LIVING IN CHRIST – Walk the Walk
Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
INTRODUCTION:
Opening Illustration: Babies learn to walk holding onto things to help them keep their balance, but more than any other thing they hold onto their parent’s hands. As they gain confidence they let go and begin to venture out on their own. Sooner than later lease first steps come to a sudden stop as the baby looses its balance and falls down. But quickly the hands of a loving parent swoop down and pick their baby back up on their feet to send them once again stepping out with growing assurance and poise.
Our Father God wants to hold our hands to help us walk worthy of His calling in our lives. And when we fall down Father God is always there to pick us back up to step out in faith and obedience.
I. WALK WORTHY OF THE CALLING (vs. 1)
Ephesians 4:1 NIV
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
1. The Christian life is a daily walk with the Lord.
a) The New King James gives a more literal translation of what Paul has written: “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” As believers we are not just to walk—we are to walk worthy.
b) Two things before we look at what it means to walk worthy:
• Chapter 4 begins the second half of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians what some refer to as the “ethics” section or application. Chapters 1-3 are considered to be Paul’s theology and chapters 4-6 is Paul’s application of how to live out the doctrine he has taught.
• A more literal or word for word translation of the Greek will help us to understand Paul’s emphasis here at the beginning of chapter 4 that continues through out the balance of the letter. Literally Paul says, “I urge therefore you, I the prisoner in the Lord, worthily walk the calling which you have been called.”
Notice Paul begins with URGENCY. I beseech you! Paul implores us to not miss the importance of what follows.
Notice too that Paul includes the word THEREFORE, translated loosely in the NIV as then. Paul connects everything that follows with what has proceeded it. In other words there is no division between the theology of chapters 1-3 and the application of chapters 4-6. Instead the two are intertwined and connected to each other. You can’t have one without the other.
2. If we are going to talk the talk, we must also walk the walk.
a) Our theology—to talk the talk, must impact how we live our lives—to walk the walk. Paul emphasizes that we walk worthily. “WORTHILY” is an adverb which in the Greek pictures the two sides of a scale being brought into balance. A weight has been placed on one side of the scale, and if you are to walk worthily then you must bring up the other beam of the scale up to an equilibrium. In other words, the life or daily practice of a Christian should “weigh as much as” or “be equivalent” to his or her profession of faith.
b) Are you today waking worthily of the calling you have received as a believer in Jesus Christ, or is your life out of balance? Are we walking in obedience to Christ or have we strayed off the path to which God has called us. Step by step we will either walk in obedience or disobedience to God’s calling and purpose for our lives.
c) Paul’s imagery of the Christian life as our walk is significant. Look with me at how the Message Bible translates and brings meaning to what Paul says:
Ephesians 4:1 MsgB
In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk — better yet, run! — on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere.
d) GET OUT THERE AND WALK – BETTER YET RUN! We are called to walk a SPECIFIC PATH—the road that God has marked out for us and given us directions to walk on. We are not to chart our own path—we are not to just sit still. Get up and walk. Think with me for a moment about the differences between living and walking:
LIVING
• Living can be passive; you can just sit and do nothing yet live.
• Living can be motionless; you can go through life and yet not go anywhere.
• Living can be pointless; you can go through life with no sense of purpose or goal.
WALKING
• Walking must be active; you must get up and take action.
• Walking is progressive; with each step you are moving out of one place and into another.
• Walking has direction; you are looking forward to where you are going. We are not just taking a walk in the park—we’re going somewhere.
c) Let’s not just sit around on our hands doing nothing—GET UP AND WALK. And let’s not just wander aimlessly through life—WALK WORTHILY ON THE ROAD GOD HAS CALLED US TO TRAVEL.
3. For Paul WALK is the primary imperative of the Christian life.
a) Again the NIV translates “walk” as “live a life.” Paul carries this theme to be careful how we walk throughout the balance of his letter (the way we walk is a theme that is also found in many of Paul’s other letters as well).
• Walk worthy of the calling you have received (4:1)
• Walk no longer as the Gentiles walk in the futility of their thinking (4:17)
• Walk in love just as Christ has loved us. (5:2)
• Walk as children of light. (5:8)
• Walk carefully, not as unwise but as wise. (5:15)
b) We are to walk worthily and make no retreat. Is it any wonder then that Paul concludes Ephesians saying, “take your stand against the devil’s schemes . . . put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6:11, 13 NIV).
c) God has called you and me to walk worthily—to balance the scales between our doctrine (talking the talk) and the way we live (walking the walk). It’s one thing for us to know that we are to get up and walk. It’s another thing to know how to walk.
II. The steps of our WALK. (vs. 2, 3)
Ephesians 4:2 NIV
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
1. Three steps of GOD’S GRACE. Humility, gentleness and patience is evidence of God’s grace enabling us to walk worthily. As we’ll see in just a moment these are not the only steps of God’s grace for us to follow, but if we learn to take these steps—if we live our life with humility, gentleness and patience then the other steps will be easy for us to take.
a) The first step: BE HUMBLE.
• By human standards Humility or lowliness is not a virtue to be sought after. Yet Jesus modeled humility in the way He lived His life. He taught the disciples humility with every step he took.
1 Peter 5:5-6 NIV
5 Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
• Humility is recognizing where your strength comes from. You have no need to build up yourself. Your strength is found in God. God lifts you up!
b) The second step: BE GENTLE. Another way to translate this is BE MEEK. Unfortunately we think meekness is weakness, but it’s not. Meekness or gentleness is strength under control. Humility recognizes the source of strength is God so we have nothing to prove. Gentleness is our God-given strength under control. (Illustration: the breaking of a horse.)
Matthew 11:29 NIV
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
• When we continually keep trying to prove ourselves (and our strength), and when our strength is not controlled let’s face it we come weary (even when we try to not show how tired we really are). Yet when we come to Jesus and learn from him how to be gentle and humble he gives us rest.
c) The third step: BE PATIENT.
• Why is it that none of us want to admit our need for patience? The fruit of the Spirit is patience—love is patient, but how often do we say, “Don’t pray for patience because yours is sure to be tested.” And yet here Paul lists patience as the third essential step to learning to walk worthily of the calling we have received.
Revelation 13:9-10 NIV
9 He who has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
• Perhaps we could paraphrase John’s words like this: “Pay attention now ‘cuz this is important. Life is not fair.” (Perhaps for some of us we could stop right there “Life is not fair!”) “Those who will face hardship will wake up to difficulties and problems everyday. Those who will face the ultimate test will face unimaginable stress. This requires patience with a steadfast heart that will daily trust in God.”
2. With every step we take let love be evident. Make every step with love.
Ephesians 4:2 NIV
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
a) The Greek makes it clear that Paul’s focus is that we walk worthily by living a life of love. A word for word translation of what Paul is saying might go something like this: “With all humility and gentleness, and with patience, love one another with love.”
b) In Colossians Paul’s companion letter to Ephesians, Paul further lists not just the three steps of humility gentleness and patience, but he adds compassion, kindness and forgiveness. But with each of these Paul further emphasizes that love is what makes each step genuine. This is how we walk worthily of our calling, or as he says here it is how we are properly dressed!
Colossians 3:12-14 NIV
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
III. We WALK together in unity. (vs. 4-6)
Ephesians 4:3-6 NIV
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
1. We have a common faith lived within COMMUNITY.
a) Our faith is shared with one another. We emphasize having a personal faith, but we share a common faith. Our faith is not separate or diverse.
b) Paul emphasizes unity—ONE body, ONE Spirit, ONE hope, ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism and ONE God and Father of all.
2. Unity is not something we create.
a) It is the UNITY OF THE SPIRIT.
b) Unity is a reality in which we walk/live and are therefore called to maintain.—We make EVERY EFFORT
CONCLUSION:
Application: Will we take our Father’s hand to walk the WALK?
1. If you are taking one step forward and two steps back, then be honest with yourself and admit that you are prone to disobedience because you are walking backward. What step does God want you to take so you can begin to move forward in obedience? Humility? Gentleness? Patience? Love? Unity? The journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step. Be willing to step out with the first step of obedience that God is calling you to take.
2. Walking the walk calls us to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Take time this week to be reconciled to someone you’ve held a grudge against; ask him or her to forgive you and pray together for God to give you a fresh start.
