Has Your Walk Changed?

Has Your Walk Changed?

Ephesians 2:1-7

In Colossians 2:6, we are instructed, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” One’s walk is the daily conduct of one’s life; the habitual way or direction of one’s life. When a person receives Christ as Savior and the Lord of their life that person is to live a changed life, walking in a new direction. Has your walked changed? Too many believers have substituted words for works. They call Christ Lord but fail to back it up with their lives. They talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk.

I. The walk of a believer ought to different than his or her old walk

A. Ephesians 2:1-2 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience”

B. A walk that is “according to the course of this world” - the system of practices and standards associated with secular society

1. Fleshly walk - indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind

a. John Piper writes that flesh is the old ego that is self-reliant and does not delight to yield to any authority or depend on any mercy. Flesh craves the sensation of self-generated power and loves the praise of men....in its conservative form it produces legalism -- keeping rules by its own power for its own glory.... (in its more liberal form) produces grossly immoral attitudes and acts.

b. Verse 3 “we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind;”

2. Self-oriented – Here where the Bible speaks of the world it refers to the self-centered, godless value system and mores of fallen mankind. The goal of this present world is SELF - self-glory, self-fulfillment, self-indulgence, self-satisfaction

3. Disobedient - unwilling and refusing to comply with the demands of God.

4. Ecclesiastes 8:11 “...the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”

C. A walk that is “according to the prince of the power of the air”

1. Satanically influenced and dominated

2. 1 John 5:19 “We know that we are of God, and the whole (world lies in the power of the evil one.”

3. Nearly two out of three adults—62%—agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” This response has remained relatively consistent throughout the Nineties. Among the more surprising findings, however, are that a majority of born again Christians deny Satan’s existence (52%); nearly three-quarters of Catholics say the devil is non-existent (72%); and women are more likely than men to reject Satan’s existence (64% vs. 59%). - Barna

4. Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

II. The walk of a believer ought to be a worthy walk –

A. Ephesians 4:1-3 “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

B. Walk in a manner worthy of and consistent with one’s position as a member of the Body of Christ.

C. Luke 1:5-6 “There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”

D. Colossians 1:10 “...walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

1. Worthy = Axios = Weigh. Axios strictly speaking means bringing up the other beam of the scales. means weighing as much as, of like or equal value, worth as much. It means having the weight of another thing and so being of like value or worth as much. Walk so that your life is balanced with your profession.

2. Bearing fruit – both the fruit of the Spirit and producing fruit of a like kind.

E. The believer who walks in a manner worthy of the calling with which he has been called is one whose daily living corresponds to his high position as a child of God and fellow heir with Jesus Christ. His practical living matches his privileged position. – Copied