THE WORTHY WALK
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 16, 2023 under 2023 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Sermon Message; April 16, 2023 from Ephesians 4:1-3
Theme: We must conduct our daily lives in a manner worthy of our high calling in Christ.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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This morning, we come to an important turning point in our study of the Book of Ephesians. And the first few verses of this turning point are very important for us to consider.
You see; so far in our study of the Book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul has laid out some important doctrinal issues for his readers. Throughout Chapters 1-3, he had been describing the wonderful truths of what it is that the genuine believer now has because of his or her relationship by faith with Jesus Christ. He started out in Ephesians 1:3 by telling us,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3);
and he then went on, for three whole chapters, to explain what those blessings are. He showed us the ways that God has saved us through Jesus’ sacrifice, and how He has destined us for future glory. Paul showed us that, even though we were formerly dead in our trespasses and sins, God has now spiritually raised us to new life; and how we are now positionally seated in heavenly places with Christ. Paul showed us how, even though we were Gentiles—formerly far away from the covenant promises that God gave to Israel—we have now been brought near by the blood of Jesus; and are now fellow citizens with the saints.
In other words, for the first three chapters of this wonderful letter, the apostle Paul basically opened up the treasure chest of our riches in Christ, and showed us how wealthy we are—being “in Christ” by faith. And as we’ve gone through these chapters—slowly and carefully—over the past several months, it’s been my prayer that these things will sink deeply into our hearts. There really isn’t anything greater for us to think about than what God has made us to be—right now—because of our relationship by faith with Jesus Christ. Just think, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, of how truly rich we are!
But then comes Chapters 4-6—and what it is that we must now do about it all. In these last three chapters of his letter, Paul shows us how we are to live in the light of the reality of who we now are in Christ. After having shown us great doctrine, he now goes on to show us our duty in the light of that doctrine. And it begins with the first three important words of Chapter 4:
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (4:1-3).
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There’s a story that I’ve told you before. And even though I’m repeating myself a bit, I feel that it’s such a good illustration of what Paul is teaching us, I must share it again.
As you know, I am a big fan of the films of Charlie Chaplin. And one of my favorites is his film, Gold Rush; the story of his ‘little tramp’ character going up to Alaska to seek his fortune. It has lots of classic scenes in it—such as the eating of the boiled boots, and the dance of the dinner rolls. But there’s one very tiny scene near the end of the movie that has always impacted me.
You see; by the end of the movie (spoiler alert!), the little tramp and his big gold-mining partner have struck it rich. They had found a great load; and were now on their way back home from the frozen north as wealthy men—traveling on a big, luxurious ship. As they cruised along the Canadian coast, they casually strolled along on the deck of the ship—with top hats and spats and diamond rings—pointing leisurely at the beautiful scenery.
As they strolled along, a man passed in front of them and dropped a half-smoked cigarette in front of them. And when Charlie saw it, he absently reached down, picked it up, and began finishing it—just like the old tramp that he once was. But his partner slapped it out of his hand, gave him a nudge with the elbow, reached into his pocket, and gave Charlie a ‘rich man’s’ cigar; which Charlie—having recovered his dignity—acknowledged with a wealthy man’s nod of the head.
I have always loved that scene. It’s subtle. You’d almost miss it if you weren’t looking for it. But it illustrates what is so often our problem as believers. We tend to conduct ourselves through life as if we are still what we used to be … and all because we have forgotten what we now are in Christ. We’re no longer ‘little tramps’ … spiritually speaking. We’re no longer dead in our trespasses and sins. We’re no longer alienated from God. We’re no longer walking around as helpless victims of the devil. We’re no longer in spiritual poverty. Far from it! We are now in a glorious position before God “in Christ”. All that is true of God’s Son has now—as an act of God’s grace through our faith—been made true of us. We are now adopted sons and daughters of God “in Christ”. We now are seated in the heavenly places of glory “in Christ”. We now are destined to be glorified in heaven “in Christ”; and will enjoy all the rich inheritance that God the Father has given Him forever. We now have all the spiritual resources we will ever need to be and do whatever God the Father calls us to do—in abundance—“in Christ”.
We are immeasurably rich “in Christ”. And so, we need to start acting like what we are.
Now understand; dear brothers and sisters. I’m not talking about any kind of ‘health and wealth’ doctrine—which is a dreadfully false and misleading doctrine. We aren’t to go around ‘claiming’ material riches for ourselves. We’re not to go around claiming earthly ‘health’ and ‘prosperity’ for ourselves—as if, by our very ‘claiming’ it, we make it so. We still go through difficulties in life. We still experience times of financial need, or challenges to our health, or difficulties and tests and trials—just like many of the people of this world do. But here’s the point that Paul has been making to us in the first three chapters: When we go through those trials and challenges, we now go through them as people who have “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” available to us. We go through them as people who are destined for eternal glory.
And this means that it’s time for us to stop walking around—picking up the discarded cigarette butts of this world—as if we are spiritually impoverished tramps. It’s time for us to stop behaving like what we once were. It’s time for us to do as the apostle Paul urges in the opening verse of Chapter 4:
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called …
Because of what God has now made us to be, we must conduct our daily lives in a manner worthy of—or you might say, ‘in keeping with’ or ‘in a way that’s consistent with’—our high calling in Christ.
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So, then; let’s consider this a little more deeply. Let’s begin with the fact that …
1. WE HAVE BEEN CALLED TO A HIGH CALLING.
In verse 1, Paul speaks of “the calling with which you were called”.
Sometimes, when people think of their ‘calling’, they think of their vocation in the sense of what they do for a living—that they do this kind of work, or that kind of ministry; and that this is their ‘calling’. But Paul isn’t talking about that kind of thing. Rather, he’s talking about our ‘calling’ in the sense that God has graciously chosen us for salvation in Christ, and has given us faith to believe in Him, and has now made us to be destined for eternal glory in Him. Our ‘calling’ refers to God’s gift of ‘saving’, ‘justifying’, and ‘glorifying’ grace toward us. Our ‘calling’—as Paul refers to it here—is the eternal destiny for which Jesus Christ has graciously ‘laid hold of’ us by dying for us.
A good way to understand what Paul is talking about is by looking at what he wrote in Philippians 3:12-14. He wrote about the way God had completely transformed his own life in Christ; and he said,
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).
That’s what our ‘calling’ is. It’s that “upward call of God in Christ Jesus” for which Jesus ‘laid hold’ of us. It’s our sure and certain destiny in Christ. It’s something that is already ours as a free gift from God through faith in Jesus. The prize is already completely won. Jesus has already accomplished it all for us; and God has already called us into Jesus’ saving work; and we are now destined for eternal glory in Him. And the great concern for us now is that we grow to “know”—at the deepest level of our being—that we have all the riches of Christ’s inheritance as our present possession, and are now destined for eternal glory in Him.
That was something that Paul longed for in the hearts of his readers. He wanted them to truly “know” that calling. In Ephesians 1:15-19, he wrote;
Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power … (Ephesians 1:15-19).
We need to remember who we now are in Christ; and to ‘know’—in the deepest level of our being—what our ‘calling’ is in Christ. To the degree that we do so, we will live differently.
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And that leads us to the next point. Knowing that we have been called to a high and worthy ‘calling’ in Christ …
2. WE SHOULD WALK WORTHY OF IT.
Paul wrote, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called …”
Now; do you notice how Paul referred to himself in this verse? He called himself “the prisoner of the Lord”. In the translation that I’m using, it was as “the prisoner of the Lord” that he was making this appeal to his brothers and sisters in Christ. He was in a jail cell at the time he wrote this letter—imprisoned for preaching the gospel of his Lord and Master. And in that sense, Paul was so in love with Jesus—and so fervent in his devotion to the task of preaching the gospel—that Paul was glad to be known as “the prisoner of the Lord”. Everyone knew that was why he was in a cold, dark prison cell.
But if you were to look at his words in the original language, you’d make a very interesting discovery. What Paul actually wrote was that he was “the prisoner in the Lord”; not just “of” but “in”. And that’s a very important distinction. I don’t believe that Paul was just telling us that he was the Lord’s prisoner—that is, someone who was so devoted to Jesus that he was willing to be in prison for Jesus’ sake. I believe that what he was telling us was that while he was in prison—while he was suffering this dark and difficult and trying circumstance—he was “in” Christ as he was doing so. What he appeared to be on the outside—that is, merely a prisoner—was not the full story. The reality of his situation was that—whatever his circumstances might be on the outside—he was “in Christ”, and positionally seated in heavenly places, at the very time he was going through those circumstances. He “knew” his high calling in Christ; and therefore, he conducted himself as a man who was positionally “in Christ” while sitting in that prison cell. And he made this very clear to his readers; so that they could see for themselves what it meant to ‘walk’ in a manner that was worthy of Christ’s calling.
Dear brothers and sisters; what—figuratively speaking—is your “prison” right now? Are you going through a trial of some kind? Is it a matter of finances? Is it a concern for your health? Is there some relationship that is troubling you? Do you feel yourself tempted and tried in some way? Do you feel like you’re in some kind of ‘imprisoning’ circumstance? If so, consider Paul. He was in prison too. Literally! And yet, he was “the prisoner in Christ”. He was called to be “in Christ”; and that calling was true no matter what circumstance he was in. He endured his trial with the dignity of a man who had been made rich in Christ, and who was destined for eternal glory. And that governed his behavior.
And now, Paul was calling his readers to be like him. He was calling them to “walk”—that is, to go through their life and conduct their daily activities in whatever circumstances God had placed them—in a manner that was worthy of their high calling.
Now; understand! It’s not that we, in any way, try to ‘walk worthy’ in order to make ourselves ‘worthy’ of God’s calling in Christ. We could never do that. Rather, it’s that we ‘walk worthy’ because God the Father—by His infinite grace and mercy—has already loved us, and has already called us to a glorious destiny, and has already made us rich “in Christ”. And so; we should get it into our minds that this is so, and “walk worthy”. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-10;
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Therefore, we should walk in a manner that is worthy of what we now are.
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And that leads us to notice one more thing in these introductory words; and that’s …
3. WHAT SUCH A WORTHY WALK IS CHARACTERIZED BY.
Paul doesn’t leave us in the dark with regard to what such a walk would look like. He goes on in the next three chapters to describe it to us in wonderful detail. But in verses 2-3, he begins by describing to us some basic characteristics of that worthy walk.
First, he tells us that it would be characterized by humbleness in our manner. If we have truly come to “know” our high calling in Christ as we should, it won’t make us proud or arrogant. We won’t go around thinking that we are, somehow, superior to everyone else. Instead, we will realize that our high calling is a gift of God’s grace. We will realize that we were sinners who were dead in our trespasses and sins, that we were alienated from a holy God, and that we were walking around under the control and influence of the devil. We will realize that it wasn’t because of anything in us that caused God to pour the riches of His grace upon us. It was only because of His love that He sent His Son to die for us and make us His own sons and daughters. And that will make us gratefully humble in our daily walk.
In verse 2, Paul said that we are to walk worthy of the calling with which we have been called “ with all lowliness and gentleness.” To be lowly means that we are to carry ourselves with modesty—not with ‘false modesty’; but with genuine modesty. We’re to be humble-minded and recognize that in all of our richness in Christ, we don’t have anything except what we have been given. And to be “gentle” means that we are kind to others and are never forceful. We won’t look down on others, or scold and scorn them for their troubles and failures. Instead, we’ll always remember that we were once apart from Christ; and that they may one day be given the grace to believe and have victory in Him. We’ll not just do this occasionally; but we’ll do it in all situations—walking with “all” lowliness and gentleness.
I believe that the “humble” kind of manner in which we should now walk is shown to us in Colossians 1:9-12. Paul wrote to his brothers and sisters in Christ and said;
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light (Colossians 1:9-12).
This means, dear brothers and sisters, that if we are walking pridefully and in a way that is harsh toward others, we haven’t yet come to understand the nature of our high calling. We need to repent of all such arrogance; because it is out of keeping with our calling. May God help us to “walk” in a manner that is truly worthy—that is, always with the kind of sincere humble-mindedness that shows that we are recipients of God’s rich grace.
Second, Paul tells us that this walk will be characterized by patience toward one another. If we have truly come to “know” our high calling in Christ, it will change our behavior toward our brothers and sisters who have also experienced that high calling. We will think about one another differently. We’ll remember that—just like ourselves—our brother or sister in Christ is seated in high places in Christ; but is also in the process of growing in their daily walk.
In verse 2, Paul wrote that we will walk in a manner worthy of our calling “with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love”. To be “longsuffering” means that we don’t break into ‘hot anger’ with one another—that we have a ‘long fuse’, and are willing to put up with one another’s imperfections and failings. In Philippians 2:1-4, Paul put it this way:
Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others (Philippians 2:1-4).
Paul urged that we are to bear with one another in love. This means that we’re to truly love one another—to truly seek God’s best for one another. Such love means that we won’t hold each other’s faults against one another. Rather, it means that you realize that I’m not perfect yet—but that I eventually will be; and it means that I realize that you’re not perfect yet either—but that you eventually will be too; and that we are willing to keep on loving each other as God brings us through the process of perfection in Christ. It means that we’ll never separate from one another in anger and frustration, or cut each other out of our lives in anger; but rather that we’ll even love one another so much that we’ll stay in the relationship and actively seek each other’s growth toward that perfection. Paul put it this way in Colossians 3:12-14;
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection (Colossians 3:12-14).
This means that, if we are short-tempered with one another, or if we hold grudges, or if we tend to give vent to our frustrations with one another, then we haven’t yet come to truly “know” our high calling in Christ as we should. May God help us to put away all impatience with one another, and to pray for—and care for—one another in love. That’s how we walk ‘worthy’ of our calling.
And third, Paul tells us that this walk will be characterized by unity in the Holy Spirit. One of the aspects of our high calling in Christ is that we—as believers—are each sealed with and indwelt by the same Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit dwells in you just as much as He dwells in me; and He works mightily in you just as much as He works mightily in me. And if we “know” our high calling in Christ, then we’ll walk in a manner that is worthy of it—as he says in verse 3, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
I love what Paul goes on to say in verses 4-6 about that unity. He wrote;
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were 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 (Ephesians 4:4-6).
We don’t have to ‘create’ that unity. And that’s a good thing; because we never could. It’s already ours as a gift of God’s grace. But we must “endeavor” or “strive” to keep and preserve it. The bond that binds us together is “peace”—not an inner tranquility, but rather an end of all hostilities and causes of division between us. We will be willing to set aside our unimportant differences and focus on the fundamental things that unite us together in Christ.
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Remember poor ol’ Charlie? His problem was that he temporarily forgot that he was a rich man. If he had remembered, he would have behaved differently. And that’s what you and I need to do, dear brothers and sisters.
So then; let’s cease walking around like the spiritual tramps we used to be. By God’s immeasurable grace, that’s no longer what we are. We have been called to a high calling. We are now rich in Christ, and are destined to spend an eternity in heavenly glory with Him.
Let’s now walk in a manner worthy of our high calling in Christ!
AE
