Living Out Our Calling
Ephesians 4:1-6
Some people are really hard to get along with. (Can I get an amen?) I remember several times in our past Becky and I have had the thought, “Why does it seem that most of the time, when we have relational conflict, it’s with Christians!?! With fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord? Why do we seem to get along better with non-believers than we do Christians? (Now that has not been the case here, I assure you.) Maybe our expectations are higher for believers. Whatever the case, the Bible is clear that we must work hard to get along. We either enhance or damage God’s reputation in the world by the way we treat each other.
Today’s passage offers help. When we first started the book of Ephesians a month ago, I told you that Paul often spends the first half of his book talking about who you are and the second half talking about what to do with that information, in other words, how to live it out. Today is the turning point of the second half of the book: chapter 4 of six chapters. So let’s begin with the “what” question.
1. What?
What are we to do with our lives, now that we better understand who we are? I want to focus in on some key words in verse 1. The first one is the little word,
• “Therefore.”
You don’t see that in the NIV, but the first two words in the Greek are “I, therefore.” Paul has been telling us how we’re saved by grace, how we’re adopted into the family of God as if we had always been God’s child, how God chose us before the creation of the world. And now Paul says, “Here’s what you’re to do with that status.” Chapter 4 and on is about walking the talk, about living out your calling, about being the person God has called you to be. The MacArthur Study Bible says the word “therefore” marks the transition “from doctrine to duty, principle to practice, position to behavior” (NASB MacArthur Study Bible, p. 1777). We’re moving into actions now: how you live out your faith. The next word I want you to see is:
• “Live a life”
It may not look like one word in English, but in the Greek, it is one word: “peripateo,” meaning “to walk about.” Our grandkids were watching British cartoons for a while, and our youngest—age 3 at the time—would come up and say, “Let’s go on a walk about!” Not a walk, but a walk about. I thought that was great! The phrase here means to maintain a certain way of life. Maybe you’ve heard Christians say before, “How’s your walk?” Or, “My walk with the Lord isn’t what it should be.” They’re talking about the concept of peripateo. The Christian life is a lifestyle; your faith should inform every part of your life.
The Apostle Paul urges us, “therefore” (referring back to who we are in Christ) to walk or to live a life worthy of our calling or vocation. And that brings us to our last word:
• “Worthy”
I put a picture of an old-fashioned scale on your outline there, because this word in the Greek literally means to bring up the other beam of the scale. In other words, Paul wants us to align our actions with our identity: our actions need to be worthy of our identity, our calling, our vocation. Words are cheap on their own. Words and actions need to line up. We need to walk our talk. And that brings us to our next question:
2. How? (vv. 1-3)
How are we going to do this? By making every effort to protect the unity, to work hard at getting along with other believers. This is not always going to be easy. Have you ever met an EGR person? EGR stands for “extra grace required.” You know who they are: that person that just rubs you the wrong way! It’s like fingernails scraping on a chalkboard. That’s an EGR person. If you look around and don’t know any, maybe you’re the EGR person! But regardless, Paul says we are to make every effort to get along; we need to give it our best shot! He gives us four specific words to pursue as we seek unity among believers. The first is:
• Humble
I found it interesting in my research this week that the Greek and Roman culture in Paul’s day really did not use this word at all. Humility was considered something second rate, as if you had given away too much. Yet, Paul and the other biblical writers latched onto the word as absolutely essential in living out the Christian life, in walking the walk as well as talking the talk. Humility simply means putting others first. Someone once said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself ... less.” You’re not putting yourself down, because Paul has just spent the first half of his letter telling you who you are in Christ. No, you’re simply not thinking of yourself so much because you’re thinking of others first. What do they need? How may I help them? That’s humility. Paul’s second word is...
• Gentle
I put on your outline the phrase, “meek but not weak,” because meekness carries this idea of “strength under control.” Jesus was meek as he walked the earth, yet he certainly wasn’t weak. He was a strong, buff carpenter not afraid to speak the truth. He used his power gently, especially when he was around hurting people. The ones he wasn’t so gentle with—like the self-righteous Pharisees—needed a little truth in the face, so to speak. Can you be gentle with others? Can you be considerate of their needs, using restraint as required? Can you submit your rights for their benefit? The next word Paul says to be is...
• Patient
You’ve probably heard that prayer, “God, grant me patience, and hurry!!!” Or the advice, “Never pray for patience, because God will give you opportunities to develop it.” The word “patient” carries the idea of being long-suffering or long-tempered, that you’re not a hothead, not easily provoked. You can give people a little grace, because you realize that God has given you a little grace. Are you patient with others? I always find this challenging driving around the highways of San Antonio. But by God’s grace, I’m getting better! I’m learning to allow that some people may just be idiots behind the wheel. Well, maybe that’s a bit harsh. Sometimes I cut people off, to be honest, so why can’t I be a little more lenient with others. Now here, Paul is writing to people in the body of Christ, the church. Are we patient with one another? Unity does not mean uniformity. Don’t expect others to be exactly like you. That would be boring! Be patient. Be long-suffering. And Paul’s last word is...
• Forbearing
This is a form of patience. Paul says to “bear with one another in love.” The idea of forbearance is to be patient specifically with the shortcomings of others. And don’t worry: God will give you practice in this. God will use people as his heavenly sandpaper to shape you into the person you need to become, as you allow him to give you forbearance. So how do you forbear with others? You remember how much God has put up with you and your shortcomings.
Now this stuff is hard work, right? Especially around EGR people! So why bother? Why should you be humble, gentle, patient, and forbearing? Why should you pursue unity in the church? That’s our final word ...
3. Why? (vv. 4-6)
And the answer is: because God lives in perfect unity. Paul closes out our section today with seven great unifying principles of our faith: three describing the Holy Trinity and four describing the Christian walk in general. Since God is unified, we need to walk in unity as well. We need to pursue unity in the church family. He says first, we are...
• One body – We are the body of Christ, the church. As Paul said earlier in his letter, the church includes both Jews and Gentiles. The church includes every ethnicity, every skin color, every socio-economic class. We are one in Christ, bound together in the cross of Calvary. One body. And there is...
• One Spirit – the Holy Spirit who comes into each new believer. If you are a believer, you have received the same Spirit as I have. The Holy Spirit makes us one. And we are called to...
• One hope – this is our heavenly destination. Earth is not our home. We are just passing through. We have the hope of all eternity in our soul. And we have...
• One Lord – King Jesus is our Lord, our boss, our chairman, our CEO, our Commander-in-Chief. When you become a believer, you submit yourself to the Lordship of Jesus. He doesn’t just own a part of you, he owns all of you. That’s what Lordship means. And we have...
• One faith – we trust in Christ alone for our salvation. That is the basic tenet of our faith. And we have...
• One baptism – that word means “immersed.” When you are saved, the Holy Spirit baptizes you into the body of Christ. He immerses you into the family of God. In Bible times, people were immersed in a body of water as quickly as possible to show they belonged to Jesus. Water baptism represents Holy Spirit baptism. And lastly, we have...
• One God and Father of all – our Heavenly Father is over all. If you’ve never had a loving earthly father, discover all that you lacked and more in a loving, caring, providing, and protecting Heavenly Father.
Now as I said earlier, going after unity in the church is not easy, but it’s not rocket science either. Simply put, it’s remembering how much God has done for you, and just applying some of that grace, a little of that love, a token of that forgiveness toward your brother and sister in the faith. I’d like to close with a couple of verses from one of Paul’s other letters, Colossians 3:12-14, on the bottom of your outline. He writes,
"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14
Let us pray: Lord, help us to go after unity as you have called us to do. Help us to put aside the excuses and our pride and obey your word. When we’re having trouble getting along, remind us how to be humble, gentle, patient, and forbearing, as you have with us in Christ Jesus, who died for our salvation while we were yet sinners, and rose again victorious over sin and death forever. Help us to be the body of Christ, with all the members getting along well together. We pray this for your glory and our good, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.
