Christ Church (Moscow, ID)

Download AudioIntroduction Christian unity is a dangerous subject because, believe it or not, it is one of the ironic things we are divided over. What is the nature of true unity? Why should we care? Are denominations really a form of disobedience? Have we really torn apart the seamless robe of Christ?The Text“A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: That went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore” (Psalm 133:1-3).Summary of the Text Again, this is another psalm of ascents—one of the psalms that would be sung as pilgrims approached the Temple. Something can be good without being pleasant, but when both good and pleasant come together, it is a true blessing (v. 1). That blessing comes when brethren can dwell together in unity (v. 1). In the economy of Israel, all priests were anointed, but only the high priest was anointed on the head. This unity is like that precious oil that is placed on Aaron’s head, runs down to his beard, and from there to the hem of his garments (v. 2). Clearly a large amount of oil was used—even if you follow the ESV reading, which has the oil running down to the collar. In a change of metaphor, we read that Mount Hermon is famous for dew, descending on the mountains of Zion (v. 3). As Zion proper is about 250 miles south of Hermon, we should note the plural mountains, and take Zion as a generic name for Israel. How will this blessing of unity come? It will be the result of a command from Jehovah Himself (v. 3)—that command summoning life forevermore. This dew waters the ground, and makes it truly fruitful. That is the command of God, the blessing of God. This is His purpose and intention.“He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, And fill the face of the world with fruit” (Isaiah 27:6).Two Kinds of UnityAs this psalm has praised this particular grace from God in the strongest possible terms, we need to be careful not to distort our understanding of that grace. According to Scripture, there are two kinds of unity that God gives to us. We need to be careful not to muddle them up because if we do, the unfortunate result will be . . . disunity.The first kind is given to all Christians everywhere in the Person of the Holy Spirit. “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).Notice that we already have this unity, which is why we are told to preserve it. We need to be eager in this preservation, laboring at it. The word for unity is the same as that used a few verses down (henotes). The word for bond can mean fetter, or sinew, or that which binds. And the Holy Spirit is the one who ties of the knot of peace. Every Christian has this unity already, and the one charge we have is to pursue a way of life that does not disrupt it.The second kind of unity is institutional unity. Paul is thinking eschatologically, and is looking forward to the time when the bride of Christ, the Church, is without any spot or wrinkle or any such blemish (Eph. 5:27). God will accomplish this through the governmental gifts that He has provided to the Church—apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor/teachers. “Till we all come in the unity [henotes] of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).This is the unity of maturity, and we are not supposed to have it yet.And no end of trouble is caused by people who think that we are supposed to have it, and on the basis of this opinion disrupt their fellowship with saints who differ. It is like the old joke about two ministers who were talking, and one said to the other, “Well, we both serve God, I suppose—you in your way, and I in His.” Because we try to seize an institutional unity we are not supposed to enjoy yet, we wind up disrupting the bond of peace that we really do have.Sin as BarrierSin means we are falling short of a standard that we ought not to be falling short of. Sin means we are not doing what we were instructed to do, and obedience is always something that should be in our hands in the present.Remember that the basic building block of this broader church unity is the family, and the husband and the father is responsible to set the tone for his family. Fathers, you do not have the luxury of being distant, or angry, or sullen, or quiet, or disengaged, or surly. You do not get to flop, or otherwise disrupt a unity that has already been given to you.The household is a wonderful place for learning the basic steps of this particular dance. In fact, there is no better place. And when you learn that wisdom in the home, you will be equipped to navigate the challenges that will arise with regard to extended family, or neighbors, or companions in business, or fellow church members.Immaturity as BarrierImmaturity means that we are right where we are supposed to be. A three-year-old is not in sin being three-years-old. Now if a ten-year-old started acting like a three-year-old this would actually not be immaturity—it would be sin. Remember that God is very easy to please, but very hard to satisfy. When it comes to the unity of the Church today, God is very easy to please, and hard to satisfy.And the reason this is true—the only reason, remember—is because the Father was pleased with Christ. Not only so, but the Father is satisfied in Christ. And Christ is our unity. One Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph. 4:5).

IntroductionThe Israelite purity codes point out potent, momentous elements of life and tell Israel to pay careful attention. Go slow here. Warning. There is something glorious here. What you eat, what you touch, your bodies, death and dying, sexuality, and childbearing are potent, powerful forces in the world that God made. Under God’s blessing, they are forces for good, but in our fallen state, they naturally become forces for evil, harm, and destruction. Uncleanness points to our natural fallen state, and points to our need for a new Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, and urges care, wisdom, repentance, worship, and obedience in all things.The Text: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying if a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days” (Lev. 12:1-8).Summary of the Text: When a woman gave birth to a son, she was ceremonially unclean for seven days, the son was to be circumcised on the 8th day, and then she continued in a state of purifying for another 33 days, for a total of 40 days (12:1-4). When a woman bore a daughter, she was unclean for fourteen days, and then continued in a state of purifying for another 66 days, for a total of 80 days (12:5). At the end of the time of purifying, the new mother was to bring an ascension offering and a sin offering to the tabernacle, one for atonement and one for cleansing from her blood, with a provision for the poor (12:6-8).The Promise of the SeedWhile these ceremonies can seem strange or even offensive to modern ears, there really is a logic to it all and something profoundly glorious is going on here. Remember, that God blessed Adam and Eve with the command to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and ruling over all the creatures (Gen. 1:28). This means that conception and childbearing was originally blessed by God and is part of what God pronounced “very good” (Gen. 1:31). But Adam sinned, and God pronounced curses on the ground that man worked and greater pain in a woman’s childbearing, and promised that now death would come upon all (Gen. 3:16-19). This general curse of sin and death in the world is what theologians call “original sin,” and all people (except for Jesus) are conceived and born with this covenantal guilt and natural proclivity to sin and corruption (Ps. 51: 5, Is. 48:8, Rom. 3:23, 5:12-19, 6:23). This is part of what God was teaching Israel in their purity codes: sin and death infects everything to some extent, and Israel cannot approach God unless He makes a way of cleansing. However, God also promised Adam and Eve a “seed” (a descendent) who would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). God promised that through the seed of the woman, the curse would be reversed.Fulfilled in JesusThis text is fulfilled in the gospel initially in the circumcision of Jesus and Mary’s purification (Lk. 2:21-24). Circumcision was the Old Covenant sign that pictured the need for the shedding of blood for our sins and the cutting off of our sinful flesh. This is why the time for purification is cut in half for a baby boy because the baby boy at least symbolically shared the other half of the purification process. Jesus did not need to receive the sign of removal of sin for any personal sins anymore than He needed to be baptized for the remission of any sins, but in both cases it was to stand with us as our representative (covenant) head, to fulfill all righteousness (cf. Mt. 3:15). All of this was completely fulfilled in the cross, which Paul figuratively calls “the circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:11), where our sins and the “uncircumcision” of our flesh was forgiven and all the condemnation of the law was nailed to His cross (Col. 2:13-14).ConclusionsIt’s particularly glorious that Jesus rose from the dead on the “8th Day,” the day of circumcision, which is of course also the first day of the week, the day of new creation, the day of the removal of the curse.Part of what this text underlines and which is highly offensive to modern sensibilities is the inequality of the sexes. We have been catechized and discipled by modern secularism to jump at every hint of inequality and to presume that this necessarily implies inequality of value. But men and women are gloriously unequal (1 Cor. 11:3, 7-11), and both bear the image of God equally in creation and are co-heirs of the grace of life in Christ (Gen. 1:27, 1 Pet. 3:7).God loves the glorious differences and inequalities of male and female, and He loves how they image Him. And so should we, and therefore we hate the sexual promiscuity that makes light of this glory, the utter fruitlessness and impossibility of homosexuality, and the utter confusion and blasphemy of transgenderism.This text points us to the glory of childbearing, the profound beauty of motherhood, the way that the curse of sin and death has attempted to infect it, and it all points to the glory of Christ who is now in the process of redeeming it all. By His blood, He has removed the ceremonial curse, and while we still battle with the presence of the curse in this world and in our bodies, Christ has commandeered death itself, such that even the remaining signs of the curse are turned into marks of the cross for those who are in Christ Jesus (cf. Gal. 6:17).The reason our culture rages against motherhood is because it is so beautiful and powerful (Ps. 139). There is nothing more potent in this world than people made in the image of God. This is why marriage and the gift of children are so central to the working out of the gospel. This is why the Bible even says that a woman may be “saved through childbirth” (1 Tim. 2:15). This does not mean that a single or barren woman cannot be saved, but it does mean that all women are called to embrace by faith the vocation of motherhood. Whether or not you bear your own children, you are to be fruitful in your home, cultivate beauty, feed the hungry, and in all of it, be the glory of man.

There is a clever game we play when it comes to identifying sin. Instead of calling the sin by its biblical name, we slap a nickname on it that allows everyone to nod along with understanding camaraderie. We don’t call it an outburst of wrath, as Paul does, we say that we were simply expressing frustration. This is a sneaky way of avoiding taking responsibility for our sin, and thus confessing it, repenting of it, and then mortifying it.

So take stock. Don’t confess the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, while attempting to argue yourself into thinking of Him as small enough to not disrupt your plans. Are the nations converted yet? Are all the orphans placed in families? Are the fortresses of evil overthrown? Since there is much work to be done, say your prayers, trust your God, and charge to where the fighting is fiercest.

So you are called to endure. You have worked hard. You have sacrificed much. You have washed feet, and dishes, and many other things. Praise be to God. And don't stop now. For Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Follow Him there and don't come up to manage the overflowing cup. No one will complain about carpet stained with blessings.

The overall tone of this psalm is unambiguously jubilant, but a number of the details are ambiguous. This is said because my reconstruction of the players is certainly not the only possible one, but I do think it reasonable.THE TEXT“Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions: How he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob . . .” (Psalm 132:1–18)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTThis is another song of ascents, given for pilgrims approaching the Temple. We are not told who the author is, but given the subject matter, my operating assumption is that it was written by Solomon. The plea to Jehovah is that He would remember David, and all his afflictions (v. 1). The affliction was related to his intense desire to fulfill his vow to build a dwelling place for the “Mighty One of Jacob” (vv. 2-5). David had heard of the ark of the covenant growing up at Ephrathah, how it was located in the fields of Jaar—and had an intense desire to worship at His footstool (the ark), which had been at Kiriath-jearim for twenty years (1 Sam. 7:2), and then briefly for a few months at the house of Obed-edom (2 Sam. 6:10-11). David and Solomon both wanted the ark of God’s strength to come into a place of “rest.” David brought it to the tabernacle of David on Zion (2 Chron. 1:4), and then Solomon later brought it up into the Temple on Moriah (1 Kings 8:1), after the Temple was built. In both cases, it was a matter of righteous jubilation (v. 9). Solomon links this placement of the ark as related to the promise made to David (v. 10). Solomon relates the fact that God had made an astounding promise to David concerning the future of his dynasty (vv. 11-12; dlkgj). The Lord has chosen Zion as His resting place forever (vv. 13-14). From that place in Zion, Jehovah will bless the poor with bread (v. 15), the priests with salvation (v. 16), the saints with shouts of joy (v. 16). The horn (of authority) will sprout for David (v. 17), such that his enemies will be humiliated, and his crown with shine (v. 18).THE MERCIES OF DAVIDDavid was a dazzling figure in the history of Israel, but we make a great mistake if we overlook how important he was to the Gentiles, how fascinating he was to them. His adultery with Bathsheba, and murder of Uriah, were the two great twin sins of his life, but one of the things that made the murder of Uriah so grotesque was the fact that Uriah was a Hittite, doggedly loyal to David. Even when David got him drunk to help cover up his sin, Uriah stayed true—in that moment, better to be Uriah drunk than David sober.David rubbed shoulders with Gentiles easily (1 Sam. 27:6). He commanded their respect. Consider the behavior of Ittai the Gittite, a man from Gath (2 Sam. 15:18). who showed up to serve David on the very eve of Absalom’s rebellion, and who then willingly went into exile with him (2 Sam. 15:21) And when David attempted to bring the ark up from Kiriath-jearim on a cart, God struck Uzzah when he touched the ark, and so David stored the ark at the house of Obed-edom, another Gittite. And when the ark was finally safe in the tabernacle, Obed-edom became one of the porters there (1 Chron. 16:38).At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon prayed that God would remember “the mercies of David” (2 Chron. 6:42). And what did Jesus receive upon His resurrection from the dead? He received the sure mercies of David (Acts 13:34), applying to Jesus the promise of Is. 55:3.WE ARE THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID The tabernacle of David on Zion was dedicated with sacrifices (2 Sam. 6:17), but it was not a place constructed for the offering up of blood sacrifices. Rather, it was a tabernacle of music. David was a great musician, and it is not surprising that he built a place for the sacrifices of praise (Heb. 13:15).“And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem: and then they waited on their office according to their order” (1 Chronicles 6:32).These were musical priests, not blood priests. And it is striking that centuries later, the prophet Amos predicted a great restoration of the fortunes of God’s people. He uses the imagery of this tabernacle on Zion.“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; And I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old” (Amos 9:11).And then, centuries later again, the Lord’s brother James was presiding at the Council of Jerusalem, where the central point of discussion was how the Gentiles were to be brought into the covenant. And James sums up all their discussion with an appeal to Amos. On the day when the Gentiles are brought into Christ, that glorious day will be a restoration of the tabernacle of David. Just as Zion had migrated up to Moriah, when the times of refreshing came, there would be a return to Zion.“After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up” (Acts 15:16).And this is why we gather as a congregation weekly in order offer up to God the sacrifice of praise. This is why we sing so much. We are the restoration of that tabernacle. Because of the great Son of David, we are all sons and daughters of David.“And in mercy shall the throne be established: And he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness” (Isaiah 16:5).

Humanists can only offer unity without holiness, which is unity without wholeness. Humanistic unity, because it rejects God, must ultimately destroy our humanity. But God is determined to heal our enmity through holiness. He is determined to reconcile all things in Christ, and when they are reconciled they will be fully and completely whole. Some of this was pictured in the distinctions Israel was required to make between those clean animals they could eat and the unclean animals prohibited.THE TEXT“And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying unto them, speak unto the children of Israel, saying, these are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beast that are on the earth…” (Lev. 11:1-47)SUMMARY OF THE TEXTFollowing the warning that the priests must be sober in order to teach the Israelites to distinguish between clean and unclean (Lev. 10:10-11), this chapter explains the clean animals that God allowed Israel to eat and the unclean animals they were forbidden from eating (11:1-2). Clean land animals chew the cud and have divided hooves (11:3-8). In the waters, Israel could eat the fish that had scales and fins, but the others are to be abominations to them (11:9-12). Among the birds, a number of specific species are prohibited (11:13-19). Among swarming flying creatures, only the hopping locusts, beetles, and grasshoppers may be eaten (11:20-23). Finally, we learn that all animals that die (except for those killed for sacrifice or eating) become unclean, and whatever their carcasses touch become unclean and the various requirements for cleansing (11:24-43). All of these instructions are given because God is the Lord of Israel, and they are to be holy just as He is holy (11:44-47).WHAT MAKES THEM CLEAN OR UNCLEAN?The great question is: what made certain animals clean or unclean? The leading contenders for answers are: A. It’s a mystery only God knows, B. It was hygienic and health related, C. It was symbolic. But I’ll add a fourth option that I lean towards, which is a combination of all three, with C (symbolism) being primary. Many of the unclean animals seem to be associated with predators, eaters of carrion, or in some way associated with death or the serpent that goes on its belly in the cursed dust (Lev. 11:42). But we should always interpret Scripture in light of Scripture, and especially the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament.One of the clearest and most extended passages in the New Testament on clean and unclean animals is found in Acts 10 where Peter sees a vision of a great sheet being let down to the earth, full of beasts, creeping things, and fowls of the air (Acts 10:11-12). Then Peter heard a voice that said, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat” (Acts 10:13). But Peter, being a faithful Jew refused saying, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:14). To which the voice replied, “What God hath cleansed, do not call common,” and it says that this happened three times (Acts 10:15-16). Immediately after this vision, Peter is asked to go to the house of a Gentile Centurion named Cornelius, and the Spirit gives the same command “rise” (Acts 10:20). Arriving at the house of the Centurion, Peter explains the vision to Cornelius, explaining that it would have ordinarily been unlawful for him as a Jew to keep company with a Gentile, but he says, “God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28). After preaching the death and resurrection of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins, the Spirit came upon all those listening, and Peter called for their baptism (Acts 10:44-48).THE ANIMALS ARE PEOPLEAll of this tells us that one of the primary purposes of the designation of clean and unclean animals was to distinguish between Jews and Gentiles. But with the coming of Christ, God was announcing that the salvation offered to Israel in the Old Covenant was now being proclaimed to all of the nations of the earth. This was prophesied in Isaiah: the wolf [unclean] will dwell with the lamb [clean], the leopard [unclean] shall lie down with the young goat [clean], etc. (Is. 11:6, cf. 65:25). The warring predatory nations shall be at peace with Israel and one another.A great deal of the New Testament is taken up with the inclusion of the Gentiles in the New Covenant, and many Jews for any number of reasons (personal preference, ignorance, or fear) continued following the food codes, and so right on schedule there were conflicts in the early churches. Paul notes an example in Galatians 2 where even Peter withdrew from eating with Gentiles when certain Jews came into town, and Paul rebuked Peter openly because he was not walking according to the truth of the gospel – making something more than faith in Jesus Christ necessary for justification and therefore fellowship (Gal. 2:11-16). Later, in Acts 15 a more formal appeal was made to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, and their decision made it clear that Gentiles were only to be required to keep themselves from idols, sexual immorality, and the only food restrictions were related to offerings to idols (Acts 15:20, 29).So the animals represent people, particularly Jews and Gentiles, and therefore, so long as the Jews were the only people of God, the Jews could only eat “Jewish” animals. But once God made himself the God of all the nations, then God’s people were free to eat all the animals. The principle is that we must be holy as God is holy. In the Old Covenant, the primary focus was on distinguishing Israel from the other nations of the earth, but in the New Covenant, the primary focus is on reconciling the nations of the earth. “For [Christ Jesus] is our peace, who hath made both [Jew and Gentile] one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of the two, one new man, so making peace” (Eph. 2:13-14).CONCLUSIONUnbelievers promises unity and peace apart from Christ, which means letting sinners keep certain sins and demanding uniformity. When the enmity inevitably increases, they demand to be given more power to enforce more uniformity. But Christ is bringing unity through His holiness. Christ is bringing unity and peace through removing our sins and restoring us to our full humanity. Christ is reconciling the lions and the lambs of the nations by removing the enmity, not by turning us all into generic land animals. Humanists try to pacify our lust for sin and deform our humanity. Only Christ can remove our sin and make us more human. This requires faith in Christ, and obedience to His Word. This means husbands and wives, parents and children, pastors and parishioners, magistrates and citizens trusting and obeying Christ.

Build with joy. Rejoice with your families, worship with joy. So that our joy may be heard a long ways off.

As soon as you confess that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you join the battle, you join the fray. You have come to the gates of Hades this morning. This is where we worship. This is where we sing and pray and hear the word proclaimed. This is where we break bread and share wine in the presence of our enemies, and make our good confession.

Christians live with double-vision. We walk by faith, not sight. Many well-meaning Christians, however, take this to mean we no longer see the things of this earth, or that, as the hymn goes: “The things of earth will grow strangely dim.” If I might, I propose a revision to that lyric: “the things of earth will grow wonderfully clear.”