place to put its own desires, its own wishes, and its own preference aside so that we in love and in consideration can move toward a common goal and achieve a common purpose. That’s why someone said a long time ago, “You ought to make enemies because of your position and not your disposition.”
Your position on an issue, or on a person, or on a cause may very well be a matter of conviction. It may be something you have prayed and thought about, and it is burning deep within your soul. It would be wrong to ask you (at least to a certain point) to give up your position. But while you may hang onto your position, you must make sure that your disposition is right. Your attitude should be such that you stand by your beliefs and your conviction with a sweet, gentle spirit without being critical or ugly toward other people.
When the writer says, “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,” he was saying that it is a wonderful thing for us to set our hearts, minds, and souls to a common task and to pursue that task in love, respect, and consideration of one another. Disunity comes when we begin to seek our own will and our own way regardless of the cost.
The apostle John talks about some disunity in the church in the third letter of John: “I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church” (3 John 1:9, 10).
There was a man in this early church named Diotrephes who loved to have preeminence among the brethren. Now that word preeminence means “first place.” Diotrephes was the kind of man who wanted to have first place. He was the kind of man who wanted to run the show. He was the kind of person who wanted everything done his way, and that’s the first step to disunity anywhere. You see, if everybody is trying to be first, there are bound to be some collisions at the goal line. In fact, if there is one person who is dead set on being first, he is apt to create quite a disturbance while he tries to cross the goal line before anyone else. And the cause of most disturbance and disunity is that selfish spirit that causes us to put our own wishes and our own desires above everything else and everyone else.
Not only did Diotrephes love to have preeminence among the brethren, but he was also known for speaking malicious words against others. The word malicious means “cutting.” Malicious words are some very ugly and sharp words. John is indicating to us that words are always the vehicles of strife. It invariably follows that if someone is upset about something they begin to say ugly, cutting, and malicious things. That’s why the writer of the book of Proverbs said a long time ago, “Where no wood is, the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth” (Proverbs 26:20). Just as surely as a fire will go out if you don’t continue to put wood on it, so strife will cease if people do not continue to talk about it.
But invariably people will say things that they ought not to say. They will say things that they sometimes do not even mean because their attitude and their spirit is not all that it ought to be. The solution to strife and disunity is that we put ourselves aside, and that we do not hold on too tightly to our own wishes and our own ambitions. We must recognize that there is something larger than ourselves. We must yield to that higher and nobler purpose, which in our case is the will of God and the work of God.
Paul talks about it in the book of Philippians when he says, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Philippians 2:3). In that little statement, “Let each esteem other better than themselves,” we have the solution to all strife in the world. Whether you are talking about strife in the office, conflict in the home, or about difference and disunity in the church, if we can learn to respect others and seek to think more about them then we do about ourselves, then it is not long until there is nothing to strive about.
Paul proceeds to talk about Jesus: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).
In the context of disunity in the church at Philippi, the apostle Paul was saying the solution is that we all have the mind of Christ. When he talks about the mind of Christ he was not talking about the intellectual mind of Christ. None of us could ever achieve the intellectual grasp of our Savior. He knew things beyond human knowledge. Paul was talking about the disposition and the spirit of Jesus, who though he was God himself and had every right to heaven, and every right to not die on the cross, he gave up his own right and came down to this earth and died on the cross. Jesus humbled himself to the point that he was willing to do whatever was necessary for our good, and that is the solution to strife. We need to have the mind, the spirit, and the disposition of Jesus to not always be seeking out our own, but rather to be seeking the well-being and the betterment of other people.
What we need to have in order to achieve unity is the spirit that is found in an orchestra. An orchestra is made up of many people with many different gifts, talents, and instruments. The only way that there can he harmony in the orchestra is if everyone yields to the will of the conductor. When all members surrender their rights to follow the conductor’s leadership, there is harmony and there is beautiful music. If there is to be harmony anywhere in your life or mine, it will come as we surrender ourselves to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
[1]The writer of Psalm 133 is saying to us that unity is a beautiful and pleasant thing. He uses two comparisons or two illustrations to explain. He says that unity is like the ointment that was used to anoint Aaron as the high priest of Israel. When that ointment was poured on his head as a symbol of his consecration and his dedication to God, it ran down Aaron’s head, down his beard, and it dripped down to the very bottom of his garment. As that oil was a symbol of his consecration, so unity among the people of God was a symbol of their consecration to God.
Then he said that unity is not only like the oil that was used to consecrate Aaron, but it is also like the dew—the life-giving dew that falls on the mountain of Israel. He is saying that the spiritual effects of unity in the fellowship of God’s people are the same as the physical effects of dew falling on the mountain. As that dew is the source of life to the plants on the mountain, so unity becomes a source of life to the family and the fellowship of God.
I want you to think about those two aspects of unity for just a moment.
1. Unity is part of your expression of consecration to God. Just as the oil was a symbol of Aaron being consecrated and set apart for the service of God, so unity is that outward, visible expression of our consecration to God. It shows we are set apart for the purposes and for the will of God.
Jesus said on one occasion, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). Now he did not say, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you all join the same organization or the same church.” Being in the church no more makes you a Christian than being in the Lion’s Club makes you a lion, or being in the Rotary Club makes you a rotisserie. It’s good to be apart of some kind of an organization, but that is not a sign that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.
He did not say, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have been baptized—or if you give a tithe to the church, or if you read your Bible daily.” But he did say, “Here is the sign. Here is the way men shall know that you are my disciples—that you are consecrated to me, that you belong to me, and that you love one another.”
How can we tell the world that God is love if we do not love one another ourselves? God is not the author of confusion, and wherever there is confusion and strife, God is not there and he is not in control. The psalmist is emphasizing that it is good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity, for when they live in unity, that oneness of spirit becomes a symbol and a testimony to the world that we are God’s people and we have put aside our own desires, wishes, and ambitions for the will of God.
2. Unity is the secret of our effectiveness and fruitfulness. Unity is not only an expression of our consecration to God. It is an aid to fruitfulness.
Unity is like the dew that falls on the mountains of Israel. Dew consists of tiny drops of moisture or water that form on plants in the early hours of a cool morning. It is the result of condensation as the moist air comes in contact with the plant. I am told (or I have read in the encyclopedia) that dew is very, very important. In some places where rainfall is very light, dew is vital to the life of plants. In fact there are some places in the world where dew provides more moisture for plants than rain does. While dew is often overlooked because it is so slight, it is a very vital factor in making plants and grass alive and fruitful.
The writer is saying to us, “Just as dew is important physically for the life of plants, so unity is important spiritually for the life and the fruitfulness of the people of God.” He is saying to us that if we want to be fruitful and accomplish God’s work, we can do it only when the dew of unity settles down upon us.
3. Unity is key to the growth and health of a church. I am often asked, “What’s the secret to the successful growth of Green Acres Baptist Church?” I usually end up talking about three things. There are many factors involved. One of them, of course, is our location. It does help to be in the right place at the right time. Another thing that contributes to our growth is our marvelous program that meets the needs of the people. The men on our staff—Dennis, Allan, and Bill—are responsible for that program.
But I always come around to say that our growth is because of the spirit of our people. When I go to visit people, that’s what they talk about. You know, I am sometimes discouraged because they don’t say very often what a marvelous preacher I am. Now I know I’m marvelous, but they don’t say it. I guess they don’t want to embarrass me. They talk about the music most of the time. And they are right. I would come to Green Acres just for the music if nothing else was going on. People talk a lot about the music, but the thing they say most often is: “The moment I walked in the door I felt the Spirit of God and the love and the warmth of the people.”
You cannot get away from the fact that unity prevails here, and it is one reason the harvest has been plenteous. We must do everything necessary to make sure that unity continues in our church. You see, from a practical point of view, if there is no unity, God cannot bless us as he would like to.
4. Unity is key to a family. There is a passage of scripture that has long captured my fancy. In 1 Peter 3:7, Peter is talking about husbands and wives and their relationships to one another and he says, “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them [that is with your wives] according to knowledge [that means to be understanding of them], giving honour [giving respect] unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” Peter was saying that husbands and wives better learn to get along. They are to respect one another and be considerate of one another. Otherwise they will have no effectiveness in their prayer life.
Some of you may be wondering why you don’t have any effectiveness in your prayer life; that may very well be the reason. You cannot pray effectively in a relationship characterized by bickering, complaining, and strife. Something has got to give or you can’t pray like you ought to. Your prayers are hindered. If that is true in a marriage, it is also true in a church. If there is a spirit of strife or disunity, the whole power line to the church is affected.
But more than that, if there is disunity in a fellowship we dissipate all of our energies and our efforts on that problem. That means that we have no energy and no time to get on with the work of the church. I’ve seen it happen many, many times. People became so concerned about their problems that they had no time for their mission. They spent so much time talking about one another that they had no time to talk about Christ, his kingdom, or his love. That’s why the writer is saying to us that unless there is unity, there can be no real fruitfulness.
Several years ago I was in a Bible conference with Fred Swank, who had retired after 43 years as pastor of Sagamore Hill Baptist Church in Fort Worth. During that period of 43 years, 5,000 people accepted Christ and 125 young people surrendered their lives and went out in special service. Some of them went to preach, and some of them went to work in education and youth ministry. Some of them became missionaries. I asked him, “Fred, what’s the secret of that?” He said, “I’ll tell you a part of it is that we never in 43 years had an argument or a fight on the church floor.”
It would be too much to ask for no arguments or no fights altogether—among Baptists especially. But in Fred’s church, there were no arguments and no fights on the church floor. There was unity of spirit, of heart, and of mind and soul, and God blessed it. He will bless it yet. Whenever and wherever we lack unity, it is a failure to realize our unity with God.
[2]By the way, I don’t think we lack it. I hope you don’t think that I think we don’t have it—I think we do. I’m just solving the problem by working on it before we get there.
Once we realize that God is our Father and that we are brothers, we’ve made great strides in living like we are brothers. When I traveled to Ephesus we saw carved on the sidewalk the ancient sign of a Christian. It was an “X”—the Greek symbol for Christ. Then there was a circle around the X that meant “unity in Christ.” There is nothing like being together. Soldiers together make an army. And trees together make a forest. Shingles together make a roof. Bricks together make a wall. Drops of water together make a river. Links together make a chain. And Christians together make a mighty powerful church for God’s glory.[3]
[1]Illustration.
[2]Illustration.
[3]Illustration.