1Did you know that a full-grown porcupine has about

30,000 quills attached to its body? When one of the quills is

driven into an enemy, the enemy’s body heat causes the quill to

expand and become more firmly embedded in the wound. The

wounds can fester and get infected, and they can even be fatal if

they affect vital organs. Needless to say, the porcupine is not

generally regarded as a lovable, huggable animal. I don’t know

of anyone who has a porcupine as a pet. I don’t know of any

children who cuddle up with stuffed porcupines when they sleep

at night. The scientific name for the porcupine is a combination

of Greek and Latin that’s really hard to pronounce, but I’ll give it

a shot: erethizon dorsatum. What it literally means is “the

irritable back.” And that’s a pretty good description of a

porcupine. With their irritable backs, porcupines usually handle

relationships in one of two ways: Withdraw or attack. They

either head up a tree, or they smack you with their quills. And

because of that, porcupines are typically solitary animals. I don’t

know if you’ve ever thought about it, but we don’t have a word to

describe a group of porcupines. We’ve got a pack of wolves and

a school of fish and a flock of sheep and a gaggle of geese and a

herd of cows and a colony of ants, but as far as I know, we don’t

ever refer to a group of porcupines, because porcupines are

solitary animals that have two basic rules for relationships:

withdraw or attack.

What’s the point of all this? Why in the world are we

talking about porcupines? Because a lot of times, when it comes

2to relationships we have the same two basic instincts as

porcupines: withdraw or attack. I have a pastor friend who’s

about 15 years older than me. And he’s given me a lot of advice

and insight into pastoring throughout the years. I remember one

time he shared with me his observation that 9 out of every 10

problems he deals with in the church are not primarily theological

or doctrinal, but personal and relational. He went on to say that it

would be refreshing if people were as passionate about theology

as they are about their own personal tastes and preferences.

And when I think about it, I have to say, it seems like he’s

right to a certain extent. An awful lot of the conflict within the

church is relational. And unfortunately, a lot of times it seems

like our strategy for dealing with relational conflict is to

porcupine it: We either withdraw or we attack. Some people stop

coming and just disappear. Or at least they only show up at the

holidays. Others find their identity in being oppositional and

complaining about every decision that’s made. Or they seek to

spice up their boring lives by creating a perpetual soap opera

drama out of every relationship. Withdraw or attack.

But neither of those relational strategies are what God

wants to see in His people. We’re going to look at Psalm 133

today. Psalm 133 was written by King David. And David

reminds us of God’s cure for porcupine syndrome. So let’s read

the three verses of Psalm 133. David writes, “How good and

pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like

precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard,

3running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his

robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.

For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.”

God’s cure for porcupine syndrome is unity. Look at

verse 1, “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live

together in unity!” And I don’t know if there’s any significance

to the placement of Psalm 133 in the Book of Psalms, but as I

was thinking about it this week, it struck me as kind of funny that

this psalm falls where it does. If you look right above verse 1 in

your Bible, it probably tells you that this psalm is “a song of

ascents.” That means a song of “going-up.” It’s the same thing

we saw last week with Psalm 121. All fifteen psalms from Psalm

120 through Psalm 134 are songs that the Israelites sang on their

way up to Jerusalem each year for the annual feasts. So the

Israelites would have been singing Psalm 133 as they traveled to

Jerusalem to worship God and celebrate the three annual feasts of

Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.

And like I said, I don’t know if there’s any significance to

the fact that Psalm 133 is the next-to-last of the songs of ascent,

but it strikes me as kind of funny that we’re almost to the end,

and we get a song about unity. It makes me smile to think about

what it would have been like after the Israelites had been

traveling for two or three days. Everybody’s tired and hungry.

The kids are fighting in the back seat of the camel. And about

every 15 minutes, there’s a chorus of, “Are we there yet? How

4much farther? I have to go to the bathroom. Are we there yet?

How much farther? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”

And as tension builds and patience wears thin, this next-

to-last song of ascents was probably a much-needed reminder,

“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in

unity!” At the end of a long road trip, I’d say most of us need to

be reminded about the value of relationships and unity. But

again, I don’t know for sure if that’s why Psalm 133 is the next-

to-last song of ascents. It just seems pretty appropriate for it to

be where it is.

But either way, what I do know is that there’s a whole

nother reason why this psalm is so appropriate as a song of

ascents. Remember what’s going on. All of God’s people are

coming together in Jerusalem to worship and celebrate the feasts.

They’re coming from different regions and different tribes all

over the country, and they’re gathering in Jerusalem to worship

God together. And as God’s people come together, David is

inspired by their unity. He writes, “How good and pleasant it is

when brothers live together in unity!” In spite of all sorts of

small differences, the people are united around one great

common bond. They’re united around their love for God. And

that’s exactly what God wants for His people. That’s exactly

what God wants for us as His church. He wants our love for

Him to unite us in relationships with one another. He doesn’t

want porcupines. He doesn’t want us to withdraw. He doesn’t

want us to attack. He wants us to be united. It is good and

5pleasant when the people of God are united in the church and

united in worship and united in life. God desires that type of

unity for us.

So let’s look at what God says about unity in Psalm 133,

and then I want us to think about some of the ways the truth of

this psalm applies to us. A great place for us to start is with the

word pleasant in verse 1. When David says that unity is pleasant,

that word conveyed all sorts of ideas and images. For example,

the word pleasant can also be translated beautiful. In other

words, it’s pleasing to the eye. It’s one of the words that

Solomon uses to describe his wife in Song of Songs. Unity is

beautiful when you see it.

I read one pastor who described this image as looking at a

perfectly planted cornfield. You’ve got nice, clean, straight rows

stretching as far as the eye can see. Everything is where it should

be, and that unity looks good to the eye. Disunity in the church is

like a scattered cornfield… everything helter-skelter. Things

look chaotic and out of kilter, and it creates an uneasiness and a

sense of confusion. But when the church is united, everything is

as it should be, and it’s a beautiful thing to see. Unity looks

good. It’s beautiful.

The second way that the word pleasant is often translated

is sweet. In other words, it’s pleasing to the mouth, like the

sweet taste of honey. So David is saying that when the people of

God are united in worship, it leaves a sweet taste on his lips.

Unity tastes good. And almost all of us know this is true. Have

6you ever tasted disunity? It’s bitter. It’s awful. It’s like rotten

food. And then have you ever tasted unity? It’s like a Krispy

Kreme glazed donut hot and fresh out of the oven. Unity tastes

great. It’s sweet.

The third way this word is used is to describe the sound of

music or singing. In other words, it’s pleasing to the ear. As all

the people of God gathered in Jerusalem, David would have

heard this roar of conversation. And the buzz of excitement over

seeing each other and the joy of being together was like music to

David’s ears. And again, we know this is true. If you’ve ever

heard disunity, it sounds like you’re hitting the wrong note.

You’re screeching on the violin. It makes us cringe. But then

when you hear unity, it’s like all the instruments are in tune, and

there’s perfect pitch and perfect harmony. Unity sounds right.

So in just this one word in verse 1, David communicates

that unity looks good, tastes great, and sounds right. Unity looks

good, tastes great, and sounds right. Unity is pleasant all the way

around… to the eye, to the mouth, to the ear.

And unity is pleasant to everyone who encounters it. First

and most importantly, our unity is pleasing to God. God delights

in our unity. When God sees His children united, it pleases Him.

And for those of you who are parents, you’ve got a pretty good

idea of how pleasing our unity is to God. How do you feel when

your children love one another? How do you feel when they get

along? How do you feel when they share? How do you feel

when they’re kind to each other? After you get over the shock

7and disbelief, it makes all of life more pleasant. That’s a great

picture of how God feels when His children are united in His

church. Our unity is pleasing to God.

And that, in and of itself, is enough. If unity is pleasing to

God, then we should be united. But on top of that, our unity is

also pleasant for us. It’s just more enjoyable to live in unity. If

you’ve ever been in a church that was marked by grumbling and

complaining and fighting and disunity, you know it gets old

quick. There have been some great churches that have become

completely ineffective because fighting and nagging and

backbiting sapped the vitality and passion and spiritual life from

the church. Disunity is never pleasant. So from a very practical

standpoint, it makes sense to be united… Because our unity is

pleasant for us.

And then third, our unity is also pleasant for others.

Nothing does more harm to the cause of Christ than a grumbling,

bickering, divided church. Nobody’s attracted to that. Nobody

wants to be a part of that. Disunity undermines the gospel. But

on the flip side, nothing is a more powerful testimony to the truth

of the gospel than a joyful, loving, united church. Jesus said in

John 17:23 that our unity is the very thing that will communicate

to the world the truth of the gospel. He prayed, “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.” Our unity

attracts people to Jesus, because our unity demonstrates the love

of God and the power of the gospel to bring us together. That’s

8why our unity is so important: Because God uses our unity to

draw other people to Jesus. What is it that brings together four

and five generations, people from all sorts of cultures and

backgrounds, people with different politics, rich, poor, middle

class? It’s Jesus and His gospel. Our unity demonstrates the

amazing power of the gospel to overcome all other barriers. And

when people who are far from God see that, they’re intrigued by

our unity. And God begins to draw them to Jesus. Our unity is

pleasant for others.

So all across the board, our unity is pleasant. It’s pleasing

to God. It’s pleasant for us. And it’s pleasant for others. Unity

looks good, tastes great, and sounds right to everyone.

And we’ll come back to verse 1 in a few minutes and look

at some more application. But first, let’s move on to verses 2-3.

David continues to paint pictures of unity for us. He says, “It is

like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard,

running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his

robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.

For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.”

David gives us two different pictures, but they’re very

closely connected. In verse 2, David compares unity to the oil

that was poured on the high priest’s head when he was anointed

to serve in the temple. Once the high priest was anointed, he was

able to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people, and God would

forgive them. And then in verse 3, David compares unity to the

dew of Hermon. Mount Hermon’s peak is almost 10,000 feet

9above sea level, and it receives large amounts of precipitation.

Because of that, Mount Hermon is known for its lush greenery

year round. But in the lower elevations, the land can be very dry

and parched. And their most reliable source of moisture is that

clouds form around Mount Hermon and dew settles down the

mountain to lower levels like Mount Zion.

So in verses 2-3, David is saying what the anointing oil is

to the high priest, and what Mount Hermon’s dew is to Zion,

unity is to the people of God. Unity brings life. The dew of

Mount Hermon brought physical life, and the forgiveness of the

sacrificial system brought spiritual life. And David says unity

has the same benefits. Unity is life-giving. It’s refreshing.

People and churches wither and wilt in environments that are not

united. Division brings death. But people and churches thrive

and grow in the midst of unity. Unity is refreshing and life-

giving. And in the midst of unity God pours out His blessing.

Look at the end of verse 3, “For there the Lord bestows his

blessing, even life forevermore.”

When we live together in unity, we’re getting a preview

of all eternity. We’re getting a preview of heaven. When we’re

united, we begin to experience the joy and the blessing and the

life that we will have in the presence of God forevermore. That’s

why unity looks good, tastes great, and sounds right… Because

unity is a preview of heaven.

So that’s the interpretation of all Psalm 133. In the rest of

our time together, I want us to focus on some application.

10Number One: Unity is a big deal to God. I hope this has

already become obvious to you. God went to the unimaginable

length of sending His Son to die on the cross so that we could be

united to Him. That’s how important unity is to God. We were

separated from God by our sin. So God sent Jesus to die for our

sin in order to reconcile us and unite us back to Him. God the

Father wants us to be united to Jesus in faith. And through Jesus,

God the Father wants us to be united to Him forever. And once

we’re united to our Father, He also wants us to be united to one

another as His children. God’s work is one of unity. All the way

around, unity is a big deal to God. He delights in unity. It

pleases Him. And since our unity pleases God, it should be a

priority for us. I want to live in a way that is pleasing to my God

and Father… and I really believe you do too. And God tells us

clearly what it is that pleases Him… unity. Unity is a big deal to

God.

That brings us to our second piece of application:

Community is essential for the people of God. Here’s why I say

that: Since unity is a big deal to God, unity should be a big deal

to us. And there’s no chance for unity unless you’re living in

community with one another. Listen, Scripture knows nothing of

a solitary Christian. No Christian is an only child. We’re all part

of God’s family. We’re brothers and sisters in Christ. And one

of the primary household rules that God has given to His family

is unity. So you cannot live out the Christian life if you’re

intentionally separating yourself from the family of God. I’ve

11heard people say, “I don’t need to be a part of a church. I just

follow Jesus.” What? How can you follow Jesus if you aren’t

doing what Jesus calls you to do? Jesus calls you to be united

with His people. Jesus calls you to serve in His Body. If you’re

not actively involved in a church, you’re not following Jesus the

way Jesus calls you to.

So I want to encourage all of us to get plugged into the

Body of Christ in a way that truly honors Christ. We have to

move beyond the porcupine strategies of withdraw and attack.

Instead of withdrawing, we have to open up and invest our lives

in this community of believers. And instead of attacking, we

have to learn how to live in community with one another…

because community is essential for the people of God.

The third piece of application is that unity grows out of

our relationship with God. Look at verse 1 again, “How good

and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” We

focused on the word pleasant earlier, but now I want us to focus

on the word brothers. David’s saying it’s right and fitting for the

people to be united, because they’re family. They already have a

family relationship, so it’s good and pleasant for that relationship

to be one of unity. We see almost the exact same thing in

Genesis 13 between Abraham and Lot. Their workers start to

quarrel with one another and Abraham says to Lot, “Let’s not

have any quarreling between you and me… for we are brothers.”

The fact that they were family and already had a relationship

meant that they should be united.

12And Church, I hope you see how directly this applies to

us. All I should have to do is remind you that you are brothers

and sisters in Christ, and unity should automatically flow out of

that. Our relationship with one another should prompt us to

pursue unity. And of course, our relationship with one another

grows out of our relationship with God. God is the one who

brought us together. The fact that God is Father to all of us is

what makes us brothers and sisters. So ultimately, our unity

grows out of our relationship with God. 1 John 4 tells us that if

we love God we will love one another. So the more intimately

connected we are to God, the more intimately united we will be

with one another.

And that brings us to our fourth piece of application:

Unity should be the norm in this church. Unity shouldn’t be an

anomaly. It shouldn’t be something we’re surprised to see and

always holding our breath, waiting for it to disappear. Unity

should be the norm in this place. It should be expected that we’re

going to be growing in our love for God, which means we’re

going to be growing in our love for each other, which means

we’re going to be united. Disunity should never be accepted as

“just the way things are.” It’s not supposed to be that way.

We’re supposed to love God and love each other, and our unity

grows out of those relationships.

That’s why it’s so sad when you realize that few

organizations have fought more often or split more bitterly than

the church. Did you know that in the 20th century there were

13more than 100 varieties of Baptist churches? There are General

Baptists, Particular Baptists, Seventh-day Baptists, Hard Shell

Baptists, Free Will Baptists, Independent Baptists, Southern

Baptists, Landmark Baptists, Duck River and Kindred

Association Baptists, and maybe the best name of all: Two-Seed-

in-the-Spirit Predestinaraian Baptists.

And it’s not just Baptists. The Church of God splits

include the Worldwide Church of God, the Intercontinental

Church of God, the Independent Church of God, the United

Church of God, the Restored Church of God, and the Church of

God International Community. I even read that the Church of

God had a group break off, calling itself the True Church of God,

and a group split off from that, calling itself the Only True

Church of God.

One researcher reported that there are over 33,000

denominations of Christianity in the world. And way too many

of them were born out of anger and hostility and withdrawal

between people who claim to follow Jesus… Even though Jesus

is the one who prayed that all His followers might be brought to

complete unity.

It reminds me of a story I heard about a man who was

rescued from a desert island. He had survived completely alone

on the island for 15 years. And before he left, he gave his

rescuers a tour of the one-man town he had built over the years.

He pointed to the first structure and said, “That’s where I slept.”

He pointed a little farther over and said, “That’s where I ate.”

14And then a little farther over, “And that’s where I went to

church.” One rescuer asked, “Well, what’s the building next to

your church?” The man replied, “Oh that? That’s where I used

to go to church.”

It’s funny. But it’s also sad how true that is. And listen,

please don’t get me wrong, I don’t want us to think unity means

that we accept any and every belief that comes along. Unity must

always be built on the truth of God’s Word in the Bible. And we

never want to sacrifice truth for the sake of unity, because if unity

isn’t built on truth, it’s not true unity. But at the same time, if we

believe the truth of the Bible, then we will pursue unity, because

the Bible calls us to pursue unity. And I’m afraid that all too

often, the majority of our division and bickering isn’t really about

theology and doctrine. It’s about preferences and opinions.

So I pray that we will set those things aside in this place.

I pray that we will hold only to God’s Word in the Bible. And I

pray that unity will be the norm in this church. And let me just

say, I praise God that in the year and a half I’ve been here, there

has been no major division or disunity or conflict or bickering in

this place. That’s a true blessing for us. Thank you for the way

you’ve loved Christy and me and for the way you’ve loved one

another. Praise God for His work in that way! So, don’t think

that there’s some major problem I’m trying to correct this

morning. There’s not. There’s just a major truth in the Bible

about unity, and we want to continue to value that truth. So this

is not corrective, but protective. So what I’m saying is:

15Let’s drive a stake in the ground today. And let’s say that

unity will always be the norm in this church. I’m asking you to

decide right now that unity will always start with you. Decide

that you will be a uniter, not a divider. Unity will start with you,

and as far as it depends on you, it will flow to everyone around

you. I pray that unity will flow from our staff. I pray that unity

will flow from our ministries. I pray that unity will flow from

our Sunday School classes. I pray that unity will flow from our

deacons. I pray that unity will flow from every single person

who is a child of God, who is a part of the family of God, who is

a brother or sister in Christ, who is part of the Body of Christ in

this place. I pray that unity will be the norm in this church…

Because unity looks good, tastes great, and sounds right. Unity is

pleasing to God, pleasant for us, and pleasant for others. Unity is

refreshing and life-giving. And unity is a preview of heaven.

“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together

in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down

on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the

collar of his robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on

Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life

forevermore.”

“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together

in unity!”