What I want to talk to you about today is something that God desperately desires for his people. It is one thing that Satan fears and works day and night to undo. It is something for which Jesus himself prayed for just before He went to the cross. It is the one thing the bible says that will convince people that the church has something the world does not. It is the one thing that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is meant to accomplish. What is it that I am talking about?—UNITY.
Now when I speak about unity, let me make it plain that I'm not talking about union. Union is when you are bonded with someone with whom you may not have a common bond. I am not talking about uniformity; that is when everyone looks alike and thinks alike.
I am not speaking of unanimity; which is where everybody ought to always agree on everything. Contrary to what you may think, I do not expect neither uniformity nor unanimity always in this church. But what I do want, what God desires and what we must have, is unity. By unity, I mean a oneness of heart, a similarity of purpose, and an agreement on truth.
When our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin stood up and said, "Gentlemen, now we must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
I believe Satan's strategy to defeat the church, is to "divide and conquer." The devil is no match for a united church no matter how small that church may be. But regardless of how large a church is, how many members it has, how big the budget is, how many buildings it has, it can be defeated member by member. Satan's motive is division. Satan's method is deception. Satan's mission is destruction. He wants to deceive us so that he might divide us and, therefore, destroy us.
You see Satan cannot defeat a united church because there is no place where he can attack the body. Every plank is covered. Every side is protected. Even the gates of hell cannot prevail against a church united in the Lord Jesus Christ. But, one by one, divided against each other, any of us and all of us can be picked off by his fiery darts.
Asallust once said, "By unity the smallest states thrive; by discord the greatest are destroyed." Our national motto is e pluribus unum, which means "out of the many, one." Again, our founding fathers knew that we must forever be "The United States of America."
I read about a man one time who went out on a boat deep-sea fishing who couldn't swim. He caught an enormous fish, and in his excitement to pull it into the boat, he fell overboard. He cried out, "Save me, I cannot swim!" Well, the captain of the boat very calmly reached out, grabbed the man by the arm, and gave a big pull; but he didn't know it was an artificial arm, and the arm came off!
Well, the man continued to kick and splash around crying for help. The captain reached out again; this time he grabbed his leg and gave a tremendous pull, but the leg came off because it was a wooden leg. The man in the water went under again and he came up yelling for help.
The captain, still calm, this time grabbed the man by the hair of his head and gave a gigantic pull. But the man was wearing a toupee and it came off. At that point the captain looked at the man in the water and said, "Mister, if you won't stick together, I can't help you!"
Even God cannot help a church that is not going to stick together. I want to tell you if we are going to be victorious as a church and accomplish all that God wants us to accomplish, and be all that God wants us to be, we must come together, we must work together, we must stay together. So I want to talk to you today about the vastly important subject of unity.
I. The Beauty of Unity
David begins with a simple word "Behold." Now the word behold in the Hebrew language would be our way of saying today, "Stop, Look, and Listen!" David is telling us that a fellowship that is united and a people that are one, is a sight to behold. In fact, I don't believe there is a more beautiful sight anywhere on the earth when God's people are truly united under the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ, and under the umbrella of His authority.
Perhaps the most beautiful prayer ever prayed in history, Jesus prayed for the church in the seventeenth chapter of John and this is what He prayed:
"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me." (Jn. 17:20-21)
The Lord Jesus prayed that we would be one. Incidentally, the literal translation of Ps. 133:1 is this: "Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together even as one." Jesus said we're to be one just as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one.
The Trinity is not simply a Tri-unity. The Trinity is not three Gods; it is one God in three persons. It is a perfect unity. Unity is in the very nature of God.
That is why disharmony and disunity grieves God and His Holy Spirit. It is against His very nature. One thing the Holy Spirit will not and cannot do, is work in a church that is divided. Dwight L. Moody said, "I have never known the Spirit of God to work where the Lord's people were divided."
So often we ask the Lord Jesus to answer our prayer, but there's one way where we could be an answer to His prayer, and that is by being united, by being one.
Jesus goes on to say in Jn. 17:22, "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." In a world of political, national, philosophical, and theological division, God is glorified, magnified, and satisfied when His children are unified.
You have heard it said there is "strength in numbers." Well, that really isn't true. There is only strength in numbers if those numbers are unified. One brick by itself is absolutely worthless, but many bricks together can make a wall. One shingle by itself is worthless, but many shingles together can make a roof. One link alone is worthless, but many links together can make a chain.
Perhaps you have been out to California and seen these gigantic huge redwood trees. They are some of the most amazing trees in all of the world. As a matter of fact, they are the largest living things on earth and the tallest trees on this planet. Some of them are 300 ft. high and over 2,500 years old. The inside of some of the trunks are so huge that two or three people can stand inside of them.
Now you would think that trees this large must have a tremendous root system that reaches down hundreds of feet into the earth; but not so! The redwoods have a very shallow root system unlike the palm tree, whose taproot goes down into the ground as deep as the tree is tall. In other words, a 30 ft. palm tree has a 30 ft. root. The redwood has no taproot at all. That's why you will never see a redwood standing alone—never. They are always in clusters, groups, and groves.
Do you know why the might of the redwood tree is not in itself? The secret of its strength is this: For every foot in height, the redwood tree sends its roots not down, but three times that distance…out! In other words, if a tree is 300 ft. tall, its roots go 900 ft. out.
If you could look underground you would find all of the roots of all of those trees intertwined and intertwist so that one tree is not holding up itself, but every tree is holding up the other. These trees are literally locked to each other so there is no way that one tree can fall down; it is held up by the strength of the other trees.
That is the real secret of the strength of a country, of a state, of a community, of a church. The reason why we are to be so united is, as Jesus said in v.21, "that the world may believe that You sent Me." The greatest advertisement for the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a billboard, a newspaper advertisement, or even a television program; the greatest advertisement for the gospel of Jesus Christ is a church that is unified in the Holy Spirit.
II. The Basis of Unity
Somebody said, "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; but working together is success." Well, why should we come together? Why should we work together? How can we stay together? What is the basis of unity in the church? May I suggest three things that should form the basis of our unity.
First of all, the lordship of God's Son. Now this Psalm was primarily addressed to "brethren." Brethren here refers to the people of God. Now in order to be brothers, you must have the same father. If you have the same father you must be in the same family. What is true in the physical realm is just as true in the spiritual realm.
To be brothers in the spiritual sense, you must have God as your Father. If God is your Father, then you are in God's family, but you must be born into the family of God; and to be born into the family of God you must be born again. Jn. 1:12 says, "But as many as received Jesus, to them God gave the right to become one of His children."
You see faith puts you into the family of the Father. Therefore if you have not received Jesus as Lord, you are not in God's family; and if you are not in God's family, God is not your Father; and if God is not your Father, and He is my Father, then we cannot be brothers.
So what I am saying is this: If Jesus is not your Lord, then God is not your Father. Because you cannot have God without Jesus. "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also." (1Jn. 2:23) The true basis of any unity is the lordship of Jesus Christ.
That is why a believer should not marry an unbeliever. The goal of marriage is perfect unity, but a Christian cannot have perfect unity with a non-Christian. You can have union, but you cannot have unity. "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?" (2 Cor. 6:14)
I say again, the basis of true lasting real genuine Christianity is the lordship of Jesus Christ. That's why I can have more fellowship with a conservative Presbyterian who loves the Lord Jesus and believes the Bible, than I can with a liberal Southern Baptist who denies the deity of Jesus, or the inspiration of the Bible. As long as we will submit ourselves to the lordship of Christ, we will be a unified church. For the lordship of Jesus is not just the basis of unity, it is the bond of unity.
But the second thing that will bring us together is the life of God's Spirit. Now notice the comparison David makes. He compares unity to "the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron." (v.2) Why is unity like oil? Well remember, oil is a symbol of God's dear Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not only the source of our unction, He is the source of our unity.
This oil that David spoke about was the anointing oil that was used on Aaron, the high priest of Israel, who by the way is a picture of our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Aaron was charged with the responsibility of entering into the holy of holies. But before he could enter in, he would be anointed with this fragrant oil. He was never to enter into God's presence with the odor of the flesh clinging to him. He had to be washed and anointed so that the fragrance of God's Spirit would be clinging to him.
God gave a very special recipe for that oil. It was to be made up of myrrh, cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia. This mixture was then blended with olive oil. The Lord even gave the specific measure of each element that was to be used in the making of this anointing oil. Then the Lord gave a warning. He said that this must never be imitated nor must it ever be substituted, and anyone who tried would be cut off from the people of God.
Now just as the blending of these various parts produced a harmonious whole, the myrrh, the cassia, the cinnamon, the calamus mixed to merge into one all blended together by this precious oil, so is the unity of the Holy Spirit; Christ in me, Christ in you, Christ in this brother, Christ in that sister, all blended into one body by the gracious unifying work of the Holy Spirit of God.
That's why you need to understand that unity is not something that is forced from without—that's uniformity. Unity is something that is produced from within by the Holy Spirit of God. That's why Paul encouraged us in Eph. 4:3, "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
But the last source of unity is the leadership of God's servant. One of the reasons why churches are bickering and fussing and fighting is, on the one hand, some churches have a pastor that wants to lead, but the church won't let him. Other churches are frustrated because they need leadership, but the pastor will not give it.
Now the role model for a pastor and people in the church is laid out in the book of Joshua. The book of Joshua is a book of victory and success. It is the story of how the people entered into the promise land. They defeated every foe; they turned every vision into reality. But you know how they were able to accomplish that mighty feat for God?
Listen to Joshua 1:16-18:
"And they answered Joshua, saying, ‘All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.
Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you. Only the Lord your God be with you, as He was with Moses.
Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage.'"
Listen to what they said: "Joshua, you command us, we'll do it. Wherever you lead us we will go. Just as we heeded Moses, we will heed you, and whoever rebels against you, rebels against us. We will stand behind you and we will stand with you."
I am convinced beyond a shadow of any doubt whatsoever that any potential strife, bickering and fussing, can be ended in any church if that church will make one key decision, and that is to follow the leadership of God's servant. Everything rises and falls on leadership, but leadership rises and falls on followship. So if there is no followship everything falls.
Take a football team. The halfback may think they ought to use a running play; the split end may think they ought to use a passing play. But when the quarterback says, "we're going to use this play," when that team makes a decision to follow that quarterback, there is no chance for disharmony or disunity.
III. The Blessing of Unity
David not only compares unity to oil; he compares it to dew. "It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing—life forever-more." (v.3) Now why did David use dew as an example of unity? I kept thinking to myself, "What do dew do?" Why is dew so special?
Well, in that hot Mediterranean climate, dew is absolutely vital to plant life. Dew is like refreshing lotion that God sends to lubricate that dry parched land there in the nation of Israel. We even have a saying here in America that "It is as fresh as the morning dew."
You can get up in the morning and you can see that dew on the grass sparkling like a million diamonds in the sun. It is so refreshing you can almost smell it in the air. I want to tell you in this day of disgruntlement, division, dissention, disagreement, unity and harmony are like the morning dew on a parched and thirsty land.
Back in the days of David, and even still today in some parts of Israel, farming is done on a dry basis. As a matter of fact, it is called "dry farming." There was no irrigation back when this psalm was written, and very little rain. Farmers were totally dependent on the morning dew to water their crops. Those farmers there in the lower part of Zion were very grateful for that life-giving dew.
In the absence of rain, and with no irrigation, there was not a more beautiful sight to a Hebrew farmer than that morning dew that he knew was sent from God to water his crops. That dew meant food for the table; that dew meant clothing for his back; that dew meant shelter for the family. When that dew would come, there would be great rejoicing in that household.
There is nothing sweeter than when the dew of heaven's grace, God's power, and the Spirit's unity falls on a church. Some of you have been involved in the bitterness of a church divided, and you know what it is to rejoice in the blessing of a church united.
You see the dew makes the land green, it makes it fertile, it makes it fruitful, it increases productivity. Dew gives the land its greatest potential to do what it was created to do; be fruitful for its Creator. What dew does for the land, unity does for the church.
I was reading not long ago about Canadian geese. A naturalist began studying why geese who fly south or fly north always fly in a "V" formation. You may have seen a flock of geese flying overhead in this "V" formation.
Well, this naturalist discovered why they fly that way. Research has revealed that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately behind him. By flying in a "V" formation the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. Likewise, when a people come together with a common goal, and a sense of unity, they can go farther, go more quickly, and have more success than they could traveling alone.
Furthermore, they discovered that whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone, and it quickly gets back into formation and takes advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of him. Now, if we as a people, can have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation and so will those who are headed the same way we are.
When that lead goose finally gets tired, he rotates back in the "V" and another goose flies up to take his place. That's why we need to learn that we need to take turns doing the hard jobs in the church.
He also discovered that the reason geese hawk, is they are encouraging those up front to keep up their speed. By the way, be careful when you hawk at the lead goose, make sure it is a positive hawk and not a negative hawk.
Finally, when a goose gets sick or tired, and falls too far back, two other geese will fall out of formation and follow it to help it and protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again and get back in the formation. If we could just have the sense of geese, we would make up our mind that we would stand together just like that.
What's true for geese is true for a church. What's true for a church is true for a family. I'm limited in what I can do alone for God. But I tell you, we are virtually unlimited by what we can do together. United we stand, divided we fall. That's why in team work there's dream work.