OPEN: When Abraham Lincoln was running for President in 1860, he received a letter from an 11-year-old girl that some believe helped get him elected President. The young girl urged him to grow a beard because she believed it would hide the homeliness of his face and improve his chances. Lincoln wasn't offended. He answered her letter personally and thanked her for her suggestion, furthering adding that he’d like to visit with her should his campaign come to her area. And he began to grow a beard. On the day that Lincoln’s campaign train was scheduled to pass through the town practically the whole town was assembled at the station. There were the leading Republicans wearing their top hats, a marching band, and townsfolk in their finest attire. Almost everyone was there... all except the little girl. She was left home. Her father reasoned, Lincoln would be interested only in the politicians and their speeches - the votes and the voters – not the attentions of a little girl. It just so happened, however, that as the campaign train approached the town, it was forced to stop for repairs. Not wanting to just sit around in the train, Lincoln set off across the field in search of the little girl’s home. When Lincoln introduced himself at the door, the maid was speechless. But the little girl and her playmate, the maid’s daughter, welcomed him in as if they were expecting him. The two girls had been having a pretend party, drinking pretend hot chocolate out of their small teacups and they invited Mr. Lincoln to join them. After a while, Lincoln said he must be going, thanked them for the party, and asked them how they liked his new beard. Then he walked to the waiting train… and it started on its way. Then the train went right through the town without stopping. Right past all the dignitaries, politicians, marching band, and right past ladies and gentlemen in their Sunday best. Because Lincoln had come to visit and to say thank you to a little girl. (Conrad Hyers, “And God Created Laughter”)
A beard made the difference.
In our text today we read “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 mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.” Psalm 133:1-3
What caught my attention about that Psalm was the emphasis on UNITY. That was the very first verse of the Psalm. But then I read that unity was like the precious oil running down the beard of Aaron and I got confused. What has oil got to do with the unity of God’s people? One preacher noted that “the image has always struck me as kind of messy! When I anoint the sick with oil, I usually apply a small amount; here the image is that of a large quantity, running down on Aaron’s beard and robes. You wonder whether it would come out in the wash!” (Robert Leroe)
But, God seems to have thought there was something here we needed to see.
But before get to that, we need to remember that this Psalm is all about UNITY. “How good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. Unity among His people is highly prized by God. In fact, one of the last things Jesus prayed before His crucifixion, was: “that all of them may be one Father, just as you are in me and I am in you... May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-23
Later, Paul wrote to the church: “I… urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Ephesians 4:1-6
God saved us to be ONE people, filled with ONE Spirit, having ONE hope. ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, ONE God and Father of all.
This UNITY thing is so highly prized that God hates those “… who sows discord among brothers.” (Proverbs 6:19) In other words: If you say nasty things TO or ABOUT fellow Christians - Don’t Do It! Don’t go there!!! GOD HATES THAT! IT ANGERS HIM!
The church in Corinth had that problem. The Christians there had gotten to the point where they treated each other like dirt even during worship time. AND THEN THEY’D TAKE COMMUNION. And Paul told them that that made God furious. Paul told them They were “guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body (believers in church) eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” I Corinthians 11:27-30
Their behavior so angered God that God punished them with illness… and even death. God took their behavior towards each other personally. The Christian who you sit next to in worship is made in the image of God. Jesus died so that you - AND THEY - could be saved. When we mistreat each other or call each other names, it makes God mad because you’re insulting someone Jesus died to save! It doesn’t matter how justified we may think that we are... DON’T DO IT!
So… where does the “beard thing” fit in? Well, let’s take a look at that verse again: (The unity among brothers) “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!” (Psalm 133:2)
This is Aaron’s beard. Aaron was the FIRST High Priest of Israel and he stood in the very presence of God and gave offerings that were a sweet and pleasant smell before God. He was God’s High Priest and he represented God. He was hard to miss because you knew exactly who he was when you saw him. (We showed a picture of what the High Priest may have looked like). Aaron had a unique kind of robe - no one else dressed quite like the High Priest.
And, nobody smelled quite like him either. When he was anointed with oil, it poured down over his head and went down the side of his face, and soaked into his beard. This oil had good and powerful aroma to it. When Aaron was around, the scent would literally fill the room.
Did you realize that, as Christians, we have a “smell” about us too? “We are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.” II Corinthians 2:15-16 (NIV 1984)
In the same way, UNITY has an aroma about it. The oil with which Aaron was anointed got into everything. It literally covered him and it “smelled” of God. When we love each other, we have a “smell” about us.
ILLUS: A little girl described love this way: “Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”
As Christians - when we love each other… that gives us a “smell” too. John 13:35 says “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." When we love each other - when we’re in unity - the world can “smell us”
ILLUS: Several years ago, Psychologists from Ohio State, Purdue University, and Indiana University, did a study with a number of College students to discover how those students viewed the character of people who made positive and negative comments about others about them. What they discovered was something they called “Spontaneous Trait Transference: If a politician accused their opponent of being dishonest, the students generally viewed THAT politician as dishonest. And when someone gossiped about the “immorality” of someone else the gossiper was seen as immoral. By contrast: if an art critic praised an artist as being talented, the students generally viewed that critic as being talented.
Whatever “trait” a person accused someone else of having, that trait was “transferred” to them by those who heard them speak. And apparently, this phenomenon is quite common. People can “SMELL” how we treat each other. And if we’re mean to each other, the world smells meanness. But if we love one another… the world smells Jesus.
Now, there’s one more verse in Psalm 133… and it says this: (The unity among brothers) “is like the dew of (Mt.) Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.” Psalm 133:3
When you folks sent me to Israel a few years ago, our guide took us to Mt. Hermon in the northern part of Israel. It’s the highest mountain in Israel, and the ice and dew that gathers on that mountain seeps down to form the headwaters of the Jordan. (https://www.myascent.org/about-2/about-tzfat/north-of-israel/the-jordan-river-and-its-sources/). Without Mt. Hermon… there’d be no Jordan River, and without the Jordan River… there’d be very little water in Palestine. The whole area would literally be a desert.
Without Mt Hermon, the whole area would be cursed with death. But the waters that gather on that mountain and seep down into the Jordan River give life and blessing to the Promised Land. Psalm 133 is saying: UNITY is the water that gives God’s people LIFE. Our love for one another is what makes the church sparkle and grow. How we treat each other can bring life… or it can bring death to a church.
ILLUS: A little over 10 years ago, CNN did a program on some research that studied the effect of compliments and criticism in various businesses. The researchers found that where a boss used 3 NEGATIVE comments for every POSITIVE comment, that business struggled. But when the boss used six times as many positive comments for every negative one THAT business thrived. In fact, in a study of marriages (by American psychologist, John Gottman) when spouses made that same ratio of positive & negative comments (6 to 1) to each other they generally saw their marriages as being happy. (http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/14/business/criticism-praise-feedback-work-life/)
What’s that say to us in the church? Well, it says that if you and I want our church to be successful we need to focus on saying good things to each other. SIX TIMES MORE GOOD THINGS than any criticism. If there’s someone in the church that annoys you… start doing that. Compliment them 6 times for any ONE negative comment and you’ll turn their life around.
ILLUS: The Hispanic church is about to hire a new preacher, and everyone here is excited for that. But you need to start out giving him 6 positive comments. Compliment him on something every time you think about it and you will help make him a success for God!
CLOSE: One last thought. Mount Hermon is the highest mountain in Israel. The water that gives life to the Promised Land comes from high up in the mountains. In the same way… the UNITY that gives life to our church comes from HIGH UP as well. Our unity comes for God. In 1 John 4:19 we read “We love because he first loved us.” When we love each other, and compliment each other the way we ought to, we show that we have learned what it is love others like God loves us.
ILLUS: A lot of people think about Christianity as being a list of DOs and DON’Ts. And there are a lot of DOs and DON’Ts in the Bible, but Jesus didn’t focus on those things as much as He focused on a NEW COMMANDMENT. Do you know what that new commandment, that Jesus gave us, was? “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34) Why did Jesus focus on that commandment? Because it is good and it is pleasant when brothers dwell together in unity.
INVITATION
(I "borrowed" the title for this sermon from a sermon preached by Bob Leroe)
