How much do you treasure your church gatherings? In this sermon, David Capoccia looks at Psalm 133 and King David’s joy over the united worship of Israel. David Capoccia explains that the same blessing King David declared that Israel received in its united worship is available to believers today in the church if believers would only take advantage of it.
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
all right well Happy Father’s Day the sermon that we’re going to hear today is not particularly a Father’s Day sermon but as you listen to the sermon and if you are a father please take the lead in applying this truth in your family let’s pray before we hear this word oh God there’s a wonderful and fearful thing to come before your word your word gives blessing it gives Joy but it also sets the standard it even sits in judgment on us if we do not keep it if we do not rever it because you are a holy God a great God a god worthy of love and fear God as we explore this beautiful truth today help me to be able to explain it help the people to be able to understand it and to take it to heart I pray God that we might enjoy the blessing that you have given us in the church to the fullest extent in Jesus name amen amen some of you may have heard or know the hymn I love thy kingdom Lord according to himn n.net this hymn is the oldest American hymn still in use today listen to the words of this hymn I love thy kingdom Lord the house of thine Abode the church our Blessed Redeemer bought with his own precious blood I love the church oh God her walls before thee stand dear as the apple of thine eye and Graven on thy hand for her my tears shall fall for her my prayers Ascend to her my cares and toils be given till toys and till toils and cares shall end beyond my highest Joy I prize her Heavenly ways her sweet communion solemn vows her hymns of love and praise sure as thy truth shall last to Zion shall be given the brightest glories Earth can yield and brighter Bliss of Heaven beautiful words words clearly the men who wrote it and said it to music were men who deeply loved and appreciated God’s church but do we how much do you love God’s church do you treasure the fellowship you experience with your brothers and sisters do you make the times of worship and instruction a priority in your life or do you have a more ho attitude about church even seeing the times of church ministry or church assembly as a burden we are tempted to take this latter attitude today especially with so many of life’s difficulties and obligations and Pleasures ready to distract us from church life however if we knew and remembered what church is like in God’s eyes we would guard our time times of assembly and ministry as a precious treasure to help us regain the right perspective I’d like us to take a look at Psalm 133 so please open your Bibles there Psalm 133 page 632 if you’re using the Pew Bible this is near the end of the book of Psalms Psalm 133 or page 632 there are many newest test passages that teach us critical truths regarding God’s church but Psalm 133 uniquely emphasizes how valuable the Assembly of the local church really is as we read this text you’ll notice that the original subject of this passage is not the New Testament Church but as we carefully study these verses you will see that everything God declares here about the Gathering of his people in this special Old Testament cont text is also true of the New Testament Church let me read Psalm 133 it’s a short Psalm only three verses a song of a sense of David behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity it is like the precious oil upon the head coming down upon the beard even Aaron’s beard beard coming down upon the edge of his robes it is like the Dew of Herman coming down upon the mountains of Zion for there the Lord that is Yahweh commanded the blessing life forever at first glance this Psalm may make you scratch your head what is this all about what’s up with this beard thing this all sounds kind of messy is anything really significant present in this tiny Psalm actually this Psalm is quite profound it’s expertly constructed and Vivid in its depiction of Truth for us to appreciate this Psalm though we must get straight the literary and historical context so let’s do that first let’s talk about the literary context of this Psalm Psalm 133 is one of the Psalms that is one of the worship songs or prayer poems put into an official collection to instruct the people of Israel on how they should believe love and obey their God traditionally Bible commentators have said that the Psalms have no specific order as a whole but there has more recently been a movement among Bible interpreters to see a general progression in the Psalms that reflects Israel’s historical and Future Kingdom experience I favor this latter view the progression of the Psalms follows the book’s five main divisions the five books of the Psalms book one consisting of Psalms 1 to 41 features many Psalms of struggle written by David himself King David this first book of the Psalms reflects the conflict Israel experienced as David established his divinely ordained rule in Israel book two Psalms 42- 72 features Psalms that involve Nations outside of Israel reflecting David’s victory over his enemies and Israel’s expanded influence to the Nations and book three however which is Psalm 73-89 Israel is devastated by Foreign Nations and the davidic king’s crown is cast into the dust all of the exilic Psalms poignantly appear in book three in book four Psalms 90 to 106 we see a matured Israel returning from Exile with many Psalms affirming God’s Sovereign Rule and the future establishment of God’s kingdom and then finally in book five Psalms 107 to 150 we see many psalms of praise and also of that eschatological blessing these Psalms reflect the climax of Redemptive history the joyful establishment of the kingdom of God on earth and the accomplished Redemption of Israel our Psalm Psalm 133 Falls within this fifth book generally typifying Israel’s future State experiencing the full blessing of God via his rule by his messiah in Jerusalem well there is this broad context of the Psalms to be aware of there’s also a more local context that we also need to understand because Psalms 120 to 134 are a unique set in book five of the Psalms each of these Psalms from 120 to 134 start with the same heading in the original Hebrew a song of a sense what is a song of a sense the meaning of this term is debated but the majority view is that the song of a sense were songs specifically sung by the Israelite pilgrims as they went up to Jerusalem for religious feasts now I say going up to Jerusalem because Jerusalem though in the South cish part of Israel was a city of high elevation situated on a number of Hills or mountains therefore no matter which direction you came from Israelites went up to or ascended to Jerusalem especially for the feasts now what are these feasts recall that in the Torah that is the first five books of the Bible the law of Moses god commanded the Israelites to assemble three times a three times a year in Jerusalem for three different feasts there was the Feast of unleavened bread or Passover celebrated in April or May then there was the Feast of harvest sometimes also called The Feast of first fruits or the Feast of Weeks or even Pentecost and that was celebrated in May or June May or June and then there was the Feast of in gathering also called The Feast of of Tabernacles or the Feast of booths and that was celebrated in June or July because most of the people celebrating these Feast did not live in Jerusalem the population of Jerusalem would SM would swell tremendously during the feast weeks as tens of thousands of men often bringing their families came to spend time in Jerusalem and worship around God’s house such worship was an obligation for all Jewish men while the Tabernacle and the temple Tabernacle and then the temple were in Jerusalem so these songs of a sense most likely were for the singing of the different Hebrews as they traveled from their towns to Jerusalem to celebrate God’s feasts now like the book of Psalms as a whole there is also a general progression in the song of a sense in the songs of a sense Psalm 120 starts with a Jew crying to God for help because he is is oppressed in a foreign land but Psalm 121 sees the author turn toward the mountains of the Lord for Hope and help and then in Psalm 122 the men of Israel say to one another let us go up to the house of the Lord that is the house of Yahweh and the preceding Psalms reflect the Journey of God’s people up to Jerusalem by the time we reach Psalm 133 and 134 the last two in this set of song of as sense the pilgrims have arrived in Jerusalem and are celebrating and calling on others to bless God so we see this literary context let’s now consider the historical context and the occasion for which for which Psalm 133 was written look at the heading a heading of Psalm 133 it says beside a song of a sense it also says of David while grammatically this phrase could indicate the subject of this Psalm was David the best understanding of this phrase as it is used in the Psalms is one of authorship this Psalm was penned by David the divinely ordained king of Israel and forefather of our Lord Jesus David’s authorship means that this Psalm was written while Israel was still a United Kingdom remember that Israel did not have many days of national Unity they only under three rulers were they one Kingdom you had Saul David and Solomon after Solomon got two kingdoms Northern Kingdom of Israel Southern Kingdom of Judah and even during the Reigns of those three kings Saul David and Solomon there were a number of rebellions and conflicts so days of Peace were rare but as we’ll see in this song this song is set during a time of national peace and and cohesion not only is there one Kingdom but there is peace within this Kingdom we should also note that because we’re in David’s Reign that means the temple is not yet been built nevertheless we can see in this Psalm the specialness of Jerusalem or Zion by the time of this Psalm then Jerusalem has already been marked out as a special place to God and David has already brought the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem so what is the occasion inspiring this Psalm well from the details of the literary context and from the details of or the details within the psalm about Jerusalem and brothers dwelling together the most plausible answer for the occasion is that David is himself experiencing one of Israel’s religious feasts in Jerusalem he sees Brothers lit literally dwelling together in Zion since all Israel has come up to celebrate a feast and he writes a song in response what’s David’s purpose in this song David writes to encourage Israel to treasure their United worship as God’s people Israel David says treasure your United worship this message from David was also written to us therefore brothers and sisters here is God’s message to us today Calvary treasure your United worship as God’s people treasure your United worship as God’s people and when I say worship I don’t just mean singing songs but everything that worship really entails all acts of obedience service and praise done together with God’s people out of love and fear for god let’s see how David develops this message about United Worship in a concise poetic form this Psalm is very straightforward in its organization and can be divided into three main points first we have the goodness of United worship proclaimed second we have the goodness of United worship described and third we have the goodness of United worship explained for the rest of our time today this morning we’re going to explore these three points and then talk about how this message from David to Israel relates to us today in the church our first point comes from verse one so let’s look at that verse Again David says behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity in this verse we see the goodness of United worship proclaimed this verse starts with the word behold this word draws our attention to their Proclamation King David has something to declare and he wants people to listen what does David declare how good and how pleasant notice the word how starting off these phrases these are not questions they’re exclamations and notice the word good good can have many shades of meaning in Hebrew as in English good can refer to righteousness to benefit or to pleasure so what sense does good have here well our second word Pleasant helps us Define what sense of goodness we’re talking about in fact whenever we see these two words used together in the Old Testament good becomes a synonym of pleasant so David is really saying the same thing twice he’s referring to that which is pleasing that which is enjoyable that which is delightful so David says the beginning of verse one how pleasing it is how enjoyable it is but what is it what is so great what’s so pleasant King David he tells us in the next phrase Brothers dwelling together in unity it is so pleasant for brothers to dwell together in unity the word Brothers in the Old Testament almost always has the sense of familial relationship an actual brother and some commentators suggest that David is making a comment in this Psalm about nuclear families there may have been some Proverbs at this time extoling the blessing of having Brothers in a family get along and live together since such a case is rare and David may be drawing on such phrases but even if David is drawing on Proverbs about actual Brothers the context here suggests David is broadening the customary use of the term David doesn’t just refer here to Brothers in one family but all the men of Israel Brothers Here refers to all the Seed of Abraham who technically are all related and in a sense Brothers David is saying how great it is to have all the Brethren of Israel dwell together but but dwell together how notice the final phrase in unity our translation in the new amican standard of this phrase comes from a somewhat curious Construction in Hebrew David’s line literally reads for brothers to dwell also together why the also what’s the sense of that David appears to be giving extra emphasis to the togetherness of these brothers and the translators have indicated such with the phrase inunity these are not just brothers dwelling in the same place these are brothers dwelling together there’s a special Unity to these families of Israel as they dwell together now what is causing David to say this we’ll consider again the occasion David from his Royal Fortress or as he walks through the streets of Jerusalem during a week of the feast he’s noticing just how United Israel is as they worship God three aspects of their Unity surely stood out first they’re all in the same place all Israel or nearly all Israel has come to dwell in Jerusalem the place specially chosen by God as a place of worship second they’re all taking part in the same action they’re all celebrating one of God’s feasts they’re all giving praise to God they’re all obeying what God commanded them to do and third they’re all worshiping for the same reason out of love and holy fear for Yahweh yet these people are all so different young and old men women and children members of all the different tribes of Israel people from big cities people from Tiny hamlets Shepherds Farmers soldiers government officials priests Levites even foreign prelit and god-fearers these celebrants assuredly did not all have the same depth of theological understanding and many qualities could have divided them but they were nonetheless United in their love and obedience to Yahweh and in a tangible expression of this Unity they all come to the feast now generally people find it difficult to dwell together because of there many differences just look at different situations we have in the world today but Israel has has come as one and they all now dwell together in God’s City King David but one of the many Feast participants he rejoices to see his Brethren United in worship and he therefore makes this declaration this is the first point of this Psalm the goodness of United worship proclaimed already we have good reason to treasure our own United worship as God’s people God’s Spirit-filled King proclaimed the goodness of it surely we can believe God’s spirit and God’s King but as is often the case when you find something good something valuable or something enjoyable you don’t just want others to know that it’s good but you want to give them some idea of how good it is after all David does say in verse one how so we might ask just how good is what David is declaring David elaborates in verses 2 and three with two images of goodness and blessing that comes down from above this is the psalm second point the goodness of United worship described let’s look at the first of these two images describing the goodness of United Worship in verse two verse two says it is like the precious oil upon the head coming down upon the beard even Aaron’s beard coming down upon the edge of his robes our first image describing the goodness of United worship is an image of holy blessing United worship is a holy blessing in this verse we can see the poetic element of this Psalm really coming out because notice these lines do not reveal the full image of what David describes until the last line got four lines here four phrases here they gradually revealed the image this technique this poetic technique is called delayed identification delayed identification allows David to draw The Listener in to what he’s describing and then intensify the image by only gradually revealing it let me show you what I mean David Begins the line by likening United worship to Precious oil upon the head now if you’ve read the Bible some you probably noticed that there is much anointing with oil in the Bible especially on one’s head this is because anointing with oil was quite common in ancient Middle Eastern culture you see olive trees were common to the region and one of the many uses of olive oil was as a cosmetic men and women would often use olive oil as part of preparing themselves to look and even smell nice if they especially if there was an upcoming get together you’d freshen yourself you’d make yourself look really nice however if you were Rich you did not use mere olive oil to anoint yourself you use perfumed oils oil mixed with supremely pleasing fragrances like frankincense or myr this oil would not only freshen your complexion but also perfume your head your hair and even your clothes as it ran down from your head and remember smelling Pleasant was not a given in this day most people did not have many changes of clothing doing laundry was arduous and daily bathing was rare moreover perfume or fragrant oil was difficult to produce and therefore very expensive to be Anointed with precious oil then was quite a blessing and a privilege usually only reserved for the rich sometimes though a person might use perfumed oil that is precious oil in an act of generous hospitality a host might take some of his precious oil and anoint the head of his guests not only allowing the guest to enjoy the fragrance but also that M making that person smell pleasing to others to be anointed in such a way was a mark of high honor and even great affection from the host here at the beginning of verse two David at first seems to be referring to this very honoring and very pleasant anointing with precious perfumed oil already this is a strong description of the rich goodness of United worship with God’s people but there’s more because David expands the image with the phrase coming down upon the beard ah we see that this is not a picture of just any person being Anointed with some precious oil on his head the picture David has in mind is actually of a man being anointed and being Anointed with so much precious oil that it runs down his head down the sides of his face and even into his beard and we’re not talking about most modern American beards which are usually short Hebrew Hebrew beards were wten long and flowing this man has precious oil running down into that kind of beard such an act would be quite costly and extremely generous quite a gift that would make this man’s head and beard smell quite wonderful so we see the image of blessing and honor reaches another level but David’s still not done because he adds another detail in line three that further expands the picture David adds even Aaron’s beard ah so we’re not talking about just any man receiving abundant precious oil on his head running down into his beard we’re talking about Aaron and his special anointing you may say who’s Aaron and where did he come from all of a sudden well any an Israelite would instantly recognize both the name Aaron and and the event of Aaron’s anointing because both of these are recorded in the Torah Aaron was the brother of Moses and the first high priest to serve in God’s Tabernacle God appointed Aaron and his family line to be Israel’s only line of priests no other family lines in Israel were allowed to do the mediatorial work of Aaron and his sons in God’s Tabernacle but to serve as high priest Aaron had to undergo ritual preparation ations which included being Anointed with oil and not just any oil but the fragrant and holy anointing oil that was specifically designed by God listen to the command from God to Moses in Exodus chapter 30: 22-2 this is Exodus 30: 22-2 moreover Yahweh spoke to Moses saying take also for yourself the finest of spices of flowing myrr 500 shekels and of fragrant cinnamon half as much 250 and of fragrant cane 250 and of cassia 500 according to the sheist of the sanctuary and of olive oil a hint you shall make of these a holy anointing oil a perfume mixture the work of a perfumer perfumer it shall be a holy anointing oil this oil was used by Moses to anoint all the holy Implements of the temple around rather the Tabernacle and Aaron and his sons to be priests but no layman in Israel could ever receive this oil or even make it if he did he was to be cut off that is he was to be put to death this is a very special oil but why did God command the creation of it the preciousness of this oil Illustrated the preciousness of the high Priestly Ministry as well as the great glory of God but more than that the pre the the specialness of this oil also marked out Aaron and all the special Implements of the temple as holy purified from uncleanness and set apart to God for special service Moses anointed Aaron in accordance with God’s command what do you think that experience was like for Aaron talk about an honor talk about a privilege talk about an awesome event and I mean awesome in the sense of filling one with awe Aaron was not being anointed as a mere favored guest in someone’s household but God himself was marking out Aaron as the favored mediatorial high priest of all God’s people and this only happened once this was a once- in a-lifetime experience for Aaron a great blessing and a sobering honor as abundant holy oil runs down Aaron’s head his hair and down into his long beard no one other than the priests would have this kind of experience and even the priest would only experien this once but there’s one more element to this picture and it comes in the last line of verse two David says coming down upon the edge of his robes there’s so much holy fragrant anointing oil running down Aaron’s head that it drips down and perfumes his clothes as well and what clothes does Aaron the high priest wear the holy robe and the ephod specially designed by God what’s significant about having the oil on the garments there is a sanctification sense marks those out as holy as well but also just practically it means the fragrance will last when Aaron again puts on the high Priestly Garb and engages in intercessory work there will again be the smell of the Holy anointing oil on his clothes and he will remember the special anointing that he was given by God now these lines together finally they create a very impressive scene Aaron’s abundant holy anointing from God but remember all of this is a comparison David says the goodness of United worship with God’s people is like this it is like the holy blessing that Aaron uniquely experienced in being Israel’s first high priest this is a surprising comparison yet this is the divinely inspired word clearly the United worship of God’s people is a holy blessing it is an awesome and holy blessing but that’s not all it is United worship is also Supernatural refreshment Supernatural refreshment let’s look at David’s second describing image presented in the beginning of verse three David says it is like the Dew of Herman coming down upon the mountains of Zion like the first image this second image features delayed identification David presents us with one image of goodness and then he adds to that image in such a way that it magnifies the originally understood blessing David first describes the goodness of United worship as being like the Dew of Herm you ask what’s Herman well Herman’s a mountain Mount Herman at about 9,200 feet above sea level Mount Herman was the tallest mountain in Palestine still I still is situated in the far Northeast of ancient Israel today the mountain technically sits outside of Israel’s borders it’s in between Syria and Lebanon in ancient times Mount Herman was well known for precipitation and Dew just as it is today if you think of New York City New York City is known for skyscrapers Los Angeles is known for traffic Mount Herman was known for DW the DW and precipitation from Mount Herman made the the lower slopes of the mountain extremely Lush and fertile contrast this with much of the rest of the land of Israel which was far more desert-like and very dependent on seasonal rains for Greenery and crop harvests therefore when David brings to mind the do of Herman he is bringing into the mind of his listeners the cool and beneficial water refreshment that such a mountain could provide David’s image is already comparing the United worship of God’s people with profound refreshment but then David expands and magnifies the image with his second line which reads coming down upon the mountains of Zion ah so David’s not simply talking about Mount Herman and its refreshing slopes rather the pictures of the Dew or the light rain of Herman coming down on the mountains of Jerusalem that’s what he means by mountains of Zion those are the mountains of Jerusalem now this was not physically possible Herman and Jerusalem are way too far away from one another for Herman’s due or rain to actually reach down to Jerusalem nevertheless David imagines Herman’s due or its light rain as if it did come down as if it would come down on Jerusalem as if God were supernaturally making that possible and what an image of refreshment that is because Jerusalem is part of Israel’s largely Aid climate moreover the three religious feasts of Israel took place during Jerusalem’s hotter months there was much less rainfall Jerusalem would probably have been pretty dry and pretty hot when David wrote this song but imagine with David if the due of Herman suddenly came down all over parch Jerusalem imagine how Cooling and comforting that due would be imagine the sudden revitalization of the land and its Greenery David says this is how good United worship with God’s people is it is Supernatural refreshment coming down from above with these two descriptive images from David we see the second point of David’s song the goodness of United worship described with a second point we now have even more reason to tr treasure United worship with God’s people who wouldn’t want to experience holy blessing comparable to the special abundant anointing of God’s first high priest who wouldn’t want to experience Supernatural refreshment comparable to the cool do of Herman on Jerusalem but David has one more point for us there’s a reason that United worship with God’s people is so good and is such a blessing and David succinctly tells us that reason at the end of verse three look at verse three Again David says for there Yahweh commanded the blessing life forever here we see David’s last point the goodness of United worship explained the line begins with the word for the word introduces a reason for why what David has declared and described above is true the there and the this verse refers to what David just mentioned earlier in the verse the mountains of Zion the very place in which the Brethren of Israel have come together according to verse one he’s talking about Jerusalem for they’re in Jerusalem what’s so special about Jerusalem David says Jerusalem is the place for which Yahweh commanded or Yahweh appointed the blessing now first notice recall that Yahweh written in our translations as Lord and all capital letters is the name that David uses here this name has a background it was a name revealed by God to Moses in the burning bush the name means I am and it emphasizes God’s eternality his self-sufficiency and his immutability immutability just means that God does not change David is bringing back this to mind with the use of the term also the name Yahweh brings to mind God’s special an unchanging Covenant with Israel No Other Nation had the name Yahweh revealed to it except God’s josen people God’s chosen people that is the people of Israel so when David uses this name Yahweh here in this last verse he emphasizes the steadfast nature of the blessing Israel’s God has appointed for Jerusalem this blessing is connected to God’s unchanging Covenant character but why is Jerusalem so special to God merely because God chose it to be the place for the special manifestation of his presence even in the Torah God promised this is before the Israelites had gone into the land God promised that he would one day make his special presence dwell in a particular place in Israel God later revealed that Jerusalem was that place Jerusalem did earn this privilege God simply according to his own good pleasure chose Jerusalem to be the place that he would cause his name to dwell first the Tabernacle and then the temple were established in Jerusalem the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem and Jerusalem became the site of God’s shakina glory his beautiful visible glory and it also became the center of all worship of Yahweh he had to have a sacrifice to y you brought it to Jerusalem that was the place God designated David reminds us though that as the sight of God’s Dwelling Place God commanded or appointed a blessing to rest on and to emanate from this city what is this blessing David defines it for us life forever what does David mean with this phase well it’s not exactly that Jerusalem contained a fountain of youth nevertheless the God who gave and sustains all life on Earth appointed Abundant Life to flow down into and from Jerusalem like a fountain you see wherever the god of life is present there is going to be the blessing of abundant and even everlasting life listen to what David says in another Psalm Psalm 36 veres 6 to7 Psalm 36: 6-7 David says of God or David says to God they drink their fill of the abundance of your house and you give them to drink of the river of your Delights for with you is the Fountain of Life in your light we see light the god of Life cannot help but give Abundant Life where he is and where did the god of Life choose his special presence to dwell Jerusalem Jerusalem became the center of life-giving blessing from God and God’s special care and blessing was on that City this is why it was such a big deal for God to let Jerusalem be destroyed in BC God was God’s patience God’s holiness was tried so much that he says I have to do this even to my own special City but even as the city was being destroyed even when he affirmed that it would be destroyed he he nevertheless also affirmed his continual blessing on that City God affirmed his special relationship and declared I will not forget you Jerusalem I will restore you my coming King will reign from you for you are my special beloved City and the place of my name now there is in this phrase life forever a sense of even life beyond this Earth the blessing of life that God gives to jerus has no foreseeable stopping point there’s no end in sight Abundant Life is made present in Jerusalem but that appointed blessing extends forever even bringing immortality certainly we can connect this phrase to the work of Christ that is later accomplished in Jerusalem right Jesus sacrifice was just outside Jerusalem and and by Jesus sacrifice he brings everlasting life to all who believe in him that was part of the Jerusalem blessing but what does all this have to do with David and the feast well since Jerusalem was the sight of God’s Life Giving presence and the place of his special blessing it is only natural David says for God to bless the United worship that centers in Jerusalem let say it another way it is fitting for God to bless the Brethren of Israel when they dwell together in God’s special sight of abundant blessing one element of the Poetry of this Psalm subtly underscores this point and such a short song any word play or rhyme in the Hebrew really stands out and there is a very noticeable rhyme between the first and last lines of this Psalm at the end of verse one the word Brothers is aim in Hebrew where at the end of verse three the word for life isim very similar sounds and got to love those Hebrew sounds what’s the point well David wants his audience to see and even hear the connection between United worship of the Brethren and the blessing of life from God there’s a connection United worship with the Brethren blessing of life from God to sum up this third point then why is it so good and pleasant for Israel to dwell together in Jerusalem because God appointed special blessing on the place of his presence and his worship let’s now put together everything that we’ve seen in this Psalm in verse one David declares the goodness of United worship as God’s people in verses 2 to3 David describes the goodness of United worship it’s an amazing holy blessing and it’s a tremendous Supernatural refreshment and then at the end of verse three David explains the goodness of United worship God blesses the place of his presence and the appointed sight of his worship imagine now that you are an Israelite hearing this song from King David would you not be moved to treasure the United worship of God’s people if you had been treating their Fellowship of the assembly lightly would you not be motivated to take these gatherings more seriously for who would not want to experience the goodness that David declares who would want to deny himself holy blessing who would want to deny himself Supernatural refreshment who would not want to take advantage of the blessing of life that was appointed by God in Jerusalem but you say we’re not Jews though and we don’t go to Jerusalem so how is this word relevant to US ah my brothers and sisters all the words of this Psalm are still true for Christians that we apply them in a slightly different way there is a sense in which these words will find literal fulfillment again as we said book five of the Psalms generally looks to the Future kingdom of God on Earth Jerusalem will one day again be the literal sight of God glorious presence and special blessing we as God’s people who are grafted in we can look forward to being part of that and of hearing even this song of a sense being sung by people again as they go up from the Nations to Jerusalem however though there is that future sense even today the principles of this Psalm find find a ready application in the New Testament Church because like the Israelites of David’s day we too are Brethren not by Blood but by the bond of Christ we too come together for United worship not in the temple of Jerusalem but as the temple as the temple of God which is the church we no longer need to travel all the way to Jerusalem to worship before God’s presence we have God’s presence within us as the new Temple in a sense wherever we assemble is God’s Temple and even is in a way Jerusalem remember what Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well in the Gospel of John she was really concerned about what the correct site for worshiping God was but Jesus says to her the hour is coming this is John 4:23 by the way John 4:23 the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and Truth for the father is seeking such people to worship Him moreover the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:16 this is 2 Corinthians 6:16 for we are the Temple of the Living God just as God said I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people and just as God appointed Jerusalem as the sight of God special presence proper worship and abundant blessing so God has similarly appointed in this age the church consider some of the Declarations made in the New Testament about the church Matthew 16:18 Jesus called the church my church he promised to build his church and he promised that the gates of Hades would never overcome it in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul discussed is the variety of gifts that God has given to the church via its members for the building up of the church in Ephesians 1:22-23 Paul identifies Christ as head of the church and then the church itself as the body and fullness of Christ it’s the body of Christ in Ephesians 3:21 Paul prays that God would glorify himself in the church and Ephesians 5 Paul says that Jesus loved the church as his bride and gave himself up for her even Hebrews 12 figuratively connects the church to Zion and to the Heavenly Jerusalem with such declarations will God not specially bless his church as the sight of appointed worship just as he did Jerusalem so I ask you Calvary do you realize what a great blessing you’ve been given by God in the church unlike Jerusalem to which worshippers often came only three times a year for about a week or so you get to gather in United worship with your brethren every week even multiple times a week like the ancient Israelites you get to come to the same place to do the same things for the the same reason you come to God’s Church to enjoy holy blessing to experience Supernatural refreshment and oh I skipped the line let me let me say that again you get to praise God you get to obey him and you get to serve your brethren out of love and holy fear for God it’s the same thing and this is what I was going to say you like the Israelites you get to experience the same goodness that the psalmist declares in Psalm 133 you get to enjoy holy blessing you get to experience Supernatural refreshment from God in God’s appointed place of abundant life so the psalmist exhortation in this Psalm is indeed also to you Calvary brothers and sisters treasure the United worship of God’s people treasure you’re dwelling together you’re serving together you’re hearing the word together and you’re praising God together in the church this is a great word but what are the practical implications of having such a treasure of blessing from God as we close let me just suggest five to you number one be in church don’t skimp on church God has laid before you a feast of blessing why wouldn’t you want to get the full benefit from that don’t just do the bare minimum you think God requires for a church your local church is a gift to you from God reap the blessing of it as much as you can come early stay late get involved be part of Sunday school be part of Home groups be part of men and women’s ministry be part of Prayer Ministry Etc after all don’t you want the blessing number two make Church a priority make Church a priority it’s unfortunately common for a Christians today to consider church last when arranging life work vacation children’s activities family visits stressful life developments so frequently and so quickly cause one to skip out on Church if Church were burden this would make sense but we’ve seen today that United worship is a great blessing why do we so easily give that up do we not believe God do we think we know better therefore instead of saying this is what we’re going to do and then we’ll consider Church give church priority and no I’m not saying that it’s a sin ever to miss a Sunday or an assembly and there are legitimate reasons to not be in church but for the sake of blessing give church priority number three emphasize commonality not differences in your church emphasize commonality and not differences it’s easy not to feel very very United in your church when all you think about are the differences that you see or notice in your assembly I’m premillennial but he’s a millennial or he’s a trump supporter but I’m a trump critic or he likes to raise his hands during the worship but that makes me feel uncomfortable these differences they’re not trivial but they should not get in the way of affirming and being encouraged by our more basic unity we love Christ as Lord we know that salvation is by faith alone and Christ Alone we believe in the sufficiency of scripture we affirm the need for holy living we treasure expository preaching these truths give us remarkable bonds let us Revel in them and in the God who makes them possible number four work towards greater Unity Church Unity is always centered around the truth so the greater we understand the truth the more united we will become and the more blessing we will experience therefore read the scriptures subject yourselves to the teaching of your teachers in the church your pastor and your elders listen to sermons from Men of good testimony talk about the scripture with your brethren don’t let American individualism give you an excuse to basically become your own Pope no longer willing to listen to others or to learn or to subject your interpretations of the Bible to the scrutiny of the Church community maintain a teachable attitude even as you are forging your biblical convictions moreover serve your Brethren seek more and more ways to demonstrate your love to your brethren and as you do these things as we do these things we will feel more and more the blessing that church was always designed to be number five finally uproot sin in the body uproot sin in the body nothing kills United worship like sin if you’re in sin your bond with your church Mates is blocked and your ability to worship God is shut down if you continue in sin you may prove yourself to not even be part of God’s people maybe you’re not a brother and you will consequently be judged by God therefore repent turn again to God experience again the holy blessing and Supernatural refreshment of the true worship with God’s people and where you notice habits of sin in your brethren go after them them gently and in love so that they might not miss out on the benefit of United worship nor become a corrupting influence dear Calvary God has given us a great opportunity for blessing in the church so let’s take full advantage as the spirit urges us today treasure the United worship of God’s people let’s pray amen Lord we have such a great blessing before us but Lord as I even think about my own upbringing and my own life experiences I can see just how the forces of the world today draw us away from the blessing that you Proclaim that’s not the way we’ve done it in the past or that seems a little extreme or I’ve got all these other things that I need to get to Lord you’ve given us a great gift you’ve made the church your side of abundant blessing so God by your spirit I pray that you would enable us to take advantage of it I know there are some difficult situations that make it harder to do that but God I pray that the heart of the people would be to treasure this Fellowship treasure this church treasure any church that they get the experience just to visit or be a part of because we have a bond we have a bond as your people and United worship is so precious Lord let this truth find its way deep into the hearts of every everybody who’s heard it today I pray God that we would rejoice in you for the blessing you’ve given us in the church in Jesus name amen amen