Episode 1673: Unity of Praise

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Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 1,673 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast

Aaron Guyett: I'm Aaron Guyett. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to establish your relationship with Christ and those you lead is key, and one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, with my friend Scott

Scott Maderer: Maderer.

This is the idea, the sustenance, the living blessing that we're being called to be. Not one of judgment, not one of exclusion, but one of inclusion. One is, one that is recognizing that all people and all creation is worthy [00:01:00] of praise. That's what this Psalm means to me. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship podcast.

If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world

In today's Spiritual Foundation episode, I talk about Psalm 133. I share how good it is to be anointed, and I also share how we were all anointed in community together. And I explain how that anointing is to flow out to all inclusively, not exclusively Psalm [00:02:00] 133 says, "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity.

It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord ordained his blessings, life forevermore." Have you ever taken a walk on one of those mornings where the fog or the dew is out in the air, and as you walk, you get that coating of water all over your body as if somebody had just poured water over you while you walked?

Now, I live in Texas, so sometimes that happens, and it's humidity, and it's hot, and it's not real fun. But on those fall days or spring days where that happens, and it's wonderful weather as well, that is the feeling that I think this psalm [00:03:00] is talking about. That blessing that has flowed down from the heaven until you're covered and soaked in the presence.

That is the image that this psalm brings to mind. That's the oil that they're talking about being poured over Aaron's head. A, a priestly anointing that comes down over the beard and then the collar. It can't be contained. It flows. It covers. It blesses. How very good and pleasant it is. That's how the psalm begins, good and pleasant.

The word good in verse one is the same one used in Genesis to declare the state of creation when God saw that it was good. It's the unity. It's the way things were intended. And pleasant [00:04:00] pleasant and good often are used together to kind of mean something similar, and that word here can be translated as lovely, attractive, friendly, or joyous.

There, there's exuberance here. There is good and pleasant. It's intended, and it's beautiful. This is a depiction of the Kingdom of God, the kin-dom of God, our relationship to each other and our relationships to the divine presence. It begins, "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity," talking about family that is unified together.

This is called to be a sign of the kingdom and how we live together. That's the attractiveness, the hospitality, the invitation, the inclusion that's here. But then the second verse compares that to the anointing of [00:05:00] Aaron, that priestly anointing, and a priest serves as an intermediary between God and the people.

The priest is the one that the people would bring their cares, and their joys, and their concerns, and their heartaches, and their happiness. So by comparing the unity of family kinship to the priestly anointing of Aaron, maybe we're talking about the family of the people of God are also intermediaries, are also blessed priests.

It's no longer for them alone, rather it is for all people. It's no longer just for us. It's to run down and spread out as an invitation to all. This unity is not simply good and pleasant for its own sake, but for the sake of the world, for all of humanity. This is [00:06:00] the oil of welcome. This is what is provided by the host when they gather others into the house.

By the way, stranger, friend, or foe, they're all blessed the same way. And that is what the hospitality, the radical hospitality that seems to be referenced here. And then in verse three, it continues with this exaggerated above and beyond thinking, "Dew that flows from Hermon to Zion." W- when you realize that Hermon is in the far north, and to reach Zion, that dew would have to flow hundreds of miles.

So that's not probably really possible, unless we're now thinking about this as an all-inclusive blessing that is called to lift out through all people, through [00:07:00] all nations, acknowledging the value and the worth of all. This is the idea, the sustenance, the living blessing that we're being called to be.

Not one of judgment, not one of exclusion, but one of inclusion. One is r- one that is recognizing that all people and all creation is worthy of praise. That's what this psalm means to me. Thanks for listening.

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