United We Stand
Psalm 133
A.W. Tozer gave this illustration in his book The Pursuit of God:
If you have one hundred concert pianos, and you tune the second piano to the first, and the third piano to the second, and the fourth piano to the third, until you have tuned all one hundred pianos accordingly, you will still have discord and harmony. But if you tuned each piano to the same tuning fork, you will have unity and harmony. So, too, in the body of Christ. When we each tune ourselves and our lives to Christ’s, we will have unity.
Thomas Payne once said he addressed the First Continental Congress, “If we do not hang together, we will hang separately.”
1. United - We Receive the Blessings from God
like the precious oil - oil is a symbol of God’s blessing upon ministry of priests.
we are modern day priests -
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light;
head to toe oil - completeness of God’s blessings - receive these blessings - in the centre of the will of God
When God calls us into his will, it automatically accomplishes two goals: it brings the kingdom of God to earth and it gives us every advantage of his presence. What makes us obedient to him also prepares us for life’s challenges problems, and possibilities.
dew of Hermon - dew doesn’t just fall in one place - but all around
2. United - We Receive Blessings from Each Other
Bible teaches - we ought to love one another - His grace in us
Loving people are blessed people - not just by God - but through each other
a) we learn from one another
b) we draw strength from one another
c) we can rely on one another
d) we strengthen ourselves with one another
we cannot go it alone - “And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone;” Gen 2:18
Age is no barrier - Gender is no barrier - Skin colour is no barrier - the closer we get with each other, the better we become
3. United - We Receive Blessings from Ourselves
we learn from God - when we stand united
we learn from each other - when we stand united
we learn about ourselves - when we stand united
Conclusion
1 Peter 3: 8,9 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tender-hearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing
A March 1984 malfunction in a 500,000 volt Pacific Gas and Electric Company line in Northern California triggered a chain reaction that eventually darkened lights for millions in six Western states. The blackout came at rush hour, with motorists backed up at traffic lights in cities of California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. The trouble originated at the Round Mountain, California, substation, about one hundred miles south of the Oregon border. A circuit breaker tripped, and the concatenation shut down circuits all over the West as machinery protected itself from damage.
How dramatically that breakdown expressed the interdependence of our country’s power, transportation, and food production! One little circuit breaker tripped in a remote rural substation, and hundreds of miles away people’s lives instantly changed. We are one people in more ways than we think. What affects one affects many, perhaps all. Interdependence characterizes us.
The unity of the church is no different. An interlinking of interests, goals, and influences exists in which we all share. The good one person does makes righteousness easier for all. The bad example one sets negatively affects us all. God’s people, wherever they live on earth, are linked into a grid of community interdependence from which they can never escape. Inextricably bound to one another as separate parts of the whole, what affects one becomes part of all.
