In his sermon 'Doing Well Together', Peter Allison explores the theme of unity as described in Psalm 133. He emphasizes the beauty and desirability of brethren dwelling together in unity, a concept deeply rooted in the divine design for human relationships. Through historical references, Allison highlights humanity's ongoing quest for unity, noting the failures of global initiatives like the League of Nations and the United Nations. He contrasts these with the biblical portrayal of unity, achievable only through shared purpose and mutual submission. The sermon delves into two metaphors from the psalm: the anointing of Aaron and the dew of Hermon, both illustrating the spiritual unity found in the church. Aaron's anointing symbolizes the Holy Spirit's role in imparting gifts and graces, essential for unity. Similarly, the dew of Hermon represents the regenerative work of the Spirit within the church. Allison stresses that true unity is founded on truth and is a mark of being in Christ, facilitated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He warns against sins like bitterness and anger that can disrupt unity and urges believers to seek forgiveness and mutual submission to maintain the beauty of communal life. The sermon concludes with a prayer for God's spirit to foster genuine fellowship and repentance among believers.

Please turn to Psalm 133. This is the message that I gave this past Wednesday at the ordination to Heritage Church. To their heritage church. I've decided to give it again here for us as well. Psalm 133, a song of a sense 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 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 his blessing, life, for ever more." Almighty Heavenly Father, may We see this morning your beauty and your glory. May you open our hearts, our minds, our understanding, that we may behold the beauty and the wondrous things in your Word. And may you sanctify this vessel of clay to proclaim such holy and beautiful things, in order that You might receive the glory this morning and no man in Jesus name.

Amen. David describes in this Psalm one thirty three, which is a very familiar Psalm, Something that is very beautiful, very wonderful. I'm sure that you have all experienced something what David talks about when you've experienced fellowship, communion with those of like precious faith. It is a wonderful, it is a beautiful thing. It's something that the world longs for as well.

This desire for togetherness, connection, is a God-given desire. It's the desire that brings people together in marriage. It's one of the desires. It's at least one of the desires. It's also a desire that is behind a lot of immorality as people look for that fellowship, that companionship in unbiblical and illegitimate ways.

The 20th century itself, think back over the high level view of the history, was consumed seeking, ostensibly seeking, according to the rhetoric, seeking global unity. There were a couple of world wars that were fought over establishing this kind of unity among the nations of the earth. After the first world war there was a league of nations and when that failed because the United States didn't join it there was a second world war fought and after that was set up the United Nations. The very name is describing what it is that they were seeking. And the United Nations has held and held forth this hope of global unity.

They've been preaching a message of global unity ever since. One of the highest-grossing songs of all time worldwide was a song about unity, coming together to help people. But all these attempts by the United Nations, by songwriters and so on, are futile by and large because they're unable to deliver on the unity that they are preaching and proclaiming and promising. But this psalm, probably sung as the Israelites would have ascended the Temple Mount for the feast celebration, It does tell us what unity is. It tells us where it is to be found.

And it teaches us how we can experience the fullness of this desire that God has given to us. What it is, where it is found, and how we experience the fullness of this desire, this God-given desire. This God-given desire. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. This Condition that David describes as being so wonderful.

It's good and pleasant is brothers dwelling together Unity is brothers dwelling together now many Translations like including the one I read from the New King James say how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. And that accurately captures the sense of this passage, the sense of that psalm. But that translation tends to obscure a little bit what the unity fundamentally is. Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It's almost as if you can dwell together in unity or you can dwell together not in unity.

And that's not quite what it's saying. The Geneva translation captures this sense a little bit better when it says, How good and comely for brethren to dwell even together. And That word even is in the Hebrew and it's simply there to put an emphasis on the together. It's as if The author is putting that word together in bold and underlining it. How good and comely it is for brothers to dwell even together.

So to dwell together is to dwell in unity. You can't dwell together any other way. Dwelling together requires a common purpose. It requires a mutual submission to one another. Amos rhetorically asked, can two walk together unless they are agreed?

And the obvious answer implied there is You can't walk together, two people can't walk together unless they are in agreement on the destination. And neither can people dwell together unless they are agreed on their purpose and are dwelling in mutual submission to each other. If we're going to walk together, we have to share a common destination. In Genesis, Abraham and Isaac were going to Mount Moriah where God had commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son. Isaac asked where the sacrifice was and Abraham gave him an answer and then it says that they went on together They went on together because they were going to a common destination Isaac was following in obedience.

He was following his father if we're If we're going to answer together we have to have a common message, a common answer. In Exodus 19, Moses laid God's commandment before the people and they answered together all that the Lord has said we will do. They could only answer together if they were all answering with the same words. If they had different words, they would not have been answering together. And so in the same way, without this common purpose, common goal, and mutual submission to one another, you can't dwell together.

So we might say then that this dwelling together that David talks about is to do well together. To do well together. Remember Abraham and Lot, they were two brothers. And Lot is called a righteous man in the New Testament, vexed by the wickedness of the city that he lived in, but they couldn't dwell together because they could not agree on whose sheep and whose well their sheep got to drink out of. The land wasn't able to support them all the wealth that they both had and so they weren't able to dwell together.

Unity then as David describes it here is dwelling together. This is what David calls good and pleasant. Brothers dwelling together. It's good means that it's desirable. It's desirable in the broadest sense of the word.

There are many things that are good. They are good for us, but they may not be very pleasant at the time. Now medicine is one of those things that comes to mind that might be good for us, but might not be good in the sense of discipline. The Bible says that that's good for us, it's for our benefit, and yet the Bible also says it's not pleasant at the time. There are also things that are pleasant that aren't necessarily good for us.

Certain foods have that characteristic. They're very good when you eat them, but they might not be so good later on for us. But this is different. This is different. This dwelling together that David talks about is good and it is pleasant.

This beautiful condition that David talks about is found where brothers are dwelling together. Where those who have a familial relationship, a connection with each other, are dwelling together. Whether that could be in the home among all the children and siblings or whether it is in the church among the brothers and sisters in the Lord. And David gives two metaphors to help us understand, to help to picture for us what this is, we're brothers dwelling together. Both of these metaphors point to the church and particularly the worship of the church.

They point to the church and the worship of the church as where this unity is found and expressed. The first metaphor that is given is the anointing of Aaron. It is like, that's a metaphor, he's going to compare this unity, these brothers dwelling together or brothers dwelling even together, he's going to compare it to the anointing of Aaron. 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. This is a historical event that David is recalling here.

It is described in the vidicus chapter 8 where Aaron was ordained to the office of high priest. It involved an investiture, a clothing of Aaron in the garments, in the robes of that office. And it involved an anointing of oil, oil that was poured upon his head. It's a special oil that was poured on Aaron's head. And David envisions it having been poured on Aaron's head, running down onto his beard, and then running down onto the edge of his garments and to the outer extremities of his garments.

So it's a fairly copious quantity of oil that David is envisioning here for it to flow that far Before it gets absorbed But it was also a very expensive and exotic oil that was poured upon Aaron's head Exodus 30 provides the recipe for making this oil. They were to take 500 shekels of myrrh, 250 shekels of cinnamon, 250 shekels of calamus or sweet cane, 500 shekels of cashew which is another form of cinnamon, and a hint of olive oil. And from this they were to compound the anointing oil according to the art of the perfumer. Now if I've added up all the quantities here correctly that would be about 20-30 pounds of spices, Maybe a bit more, depending on exactly how heavy the shekel is. Twenty or thirty pounds of spices to go into a hen of oil, which is about a gallon, maybe possibly a little bit more.

A gallon of oil. Now if you've ever handled bulk spices, you know that a pound of spice can be a rather large quantity. And so if you are simply grinding up these things and putting them in the oil, You would probably end up putting that much into only a gallon of oil. You'd probably end up with a paste That really wouldn't flow anywhere And so when Moses tells us that they are they were to compound this According to the art of the perfumer. I think what's in view here is that they were distilling out these spices and taking the essence of them.

In other words, they were making what we today might call an essential oil and they were diluting that, they were putting that as the essence of all these spices, they were putting that into the gallon of olive oil. Now if you've handled these essential oils, you know that they are very aromatic, They are very pungent, they are very powerful. This aroma can be very pleasant. It is a beautiful aroma and it hangs. This richly aromatic oil was poured on Aaron's head and it ran down on his beard and ran down on his garments and out onto the outer edge and it wouldn't have evaporated its oil it doesn't evaporate it's going to stay there it's going to cling to his garments This beautiful pungent aroma clinging to his garments.

That's the picture that David gives us of what brothers dwelling together is like. Just imagine this aroma, beautiful, Just imagine this aroma, beautiful, powerful, pungent aroma. But of course, this was actually a, I should mention as well, that because this oil was a special oil and because of what it represented everybody else who wasn't a high priest was forbidden not only to put it on their skin, but to even make it. In that same chapter that Exodus 30 is a warning given to anyone else not to make this oil for themselves or to put it on their skin. Because you see Aaron was a type of Christ and the pouring of this oil on his head was representing or pointing to the imparting of the gifts and the graces of the Holy Spirit that were being poured out.

And that's why, because this oil represented the unction of the Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Everybody else was forbidden to use it and to profane it in that way. But of course Aaron's priesthood was a type of Christ. He pointed forward to Christ, our great High Priest. Aaron went into the Holy of Holies and he made atonement there for his own sins, the sins of Israel. He sprinkled the furniture, the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat with the blood of bulls and goats.

Because the blood of bulls and goats doesn't atone for any sins, he had to do this repeatedly. Whereas Christ entered the heavenly tabernacle, he passed through the heavens, entered the heavenly tabernacle and sprinkled the heavenly sanctuary with his own blood, Hebrews tells us. So there are some parallels between Aaron and Christ. Aaron is the head of the church. He pointed to Christ who is the head of his church and we are the body then.

We are the body. Christ is the head. We are the body in this church. The word Christ itself means, as you know, anointed. That's the Greek word.

The Hebrew word is Messiah. The English word is anointed. It's three words in three different languages, but they all mean the same thing. Christ means the anointed one. God's anointed.

The Messiah was God's anointed one. And Jesus was anointed, appointed to the office of priest. He didn't take it to himself, Hebrews says. He didn't take that office to himself because It's something that we have to be appointed to. And when Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized, John the Baptist said, well, why do you want me to baptize you?

I need to be baptized by you. He knew Jesus didn't need to be baptized for the remission of sins, and that's why John would baptize because that was pointing forward to that, but Jesus said, permit it at this time to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus was taking to himself a human body, he was circumcised and he was baptized, but also Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. And as the New Testament says, there were no priests from the tribe of Judah. So there was a new tribe being inaugurated into the priesthood and therefore there was the need for an anointing which was accomplished in Jesus' baptism.

And at that baptism, you remember, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove. And so in Aaron's anointing then, with this oil, it is pointing to the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the imparting of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. There's a second metaphor that's given that seems at first glance to be completely different is like comparing this brothers dwelling together to the dew of Hermon descending on the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing life forevermore. How is that a picture of brothers dwelling even together? Well, let's start with the easy part, the Mount Zion.

That's the place where God dwells. It's where the Church of Jesus Christ worships. God has worshiped where He puts His name. And in the Old Testament, God put His name in Jerusalem. God's Shekinah glory resided in the temple.

But God now has put his name upon us and as Jesus told the woman at the well, God is not worshiped at any mountain anymore, but rather all those who worship God worship him in spirit and in truth. And so Mount Zion is where God dwells, but it is also the church. In the scriptures, God is said to love Mount Zion. God redeems Mount Zion. God chose Mount Zion.

God has mercy on Mount Zion. Salvation comes from Mount Zion. Mount Zion is His throne room. It is His dwelling. It is His possession.

It is His inheritance. That's all Mount Zion. And do those things sound familiar? Every one of those things is also said about the church of Jesus Christ. God redeems the church.

He has chosen His church. He has mercy on His people. And it is there where the people of God are assembled that He commands His blessing. And it is there that He dwells with us. Now, Mount Hermon fits into this picture because that is a mountain at the far north of Israel.

It's the northernmost extremity of the land that God gave to Israel. Under most of the times of the kings, it was not under their control, except in the time of David and Solomon. But it's a mountain that those mountains of Hermon formed the headwater of the Jordan. So all the water in the river Jordan is coming from the precipitation that falls in Mount Hermon. So in a very literal sense and Certainly in a historically accurate sense, the dew that falls on Mount Hermon does descend upon the mountains of Zion, of Israel.

There's also the dew mentioned here. The dew that falls on Mount Zion. What is being pictured by dew? What is being pictured by water falling down upon Mount Zion? Well when Peter was preaching in the house of Cornelius, remember God had given him that vision of unclean animals and he was to kill and eat those animals.

And Peter said, no, I've never eaten anything unclean. And God says, what I have cleansed, don't you call unclean. And By that, God called Peter to go to the Gentiles, because right at that point, the messengers from Cornelius came and asked Peter to come. So Peter went, and as he's preaching to these Gentile people, they believe The Holy Spirit falls upon them. And what is the first thing that Peter says?

Peter immediately thinks of water. When he sees the Holy Spirit fall, he thinks of water. He sees the Holy Spirit falling and he immediately associates that with, can anyone forbid water to these upon whom the Holy Spirit has fallen? And so they are baptized. And so the water of baptism points again to the work of the Holy Spirit in the work in regeneration.

And so David is picturing here the Holy Spirit falling upon the church, God's people. Both of these metaphors are pictures of the work of the Holy Spirit in the general office of all believers and in the special office of the anointing of the High Priest. The oil falling on Aaron's head pointing to the Spirit's gifts and graces being poured on him. And this dew falling on the Mount Zion points to the Holy Spirit falling on his people in the washing of regeneration. And both of these things then, Both of these metaphors point us to the origin of this pleasant, this beautiful, this wonderful experience called, we call unity, or brothers dwelling even together.

You see, brothers dwelling even together is only possible among people with whom the Holy Spirit dwells. One Spirit dwelling together with us as we dwell together with one another in Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells with us and it's only because the Holy Spirit is dwelling with us, dwelling with each of us, that we are able to dwell together, that we are able to have that common purpose, that those common goals and that mutual submission to one another. You see, two people serving themselves will never have a common purpose. They have two different purposes.

Now Those purposes may come together and overlap at certain points, but they won't have a common purpose. It's only two people who are both serving the same Lord, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. It's only Those people who are serving one Lord who are dwelt in by that one Holy Spirit who can have a common purpose a common objective a common destination And mutual submission to one another So unity is then found in the church. It's found where God's Spirit is dwelling with us And it's experienced as we experience the work of the Holy Spirit. We have been anointed with the Holy Spirit.

We have been anointed with the Holy Spirit. In his first letter, John tells us that, but the anointing which you have received, 1 John 2, 27, but the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him." You have been anointed. You have been anointed by the Holy Spirit who abides in you. Zion is where God dwells with His people. Jesus told his disciples, I will send my spirit and he will dwell with you and this This brothers and sisters is where God commands his blessing even life Forevermore this work where that Holy Spirit dwells This is not something that we can manufacture, any more than we can manufacture our own salvation.

This is not something that we can sustain by our own power. This is what God brings. This is what God has wrought by His Holy Spirit dwelling with us. And that's why this beautiful and pleasant life of brothers dwelling together is only possible in the community in which this Holy Spirit dwells. This unity is like the anointing oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on the edge of the garments it's something that permeates everywhere it permeates every relationship in our life relationships between husbands and wives parents and children children to children, brothers and sisters in the Lord.

This unity secondly is based on the truth. It's based on the truth. John 14 says that Jesus calls that spirit the spirit of truth. We can't have unity, this being indwelt by this spirit of truth, if without truth. Anything that looks like unity but doesn't have the truth is not unity.

It's fake. The unity that David is speaking of here comes by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, and it only comes where there is unity in the truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me." The Spirit is that Spirit of Truth. Where there's false doctrine, where there's false teaching, there can't be unity.

Unity is thirdly a mark of our being in Christ. It's a mark of our being in Christ. It's a mark of our being in Christ. It's by our fruits that the world outside knows that we are Christians, that we are in Christ. As people see the fruit of this unity that the Holy Spirit brings, they see that we are Christians.

This unity then can be torn, it can be strained. And I think it's interesting that when Paul speaks of grieving the spirit, he does so in the context of sins that destroy our ability to dwell together. Because these two things are so closely related, It's that Holy Spirit that enables us to dwell together and those sins that destroy or that ability together grieve, especially grieve the Holy Spirit. Paul said in Ephesians, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of righteousness.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. That tears at your ability, at our ability to dwell together. Paul lists some of the sins then, that things that destroy this ability to dwell together. Let all bitterness, together. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you.

Bitterness comes from not forgiving, from harboring wrongs that people have done against us, or from bearing grudges. Grudge is another way of not forgiving. Grudge is an inward reluctance to give, an unwillingness to benefit the people that we resent. When you have a grudge against somebody, you know because you cut them out of your life, even if they're in the same room with you. When you have a grudge against somebody, you don't smile at them, you only talk to them if it's absolutely required, You don't look at that person, you try to ignore them as much as possible.

You go out of your way to be pleasant to everyone else, while carefully avoiding the one against whom you bear grudge. Bitterness, wrath, speaking here of unrighteous anger, a lack of self-control of our own passions. And that comes because we look at ourselves and how we've been inconvenienced or how we've been hurt or how we've been slighted or how our property has been ruined or damaged or something we value has been destroyed. And you see it's all focused on ourselves. It's self-centered.

Whereas love is the opposite. Love is giving. The opposite of love is selfishness. Let all bitterness and wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Because these things, Paul says, they grieve the Holy Spirit, they destroy the beauty and the ability of brothers to dwell together, brothers and sisters.

Rather, he goes on to say, rather be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Forgiving one another. We're not perfect. We're going to sin against each other. Jesus taught his disciples that when your brother sins against you and comes to you saying, I repent, you have to forgive him.

If he comes seven times in a day saying, I repent, then seven times in a day we are to say, I forgive you. There is the need here for those who are going to dwell together to cover a multitude of sins. Love covers a multitude of sins. You can either forgive them, you can ignore them, or sometimes it's even necessary to confront them. And That can be a bit messy.

And I think that's also captured in this image of this oil, anointing oil, that runs down Aaron's beard and onto his garments. It is a bit messy. Think about that. But that's unity. That's what David pictures as unity, brothers dwelling together.

May the God of patience and comfort Grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Jesus Christ, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Almighty Heavenly Father, we do acknowledge our sins and our failures to live together. To live together, how easy it is to not yield, to not have a mutual submission to one another, and to Mar the beauty that David describes here of brothers dwelling together Father we ask that your spirit would fall upon us we do thirst for you the living God And do long to have that fellowship with you and with one another, that intimacy, that closeness of brother to brother and brother to sister. Father, we know that our sin does grieve you and does mar and ruin that which you have created.

And we ask your forgiveness. We ask that you would give us repentance. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.