We're looking this morning at Ephesians chapter four, verses one through six. But I would like to introduce the message this morning, entitled Walking in Unity. I would like to do that from Psalm 133. Before I begin, I would just like to say what an immense privilege it is to preach God's word to you young people. Sometimes when I'm seated in the back, usually I just look out and see this wonderful group of young adults who are pursuing the will of God. and remind it what a privilege it is to fellowship with you and to occasionally open God's Word like we will attempt to do this morning. It's a tremendous privilege. It's a joy to sing together with you and just to listen to what I believe is a sincerity coming through your voices of your love for and desire to please the Lord. Many years ago, I had the privilege to go down to a pastor's meeting with Dr. Jim Berg and others at the invitation of our then-executive vice president, Dr. Bob Wood. We had a wonderful day together in this rather large pastor's meeting. I don't remember a great deal about the content of that day, but what I will never forget was when the white-haired father of the day's speaker stood to give the benediction for the large gathering, and he quoted from Psalm 133, which says, behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments, as the dew of Hermon, as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. The unity of brothers and sisters in Christ is certainly a good and pleasant thing. These verses tell us that unity is holy. It is like the holy anointing oil or ointment of Exodus chapter 30 that is described there in its composition in some detail. And then that holy anointing oil would be used on the elements of the tabernacle and then ultimately poured upon the head of Aaron the priest and his sons, other priests, and it would flow down upon his hair and then onto his beard and then down upon his garment. And this fragrant, aromatic, fluid would then symbolically set apart Aaron and his sons for useful service. Numerous times in Exodus 30, the adjective holy is used to describe what that oil was to God. I take that to mean in this context, in Psalm 133, that unity, a good and pleasant thing, is holy. It is that which sets believers apart for useful service." And then he says, it is like the dew of Hermon. Now what is Hermon? Hermon is Mount Hermon in the far northern edge of Israel, actually today bordering, part of it, the mountain, the mountain range is actually in both Syria and Lebanon. And it rises to 9,200 feet. There's a ski resort at the top of Mount Hermon. The snow-covered mountains of the Mount Hermon range remain even during the summertime. And much of the moisture, the dew, the moisture of Israel actually comes from the snow and the rain that fall upon the porous Mount Hermon. The headwaters of the Jordan River form from the moisture that comes down from Mount Hermon. And then that flows for some miles and goes into the Sea of Galilee, that natural and deep reservoir in Israel that is eight miles wide and 13 miles long and forms much of the water of even modern-day Israel. So the dew of Hermon, that water, that moisture, is that which eventually makes its way to Jerusalem or Mount Zion and gives that life-giving, refreshing element to the people of the more arid southern part of Israel. And I conclude, therefore, that unity, like water, is life-giving. It is refreshing. Life cannot go on without it. It is very vital and essential to the Christian life, to Christian relationships, to Christian ministry, to local church ministry. Both the holy nature of unity and the life-giving nature of it, I say, are foundational to the Christian life. In the book of Ephesians, we know that this book is divided largely into two major sections, the first three chapters being doctrinal and the second four chapters, the second part being the three chapters that have to do with how we live out the Christian life. And certainly in the book of Ephesians, Paul takes us into the heavenlies. And we realize there as we read carefully those first three chapters, all that we have in Christ. But then when he lands that Gospel plane, as it were, he lands it where we live. And where we live is in our relationships one with another. So he says there in Ephesians chapter 4, those early verses, verse 1 he says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord. beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, even as you're called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. I love to fly. I love that is to be flown. I don't know how to fly personally. I'm not a pilot, but I appreciate pilots very much. Recently I have had numerous opportunities to fly, twice to Boston, once from Boston to Salt Lake City. I flew through LaGuardia Airport one time in New York City, through Atlanta, through Dallas, Texas. And so I feel like in recent weeks I've kind of made a nice big circle in the United States. I enjoyed those flights. Many times I've had the privilege to fly in this some years ago on the university plane, and we would fly off on Monday mornings oftentimes to pastor meetings, and we get to see beautiful scenery on the planes. I might drive my old car to the airport, and then when the day's work was done, drive it back to my old fixer-upper house. It was great to be up there. It only lasted a little while. Sometimes I kind of wished I didn't need to come down from the heavenlies, but there was always a time to come home, I head back to work, and get down to business in where we actually live. We can't live in the heavenlies all the time. One day, Lord willing, we'll be able to be there forever and enjoy those wonderful sights. How we live in relationship to one another is so very, very important. And in these verses, we find that we have a sacred calling. Verse 1, we have a calling unto salvation is really the essence of what he's talking about here. And we have all of these great privileges in knowing Christ as our Savior. We enjoy His eternal love, this book of Ephesians tells us, that He knew about us even before the foundations of the earth. And He set His eternal love upon us. He's brought us into a family relationship with Himself. God as our Father, Jesus Christ as our Savior, as our brother, filled with the Spirit of God, able to live under the praise of the glory of God's grace. We have our, at conversion, our spiritual eyes open. We understand the cause of God's grace and salvation. Now we can see. We are no longer blinded. We are in the process of becoming that which God can use as Ephesians 2 says, we are His workmanship or His masterpiece created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. We have all of these privileges. We have purpose for living. And Ephesians 3 tells us that both believing Jews and Gentiles have been brought together in one body and the enmity that we had toward one another. Even if I can say it, even Gentiles toward Gentiles and Jewish believers toward Jewish believers, whatever has happened, we have been made reconciled unto God and we certainly should live in harmony with one another in the body of Christ. And so we should live up to our calling. We should endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We should live like true believers who have a genuine, heartfelt, sacrificial love for one another. In verses two and three, we see the selfless character necessary to live in harmony with one another. We see some key attitudes, five key attitudes I see here. Verse two speaks of the lowliness of mind. With all lowliness and meekness. This has to do with our view of ourself, our view of our own opinions. We're told in Romans chapter 12 to not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Now in a university like this, we are constantly attempting to help you in your understanding, and we say here, we're trying to teach and preach to you that you might think biblically. And so there's everything right about thinking, and that's a big lifetime growth process, But we should never think about ourselves more highly than we ought to think. I may have alluded to this in the past, but one of the most memorable statements that I heard a faculty member say one time about his office mate, it was not nice to say this, but it did make a point. He said of his office mate, he said, I wish I could buy him for what he's worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth. That's not nice. But I have never forgotten what he said. May that type of expression never be said of any of us. Your opinions matter. Your ideas, your perspective, We're all a little defensive, but it really helps the harmony of the body of Christ when people appropriately have a lowly mind and have a meek spirit. As someone has said, meekness is not weakness, but it is strength under control. Think of Jesus Christ. Think of all that he is the eternal God knew. Think of how he self-imposed limitations upon his own strength and submitted himself unto the will of the Father. Think what he could have done on Calvary's cross in calling angels to deliver him and to smite his enemies. And yet in lowliness of heart and mind, In meekness of spirit, he actually went through that whole facade of a judicial process and largely remained silent when he was there. And even on the cross, initially, the two malefactors cursed him and taunted him until one, seeing his example, was converted on the cross itself. Meekness, forbearance. Not necessarily saying what you think when you're in an awkward situation. Not just hauling off and telling someone off. In the South, sometimes we call that having, do you know what the expression is? Having a hissy fit. You ever heard that expression? That's like a Southern lady who just decides she's had enough and she's gonna tell somebody off and she has what she calls a hissy fit. Did you know there's no place in the Bible for a hissy fit? Okay. We are to be loving and tolerant and forbearing and people have been this way toward us for a lifetime and we should as believers have that attitude toward others, forbearance. And then there's the attitude of love. Forbearing one another in love. Love has to do with being willing to sacrifice for the good of another. This is the word agape. This self-sacrificing love that is interested in the best for the other person. This is willing to step back or to step down or even perhaps in a sense to disappear rather than do something that would be unkind and unloving to others. I know in a setting like this you have relationships that are developing, even potentially romantic relationships. But one of the best things you can do as you navigate the yeses and nos of those budding romantic relationships is to always keep in mind, you know, I want the best for the other person, whether that's me or someone else. That's a really good way to look at it. So these attitudes of meekness, of lowliness, of long-suffering, of forbearance, and love. And then I see a key action in verse three. He says they're endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This means that we have to work at relationships. We have to be alert about how we ourselves are potentially giving offense to someone else. We are aware, we are alert, we are being diligent, we are eager to keep things unified. We will guard or watch or keep intact these delicate relationships. There's something bigger than ourselves, it's the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We have been bound together by Christ and we do not want anything to disrupt That relationship, those relationships that we enjoy because of the Lord. There are numerous passages that underscore these very truths. 1 Corinthians 1.10 says that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that we would be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 1 Peter 3.8, be all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Be pitiful, he says, be courteous. Romans 12.16, be of the same mind one toward another. Romans 15, that you be like-minded one toward another according to Jesus Christ, that you all may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have spiritual commonalities. Numerous times, seven times, the word one is used in our text. Look at it, please. Verse five, we have one Lord. Actually, verse four, one Spirit. one hope, verse five, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. Ultimately, we find our unity in God himself. The three persons of the Godhead interact harmoniously with one another perfectly. Though all are co-equal and co-eternal, the son subordinated himself under the father's will and suffered on the Calvary's cross on our behalf. So college days are golden days to build friendships and relationships that will potentially last a lifetime. Most of my closest friendships were formed during my college days. And you will find, as you progress through life, that the most important things are not possessions, but are the treasured friendships and relationships that you enjoy. Harmonious relationships take time and effort and work and prayer. They take careful listening, the seeking of clarifications, the offering of an apology, the extending of forgiveness. And they are worth every ounce of investment that we can put into them. You're going to remember some college relationships for the rest of your life. There's something about college that is frozen in time. It's several years of your life that you will look back on and the memories of those days will be vivid for good or for bad. And I would implore all of us to give ourselves to the pursuit of effective relational harmony. It is essential to your own effectiveness. And if I can put it this way, your personal fulfillment. Effective relationships will open many doors of opportunity and service. And you will be amazed how God will help you to build unified, harmonious relationships that will give you great joy in serving God together with others. You're going to need this in your own home, in the family that, Lord willing, someday you will establish. You'll need this in your church relationships. You'll need this in your workplace relationships. And you know you might need it in some relationships even right now. So I want to close with some probing questions for reflection and application. Ask yourself these questions. Am I building close, harmonious relationships? Am I thoughtful and encouraging and compassionate and humble? Do I see the long-term value of relationships? What can I do, even now, to improve or restore relationships? in my dorm room, in my family, my immediate family, my society, in my church, in my workplace? Are we walking worthily? Are we walking in a manner that God would look upon and approve that we're walking worthy of the calling to which we are called? Are we walking in genuine harmony and unity with others? Would you bow your heads with me, please? Our God, we pray that you would take these probing words from your word and cause us to reflect deeply upon how well we are or are not pleasing you in these interpersonal relationships. We thank you for the privilege of knowing you. Thank you for the privilege of being part of your family. And we pray that we would be good family members in that family, serving you and loving others, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.