Worthy Of Our Calling Series

Scripture

Today we begin a new series of sermons in Ephesians 4:1-16 that I am calling, “Unity in the Body of Christ.”

In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul set forth a number of glorious doctrines dealing with “predestination and election, adoption and redemption, the work of the Holy Spirit, rebirth, the work of God in joining people from all nations and all walks of life together in the one holy body of Christ, the church. This is so marvelous a section that Paul ends chapter 3 with a doxology.”

Then, as Paul began chapter 4 in Ephesians, he transitioned from doctrine to application, which he commonly did in his letters. First, doctrine, and then application. So, as Paul transitioned from doctrine to application, he began with a discussion about Christians walking worthily of our calling.

Let’s read Ephesians 4:1-3:

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3)

Introduction

Tom Wright writes the following in his commentary:

If you buy a new car, what’s the first thing you do?

Do you sit down for an hour and read through the manual, to make sure you know every little detail about it before you take to the road?

Or do you at once get behind the wheel and go for a drive, enjoying all the things the car can do and not worrying about the details, at least for the moment?

I suspect that most of us give the second answer. In the same way, it’s notorious that when people buy a new computer they tend to operate it first and read the instruction manual afterwards.

The trouble is, of course, that things go wrong with machinery. They may go wrong even quicker if you don’t read the instructions. But most people will at least keep the instruction book handy and refer to it from time to time to see how the machine was meant to behave, what the fundamental instructions were, and what needs to be done to ensure that it remains at maximum efficiency.

In this section, which opens the quite long second half of the letter, Paul takes his readers back to the fundamental instructions on living the Christian life. He reminds them how they began and what it was all about. There are three things which emerge as basic: the meaning of their call to follow the king; the grace which has equipped each of them to play their part in serving him; and the unity they already have, but which they must make every effort to guard. Of these, the first is the one which Paul stresses, and the one we are most likely to forget. This is the basic manual for living the Christian life, and we need to go back and read it regularly.

Paul began the second half of his letter with a description of our call to follow Jesus.

Lesson

Ephesians 4:1-3 shows us that God has called us to Christlike conduct.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. The Call to the Worthy Walk (4:1)

2. The Characteristics of the Worthy Walk (4:2-3)

I. The Call to the Worthy Walk (4:1)

First, let’s notice the call to the worthy walk.

Paul began in verse 1a by saying, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord.” The first comment I want to make is that the word “therefore” is important. As has often been said, “Whenever you see the word ‘therefore’ in your Bible, you should ask what it is there for.” This is Paul’s transition from doctrine to application. As one commentator said, “In a Christian’s life, the following things should balance: belief and behavior; creed and conduct; doctrine and duty; lip and life; precept and practice; position and performance; revelation and response; root and fruit; standing and state.” Paul’s “therefore” is the transition from doctrine to application.

The second comment I want to make is that Paul referred to himself as a prisoner for the Lord. Paul was not seeking the pity of the Ephesians. No, he was reminding them that he was not a prisoner of Rome, but that he was a prisoner for the Lord. As commentator John MacArthur said, “Paul had the ability to see everything in the light of how it affected Christ. He saw everything vertically before he saw it horizontally. His motives were Christ’s, his standards were Christ’s, his objectives were Christ’s, his vision was Christ’s, his entire orientation was Christ’s. Everything he thought, planned, said, and did was in relation to his Lord. He was in the fullest sense a captive of the Lord Jesus Christ.”