Live Out Loud – Our WALK (Part – 1) May 20, 2007
Ephesians 4:1-3
Video: Learning to Walk – www.sermonspice.com
Insert: Meg and I are about to enter into that wonderful stage once again of watching one of our little ones learn how to walk. It’s a sweet time when those little ankle biters put one foot in front of the other and then offer their version of the leaning tower of Pisa staggering to the left and then to the right only to fall on their bottom – it’d be sad if it weren’t so cute.
Trans: Learning to walk spiritually is not much different. Having been a believer since I was 12, I sometimes forget how learning to walk spiritually can be challenging. You have to learn that fine balance b/w understanding and executing the steps of the Christian walk w/out missing God.
Insert: Have you ever been to a AA baseball game – b/w innings they hold contest w/ fans. My favorite is the sausage race where the costumes extend some 5-6 ft above the contestants. As the contestants race around the bases it is hilarious to watch b/c the costumes are so top heavy the people stagger and sway. I think this is often what our spiritual life look like. Many of us stagger and sway b/c we’ve yet to find our spiritual equilibrium.
Recap: As our study in Ephesians turns from understanding our faith to putting it into practice, the time has come to stand up and to start walking. Paul will spend the remainder of this book teaching us how to walk worthy w/out staggering by continuing to walk by grace through faith. This is an important truth to remember. Many times we think that we must strive to produce works that honor God, but the Christian life is about surrendering to His grace and obeying God’s Spirit and the mandates of His Word.
So Paul begins… walk in a manner worthy of your calling. That is, b/c Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins and bring us into an eternal and living relationship w/ Him, and b/c we’re now His people empowered by His Spirit, we’re to live in the grace and power of Christ in us so we might walk and experience the abundant life Jesus promised.
I The APPEAL to Walk Worthy 4:1
Funny: Have you heard about the guy who was having trouble getting 2nd dates? He started reading books and listening to tapes on how to interest women. He discovered that to be interesting to women you have to find out what interest them and then be or do that. He went to a baseball game and happened to sit next to a beautiful single girl, so he thought he’d try his discoveries. He said, “I see you like baseball. What kind of men do you like?” She thought for a moment and said, “I’ve like native American men, Jewish men, and I’ve even dated a few good ole boys. What’s your name?” He said, “Geronimo Goldstein, but my friends call me Bubba.”
Trans: It is a critical reality that we have to be true to ourselves. As Christians, it is essential that we are true to our identity and calling. Paul says that real Christians walk in a manner worthy of their beliefs.
Text: 1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life (walk) in a manner worthy of the calling you have received.
Word: urge (parakalo) Paul says, “I personally but urgently encourage you.
Word: live a life (peripateo) to walk – aor. act. inf. – It means to take personal responsibility to begin walking w/ God conducting your self in a manner that reflects well and honors Him. This is done through surrender.
Note: Let me cut to the chase – What you say, how you act, and even how you think is a direct reflection of your walk w/ God. As followers of Christ, b/c of what He has done and who He has called us to be, we’re to start and never stop walking in a manner that says – “I am a follower of Jesus.”
Point: How we live determines what people think about the God we say we serve.
Trans: By the way, to walk worthy doesn’t mean perfect – God knows we’re not going to be perfect, but He does expect us to strive to live under the influence of His Spirit and in concert w/ His Word.
Trans: So what does a worthy walk look like? Paul offers four (4) qualities that every follower of Christ must possess if they’re to walk in a manner worthy of their calling. They must be humble, meek, patient, and loving.
II The ATTRIBUTES of a Worthy Walk
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing w/ one another in love.
A HUMBLE
Word: humble (tapeinophrosuna) lowly thinking – the idea refers to having a proper view of self in respect to God. Knowing He is big and we’re small. I know I say this a lot – but I’m not convinced that we’ve all got it yet. This is a ginormous truth we have to get in our lives – He’s big, I’m small!
Funny: It reminds me of the preacher who went to serve as an interim at a church. After the first Sunday, the people were so enjoyed his message they asked him on the spot to be their new pastor. He reluctantly agreed. The next Sunday when it came time to preach, he preached the same message as the previous week. The people were a little stunned, but they overlooked it since it was the first week. But this pattern continued for the next several weeks until finally the church board confronted the pastor. They said, “We are concerned, it’s been 5 weeks and you’re preaching the same message – we think we’ve made a mistake. Don’t you have any other sermons? The pastor replied, “Sure, and once you get this one, I’ll move to the next one!”
Trans: I realize that some of you are tired of hearing God is big and I’m small. But until I feel that we’ve all gotten the concept branded on the tablet of our hearts; I’m going to continue sharing it. Why? B/c the only protection we have against pride is a proper view of God – He is big and I’m small.
Note: When Paul says be humble, he doesn’t mean that you are to see yourself as pitiful and useless, but that you see yourself as God sees you – valuable to Him, but no more valuable than any other person. He wants you to see yourself as powerful in your personhood, just not more powerful than Him.
Why: God wants you to be proud of who you are in light of who He is and what he has done for you, but not prideful. To be proud yet humble is a cherished quality, but to be prideful and self-sufficient is sinful.
Note: Man has always had a problem this quality; and yet, it is the most essential trait of the Christian life b/c it puts Christ in His rightful place in our lives – on the throne. If God is anywhere but on the throne, then we can forget living a life and walking a walk that honors God.
B GENTLE
Word: gentle (prautes) meek – executing power w/ touch and control. It is an attitude free of malice and a desire for revenge.
Insert: Someone has said if you think meekness is weakness, then try being meek for a week – you’ll soon discover that it takes great strength to be meek.
Note: In the Greek culture, meekness and gentleness was considered a virtue that was balanced b/w too much and too little anger. The meek man was neither timid nor given to fits of rage. The idea was used to describe a gentle breeze blowing in from the ocean. Wind can rage and do great damage or when it blows gently, it brings soothing comfort.
Note: The most common use of Meekness describes a wild horse yet to be tamed. The broken horse was powerful, but his power was under the control of a bridle.
Note: The common thread in these images is that meekness represents different forms of power that can be used for good. Meekness is power harnessed for good.
C PATIENT
Word: patient (makrothumeo) long-suffering or long-fused. The idea is that a person can endure great discomfort w/out retaliation.
Insert: Unfortunately, for most of us, we think of patience like the little boy prayed – “Oh Lord, give me patience… and be quick about it!”
Note: Patience is a divine quality of w/holding justice due to self and to others. This is important b/c if we don’t get it we will be pharisaical and snobby.
Story: About a hundred years ago before TV and movies, people went to great halls where they could hear a great orator speak. One of the most popular orators in 19th century America was an infidel named Robert Ingersoll. An atheist and humanist, he traveled preaching the gospel of humanism. One of his favorite speeches was, “Why I am an atheist,” One evening he spoke to a packed house in Boston, MA, and did an unusual thing. Halfway through his speech, “I’m going to demonstrate once and for all there is no God!” He looked up to the ceiling and said, “If there is a God, I invite him to strike me dead in the next 5 min.! Come on…if there is a God prove it!” Women screamed, people gasped, some even ran for the exits, fearing God would strike lightning on the building. Ingersoll continued to speak, but every 30 sec. he’d stop and say, “God you only have 3 ½ min. left! Strike me dead if you’re real!” He did that repeatedly and then, at the end of 5 min., he said, “See I told you there is no God! I rest my case!” Well, word got around to Dr. A. J. Gordon, pastor of the largest church in Boston, about what Ingersoll had done. Dr. Gordon offered a great response. He said, “Does Robert Ingersoll believe he can exhaust God’s long-suffering in only 5 min.?” You can’t exhaust God’s patience in 5 min., 5 years, 5 decades, 5 centuries, or 5 millennia. God IS long-suffering; that’s why we should be patient w/ one another. We all ought to carry around a button on us reading, “Please be patient w/ me God isn’t finished w/ me yet!”
D LOVING
Note: Paul commissions us to bear w/ one another in love just as Jesus has patiently expressed His love to us.
Word: love (agape) unconditional love – love prepared to offer grace.
Note: This is a love that is willing to take the abuse of others while continuing to love them in the process of their grief. It even involves loving the people who would hurt you. This is the very love Jesus modeled.
Insert: During His passion He loved the disciples who denied Him; the Judas who betrayed Him; the priest who accused Him; the crowds who rejected Him; the soldiers who beat and mocked Him; the thieves who hung w/ Him; and the soldiers who played games at His feet. He loved everyone who would refuse to believe; and everyone who would surrender all. Jesus modeled agape love and then calls all who believe to share His love w/ everyone.
Trans: These are the qualities we must possess if we’re to live a life and walk in a manner that is worthy of God’s calling. We must be completely humble, meek and gentle, patient, and loving. This is not possible in our abilities, but only through surrendering to the Spirit He has deposited in us. But what is the objective of this mandate?
C The AMBITION of a Worthy Walk
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Note: God’s ambition for His people is simple – unity. He wants us to live together in a partnership w/ Him and w/ one another. It is only when we walk worthy of our Savior, giving Him precedence in our lives individually and collectively, that we preserve the unity w/in the family of God through the bond of peace.
Note: Unity is not uniformity. Unity is one together, uniformity is one alike. Unity is a team of unique individuals working together for a common objective. Uniformity is stripping people of their individuality to force them to be something they are not. God has called us to unity!
Note: A major problem w/in the church today is that we don’t see ourselves as partners in ministry. Many believers have forgotten they’re a part of something bigger than themselves. We’re not lone ranger Christians in lone ranger churches. We participate in a mission much grander. It isn’t me against you, or our church against their church, or our denomination against your denomination. It’s God’s people against the Devil.
Funny: Sadly, many of us are like the two guys hunting who stumbled across a hungry grizzly bear. They empty their guns at this bear w/out any effect, so they throw their guns down and turn and to run. Now grizzlies can run a lot faster than a man, so here they are w/ this bear breathing down their necks running beside each other for their lives. One of the guys begins kicking off his heavy hunting boots as he is running to get barefooted to run faster. His friend running beside him notices what he is doing and says, “What are you doing that for?! You know you can’t outrun that bear!” The guy says, “I don’t have to outrun that bear, I just have to outrun you.”
Point: Too many people in life think that’s what life is, a race against the person beside them. Paul says, “Absolutely not!” The Christian life is a partnership in which we must stick together. We’re partners together in this walk. That means I may need to adjust my speed a bit sometimes and it may mean you need to adjust your speed a little bit so we can run together.
Insert: Now I’m not much of a runner, but I know that if I run w/ someone else, I can run a lot farther than if I run alone b/c they are there to encourage men throughout the journey. The same is true in the Christian race.
Word: keep (tarein) to preserve or guard – pres. act. ind. – meaning that we should have been and should always work to protect the integrity and unity w/in the body.
Trans: But notice what we are to guard – our unity in community. We are to be a community of faith – that is, we are to have a common unity w/ one another b/c of our faith in Christ alone.
G - What qualifies a person’s walk with God as worthy?
R - What obstacles can impede a Christian’s spiritual growth? A church?
O - What does it mean to love with forbearance in light of God’s love for us?
W - What is the difference between unity and uniformity?
