A Walk That's Worthy

Question: What’s your life like? How are you doing this morning?

· I KNOW THAT’S a loaded question, because immediately we start to look at our circumstances.

(Rich/poor - Buying/renting house – employed/unemployed)

· Then we compare ourselves to others and measure that up.

· Then finally we’ll come back with our answer…

· “I’m doing OK”… “could be better”… “hanging in there!”

YET… you are the greatest people in the world. What an honor it is to walk alongside of you, to be your pastor, to love you, to serve you, to guide and feed you the eternal Word of God.

· You are a great group of God’s handiwork…

· Every Sunday/Thursday the Spiritual Word of God penetrates your lives and hearts… AND THEN…

· TO see you change, to see you grow, to see you mature…

NOW: That’s not just my opinion, it’s biblical truth…

· Paul’s taken 3 chapters to lay out these essential truths…

· We’re blessed… chosen… predestined… adopted… accepted…

· Redeemed… forgiven… filled with the Holy Spirit…

And so before us this morning is a deeper question…

· Does our BEHAVIOR match our BELIEFS?

· Does our WALK match our WORDS?

· There’s the word walk again in v1… it describes, if you recall, a manner of life, a custom of living, a lifestyle…

· There are a lot of words that we could use to describe motion.

· Run, jog, leap, swim, crawl… But Paul uses walk.

· Walk paints a picture or progress & purpose.

· That in this relationship with Jesus, we are going somewhere…

NOW Back in Eph. 2:2 it was a different situation…

· In the world, apart from Jesus Christ there was no purpose, no goal, no progress…

· We meandered & wandered from this darkness to that…

· Whichever the winds of this world blew… we went that way.

· But now… in Him we walk in righteousness and holiness.

· SO… Where are we going? How are we living?

· Do our lives truly reflect His glory & majesty?

Col. 1.27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

As Christians, we have been called by God to live a life, a life that demonstrates His great love for man…

· It’s not what we look like but how we live…

· It’s not matter of presentation but of perspective…

· It’s not an issue of appearances but of attitudes…

I. (4:1) RIGHT PERSPECTIVE

1. (1) A prisoner of the Lord.

a. His words ring with authority because he’s living them out!

b. He was in jail because he surrendered to Jesus Christ.

c. He SOLD OUT his life to do what Jesus laid before him.

NOTE: If he had never fully yielded to Jesus, he could have probably avoided jail, persecution, and suffering.

APP: That’s important to me because I don’t want to hear somebody tell me what to do or how to do it if they aren’t living it themselves!

I, like many of you, don’t like the dentist. It’s not high on my list of things I like to do. BUT when I do go to the dentist, I’m careful.

I’m not too comfortable with a dentist that tells me I have bad breath when his breath could wipe out an army… UH DOC, want a stick of gum… please? Take a hint, umm, I mean a mint.

I’m not too excited when a dentist is lecturing me on dental hygiene and he’s missing 3 teeth and the rest, well let’s say, are on their way out!

· Why? Because I want to follow someone that does what they say… practices what they preach.

· Double standards, compromises, contradictions…

· They are all stumbling blocks and barriers to authenticity.

NOTE: Paul has lived in Jesus to the point of imprisonment…

· He’s not living in a mansion somewhere, driving a Mercedes Benz Chariot, wearing designer robes and sandals…

· He’s not just telling us, he’s living it out

· And that is what earns him the right to call us to action.

2. (1) I beseech you…

a. I beseech you, I beg you, I exhort you… walk worthy!

b. That word ‘beseech’ is the Greek word “parakaleo”

c. And it means to ‘call near to comfort and counsel’.

d. It’s the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit.

e. As He comes into our lives to counsel & guide us…

So Paul begs us to have a WALK that is WORTHY of our calling…

APP: I find this often stumbles and frustrates believers.

· SO often we try to WALK apart from the calling… His work.

· Trying to LIVE right without first BEING right.