We'll look in the Word of God today at the fourth
chapter of the book of Ephesians. Education is
important, but not as an end in itself. One may
study science, engineering, law, business, medicine,
and all of that is good, but with limited benefit
until it is applied in practice. does not touch
the reality of life. As that is true of secular
subjects and knowledge, so it is even more true
of the Word of God. Knowledge without application
does not benefit in that it does not teach the
reality of life. So it is, as we come to Ephesians
chapter 4, that the Apostle Paul begins the application
of the truth of our calling in Christ Jesus to
the lifestyle of the believer. Truth will now
be applied to life. We have learned as we have
studied the first three chapters that we are
seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenlies, that
we are the possessors of every possible spiritual
blessing in Christ. We have been told that we
are members of the body called out to belong
to Christ himself. We have gained some understanding
of the purposes of God in the history of the
world and mankind. We have looked at the fact
that you and I have a direct connection to the
living God of the universe. And we have reminded
ourselves of the knowledge that we are accepted
by him. as his own son. Our sins have been forgiven,
and now God looks upon us as dearly as he looks
upon his own precious son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now these privileges that we have learned about
carry with them a certain dignity as well as
responsibility. One claiming to be a child of
God cannot suppose to live the same way as the
unregenerate in the world around. Life for the
Christian has a new significance, and thus there
are also unusual expectations. I suppose that
many of us have been intrigued at some time in
our life by royalty, particularly British royalty,
because so many of our roots come from the British
Isles. We may be tempted to think that they are
but a privileged and pampered family, not worthy
of respect. But if you study the royal family,
you find that along with the privileges which
they enjoy, there is heavy responsibility. The
children born into the royal family learn very
early on that they are not like other boys and
girls, that with their birth into that family
has come a responsibility because they are the
royalty of the nation. They understand that they
cannot be the same as everyone else. You and
I, who are the redeemed of Jesus Christ, purchased
by his precious blood, are the royalty of God's
universe. We are born into the family of the
King of kings and have become by that birth the
heirs with Christ of all things that God has
made. Your call into God's family and his royalty,
your call to be different, should not be viewed
by you as burdensome. or as a handicap. In fact,
it is a privilege that is extended to us by the
grace of God, quite apart from our own works.
With that privilege comes responsibility. The
conduct of the child of God is described for
us in chapters 4, 5, and 6 of Ephesians. He has
told us in chapters 1 through 3 who we are in
Christ. Therefore, he now says, this is the way
that God wants you to live as his dear children.
We could probably summarize it all in maybe five
words. First, unity. The first part of chapter
4 deals with this truth. If we are the children
of God, we are to live together in unity. Secondly,
he tells us that we must live in honesty, the
last part of chapter 4. Thirdly, if we are the
children of God, we are to live in purity. He
covers that in the first part of chapter 5. And
then in the last part of chapter 5, he tells
us that as the children of God, we are to be
characterized by harmony. And finally, in chapter
6, as children of the living God. We are to be
characterized by victory in our lives, all because
of who we are in Christ Jesus. For that being
the general outline that we're going to follow
in the upcoming weeks, let's first take a look
at this matter of unity and its ramifications.
Unity begins in the character of the individual
believer. But it spreads out from there to impact
the whole body of which he belongs, that is,
the local church. You see that in Paul's explanation.
Notice in verses 1 through 3, he talks about
our personal character as preserving unity. We'll
get into that some this morning and more, the
Lord willing, in a couple of weeks. Then in verses
4 through 6, He talks about the doctrinal foundation
providing for unity. Notice the seven oneness
of our faith. He talks in verse 4 about one body,
one spirit, one hope. Verse 5, one Lord, one
faith, one baptism. Verse 6, one God and Father
of all. That is the doctrinal foundation of our
unity, providing for it. Then in verses 7 through
13, he explains to us God's practical plan. promoting
unity. And finally, in verses 14, 15, and 16
of this paragraph, he explains to us the natural
results in a church proving unity is there. How
do we know when a church is unified? Well, those
verses will come to life in that church. Now
let's back up all the way to verse 1, where we
are encouraged by God to conduct ourselves in
a manner worthy of our calling. What does that
mean? Well, let me say in the first place that
it has no sense of meaning, such as living so
as to merit God's pleasure or to somehow claim
God's blessing because of what we've done. That
is not what the Apostle is saying here when he
tells us to walk worthy of our calling. He is
not saying to us that we can somehow balance
all of the good on this side of our lives, and
surely it will outweigh the bad, and God will
be pleased. He is not saying that we somehow
get God's blessing by climbing the ladder of
our own goodness and deserving it. That is not
what he means when he talks about walking worthy.
Beloved, all of God's blessings, whether it be
the blessing of salvation or all of the blessings
that flow from that initial blessing, All of
God's blessings are given to us on the basis
of grace. That is the unmerited kindness of God
toward us. Favor which we do not earn or deserve
by anything, by anything that we do. Now I emphasize
that because there are so many people deluded
in the thinking that somehow, someday, they're
going to get to heaven on the basis of their
own righteousness. Their own good works. One
of the testimonies in baptism this morning in
the first service dealt right with that truth.
The person shared that in her early years she
was depending upon her own self -righteousness.
But it was later that she realized that she was
a sinner needing to repent and to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's when she became
a real Christian. If you today are somehow convinced
that you're going to make it into heaven, that
you're going to get salvation from God by the
good things that you're doing, let me warn you
that that is deception. It may be the common
way of thinking among men, but it is not the
truth. And Paul is not saying here that somehow
we are worthy of salvation by living a good life.
That is not what he's saying in verse 1. He is
rather addressing those of us who are saved by
faith, by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is speaking to us, and he is telling us who are
saved now to walk worthy of our calling. The
word worthy literally means of weight, or it
means an equivalency. He is saying here that
our calling should be on one side of the scale,
and on the other side of the scale, giving balance
to that should be our lifestyle. That's what
he's saying. He's saying, look at who you are.
See your calling in Jesus Christ and the weight
of that, the glory of it. And once you have that
in mind, he says, then walk worthy of it. Let
your lifestyle, your conduct, your behavior be
equivalent to who you really are. We who are
children of God are forgiven and set free. We
are indwelt by the Holy Spirit that we might
become all that God has created us to be. That
is our calling. When we are born into God's family,
we are born looking ahead, looking to the future.
That is the direction of God's children, not
the past. So often we tend to live in the past,
either in its glory or in its problems, its failures.
If we live in the past in its glories, then we
become arrogant. If we live in the past with
all of its failures, we become depressed and
discouraged. All of us. None of us can boast
about where we've been. God doesn't tell us to
focus on the past. Forgetting those things which
are behind. That's what the Bible says. It's
over. You say, yes, but there are some things
in my life I wish I could go back and correct.
Oh, if I could only go back and live that. You
can't. It's done. That's history. What we can
have happen to us is have that forgiven. And
every child of God knows the meaning of that.
It means that that past that hangs over us like
a cloud is wiped away. It's cleansed so that
we're no longer guilty over those sins that are
in the past. Don't focus on the past, beloved.
Focus on the future. Someone has said, That for
the child of God, the best is yet to come. And
that's the truth. When the Bible talks about
our calling, it is telling us to look to what
God wants us to become in Jesus Christ. Don't
live regretting your past. Focus on your calling.
And notice that the calling is in the passive.
We're acted upon. He says, the calling with which
you have been called. In other words, you didn't
call yourself into God's family. He's just reminding
us here that salvation wasn't something that
originated with us. It wasn't your idea or mine.
We didn't one day all on our own say, hey, you
know, I think I want to become a Christian. I
think I want to have my sins forgiven. I think
I want to have a new hope. I want to have it.
That wasn't from us. He says that calling by
which we were summoned out of the world to belong
to Jesus Christ came from outside of us. And,
of course, it came from God himself. He is the
one who has called us into the fellowship of
his son. The Lord Jesus Christ has liberated
us. Not only from our past, but from the power
of sin within us even now. He has liberated us
so that we can give ourselves to him as Lord.
We can give ourselves again to sin. We can give
ourselves to our own lusts. We can live to please
ourselves is the point. Even as God's children.
But how tragic that is. What a waste. For God
has called us out and set us free. He has liberated
us so that now we can freely give ourselves to
Jesus Christ to obey him. That's what he's talking
about here when he says, walk in a manner worthy
of your calling. Don't be content to be what
you've always been. Press on to be what God wants
you to become. Walk worthy. Develop a lifestyle
that is consistent with your calling in Christ.
This is not an isolated theme to Ephesians. Turn
over to Colossians and look in chapter 1 and
verse 10. Here Paul makes it a matter of prayer
for the Colossians. He prays what he does in
verse 9 and then goes on to verse 10 to say,
that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
Notice, very similar language. Here he doesn't
emphasize walking worthy of your calling. He
says, walk worthy of your Lord. You say, can
I really do that? If you couldn't, God wouldn't
tell us to. Walk worthy of the Lord who has called
you. If you bear his name, Didn't walk worthy
of the name. The story is told of Napoleon, who
went to the front lines in some heated battle,
and there he saw a soldier who was afraid to
go into battle. He would not go to the front
lines. Napoleon walked over to him and said,
Soldier, what is your name? And amazingly, the
soldier replied, Napoleon. The great general
looked at him and said, soldier, get to the front
or change your name. Walk worthy, my friend,
of your commanding officer, Jesus Christ. Walk
worthy of the calling by which you've been called.
Turn over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse
12. Here the apostle says, I am... pleading with
you, I am exhorting you, as a father would his
own children, verse 12 now, so that you may walk
in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into
his own kingdom and glory. Now let that trickle
down into your mind a little bit. God has called
you to inherit his kingdom. He has already predestined
you to be conformed to the very glory of Jesus
Christ, child of God that is true about you,
every one of you, that's your calling. Paul says,
oh, that you would walk worthy of that calling
to glory. You'll notice going back to our original
text now in Ephesians chapter 1 that this message
from the Lord does not come as a command. Does
that amaze you as it does me? Paul doesn't say,
I therefore command you. He says, I entreat you.
Remember, God is speaking through him. God is
here begging us. That's what the word means.
Urging us that we would walk worthy of our calling.
This is the same word used of the Holy Spirit
in John's Gospel, where he's called the Comforter,
the one who is called alongside to help us. The
Apostle pictures himself, and God is using Paul
to picture himself, as coming alongside us, putting
his arm around us and saying, Look, my child,
this is who you are. Now, would you please live
worthy of your calling? Do you see the gentleness
of God in that? Here is not some dictator who
is making demands, but here is a Lord who gently
comes alongside us and urges us to get moving
in this direction. to begin getting into our
lives, the truth about ourselves, to recognize
the high position and the holy privilege that
we have to be the called ones of Jesus Christ,
to let that truth soak down deep and instill
in each of us a fresh desire for a lifestyle
that reflects who we really are. You know, that's
the one thing that really matters in your Christian
life. That is, conducting yourself according
to your heavenly calling as God's royalty. Not
money or clothes or that profession you've been
wanting to get into. Not the house you own or
the car or the job or the promotion you're working
for. Not your educational degrees. None of those
things are important compared to this. It's not
the big game. It's not that once -in -a -lifetime
opportunity. It's not your dream vacation that
you've been working toward when you retire. It's
not even getting married and having a family.
But the most important thing in life is what
he talks about in this verse. To conduct ourselves
worthy of the calling that Jesus Christ has given
us. To live this way requires supernatural assistance.
You and I cannot in ourselves live worthy of
Jesus Christ. That's why God has given us his
Holy Spirit. As we draw upon the resources of
the Spirit of God in our lives and live like
he tells us to, and he will explain what he wants
from us. As we begin to put this into practice
by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit,
some things will take place. First of all, you'll
be pegged as different from other people. That's
all right. You're royalty. You will make some
people uncomfortable. There will be people who
will misunderstand you and, yes, even hate you.
Because of the way that you live, that lifestyle.
But never neglect the fact, don't ever forget
the truth, that you are a child of God. Not because
you are something in yourself, but because of
the calling of Jesus Christ that brought you
to faith in himself. And because of that calling,
that you had nothing to do with, that came to
you from the outside because of that calling
to become and to experience the fullness of all
that God has planned for His children. Because
of that calling and that destiny, God urges us
now to get our lifestyle into sync with it. In
the Old Testament, God said to his people, I
will bless you if you obey me. But in this age,
what God says to us is this, I have blessed you,
so please obey me. Let's pray together.