Sit, Walk, Stand

I want to tell you about a man by the name of Watchman Nee.

In 1920, after a considerable spiritual struggle the seventeen-year-old, high school student, was dynamically saved.

At the moment of his salvation, all his planning for his future changed. He testified, "From the evening I was saved, I began to have a new life, for the life of the eternal God had entered into me".

Watchman Nee attended no theological schools or Bible institutes and yet his wealth of knowledge concerning God's purpose, Jesus Christ, the things of the Spirit, and the church grew expeditiously. His knowledge was acquired through studying the Bible and reading spiritual books.

Throughout the nearly thirty years of his ministry, Watchman Nee was clearly manifested as a unique gift from the Lord to the Body of Christ.

In 1952 he was imprisoned for his faith; he remained in prison until his death in 1972. His words remain an abundant source of spiritual revelation and supply to Christians throughout the world.

Nee wrote hundreds of books to help believers be all that God desired them to be. One of those books was about Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians and it was titled Sit, Walk, and Stand and Love Not the World.

In the book we see, an inspiring look at Ephesians, Nee considered this book to hold the highest spiritual truths concerning the Christian life.

Summarizing the letter into three parts, he taught what it means to "sit" with Christ, "walk" as a Christian in the world, and "stand" up to Satan.

So to answer the question of my title, should we sit, walk, or stand? The answer is yes!

We should do all three.

Pray

Father, Open my eyes so I can see Your truth.

Open my ears so I can hear Your voice.

Open my mind so I can understand Your Word.

And open my heart so I may receive all that You want me to receive. AMEN

The book of Ephesians is regarded by most Bible scholars as the best work of the Apostle Paul. The substance of the book of Ephesians is the grace of God to the church which is the body of Christ, both Jew and Gentile.

The purpose of the book of Ephesians is to establish the readers firmly in their Christian faith. The original readers were the Christians in Ephesus. The current readers are you and I.

Not only did Paul want to make sure that the believer was established in their faith, he also wanted to make sure that they did not slip back into the way they were before Jesus came into their life.

Paul also wanted to warn the readers of the dangers of not having unity within the body of Christ.

To do this, Paul divided the book into two sections. The first section, chapters 1 though 3 is doctrinal and deals with Christian truth and sets forth the grace of God. The second section is chapters 4 through 6 and it is practical advice that deals with the Christian life.

Within those two sections we find out that we are supposed to sit, walk and stand. It is those three things I want to share with you today.

Sit.

What does sitting mean? Most of the time when you are sitting your body is at rest. Paul shows us that as a Christian we need to start our journey with Christ by sitting.

How can we do that when there is so much for us to do?

The fact is God has done everything for us already so we can sit. When God was busy creating everything He made sure that He created man last. So man’s first day was the Sabbath. It was a day of rest.

God had done everything and then He rested and so did man.

How does this apply to us?

God has already done everything we needed.

Look at Ephesians 1:3-14.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.