Christian Walk

As we enter Chapter 4 of Ephesians, it gives us a beautiful example of how Paul admonishes a Christian to WALK.

(1) Unity (4:1-16).

(2) Purity (4:17-5:17).

(3) Harmony (5:18-6:9).

(4) Victory. (6-e t)

I wonder if we have under-emphasized the importance of the Christian walk. The first three chapters deal with Christian doctrines, the wealth in Jesus Christ etc. We find it easy to tell people of the wealth we have in Christ, but lost people generally are not receptive to the walk which we have in Christ. Many people want a simple, easy Christianity with no responsibility to live right. Many people think the grace we have is cheap grace. Grace stands for God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense and it’s not cheap but precious. It is free and the riches are available to everyone who walks the Christian walk. Many of us want all the wealth of the Lord’s blessing but we do not want the walk of the Lord’s burden. I know that what I am preaching is not popular gospel but this is what I have been commissioned to do. Genuine Christianity includes wealth and walk, doctrine and duty, riches and responsibility, salvation and service, conversion and a cross.

Any other type of Christianity is false and not genuine. That’s what Paul is calling the church into in chapter 4 to walk in Unity, Purity, Harmony, and Victory.

There are two important words to notice in the opening verses of this second section of Ephesians. They are (1) "therefore" and (2) "beseech.” I’ve always been told that when you see a" therefore" in the Bible, you need to understand what is the wherefore preceding it. He is basing the requirement for a Christian to Walk based on the Wealth Christ has promised to us. The theme for our conference is one aspect of that Walk. To walk in UNITY

Paul is saying in Chapters 1-3 that "God has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 1:3) And because of God’s great blessing we are to "Walk worthy of the vocation. Where with ye are called." (Eph. 4:1).

Here Paul is instructing the church how they are to act one to another. He’s leading them to unity. The Greek Prefix for the numbers from one to five is mono, di, tri, tetra, and penta. Mono or Uno is ONE. Paul says that you have been called for UNO vision in Uno body, Uno hope by the Uno Lord for Uno faith and Uno baptism. The Lord the father is Uno. He has given us the Uno vision. When the UNO-vision is gone the second numeral prefix takes its place. Uno is replaced by Di. When we add Di to vision, it becomes DIVISION. Di-vision with an e makes the vision to die. Seeing this, Paul is asking the church for Unity. And it’s unity for a purpose. Vs. 2 says "working together with one heart and purpose." The enemy knows that he cannot break the church from without so he infiltrates and starts from within. What if every member church of PYCD was able to stand together in UNO-ity in Dallas. What a mighty army it would have been. Seeing the church yielding to the ploys of the enemy, Paul says that’s it’s when we, the Church, are united, that we will accomplish our purpose. There are three purposes for the church.

1. To worship God,

2. To build up the saints, and

3. To spread the Good News.

In order to see what is necessary for us to achieve unity, we need to look at four things Paul admonished the church in Philippi to do. We can see that in Philippians 2: 2-11. Together with that, we see that he gives the example of how Jesus demonstrated for us each of the qualities Paul was now admonishing the people to exhibit. Paul is using this as a basis to teach them how they can live in unity. What are the four qualities and I will be done with what the Lord laid in my heart. I have to go from Ephesians 4: 2 and 3 to Philippians 2: 2 and 3 to explain that

1) don’t be selfish. (vs. 3) The society in which we live is a very self-oriented society. The big question we ask when we have a decision whether to do something or not is, "What’s in it for me?" or "How will I benefit from this?" However, the Church should not be selfish. For the Christian, the question should not be, "How can this benefit me?" but "How can this benefit the Kingdom of God?" One of the signature statements of the late President JFK is, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but you can do for your country." And if that’s true of something like an earthly political establishment, how much more true it should be of Christians and the Kingdom of God. We need to spend less time thinking of what God and what the Church can offer us, and spend more time asking God what we can do for him and his Church.