Live a Life Worthy!
Ephesians 4:1-16
To live a life worthy depends on Character (vv.1-2)
humility
Gentleness
Patience
Love
To live a life worthy requires Unity (vv. 3-6)
To live a life worthy requires serving (vv. 7-12)
Living a life worthy leads to Maturity (vv.13-16)
Intro
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How are you living your life today? What has affected the way you are living?
Certainly many of us are effected by our history.
Our past hurts, blessings, relationships, etc, have worked in our lives to affect how we live today.
But that is only part of it. We make decisions regarding how we choose to respond to our history.
For instance, there are some who grew up in a family with alcoholics. Some follow in those footsteps while others turn completely from alcohol. Part of that is a choice in how we respond. I know there are other factors, but some of it is in our own choosing.
Today, we are going to see in Ephesians 4:1-16, (you can turn there)
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That Paul is encouraging the Ephesians, as well as us, to live in light of our history with Christ, in light of what He has done and the riches we experience in Him.
He is calling us to make some choices, based on what Christ has done, so that we can live a life worthy of our calling.
So, let’s see what Paul tells the Ephesians and us as he begins Chapter 4
Ephesians 4:1-16
4 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.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:
"When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."
9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Pray.
Ok, in this passage Paul encourages the Ephesians to live a life worthy of the calling they have received and then he goes on in this passage to tell us
what living this life depends on and
what is required generally
before he gets into more specifics in the rest of his letter.
But he begins with what living a worthy life is going to depend on. And we see first that
Living a life worthy depends on Character
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IN verse 2, Paul lists 4 things that need to be characteristic of our lives to truly live a life worthy of our calling.
First he tells us to
Be Humble
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Ephesians 4:2a
Be completely humble
How do you become humble?
Humility is often thought of in contrast to pride.
Pride is when we think too highly of ourselves. Paul tells us in
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Romans 12:3
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
Here I believe he contrasts pride (thinking of yourself more highly than you ought) with humility, which is not thinking too little of yourself, but thinking of yourself with sober judgment, which I believe we do when we have a right view of God and a right view of ourselves in relation to God.
When we recognize who God is and what God has done for us and in us, we can’t help be have a sober view of ourselves and to be completely humble.
So grow in your knowledge of God and you will grow in humility.
These other 3 character traits are also fruits of the Spirit as they are specifically found in Galatians 5.
To live a life worthy we need to
Be Gentle
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Ephesians 4:2b - …and gentle;
This word is also translated as meekness, but being gentle or meek does not mean weak.
Jesus was gentle and meek, but He was anything but weak. In fact He is all powerful!
Gentleness or meekness carries with it the idea of power under control.
So be gentle. Do not use your power or authority for your own benefit.
Guys, this is especially true of you in your families. Your authority should not come from your ability to harm your kids or your wife, but from your Christlikeness.
If you are going to live a life worthy of your calling you will use your power to bring glory to the Lord and be like him in his gentleness.
Transition
Also, we see those who live a life worthy need to
Be Patient
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Ephesians 4:2c - …be patient…
To live a life worthy requires that you are dealing with and ministering to people. There is no living a worthy life without interacting with others.
And interacting with others in a way that will glorify the Lord requires patience. That is because people can be difficult. You can be difficult! I can be difficult! We need to be patient, or longsuffering, during those times when we and others are difficult to deal with.
Transition
And we are patient with people, helping them grow because we love them like Christ loves them.
And then is the next thing Paul tells us. We need to
Be Loving
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Ephesians 4:2d- bearing with one another in love.
Recognize that you have been loved and blessed and had riches bestowed upon you that you did not deserve. As we do that, we are able to love others and bear with others in love by Christ’s power in us.
Transition
As I said, these last 3 are fruits of the Spirit, and Galatians 5:25 says -Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
And when we are keeping in step with the Spirit, we will keep the unity of the Spirit.
And that is what Paul goes on to say.
Living a life worthy requires Unity
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Ephesians 4:3-6
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.
Unity.
It is something that Paul has talked about extensively so far. It is also something that is talked about often today.
Some people want unity at any cost. But that is not Paul or Jesus.
In fact, Jesus while he prayed for unity, He prayed for unity around Him, not just unity for the sake of unity.
He knew that if it was not centered on a right belief in who He is and what He did, unity would not and should not happen.
In Fact, even though the Lord wanted unity, listen to what he said in
Matthew 10:34-37
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34 "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
"'a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'
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37 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
It is through relationship with Jesus, the Lord, that we can find unity with others.
Even family will not be unified unless Christ is at the center.
There is not unity without having Jesus as the Lord.
And Paul goes on to tell us what that unity in Christ brings
He says we are part of One Body.
When we received Jesus as Savior, we become part of the body of Christ.
We all have One Spirit. The same Holy Spirit of God that indwells one believer in Jesus Christ, indwells all believers in Jesus Christ.
We have One Hope. Our hope is in Christ giving us eternity. When we receive Christ and have his Spirit indwell us, our hope is in eternity with Him, not in the temporary pleasures of sin.
We have one Lord – Jesus is Lord. When people say they believe in God, they just don’t believe in Jesus, it shows that we are not in unity with them. Jesus is Lord and to be a Christian in unity with other Christians means that He is your Lord.
We have one faith and as Jude says, that is the faith once for all delivered to the saints. In Christianity, there are groups that have differences, but there can and should be unity over the faith that is essential – Jesus is the Lord, He died for your sins, He rose from the dead, He lives forevermore, His truth is found in the Bible.
There are some essential elements of the faith that we unify around. There can be differences in some non-essentials, but unity is not possible apart from agreement with the essentials.
One baptism – This one baptism is the one baptism we all receive when we receive Christ, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit comes and indwells all believers in Jesus Christ when they receive Him.
And finally, we have
One God and Father – Just like in our biological family, there is at times disagreements, but you work, or should work together to get along because you are family, we need to work together and forgive and admonish so we can truly live and work together as brothers and sisters with the same heavenly father.
Transition
To live a life worthy requires unity, but it requires unity around Christ and the truth of who He is, what He has done, and the truth of His word as found in the Bible.
It is then we can have unity and live for His glory and live a life worthy.
But Paul goes on and we see that
Living a life worthy requires Serving
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Ephesians 4:7-13
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:
"When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men."
9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
Slide
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Here Paul talks about the grace of our gifts to serve. And he says Christ has given these to us.
And then Paul quotes a psalm of victory and it is a picture of a “military conqueror leading his captives and sharing the spoils with his followers.”
(Warren Wiersbe – The Bible Exposition Commentary – Volume 2 – pg.37)
It is because Christ has conquered Satan and death that we can now be free from the slavery of sin that we were held captive to and He has given us His Spirit and gifts to serve so we can truly live a life worthy of the calling we have.
Some of the gifts
And Paul lists here some of the gifts related to specific people and offices for the benefit of the church and to help bring unity.
Apostles
He says he gave some to be apostles – I don’t believe the office of apostle exists anymore since the very first apostles, because part of the criteria for holding that position was to have seen the Lord and they were given supernatural abilities (1 Corinthians 9:1; 2 Corinthians 12:12).
But regardless of you view, each of these positions - Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher - are given “to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up”
Gifts to prepare the People!
So often today, people think it is those in full time ministry that should serve the body of Christ, but it is those in ministry, those who are pastors and teachers that should be preparing God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ can be built up.
This is what I and the elders strive to do – to teach, to encourage, to help each of you to take steps to use your gifts and to serve so that the work God has called us to can be accomplished and so that you will live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Without serving, without using your gifts, that won’t happen.
Transition
And as we do that, as we live a life worthy of our calling and serve and build up in unity the body of Christ, we mature.
Living a Life Worthy leads to Maturity
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Ephesians 4:14-16
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
As we live a Life worthy of the calling we have been given, seeking unity within the body of Christ, using our gifts and serving to help build up the body of Christ, we will grow in maturity and we will live lives that are built on a solid foundation and not be tossed about or deceived by false teachers who seeking to fulfill their own selfish desires.
Conclusion
Are you ready to live a life worthy of your calling?
Have you responded to the call of Christ to receive Him?
If not, then turn from your sin and receive Christ as your Lord.
Confess your belief in Who He is and what He has done
He is the Lord, God in the flesh.
He died for your sins, in your place and
He resurrected from the dead.
If you believe that then take a moment and confess that belief to the Lord and be saved.
Many here however have received Christ as Lord.
Are you living a life worthy of the calling you have received?
How is your character?
Would others characterize you as humble?
If not, then grow in your relationship with the Lord and you will be humble.
Are you gentle? Are you patient? Are you loving?
These are all fruits of the spirit that become more apparent was you walk in the spirit.
Are you in unity in the church, connecting and serving others, or do you think of church as a place to come and be served?
If you aren’t connected yet, then come to our next Back to Basics Seminar on Sunday, August 10th from 1:30 to 4:30.
And make plans to attend our ministry Breakfast on Saturday, August 16th at 9:30am.
Begin taking steps to connect and use your gifts.
As you do, you will grow, and be continually transformed, and be connected and be used as God grows you and matures you and as you live a life that is worthy of you calling in Christ.
Let’s pray.
