Sermon - The Christian Walk of Christlikeness, Humility and Unity
Scripture - Ephesians 4:1-6 “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.”
Introduction - Chapter 4 begins the second half of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians what some refer to as the practical 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. 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 not to miss the importance of what follows. Notice too that Paul includes the word THEREFORE. 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.
If we are going to talk the talk, we must also walk the walk. Our theology—our talk must impact how we live our lives. How we live is our 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. 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.
The Christian walk is a call to a higher walk of Unity, Love and Peace in the Body of Christ. The oneness within the Body of Christ empowers believers to overcome their differences and embrace a new way of being. Ephesians 4 reminds us to live a life worthy of the calling we have received in Christ Jesus. We are called to unity as a body of believers through one Lord, one Spirit, and one hope. God has given us apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of service so the body of Christ may be built up and obtain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. We are reminded to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
1. The Christian walk means to Walk as Christ Representatives. “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.”
Believers are Christ’s representatives. This dark world needs the light of Christ to shine beams of love, hope, and concern through every believer. Paul begs and plead that believers would live Christlike lives in the world. How we dress, act, live and work is important. The lifestyle of a Christian maybe the only Bible non-Christian will read. Paul understood that it may be easy for some Christians to lower their standards and live like the world around them. Pop culture has a strong pull. Since Christian are called to live differently, it is easy to clash with the culture. It is important that believer walk worthy of Christ and model a different lifestyle in the world. Christians talk a good talk, Paul says, we should walk the walk. Believers represent Christ and His kingdom.
2. The Christian walk means to Walk in Humility. “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”
Paul cautions believers about a prideful attitude. Pride, criticism, and arrogance are always present. Every believer must try to walk in humility. Humility helps the believer extend more compassion and empathy to others. Those who practice humility are more likely to respect others' beliefs and opinions. Humility offers the opportunity to be more attuned with the feelings of others. Humility allows you to learn, it proves you are not a “know it all, it creates endless possibilities for others to ask question and be heard, it magnifies your strengths and confidence, it helps others connect with and relate to you.
Pride, criticism, and arrogance drive people away. Within the Body of Christ, each believer has different strengths and weakness, different gifts and talents, different backgrounds and experiences, all should be valued and appreciated. God loves the world, with all of its differences and variety. We have so much in common to allow pride, criticism, and arrogance to separate us. Satan seeks to divide and conquer. Believers must endeavor to walk in humility. “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”
Many desires peace, and cry loud for peace, but do not follow after the things that create peace. They refuse to arm themselves with the meekness, humility, self-denial, and love necessary to avoid quarrelling and contention over trivial things of the faith. Not only should we avoid contention, but we should also work toward the edification of fellow believers. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. We should follow a course of action that leads to peace and edification in the Body of Christ. Our actions should earnestly pursue the things that build up and encourage each other in our faith walk. There are several Scriptures that speak to this truth:
Romans 12:18 “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
Ephesians 4:2-3 “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
2 Corinthians 13:1 “Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.”
Colossians 3:15 “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”
Hebrews 12:14 “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:”
3. The Christian walk means to Walk in Unity. “For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.”
Paul exhorts us to Walk as Christ’s representatives, walk in humility and walk in unity. These are the great duties of the faithful believers. Christian unity calls believers to mutual peace or peacefulness. Then calls believers to mutual edification or encouragement. These duties are necessary, and every Christian should labor in endeavors that promote peace and edification. Our enemy, Satan tries to lure Christians into strife and contention over nonessentials of the faith, church activities, and personal preferences. These distractions are intended to rob us of our unity, divide our strength and weaken our support system. The result is to destroy our testimony in the world. Peace and unity allow us to concentrate our efforts on fulfilling our God given assignment. The Scriptures listed above, challenge us to live peaceably with all men, to endeavor to keep the unity, and to allow the peace of God to rule our hearts and control our actions.
Our task is too important to allow non-essentials to divide us. We ought to live holy lives, proclaim the good news of Jesus, demonstrate the message of His love, and do good deeds in the world. When we follow peace and seek to edify, the non-essentials will not matter so much. We can stand united in the mission of the church, saving the lost and transforming lives. This is the message is Paul’s lesson on practical application. He is teaching us how Christians ought to live with one another. We should offer one another mutual acceptance by receiving one another; refusing to judge one another; refusing to violate one another’s conscience and by following those things that lead to peace and edification. We, as Believers can live a life of goodness, peace and joy by accepting one another within the Body of Christ: by receiving one another; by refusing to judge one another; by refusing to violate one another’s conscience; and by following after things which lead to peace and edification. If Christians behave properly, they can proclaim the message of Christ effectively, model the ministry of Christ accurately and transform the world for Christ permanently.
When believers understand the doctrine of Christ, the first step is practice the walk of Christ. Paul lays the foundation before moving to the gifts, Church administration, family relationship, work relationships or the whole armor of God. Before we run, work or fight, believers must embrace this text. “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.” Ephesians 4:1 Msg “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.”
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 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 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.
Let’s not just sit around on our hands doing nothing and let’s not just wander aimlessly through life. Walk worthily on the road God has called us to travel. For Paul, walking is the primary imperative of the Christian 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) We are to walk worthily and keep moving forward. Paul concludes Ephesians 6 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). Let’s walk Worthily! Amen
Amen.
