God Calls Us to Walk through Life in a Worthy Way
Ephesians 4:1-3
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Series: The Book of Ephesians
(Prepared April 26, 2024)
BACKGROUND:
*Here in chapter 4, Paul reminds Christians that we are all called by God to live in a worthy way. The Apostle then began to show us how. With this background in mind, let's get started by reading Ephesians 4:1-3.
MESSAGE:
*In John 3:3, Jesus said this to Nicodemus, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'' And 1 Peter 2:2 tells us that in order to grow we should desire the pure milk of God's Word, just like new babies desire their mother's milk. All new Christians then are spiritual babies, and just like our babies, God wants His babies to learn how to spiritually walk. Jesus Christ wants us to learn to walk with Him every day, going in the same direction, headed to the same place, following Him, and enjoying His company along the way.
*I am glad that God describes the Christian life as a walk. Here in vs. 1 Paul wrote, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called." Paul used this same original word for "walk" over 30 times in his letters, including 8 times in his letter to the Ephesians.
*You see, the Christian life really is a spiritual walk with Jesus Christ. William Ritter explained, "I recently found 382 biblical references to various forms of the word 'walk.' There are a multitude of references that suggest how we are supposed to walk as Christians: Walk in love. Walk in wisdom. Walk in the light. Walk in the path. Walk in the Spirit. Walk in the law of the Lord. Walk in the way of the Lord. Walk in the fear of the Lord. Walk in the peace of the Lord. Walk honestly, forthrightly, courageously, worthily and humbly." (1)
*Think about the countless blessings of getting to walk through life with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We have the best fellowship with the best friend in the universe! In John 15:13 Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." The Lord made that statement on the night before the cross, and a few hours later, Jesus made the greatest sacrifice in history when He died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins.
*When we walk through life with Jesus, we also have the greatest guide we can ever have. He always knows exactly where we are, and exactly where we need to go next. And Jesus will always put us on the right path.
*You see, there are basically only two directions we can go in life: The right way and the wrong way. God wants us to always walk in the right way. That's why again in vs. 1, Paul said, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called."
*God wants us to walk through life in a worthy way. But how can we do it?
1. FIRST: WE MUST HEAD TOWARD HUMILITY.
*This is the lesson for us in vs. 1-2, where Paul said, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness. . ."
*Christians: We are called to walk with "all lowliness." The NIV says, "be completely humble," and that's the idea. God wants us to be heading toward humility, having a humble opinion of ourselves. That's walking in the opposite direction from the way the world walks, but we can do it.
*Listen to what William Barclay said about Christian humility: "Before Christianity humility was not counted as a virtue at all. The ancient world looked on humility as a thing to be despised. In the days before Jesus, humility was looked on as a cowering, cringing, servile, ignoble quality. And yet Christianity sets it in the very forefront of virtues."
*How can we get more of this Christian humility? Barclay explained that "Christian humility comes from self-knowledge. And it comes from setting our lives next to the perfect life of Christ. But most people settle for comparing themselves to other people. And as long as we compare ourselves with other people we can come out pretty well. It is when we compare ourselves with perfection that we see our failure.
*For example, a girl may think she is a very fine pianist until she hears one of the world's outstanding performers. And a man may think he's a good golfer until he sees one of the masters in action. If we compare ourselves with our neighbor, we may come out very well. But our standard as Christians is the absolute perfection of Jesus Christ. Against that standard there is no room for pride. So don't compare yourself to other people. Compare yourself to God." (2)
*I may be an old headlight on a 10-year-old car. Someone else may be one of those ultra bright LED bulbs that almost blind you at night. Someone else could be the brightest spotlight in the world. But all of that is nothing compared to Jesus. He shines brighter than the sun!
*In Acts 26:13 Paul gave his testimony about Jesus appearing to him on the Damascus Road, and Paul said, "At midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me." Jesus shines brighter than the sun! So, every time you start to get lifted up with pride, start comparing yourself with Jesus Christ. That will help us to keep heading toward humility. And if we are going to walk in a worthy way, we have to head toward humility.
2. CHURCH: WE ALSO MUST MOVE FORWARD WITH MEEKNESS.
*This truth is in vs. 2, where the NKJV says we should walk with all "gentleness." The KJV tells us to walk with all "meekness," and the NIV simply says, "be gentle."
*Many people have the wrong idea about meekness. Biblical meekness is not weakness. -- It is strength under the control of God. Melvin Newland explained that "most people seem to think that meek means weak, a spineless person without any backbone at all. But in the original language, 'meek' was used in taming a wild animal." David Parks said that "meekness" was also used for "a powerful horse under the control of its master," so the word "meek" is a picture of power under control.
*Our pride often gets in the way of biblical meekness. That's why meekness tends to be rare and unpopular. But meekness toward other people is the ability to stay calm and unruffled in the face of being provoked. William Barclay explained it this way: "Meekness is the quality of the man whose anger is so controlled that he is always angry at the right time, and never angry at the wrong time. It describes the man who is never angry at any personal wrong he may receive, but who is capable of righteous anger when he sees others wronged."
*Meekness is not weakness. It is our emotion under God's control. David Parks gave this good comparison between weakness and meekness:
-"Weakness turns its back on sinners. -- Meekness restores them.
-Weakness brings disunity. -- Meekness brings unity.
-Weakness returns the abuse. -- Meekness takes the abuse.
-Weakness argues. -- Meekness instructs.
-"Meekness is the strength to back down from a fight you know you could win."
*Hey. Doesn't that all sound like Jesus? Christians: Our meekness is always a reflection of His meekness. So, meekness isn't just about our relationships with other people. Mostly it's about our relationship with God, and biblical meekness is evidence that we have a relationship with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
*Being meek also means being humble toward God and having a teachable spirit, willing to be led by God. Matthew Henry wrote that, "The meek are those who quietly submit themselves to God, to His Word and to His rod, who follow His directions, and comply with His designs. Melvin Newland added, "When we talk about a meek person, we're talking about one whose life has been brought under the influence of the Holy Spirit. God is in control of their life. But most of us want to be in the driver's seat. What this word "meekness" tells me is that I should scoot over to the passenger side and say, 'Jesus, you drive. You take hold of the steering wheel of my life. I turn it over to you.'" (3)
*So biblical meekness carries the idea of being trainable or teachable, not going our own way, but learning to walk in obedience to God. And if we are going to walk in a worthy way, we have to move forward with meekness.
3. WE ALSO MUST LEARN TO BE LONGSUFFERING.
*Again in vs. 2, God's Word tells us to walk with "longsuffering" or "patience," and almost all of us need more of this godly patience. The original word includes the ideas of not giving up, but also the idea of not striking back. An early church leader named Chrysostom defined longsuffering as "the spirit which has the power to take revenge but never does so." J. B. Lightfoot defined it as "the spirit which refuses to retaliate."
*William Barclay said longsuffering is a little like a puppy dog that gets around a great big dog. Many of us have seen that. The puppy yaps at the big dog nonstop. He worries the big dog to death, bites the big dog, gets in his way. All the time the big dog could crush that puppy with one snap of his teeth. But he doesn't. Instead the big dog suffers the nuisance with great dignity and patience. That's a small picture of longsuffering, and the Lord has been longsuffering with us in a God-sized way! (4)
*Christians: Our God is longsuffering! Dr. Donald Potts was one of my professors at seminary, and he was a wonderful teacher. I have always remembered Dr. Potts telling us that the Old Testament word picture for longsuffering was "long nose" or "long nostril." And it seems silly to think of God walking around with this big, long nose. But the idea is that it takes a long, long time for the stench of our sin to go all the way up. So in Psalm 86:15 David said, "You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, LONGSUFFERING and abundant in mercy and truth."
*In 2 Peter 3:9, the Apostle Peter said, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is LONGSUFFERING toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
*The Apostle Paul pointed out that God's longsuffering helps lead us to turn away from sin and turn to the Lord. Paul put it as a question In Romans 2:4, and he asked, "Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and LONGSUFFERING, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?"
*Paul also stressed how he had seen the longsuffering of Jesus in his own life. In 1 Timothy 1:15-16 Paul said, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all LONGSUFFERING, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life." No wonder that in the very next verse, Paul poured out these words of praise: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."
*Now the Lord wants us to be longsuffering with each other, and Jesus deserves this because He has been supremely longsuffering with us. The Lord also wants us to be longsuffering, because we're not perfect yet. All of us can be selfish, we make false assumptions, we may be irritable because we're tired, sick, in grief, or troubled about other problems. That's why Jesus wants us to be longsuffering with each other. And if we are going to walk in a worthy way, we must learn to be longsuffering.
4. BUT WE ALSO HAVE TO BE LED BY GODLY LOVE.
*The only way we can have a worthy Christian walk is with God's kind of agape love. This is the kind of love Paul was talking about in vs. 2, when he told us to be "bearing with one another in love." The KJV says "forbearing one another in love." And the original word translated as "bearing" or "forbearing" basically means that God wants us to put up with one another. John Gill said we Christians should live "without being easily provoked to anger and seeking revenge for every insult or injury" Albert Barnes concluded we will frequently need this virtue, because we have a strong natural tendency to rub each other the wrong way. (5)
*But God's agape love gives us the patience and strength to bear with one another. This is one of the main reasons why Paul prayed for us to know the Lord's love. He just got through doing that in the last chapter, and in Ephesians 3:17-19 Paul prayed:
17. that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18. may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height
19. to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
*Paul wanted us to fully know the Lord's infinite agape love, so he prayed for us to comprehend the width and length and depth and height of the Lord's love for us. And the more we walk with the Lord, the more we will know that His love is wide enough to reach anyone who will believe in Jesus Christ. His love is so long that it lasts forever and ever! His love is so deep that it led Jesus to leave Heaven, come down to earth, and down die on the cross for our sins. That's how much He loves us! And His love is so high that it will take us all to Heaven, if we have believed in our crucified and risen Savior.
*The more we walk with the Lord, the more we will know His agape love. And God wants us to love one another with the same kind of generous, unselfish, sacrificial love. It's the kind of love Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 where he wrote, "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. . ."
*God wants us to love one another with His agape love. This truth becomes much clearer when we plug the original Greek word into some very familiar Scriptures.
*In Matthew 22, Jesus was asked, "Which is the great commandment in the law?'' And in vs. 37-40:
37. Jesus said to him, "'You shall (agape) the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
38. This is the first and great commandment.
39. And the second is like it: 'You shall (agape) your neighbor as yourself.'
40. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.''
*Ephesians 5:25 says, "Husbands, (agape) your wives, just as Christ also (agaped) the church and gave Himself for it."
*And in Matthew 5:43-45, Jesus said:
43. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall (agape) your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
44. But I say to you, (agape) your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
45. that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."
Church: if we are going to walk in a worthy way, we have to be led by godly love.
5. AND WE HAVE TO PURSUE GODLY PEACE.
*This is what Paul urged us to do in vs. 3, when he said we should be "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." God wants His church to have peaceful unity, and that's not always easy to do, because the devil does everything he can to cause divisions in the Church.
*But our unity is so important that God says we must be "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." That word "endeavor" has the thought of hurrying to do something, and giving it our best effort. That's why the Amplified Bible puts vs. 3 this way: "Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace"
*God wants us to stick together, and thank God we can! We've got something a whole lot stronger than Super Glue to help us stick together. We have the bond of peace. We have the binding power of peace. This includes first and foremost peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ! That's why in Romans 5:1 Paul says this to all Christians: "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Jesus Christ died on the cross to take the wrath of God, so that we could live in peace with God forever.
*Christians: We have peace with God today because of Jesus Christ. This is why we can also have peace in our hearts, and we can surely have peace with one another. Paul said this about Jesus back in Ephesians 2:14, "He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us."
*This is why we can walk together in the bond of peace. But we have to pursue godly peace. Paul urgently spoke about this truth in Philippians 4:1-2. There the Apostle wrote, "Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord."
*Euodia and Syntyche were having a disagreement, just like we have sometimes with our family, our friends, at school, at work, even at church. We don't know what the argument was about. It wasn't important enough for Paul to even mention. (Have you ever gotten into arguments over nothing?)
*We also don't know who was to blame. Both of these women were good, godly women. Both of them were saved; both of them had worked together with Paul to spread the Good News about Jesus. Christ -- But now they were fussing, and fighting. Sometimes even the best of us don't get along like we should, but God's word says, "I implore Euodia, and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord." The KJV says, "I beseech" or beg. The NIV says, "I plead." God's Word says, "I implore, beseech, beg, plead with you to agree with each other in the Lord."
*Bro. James Strittman was one of the most godly men I have ever known. He and Mrs. Flora faithfully served the Lord for over 70 years. One day I visited with Bro. Strittman, while Mrs. Flora was in surgery. We talked about church, and he asked me about some of the churches around us that were struggling at the time.
*Then Bro. Strittman told me about a church he had considered going to pastor. He said at first glance everything seemed fine. They had recently carpeted the whole church, and they had air conditioning, back in a day when most churches didn't. But then Bro. Strittman looked a little deeper and found out that no one had been saved in that church in over 2 years. That greatly concerned him. And over time it became clear that the people in that church were fussing with each other.
*Bro. Strittman said that on the day they voted to call him, the vote was 145 to 6. And at the end of the service, one of the men who voted against him came out the door and said, "Preacher we want you to know that we weren't voting against you. -- We were voting against that other 145!"
*Bro. Strittman paused for a moment and then he said, "I sure am glad the Lord led me in another direction." He also said that he could understand why people weren't being saved. The church members did not love each other. There was no bond of unity, and that kind of fussing kills the witness of a church.
*"It kills the witness of a church," Bro. Strittman said. And in John 13:35, Jesus said: "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." That's why we have to pursue godly peace.
CONCLUSION:
*The Lord wants us to learn how to walk with Him every day: Going in the same direction, headed to the same place, following Him, and enjoying His company along the way. He wants all of us to learn how to walk in a worthy way, so let's walk together in humility, meekness, patience, love, and peace.
*We can ask the Lord to help us. And if you have never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, call on the Lord to save you today as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Sermons.com sermon "Take a Hike" by William A. Ritter - Genesis 5:21-24
(2) Adapted from BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition - Copyright 1975 - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Public domain - "Worthy Of Our Calling" - Ephesians 4:1-10 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/william-barclay/worthy-of-our-calling-ephesians-41-10-continued-8292
(3) Sources:
-Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "Steps to Joy" by Melvin Newland - Matthew 5:1-10
-Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "Christ-like: Meekness" by David Parks - 1 Peter 2:21
-Adapted from BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition - Copyright 1975 - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Public domain - "Worthy Of Our Calling" Ephesians 4:1-10 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/william-barclay/worthy-of-our-calling-ephesians-41-10-continued-8292
-Adapted from MATTHEW HENRY COMMENTARY ON THE WHOLE BIBLE (COMPLETE) - Originally written in 1706 - Matthew 5 - https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/matthew/5.html
(4) All adapted from BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition - Copyright 1975 - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Public domain - "Worthy Of Our Calling" Ephesians 4:1-10 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/william-barclay/worthy-of-our-calling-ephesians-41-10-continued-8292
(5) Sources:
-JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE BIBLE by Dr. John Gill, D. D. - 1697-1771 - Published in 1746-1766, 1816 - Ephesians 4:2 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
-Adapted from ALBERT BARNES' NOTES ON THE BIBLE by Albert Barnes - Published in 1847-85 - Ephesians 4:2 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
