Upper Room Christian Assembly

Looking For Unity – 08

How Does It Flow? – 01

 

Should the Christians of our time be admonished by a “poet of their own” in a similar way as were the Cretans in the Apostle Paul’s day (Titus 1:12)? The poet Robert Frost probed the purpose behind the prevalence of walls which separate humans from one another.

 

His New England neighbor had nothing more profound to present as a justification than the following: “Good fences make good neighbors,” and proceeded to mindlessly mend the wall of separation.

 

These studies from Psalm 133 clearly acknowledge that in the age of fallenness, divisions are not entirely avoidable (1 Cor 11:19). Nonetheless, given God’s exhortations toward unity and His promise to command a blessing upon those who seek it, we do well to ask ourselves before we build or repair a wall – “What am I walling in or walling out; And to whom am I likely to give offense”?

Looking For Unity – 07

What is it Like?

The Two Similes – 04

If Ecclesiology was thought through as a subcategory of Theology rather than Anthropology, the debate over bottom-up verses top-down church growth and government theories would be recognized as irrelevant.  For Theology settles the issue: any method that begins with man is unsound by definition.

God sets every member in the body as it pleases Him (1 Cor. 12:18); hence, biblical unity is only possible where His arraignment is honored.   Churches should be characterized by a concern to get things right at the top for only then will the anointing and dew flow down copiously to all the people of God.

Looking For Unity – 06

What is it Like?

The Two Similes – 03

This study, at the direction of Psalm 133:3, steps back and begins to consider the teaching toward unity that flows from Mount Hermon.  In doing so, we discover that Hermon illustrates through creation what Aaron communicates through covenant.  Namely, the principle that Headship is critical to Harmony.  Both similes (Aaron and Hermon) open our understanding to the deeper meaning of “the good” and “the pleasant.”

Looking For Unity – 05

What is it Like?

The Two Similes – 02

What does oil running down the head and beard of Aaron the high priest have to do with unity? If your answer is, “Nothing really, who needs the high priest, let alone his head and beard!?  Our modern age is more illuminated than David.  We understand that unity is all about The People; it is all about the fringes of the garment…”  then you are also claiming to be wiser than God.

This study puts its hands on the first Simile Gate and seeks to open our understanding to the inspired relevance of the oil, the high priest, and the advancement of biblical unity.

 

Looking For Unity – 04

What is it Like?

The Two Similes – 01

This study begins to examine the similes in verses 2 and 3 of Psalm 133.  When the key to spiritual understanding unlocks the lessons of these verses, we walk through the Simile Gates and enter the sacred path leading to beautiful, biblical, brotherly unity.

Here we discover that the fall of humanity has not destroyed the hierarchal design of God’s universe.  The structure remains, but every human has fallen to the bottom.  Nonetheless, at the foot of the Cross, redeemed humanity is lifted up in Christ and arranged through grace into the purposes and callings of the Great King.

Biblical unity begins on level ground at the foot of the Cross, where the equally unworthy are made brethren by grace.  Hence, the arrangement of these brethren within God’s new creation, while involving “gifts differing”, always conserves the duty of humility and service.

Looking For Unity – 03

What is it Like?

Seduction can be defined as energetic immorality: a moving of the heart in the sphere of moral indifference. Seduction does not lack the beautiful; indeed, it requires the beautiful.  What it lacks is the moral.  The Religion of the Great Whore (Revelation 17) spreads itself upon the waters through the seductive scheme of pressing the pleasant while diminishing the good. 

Its seductive gospel preaches the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man with the utopian promise of social unity.   But, absent the soteriology of Jesus’ vicarious death and satisfaction; absent the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, “the fatherhood of God becomes a sham and the brotherhood of man a cruel mockery” (George Harinck).

The True Gospel calls out a people from the mass of humanity through faith and repentance; regenerates them into the Family of God and beckons them to keep this unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  While it seeks the good of all men, it celebrates the special unity that is only possible among true Christian Brethren.

Looking For Unity – 02

Looking For Unity – 02

What is it Like?

The Apostle Paul understood the power of the Psalms to accomplish God’s work, so he wrote the following to his Brethren in Colossae: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16).

Who but God would ordain singing as a means of teaching and correction?

What does Psalm 133 teach and admonish?

This study begins to listen to the voice of this Psalm as it describes, step by step, what Biblical Unity looks like.  First, it is good; it is moral; it must be valued because it is right.  Our hearts must first be transformed by the moral work of God’s Word before we will gain the eyes to behold the beauty of God’s design.

Looking For Unity - 01

Behold the Beauty

Psalm 133 is a well-known text in our common faith, but it is no “common seed”.  If it is familiar, then it is all the more prepared to work its power into an uncommon heart.

An unusual sight kindled in the heart of David a desire to beckon others to that which had so moved his own soul, and he cries out, “Behold!”.   What was that sight? When did it occur? What arrangement of things natural and spiritual inspired this Psalm of Degree?

Have you ever seen beautiful, Biblical, brotherly, unity?  Do you know its characteristics?  Do you settle for manmade matches that lack the anointing and blessing of God?  This study helps us look for the unity that God Himself longs to behold.  When it is found, it will take your breath away as do all good and pleasant things into which God has commanded the blessing.

Dynamic Remembrance - Points of Participation

The ordinance of the communion of the bread and cup was established in an upper room somewhere in the environs of Jerusalem on the 14th of the Jewish month Nisan about the year 30 A.D. while Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples prior to His crucifixion. 

But on this august occasion, at the very moment when the Paschal Sēder indicates that the father who presides over the Passover celebration is to say, “This is the bread of affliction that our forefathers ate in the land of Egypt”, Jesus dramatically departs from the centuries-old language and says, “This is my body, which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me.”

This study focuses in on the call to Remembrance and argues for a dynamic, participatory engagement with our Passover Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose body was afflicted for our deliverance. 

Remembering Jesus must go beyond envisioning the spectacle of our Crucified Saviour because Jesus' imperative to remember Him was uttered from a loving heart of service toward His Bride as a plea for her to benefit from the riches of His example and the treasures of His redemptive act.

John 17 - Sanctifying Saints for Service - Good Things to Come

Robert (Bobby) C. Freeman (1955-2013) preached the following message on a Wednesday evening in 2010 while serving the Lord (for over 30 years) as the pastor of the Sand Hill Bible Church in Auburn, AL.  God’s servant Bobby is now in the presence of his Master, but his life and message continue to impact those with ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to understand.

The Upper Room Christian Assembly experienced real edification and healthy conviction while taking in this message based on John 17.  Pastor Freeman sets forth one of the key petitions of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, namely: that Saints would be Sanctified for Jesus’ Service.  Amid a rising tide of wickedness, God seeks standard bearers who will walk in the old paths of apostolic faith and live exemplary Christian lives.

We highly recommend this anointed message which concludes with a very hopeful proclamation of good things to come!