Our Christian Walk

Illus: A man inherited a little over $3 billion dollars. He had three sons. He told his sons that since he now had all this money, he would like to know what each of them would like to have. He stressed that MONEY was no object.

• His first son said that he had always wanted a Jaguar. The father went out, and since money was no object, bought him 7 Jaguars in different colors, so that he would have a different one to drive every day of the week.

• His second son said that he always wanted a motorcycle. The father went out, and bought him 30 new motorcycles -- 10 dirt bikes, 10 hogs, and 10 touring bikes, so he would have a different bike to ride every day of the month.

• His third and youngest son was only 8 years old. The little guy said that he simply wanted a teddy bear. So, money being no object, his father went out and bought his son the Chicago Bears.

None of us have been blessed to have such gifts as these. But suppose you were in terrible shape physically and you were going to die unless someone donated an organ that you needed. Suppose there was a person who loved you enough to donate the organ you needed, even though it cost them their life.

Wouldn’t you feel a certain obligation to that person? You should, if they were gracious enough to do that for you.

This is exactly what the Lord Jesus has done for us, He died that we might have spiritual life.

In this passage, the apostle Paul is alluding to the fact that God the Father has done so much for us, and now we should feel a certain obligation to Him.

We OWE GOD, but it is a debt we could never repay. We should be appreciative enough that we will live a life that is pleasing to Him.

Look at how this gratitude should reflect itself. It should reflect itself -

I. IN OUR CHRISTIAN WALK

Look at 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; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Notice, Paul refers to himself here as a prisoner of the Lord for a reason.

WHY DOES HE REFER TO HIMSELF AS A PRISONER?

• He wanted these Ephesians to know that a “prisoner” does not have charge of his life

• A Prisoner lives a restricted life, he is under the control of someone else

• Christians are under the control of the Lord Jesus who has given us eternal life

Let look at two things about this Christian walk, we need to consider.

A. THE METHOD OF WALKING

Once we come to know the Lord, the Bible teaches we should walk in three ways. Look at verses 1-2 again, we find-

• We should walk in “LOWLINESS”

• We should walk in “MEEKNESS”

• We should walk in “LONGSUFFERING”

It is essential that we get our concept of what a Christian is suppose to be from God’s Word. Our life should be described by these three words; “lowliness”, “meekness”, and “longsuffering”.

If people are going to see Christ in our life, they will have to see these things because this is how He is described in the New Testament. But there are many Christians that do not fit this description.

We generally adopt our concept of what it is to be a Christian from the church in which we were raised. Some were raised in a church where everyone had a real straight face and no one dared to smile!

But if we had been with the Lord and the disciples, I believe we would have discovered they had a joyous time.

Illus: Garrison Keillor said, “Some people think it's difficult to be a Christian and to laugh, but I think it's the other way around. God writes a lot of comedy--it's just that he has so many bad actors. (Garrison Keillor at Goshen College (Ind.), quoted by Melanie A. Zuercher in Festival (Spring 1986). Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 14.)

WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN WE SAY WE ARE CHRISTIANS?

Illus: Someone said -

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'"

I'm whispering "I was lost",

Now I'm found and forgiven.

When I say..."I am a Christian"

I don't speak of this with pride.

I'm confessing that I stumble

and need CHRIST to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not trying to be strong.

I'm professing that I'm weak

and need HIS strength to carry on.