the confession of our hope without
wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider
how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting
to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another all the more as you see the day drawing near. The second passage today will
be Psalm 133. In its entirety, it's a short
psalm. It reads as such, a song of a
sense of David. Behold how good and pleasant
it is when brothers dwell in unity. It is like the precious
oil on the head running down on the beard, on the beard of
Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. It is like the
dew of Hermon which falls on the mountain of Zion. For there
the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore." Let me preface
this by saying I was discussing with a good friend of mine recently
the times. Everything seems to be in a turmoil.
I don't need to dwell on that. We turn on the TV, it seems there's
bad news at every turn. about the economy, about world
situations. My friend is also having trouble
within his home, within his marriage, with the family, and he is distraught. Where does he turn? Where can
he find answers? What will settle these matters
in his mind and his heart for him? And in discussion, I ask
him, and I knew the answer. Well, how is life at the church? Well, we're not going to church
right now. You know, things are busy and
very hectic and there's this going on and that going on. Well,
we're not going to church right now. That got me to thinking. I'm
a church person. I have been my entire Christian
life and I thank God for that. I personally don't feel that
I could survive without the church. It is important for me to be
here Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, and I don't mean that
in any sense of obligation, but out of a sense of joy. And I
don't understand. People who call themselves Christians,
but are not in church attendance. It doesn't make sense to me.
And as we talked. These passages. Came to my mind
first that in in the book of Hebrews about not forsaken the
fellowship of believers and that addresses absence from the church. And the second speaks of the
blessing of church of the church. That is the Psalm 133. I think both are important. Both
give us a perspective. On church attendance. Now let
me let me say something here. I'm today I use the word church
in somewhat of a generic form. And I mean the public meeting
of Christians. Church, congregation, whatever
we want to call the meeting of Christians takes on different
meanings as set by the context of the discussion. We see that
in the scripture. We see that even in our own, excuse me, our
own discussions as we talk about church. Today, when I say church,
I'm talking about the public meeting of Christians coming
together to be with God and to be with each other. So that's
the meaning I'm placing on this today. Let's look at the passages. The Hebrew passage, the context
of that, it's a letter written to a congregation, real people
in a real time and a real place. And the congregation apparently
was made up of mostly Jewish believers. And within the community
of believers there, there was great pressure to conform to
or return to the Jewish faith and religion and Jewish practice. And many in the congregation
evidently were starting to lean that way, to go back to observance
of the Jewish law. And in this letter, Paul writes
to remind these believers that Christ is the fulfillment of
all that the law had to say about relationship with God. And indeed,
Christ is superior to the law. These people needed to be reminded
of that. Some of them were retreating
from Christ and going back to the law. And in that, some were
ceasing to meet with fellow believers. And in this passage, we read
that Paul would remind them, don't do that. Some are in the
custom of withdrawing from the congregation, from the church,
but don't do that. For in the congregation, there
is remembrance, reminding of the faith, application of the
faith, demonstration of the faith. It encourages us to be together. So do not cease to meet together. The second passage, the Psalm,
Psalm 133, it can be a little bit hard, I understand from all
my reading, to pin down the writing apparently of the Psalm. The
time of the Psalm is apparently uncertain. There are some theories
about when it was written and why it was written. And I tend
to hold to what I found to be the most common interpretation
of this psalm. And that is that this psalm was
written by David at the time that he is bringing the ark into
the city of Jerusalem. David has conquered the city
of the Jebusites. Jebus was the name they called
it by. It is also known in other places
in the Old Testament as Salem. David has conquered the city.
He has come in and made a place now for his occupation and for
the occupation of the Ark of God in the presence of God's
people. He has renamed now the city Jerusalem,
which means Jehovah is our peace. And this Psalm apparently reflects
the joy in his heart as the Ark comes into Jerusalem. The focus of the nation of Israel
is on Jerusalem and on the Ark coming into this place to dwell
with this people. and it overwhelms David and he
is just filled with a sense of peace and comfort. Let's look
at the history of Israel just to put this in a time and a perspective
so we can understand David's joy in this moment. Israel was a family. They followed one of the family
members into Egypt in a time of famine. We remember the story. They were blessed there, but
eventually it was determined by the Egyptians that they might
be a threat. The people of Israel, this family
now greatly expanded, were made slaves of the Egyptians. Later,
as God heard their pleas for freedom and brought them out
of Egypt under the leadership of Moses, they were formed into
a nation. They were no longer just a small
family, but they were many. The people of Israel went into
Egypt as a family of 70. 70 people. The scripture records they came
out as a nation of 600,000 men plus women and children. It's
a lot of folks. They went into, wandered in the
desert, they came to the promised land, they crossed over into
the promised land, and they were a loose association of tribes
at that point. Confederation, if you will, if
you want to use a governmental term. They were a loose association. They had no king, they had no
national identity, they were tribal people. Enemies surrounded
them, constant warfare. It was a problem. Never was there
a period of real peace in Israel because of this. They united
under a king, Saul. It was for the purpose of military
defense. It went okay. They were further
unified into a strong nation under King David. But it was
constant warfare. They had a stronger national
identity because they were a victorious people, but they had no capital
and no center of worship. They were still basically nomads. David conquers the city of the
Jebusites, Jebus, also known as Salem. And there he says,
this is now the city of David. This is now the city of God.
And he renames it Jerusalem. And here will be the capital
of the nation. Here will be the head of the
nation, the king. And here will be the temple of
God who is indeed the true leader of the nation. David decides
this, settles on this place, but it's not quite ready yet
for the ark. The Philistines are in the area
and it is a threat yet to the newly established capital. David leaves the ark in a safe
place. He conquers the Philistines.
And then it's time for the celebration, the bringing of the ark into
the new temple city. And it's set up. The day is set. The ark is brought forth and
David is so overcome with joy and excitement over the time
and what's happening. And here God is coming in a sense
to dwell with his people in this place. And as the procession
goes into the city of Jerusalem, the scripture says that David
danced in front of it. He was completely given over
to the reverie of the moment. And I don't mean that in any
bad sense. He was overcome with joy that God was with his people
and he danced in front of the ark as it went into Jerusalem.
We find all of this recorded for us in first Chronicles chapter
11 verses four through nine. Chapter 13, verses 1-14. Chapters
15, 1-29. And chapter 16, 1-43. And again recorded for us in 2 Samuel,
chapter 6, verses 1-19. That seems to be the context
for the writing of This Psalm, Psalm 133. For the first time in the history
of the fledgling nation now, there is what appears to be peace. They have a capital. They have
a temple city. No temple yet that's to come.
But they have a place where they will dedicate life to God. And the ark is coming. And God
will, in this physical sense, dwell with His people. And it's this sense of euphoria
in King David that leads to the psalm. And again, let's look
at it in a few pieces here and see what's happening, what's
being said here. Behold how good and pleasant
it is when brothers dwell in unity. This is good and pleasant. In contrast to the life of Israel
up to this moment, which has been disunity among the brothers. And remember, Israel is a nation,
yes, but it is also still an extended family. Twelve tribes coming from twelve
brothers from one father. This is an extended family. David uses the term here, brothers,
and it's meaningful in this instance, because it's not just like our
nation, which is a nation that's been made up from many people
from many places all over, but this is actually extended family.
How good and pleasant it is when these brothers dwell now in unity. Before, they were tribes. And if you'll read your Old Testament
Scripture, you will see that they were, at times, very divided
tribes. Many hostilities within the family. But now, in this day, in this
time, in this place, their eyes are on the ark going into the
city. Jehovah is our peace. Today, they dwell in unity. David makes this statement, this
is a wonderful thing. What is it like? How can we imagine
this? What terms can we put this in
to explain how wonderful this is? David then draws on things
that they will know, that these brothers, this nation, this people
of God will remember. This moment is a special moment. It's not just special, it's sacred. It's a sacred moment. It is like
the precious oil on the head running down on the beard. The
beard of Aaron. This draws back to the time when
Aaron is named the first priest of Israel. Appointed by God to
be the first priest. There was a procedure set out
to mix a special anointing oil for Aaron and the priest to follow
him. And as you read in the Old Testament,
you'll find out that is a special and sacred oil. That was its
sole purpose was to anoint the priest. A mix of an oil base
with many fragrant herbs and spices. A special mix for a special
purpose to mark out this one as special. The Old Testament
procedure was that the oil would be placed on the head. It says
in the Scripture not to be placed on the body, on the head. What David is saying here, this
moment is as sacred, as special, as wonderful, as unique as that
moment when Aaron was anointed. But not only that, this is special
in abundance. It's not just oil on the head
of Aaron. It is oil in so much abundance
that it runs down off of his head, into his beard, onto his
garments. This is the anointing in great
abundance. This is a special moment. And here, the presence of God
is felt. And it's in abundance. It's not
just an anointing on the head. Not that that's not special.
But it's even more so than that. This is in huge abundance. The oil is running down all over
Aaron. And today, as this ark is brought
into this holy city, the presence of God is there. And David said,
this is like that special sacred oil, but it's just flowing in
abundance. That's one picture that David
gives us. The next is like the dew of Hermon
falling on the mountains of Zion. Most of the holy lands that Israel
occupied was pleasant land. but it was subject to all the
things that lower lands are subject to. Heat, droughts, crops, failed
crops, rain. It was subject to the variations
in the weather. But David said, this is not like
that. Good as that is, by the way,
this is not like that. This is like the dew on Mount
Hermon, where the temperature is pleasant all the time. And
every morning there is a refreshing dew. This, as I read this, really
sparked an image in my mind of the last two years with the drought
here in Texas. And I remember late last year
when we started having dew again. I don't know if you remember
that. It was an odd feeling, a pleasant feeling. When we finally
started having cooler mornings and you'd go out, I'd go out
to take mail to the mailbox or to pick up the newspaper or take
the garbage out, whatever my purpose was to go outside. And
I would feel wetness on the bottom of my bare feet. That was a comfort. It really
was a comfort to me. We might be losing a drought.
We might not be subject to the throes of this horrible weather
pattern that was doing so much bad to us. David said that this
day when the ark is coming, when God is making His presence known
in this place to His people, it's like the dew of Haman. A refreshing, a comfort, David
said that's what this is like. Not a drought. Not a flood. Not any of the other things.
The extremes that we suffer. But this is a comfort. A cool comfort. And that's what
this is. As God dwells with His people
and will dwell with His people in this city of Jerusalem, it
will be a comfort to his people. That's the second image that
David gives to us. And then, with the last verse,
David ties it back to the first verse, telling us how good and
pleasant it is. For there the Lord has commanded
the blessing, life forevermore. There is only one place that
we can know life forevermore. And that is with God. And that is the central focus
of life. That is the unifying factor here
with the people of God as David writes this psalm. It's about life with God. And
that was David's joy, his ecstasy here as he dances in front of
the ark as it enters the new city. God will dwell here. We may not know anything else
in the nation of Israel, in the provinces, out where the people
live in the distance. We know that God will live in
Jerusalem. This is a comfort to His people.
This is the dew. And there, wherever God is, is
life forevermore. That's the two passages. Now
let's look quickly and make some application because there are
wonderful things contained in this passage. Some people will
tell you they don't need church. It's not that important, they'll
tell you, that I am in a building on Sunday morning. You know,
I can worship God under the trees or out on a fishing boat, I can
be with God wherever I am. And I do understand that. And
each one of us here, as we have lived and experienced life with
God, have had those moments, profound, life-changing moments,
where we were by ourselves. There was no one around. But
God touched us in a way. that changed our lives. So I
do not discount that talking point, if you will, that, you
know, I don't need to be in a building to be with God. I understand
that. But that does not take away from or discount the fact
that God has made us social people and tells us to come together. So we need both. We need both. The scripture speaks of those
quiet moments we have with God by ourselves, but it also speaks
of those very public moments where we meet together. There
are things that we gain together as the church that we don't get
separately as individuals. It is critical for us as believers
to have one another. It is. It's critical. It's critical. Here in the church, amongst God's
people, we will find the presence of God. He has things that He would tell
us Sunday after Sunday through sermons that we won't get anywhere
else. He has apt words spoken to us
by a dear brother or sister over lunch that we won't get anywhere
else. This place, we come together
today focused. It is our intention to come together
as brothers and sisters in Christ and to set the world aside and
to focus on God and what He has to tell us. And that is a special
privilege that He has given to His people. We should be excited
about that On Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, Sunday afternoon
services, it's here that we meet with God, in a sense. He's here. And as much as His Spirit makes
application to the person speaking and to the people hearing, God
will impart to us knowledge and wisdom and show His love forth
to His people. And in doing so, we will learn
of our God and from our God. And that's wonderful, that's
precious, that's special. We will experience life together. And this is important as well. The Christian life is spiritual. It's in a realm in our lives
that we can neither see or touch, but we know exists and there
we know God. But it's also physical. Our lives
are indeed physical and the Christian life is physical as well. And
as we minister to one another, we help each other know God and
experience God. Christ spoke of that when He
said, as you do to the least of these, you've done unto me. It is important that we come
together and that we talk to each other. We share lives with
each other. We share what we've learned and
what we know with each other. This is an element that we must
have. We are created to be a social
people and we need the right socialization, which is fellowship
with God's people, with God's people. And in doing so, we find
this refreshing, this dew like that of Mount Hermon. Look, the
world out there is in chaos. It is. Don't need to go into
that. Don't need to drag that out.
But you know what's happening in here today? Not chaos. We came together. We spoke to
each other. We shared time with each other.
We've heard the Word of God preached and we are encouraged in that.
We sat and had a meal together and we enjoyed each other's company. Not chaos. Brothers and sisters,
that is critical to us as believers. Critical to us as believers.
We are not experiencing chaos. We are the people of God who
love God and yes, who love each other. Jesus said they outside
will know that you are my disciples. Because you love one another. Here it is. Here it is. The church. The fellowship. of God's people,
the body of Christ loves each other. That's the refreshing
that we all need. All of us. We all need it. And we get it when we come together
to worship God and to fellowship with each other. And the result
of that ultimately is that we find life forevermore. We talk about eternal life and
we have got it in our minds that eternal life begins that moment
that we breathe our last and lay down. Brothers and sisters,
we began eternal life the moment that we met Jesus Christ. Jesus told his disciples that
to know God is eternal life. The moment that we met Jesus
Christ, we were birthed into eternal life. And we share that
life today and every time that we meet. This is a special privilege
and it should, I hope, make our hearts sing out. Now I realize we're probably
not all going to dance into the church next Sunday as David did
when he brought the ark forward. But I do hope that we experience
a joyful expectation throughout the week as we think of our next
meeting. That we look forward to seeing
our dear brothers and sisters on Sunday. and that we look forward
to hearing a word preached that will touch our hearts in a way
that nothing else that we hear during the week can or will touch
us. I hope that we experience that. I hope that we understand, as
David did, that it is good and pleasant when brothers dwell
together in unity. With that, I'll end. I'm thankful
for today. And as I thought through these
things this week, it made me realize that I should be thankful
for Sundays more than I am. And I pray that I will be more
thankful in the days to come, that I will look forward to every
meeting of God's people with the joyful expectation that David
had when he wrote the song. how good and pleasant it is when
brothers dwell together in unity.