God Calls Us To Walk Through Life In A Worthy Way Series

God Calls Us to Walk through Life in a Worthy Way

Ephesians 4:1-3

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Series: The Book of Ephesians

(Prepared April 26, 2024)

BACKGROUND:

*Here in chapter 4, Paul reminds Christians that we are all called by God to live in a worthy way. The Apostle then began to show us how. With this background in mind, let's get started by reading Ephesians 4:1-3.

MESSAGE:

*In John 3:3, Jesus said this to Nicodemus, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'' And 1 Peter 2:2 tells us that in order to grow we should desire the pure milk of God's Word, just like new babies desire their mother's milk. All new Christians then are spiritual babies, and just like our babies, God wants His babies to learn how to spiritually walk. Jesus Christ wants us to learn to walk with Him every day, going in the same direction, headed to the same place, following Him, and enjoying His company along the way.

*I am glad that God describes the Christian life as a walk. Here in vs. 1 Paul wrote, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called." Paul used this same original word for "walk" over 30 times in his letters, including 8 times in his letter to the Ephesians.

*You see, the Christian life really is a spiritual walk with Jesus Christ. William Ritter explained, "I recently found 382 biblical references to various forms of the word 'walk.' There are a multitude of references that suggest how we are supposed to walk as Christians: Walk in love. Walk in wisdom. Walk in the light. Walk in the path. Walk in the Spirit. Walk in the law of the Lord. Walk in the way of the Lord. Walk in the fear of the Lord. Walk in the peace of the Lord. Walk honestly, forthrightly, courageously, worthily and humbly." (1)

*Think about the countless blessings of getting to walk through life with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We have the best fellowship with the best friend in the universe! In John 15:13 Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." The Lord made that statement on the night before the cross, and a few hours later, Jesus made the greatest sacrifice in history when He died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins.

*When we walk through life with Jesus, we also have the greatest guide we can ever have. He always knows exactly where we are, and exactly where we need to go next. And Jesus will always put us on the right path.

*You see, there are basically only two directions we can go in life: The right way and the wrong way. God wants us to always walk in the right way. That's why again in vs. 1, Paul said, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called."

*God wants us to walk through life in a worthy way. But how can we do it?

1. FIRST: WE MUST HEAD TOWARD HUMILITY.

*This is the lesson for us in vs. 1-2, where Paul said, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness. . ."

*Christians: We are called to walk with "all lowliness." The NIV says, "be completely humble," and that's the idea. God wants us to be heading toward humility, having a humble opinion of ourselves. That's walking in the opposite direction from the way the world walks, but we can do it.

*Listen to what William Barclay said about Christian humility: "Before Christianity humility was not counted as a virtue at all. The ancient world looked on humility as a thing to be despised. In the days before Jesus, humility was looked on as a cowering, cringing, servile, ignoble quality. And yet Christianity sets it in the very forefront of virtues."

*How can we get more of this Christian humility? Barclay explained that "Christian humility comes from self-knowledge. And it comes from setting our lives next to the perfect life of Christ. But most people settle for comparing themselves to other people. And as long as we compare ourselves with other people we can come out pretty well. It is when we compare ourselves with perfection that we see our failure.

*For example, a girl may think she is a very fine pianist until she hears one of the world's outstanding performers. And a man may think he's a good golfer until he sees one of the masters in action. If we compare ourselves with our neighbor, we may come out very well. But our standard as Christians is the absolute perfection of Jesus Christ. Against that standard there is no room for pride. So don't compare yourself to other people. Compare yourself to God." (2)