An Appropriate Walk \u2013<\/p>\n
Ephesians 4:1-6<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.\u00a0 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, on God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Welcome to our slow stroll through Ephesians.\u00a0 When I was here a few weeks ago, and we discussed the previous chapter, we were looking at the prayer of Paul at the end of Chapter Three.\u00a0 If you remember some of that, I am frankly<\/em> astonished. If you were interested in the passage or if something I said might have perked your interest in the book, I would consider that a success. I have a friend who attends my regular Bible study and after every conversation with him, I am driven back to the Scriptures to explain again things I have already been convinced of.\u00a0 For that reason, I think our discussions are a healthy activity but at times, also frustrating.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here we are together again, looking into the teaching of Ephesians and we want to make sure that we are taking this passage, the passage in Chapter Four, in the contextual context it was intended. \u00a0If you turn back just a page, you can notice yourself that a quick summary of the previous chapter is that it addresses the wide diversity of the family of God and explains that that diversity is one of the mysteries to New Testament church.\u00a0 It was unthinkable to the Jews that people from different backgrounds and different statuses could abide peacefully in the same congregation.\u00a0 In fact, Jesus Himself threw out this challenge to the NT church when He stated in John 13:35: \u00a0\u201cBy this shall all men know that you are my disciples, by your love for one another.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Jesus looked forward and knew this mystery now explained by Paul.\u00a0 Then after Paul reteaches this principle of Jesus when he prays for the church because he knew something we are still learning: In order to get along other Christians, we cannot rely on our own good nature but it requires supernatural strength from the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 A harmonious church is not because every person is alike or we have all learned to be civil, but rather it is living proof that God is actively working in the lives of those who attend the church.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Look at the three main points of Paul\u2019s prayer in the latter part of Chapter Three<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a remarkable prayer list.\u00a0 If I was praying this for someone and I prayed this prayer, you might think they were heading out to the mission field, or going into North Korea, or sharing the gospel among the lost who serve in the ISIS army.\u00a0 You might hear something like this just before someone was going to preach in front of 5,000 non-believers.\u00a0 Paul prays one of his most impassioned prayers \u2013 and what is the objective of this prayer?\u00a0 What does Paul hope to accomplish in the lives of those he is praying for through this prayer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You certainly don\u2019t think that Paul would waste his precious words both written to men and prayed before our Father in Heaven?\u00a0 He wouldn\u2019t pray like this if it wasn\u2019t very very important.\u00a0 It is in chapter four where Paul tells us why he wants these things for the believers.\u00a0 What do we need this power of the Spirit, this indwelling Christ in our hearts and this being filled up to all the fullness of God for?\u00a0 What is the purpose of these great requests from heaven?\u00a0 That is what we will see today.\u00a0 That is what Chapter Four will tell us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As I mentioned, in Chapter Four, Paul builds on the theme of this mystery:\u00a0 That a diverse and different people could live together and how our individual lives must be lived in order to accomplish this unity we have been called to live.\u00a0 That is the meaning of the therefore<\/strong> in the first few words.\u00a0 He prays that the church have God\u2019s power living through them and then gives a clear explanation of what unity looks like.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here in Chapter Four, Paul is going to get practical, invasive into the lives of the believers in Ephesus, and I hope into your life as well.\u00a0 The hinge to this change of topic lies on that single word \u201ctherefore<\/strong>\u201d.\u00a0 Paul is going to address areas of the Christian life that sometimes are overlooked because they are so ordinary.\u00a0 I am of the belief that God is glorified through ordinary things.\u00a0 Think about this for just a moment, the sun coming up in the morning is pretty ordinary, even though there are weeks we don\u2019t get to see that sunrise much.\u00a0 I know that there is great beauty in the rising sun.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that about the most ordinary thing in our world and yet, we are told that the glory of God can be seen in the rising of the sun.\u00a0 One quote from an older saint named Clyde Kilby, a favorite of John Piper, used the words \u201cThe Strange Glory of Ordinary Things\u201d, in which he expounded on how God uses the ordinary things to bring Him glory.\u00a0 Jesus spoke about the rocks crying out the glory of God if all were silent. What about when someone has a child born and even if it happens every day and there might seem like there is nothing out of the ordinary \u2013 that is actually quite remarkable when you begin to think about it.\u00a0\u00a0 Today, if your heart beats at an average of 80 beats per minutes, it will beat about 115,200 times in the next 24 hours.\u00a0 Or in the next year, it will beat around 42,163,200 times.\u00a0 That might seem ordinary to some, but I believe that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.\u00a0 Well, in our ordinary, everyday relationships God can be glorified through our personal relationships as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first area where Paul exhorts us is in our walk, to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.\u00a0 But what does a Christian walk look like \u2013 remember the aim of the prayers of Paul is that we would be a visual representation of the mystery he explains in Chapter Three.\u00a0 What was that mystery?\u00a0 It was that we could live together.\u00a0 That we would fulfill the testimony Jesus challenged us to show \u2013 our love for one another.\u00a0 The price that Paul demands for that unity is not a challenge to doctrinal purity, but rather it is a challenge to our own self adoration.\u00a0 Paul requests that we set aside some of our own importance and walk in such a way that our unity brings glory to Him who called us to Himself.\u00a0 How does Paul suggest that we arrive at this unity?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There is a phrase that I often quote when I am out golfing, which seems to be less and less.\u00a0 The quote is by Mark Twain.\u00a0 He wrote: \u201cGolf ruins a good Walk\u201d.\u00a0 I don\u2019t necessarily believe it; however it usually gets a smile as long as I don\u2019t over use it.\u00a0 However, if the Apostle Paul were quoted about what ruins a good walk; he would probably say that \u201cPride, roughness, and a lack of patience ruins a good walk.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, Paul is not writing about a physical walk, but our spiritual walk, our Christian walk.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Walking in a manner worthy of the calling for which you have been called<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And you know, we all have extenuating circumstances.\u00a0 I have the occasional low blood sugar.\u00a0 If you have ever had this you know what happens.\u00a0 The first thing your body does is to pump adrenalin into to your body to burn fat and make some sugar.\u00a0 It is the equivalent of being pumped full of a shot of aggressiveness. I found myself at one time in my life excusing being short and irritable if I thought my blood sugar was low until I came under conviction that my excuse was not mentioned in Scripture.\u00a0 That just because my blood sugar or life balance was off did not give me the right to walk selfishly over others.\u00a0 Health issues are not a free pass. Money issues are not a free pass.\u00a0 Work issues are not a free pass.\u00a0 Walking in a manner worthy of our calling is something we must continue to strive to do no matter what the backdrop or what our personal story might be, we are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.<\/p>\n I could spend some additional time to explain more about our calling from God, but one of the best pictures of our calling is when Jesus called Lazarus from the grave.\u00a0 Had anyone else called out to Lazarus, Lazarus would have remained dead and unresponsive.\u00a0 Only Jesus could reach his physically dead body and only Jesus can reach our spiritually dead souls.\u00a0 Just as Lazarus was never going to get himself up from the dead, so we cannot get ourselves up from the spiritually dead state we were in before Jesus called out to us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Well, is all that easy?\u00a0 Are you kidding me?\u00a0 Walking in a manner worthy of our calling is not easy.\u00a0 But just in case you were thinking you are doing pretty well, now Paul gets in your face a little more.\u00a0 Sometimes, I think we need to put seatbelts in the pews because we are about to get into the rough territory now. \u00a0We used to refer to things like this as a Class E ride.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Paul now moved into what I believe is his main point of this passage as he challenges us to be \u201cdiligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 There are some specifics how to do that but look at the goal of this command with me for just a moment before we step back and discuss how to do this with humility, gentleness <\/strong>and patience.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is the meaning of Unity?\u00a0 Well, once again Paul did an excellent job of qualifying what kind of unity.\u00a0 What does the passage call it?\u00a0 Unity of the Spirit.<\/strong>\u00a0 It is easy to see that this is not human unity, like we read about on the back of so many bumper stickers.\u00a0 This is the unity of the Spirit.\u00a0 And this is not the human spirit but the Spirit of God.\u00a0 What is the character of our objective?\u00a0 What are the traits of our unity?\u00a0 Paul is not calling for any kind of unity where we would work with those who cannot lay claim to the same truths we hold to be true.\u00a0 Remember, we are talking about within the church not our work and worldly acquaintances.\u00a0\u00a0 The unity being discussed here is based on the previous three chapters of Paul\u2019s letter to the Ephesians.\u00a0 Not a unity that values togetherness over truth.<\/p>\n Since this unity is already owned by God, because it has His name on it and He is the One who created it, we must acknowledge that it is not ours to attempt to break or devalue.\u00a0 Only God\u2019s Spirit can make this and we are called to preserve.\u00a0 Preserve it \u2013 as if it is a great treasure.\u00a0 And we are to stand guard over this treasure because it is always under attack.\u00a0 It is attacked by outsiders and insiders.\u00a0 One of the great objectives of Satan is to attempt to destroy the unity of the church.\u00a0 But let me say that when people are diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit, Satan fails.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Well, there\u2019s another point.\u00a0 What does Paul mean to be diligent?\u00a0 Personally, I think it means to do something faithfully, but it goes beyond that in the sense of the word from the Greek.\u00a0 I am not a Greek Scholar but I read people who are.\u00a0 According to what I read this week, diligent has a sense of speed.\u00a0 It means to deal with things quickly.<\/p>\n And to preserve<\/strong> or to keep<\/strong> as some versions list this phrase means to guard something.\u00a0 We are never called to create unity or to find unity, but to preserve unity.\u00a0 You know you are never called to guard something that isn\u2019t important.\u00a0 If you were in the military, I doubt you were ever stood on armed guard over garbage.\u00a0 When we put out our garbage, we don\u2019t stand guard over that which we are throwing out.\u00a0 Here, God tells us to preserve or to guard the unity because it is valuable to God, because it is His unity.\u00a0 It\u2019s His unity and He has assigned you and me to guard it, or preserve it.<\/p>\n And Paul recommends some rather interesting weapons with which to stand guard with.\u00a0 You would think if you were guarding something precious like Gold, or Silver, you might have some pretty aggressive weapons.\u00a0 Look at the tools Paul recommends to guard this precious unity.\u00a0 Guard this unity with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.<\/strong>\u00a0 My grandson has an outfit that he uses like pajamas that is superman with some bigger than normal biceps and chest muscles. I\u2019m sure you have seen those costumes.\u00a0 Makes me laugh to picture that in my head.\u00a0 But picture any little boy, with a superman costume bulging with muscles, standing in front of a group of really bad guys trying to come and rob a bank.\u00a0 Put that in your mind \u2013 makes you kind of smile but you also feel for the little boy.\u00a0 You think the poor little guy is going to get seriously hurt.\u00a0 That\u2019s you \u2013 dressed with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love<\/strong> guarding God\u2019s unity.\u00a0 But the biggest difference is that you have God on your side, keeping you safe from the Evil one, and later Paul will go on to point out that we are in a spiritual battle so our weapons are not of flesh and blood.<\/p>\n With all humility <\/strong>– The first trait that Paul mentions that lead us towards preserving the unity is humility.\u00a0 Humility does NOT mean that our perspective or input is less important than another person.\u00a0 That is sometimes called an enabler than humility.\u00a0 Someone who shows humility is someone who has \u201can attitude of the heart that recognizes love for and value of others and is willing to put other\u2019s needs first.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Keep in mind that sometimes we serve others by fulfilling our God given roles.\u00a0 Would it serve a mother to ask a two year old if they want to go to bed now?\u00a0 Probably not.\u00a0 The mother knows what the child needs and she is actually serving the child when she sends it to bed or disciplines the child.\u00a0 Sometimes the same thing happens in a church, where we should be looking out for others and serving in such a way that it assists others to grow and develop.\u00a0 Now, I\u2019m not suggested that elders go around and tell people when to go to bed, but there are times when leaders might well get in your way of doing something that could damage you for the rest of your life.\u00a0 You might not always like it, but some things never change.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t like being told what to do when I was a child.\u00a0 But if you are about to make a mistake your church leaders recognize that, it is their humble duty to point it out to you.\u00a0 Humility isn\u2019t helping something do something they want to do; it is serving you by assisting you to be who God made you to be.<\/p>\n The best example of humility that I can think of is Moses, who the Bible tells us was the most humble man on the face of the earth.\u00a0 If you are honest, you don\u2019t picture a humble man confronting Pharaoh to free his people from slavery.\u00a0 You don\u2019t imagine a man who is humble leading probably over 5 million people through the desert for 40 years. Moses was humble because he had met with God and continued to meet with Him on a continual basis.\u00a0 He knew who God was and he knew who he was.\u00a0 There was not any question about what God wanted him to do.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is the source of true humility.\u00a0 Moses knew who God was and he understood his role in God\u2019s plan so he went about accomplishing huge things without pride or self-promotion.\u00a0 If you are seeking for humility, don\u2019t pray for to be humble, but pray to walk close to God.\u00a0 In fact, pray this prayer in Chapter Three for yourself.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Gentleness, <\/strong>Next Paul writes of Gentleness<\/strong>. This word is also interpreted as meekness.\u00a0 It is not milk-toast but rather strength under control.\u00a0 People with gentleness will more often get angry about how others are treated than how they themselves are treated.\u00a0 Gentleness is what makes us want to provide an environment of safety for others, so that we can support and encourage one another.\u00a0 A gentle person might have the occasional insult hurled his direction but they will resist the desire to try to \u201cget even\u201d because that person knows how hurtful words can be and how destructive words can be.\u00a0 Gentleness is a trait of a spirit filled believer that preserves unity.\u00a0 What does it mean to (Luke 6:28) (NASB) \u201cbless those who curse you, and to pray for those who mistreat you.\u201d Gentleness. Lives marked by gentleness.<\/p>\n With patience, <\/strong>– other versions use the word long-suffering.\u00a0 This is by the way God\u2019s character towards us.\u00a0 He is very patient with you and with me.\u00a0 If God were not patient, there would be no Bob or David or whoever.\u00a0 God\u2019s character shows patience and Paul is calling us to show that same patience when we are busy protecting, guarding God\u2019s unity. \u00a0\u00a0We live in a world where there is an obvious lack of patience.\u00a0 If you would like to know how true that is, next time you are at the front of traffic at a red light, when the light turns green just be looking at the radio and see how long people will wait.\u00a0 But if you do that in Seattle, you might want to buy some body armor first.\u00a0\u00a0 If you know the forgiveness of the Lord, then you should by all means be showing patience towards your fellow believers.\u00a0 And that would include the people who live in your own home.\u00a0 Your wife, your husband, and your children and your parents.\u00a0 You and I will reflect the reality of our Christian walk by our relationships with others.\u00a0 If we have forgotten that we were forgiven, we tend to lack forgiveness for others.\u00a0 If we have forgotten how patient God is with us, we tend to forget to be patient with others.\u00a0 Once again, for those of you who are reading this page, We reflect the reality (or lack of reality) of our Christian walk by our relationships with others<\/span>.\u00a0 Why do you suppose that we need patience?\u00a0 Well, because when we are surrounded by patient believers, maybe we\u2019ll dare a little more, maybe we\u2019ll be more real with each other, and maybe we\u2019ll be more willing to fail?\u00a0 All I know is that we are commanded to live with patience and God didn\u2019t put that in the passage to make sure that there were three points to this phrase.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Showing tolerance for one another in love<\/strong> – The next trait is showing forbearance <\/strong>\u2013 or loving tolerance.\u00a0\u00a0 This is the idea of holding yourself up against something.\u00a0 In other words, you know that person that bugs you \u2013 that has the ability to really put you on edge.\u00a0 When you deal with that person in such a way, you are showing forbearance.\u00a0 We all have someone that rubs us the wrong way and seems to enjoy it.\u00a0 From God\u2019s perspective, you are doing a good thing if you show forbearance towards such a person.\u00a0 Is it significant that Paul uses show<\/span> forbearance rather than have<\/span> forbearance? I am not sure.\u00a0 CS Lewis says to act like you have something until it becomes natural.\u00a0 Maybe we can\u2019t all have<\/span><\/strong> forbearance but we can all show it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When we are practicing these traits, we will be preserving the unity of the Spirit<\/strong>. Sometimes you might think, hey, I\u2019ve preserved the unity enough, it\u2019s so-and-so\u2019s turn to preserve the unity now because I\u2019m really ticked, or I\u2019m having a really bad day<\/em>.\u00a0 Well, this is where patience, humility and forbearance come into play, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 This unity that Paul is addressing is the unity based on the truths he has been writing about for the previous three chapters.\u00a0 It is a supernatural power that drives these traits in the believer.\u00a0 When we\u2019ve reached the end of our horded resources, our Father\u2019s full giving has only begun<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Paul has written about the unity of a common access to the Father, and the way we all come to the Father by the same means.\u00a0 Paul has also written about how the Jews and the Gentiles are now unified, which was the subject of the great mystery.\u00a0 Now that he has established the fact that we are unified, he tells us we must be diligent to preserve that unity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Paul goes on to tell the points that our Unity revolves around.\u00a0 This list here might well be his list of basic truths and there is no time to go over these with the depth they deserve.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Application to you and to me \u2013 What is the conviction I would expect a believer to face as we look at this passage? What is it that you have heard today that you will walk out and say: God hit me solidly in the solar plexus with that point?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let me say you are either preserving unity or you are working against it.\u00a0 And if you goal is to preserve unity, it must be done God\u2019s way.\u00a0 There is no good way to accomplish God\u2019s work than by God\u2019s path.\u00a0 Preserving unity with power or intimidation is not God\u2019s unity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An Appropriate Walk \u2013 Ephesians 4:1-6 \u00a0 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[74],"tags":[81,80,82],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1516,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions\/1516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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