"A Worthy Walk" - Ephesians 4:1-6 - Bob Wade

[Music] [Music] [Applause] open up your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 this is a pivotal morning in our study of the book of Ephesians you know if you were here at the very first week we started this back in January one of the things I had shared was that you know the book of Ephesians itself breaks into two natural sections in fact that's where actually where we even got our title for the whole series which is made worthy which is really about the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians to walk worthy which is about chapters four five and six those first three chapters really outlined for us really what God has done for us and in us new life the fact that he's given us a brand new family and then you get to chapter four or five and six that second part and that really has to do with our response you know we're challenged at that point based upon the fact that God has done these amazing things in our lives we're challenged at this point to walk worthy of that in a sense this is sort of an obligation as as believers are we gonna step up to the plate and be who God is has called us to be because one of the things that remember we've talked about even the last couple of weeks is God did not just save you just to get you into heaven he saved you to put you into a brand new family the family of God the church he gave you brothers and sisters from every background so he puts you into this new church and now he expects you to live according to purpose which is what we saw even in the last verse up there that he gives us a purpose for even being here in life and that's really kind of what we want to look at this morning why don't you read along with me as I read to the first six verses here Paul writes in he says I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love eager to mainly maintain the unity of the spear in the bond of peace there is one body one spirit just super called into one hope that belongs to your call one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all okay now the first thing he's going to tell us here we're gonna divide this up into four different sections through these six verses here but the first thing Paul is gonna tell us here in verse one is about to call to walk worthy the call to walk worthy look how he starts all this he says I therefore now whenever you see the word therefore you know the one thing you want to do is realize it therefore is a little bit like saying because or as a result of and you immediately look back so if you look at the passage go okay well what are the verses right before it have to say but in this case I don't think Paul is talking about just going back to the verses right before this I think what Paul is do is he's actually going back and saying look every single thing you've learned in the first three chapters that's a setup for us here from where we're going right now Paul says here I urge you the Greek word here is parakalo it means to come along side of him please come along side of me saying here it's a passionate word it's not like he's just saying look I I'm making this request of you this is a word that he's imploring them even to the point that he's even begging them well what is he begging them about well the passage goes on he says I therefore a prisoner of the Lord heard you to walk in a manner worthy that word their walk has to do with our daily con you know conduct in life so in other words it's how I live it's not like it's a one-time you know theological thing that God did on your life and changed you now he's talking about how you live out every single day then he takes it a step further he gets to the word worthy it's the Greek word Axios it's a cool word because it has this picture here of the all time balancing scales I mean I think we have actually a picture of it here you know if you think about scales like this perhaps you know you know your grandparents had some scales like this or you went to a store or someplace but the idea is is we're supposed to think about you know our lives is like take one side of the scale and you do everything that God has done for you and it simply just weights everything completely down now as believers based upon the fact that God has done all these things in my life now I'm supposed to step up and try I'll never complete it but I'm supposed to step up and try to balance the scale out with my life how do I live that's the call to walking worthy matching how I live and corresponding to the position of who I am in Christ worthy walk is not supposed to be a drudgery it's just the daily response to God's blessings in my life you see once I realize that he's forgiven my sin once I realized that he's brought me into this new family once I realized that he wants something for my life I don't simply just stop and go look thanks for heaven but I don't really care about the rest that I would have a sense of yes Lord I want to be a part of your family I want to do what you created me for I want to live the life that you have called me to live I mean think about the things that he's done I mean we put a couple of them on the screen here in Ephesians chapter 1 if you just simply go back into those things visions chapter 1 verse 4 tells us that that God chose us for himself before the world was even created you were in an accident God wasn't surprised by you coming to faith he didn't go whoa I never thought they'd know he chose you verse 5 he says he predestined us to be his children heirs of every single thing that he owns now by the way can I just say this do we understand every single thing about predestination no we do not you know when you'll understand all that completely when you stand before him in heaven but I here's what I do know the Bible tells me that he did somehow he chose me verses chapter 1 chapter 1 verse 7 says he sent His only Son to die and therefore atone for my sins chapter 1 verse 13 and he sealed me with His Holy Spirit forever chapter 2 verse 4 he made me alive spiritually because see before you before you and I came to faith we were dead spiritually he said what does spiritual death look like you ever watch and maybe this is not true of you but I remember this happening completely I was 14 when I came to the Lord I mean I remember I heard the gospel and it just clicked and made sense to me and I went forward I made the decision and I remember a friend of mine is like that I don't get it that was being spiritually dead I just never got it it didn't make sense to them but he's made me alive chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 he's graciously given me the faith to believe in him chapter 2 verse 10 he gave me a purpose I'm not living a purposeless life I'm doing exactly what he wants to me so now if you take all those things now you come to chapter 4 and Paul is not out of line to stop at this point and say look I'm telling you this I therefore because of all these things have happened I'm urging you to live worthy of that live worthy of all the things that God has done in your life and by the way this is not the first time that he would say it are the only time they say it in Philippians chapter 1 verse 27 he'll tell us only let your your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ now I want to be really clear here because I don't want anybody to to miss what I'm seeing here or take this out of context I am NOT talking about earning God's love you can't do that I am NOT talking about God loving you more if you walk worthy that's not what I'm talking about what I'm talking about is the worthy walk is simply my response to his amazing love and blessing in my life where I step forward and there that change of heart I want to honor him now there's a second part and that is the call to a worthy attitude verse two let me read that again he says with all humility and gentleness and with patience bearing with one another in love in other words because I realize that what he's asking me to do now my attitude automagically s' and so in verse two here he tells us there are four parts to this attitude that happened when you and I really come to know the Lord and really want to honor the Lord the first one he mentions here is humility the humility is not a new term in the church you know it's not like this is you know something that you're completely you know it's foreign to you completely to humble yourself is to simply not be full of yourself but in the context of what Paul was writing and when he was writing and who he was writing to here this is completely foreign you say what do you mean did you know that the Romans and the Greeks didn't even have a word for humility and the Greeks have I mean the Greek language has three times as many words as the English language and they don't even have a word for it you know why they don't have a word for it because they didn't practice it because he it didn't matter to them you would never think of yourself in that way you would never think that you were not really you know high up here and and brilliant and in every possible way that's not what you were intended to do and yet in Christianity it's just a fundamental part of our faith model even by Jesus I mean keep your finger here in Ephesians go over to the right to Philippians chapter 2 Philippians 2 look at verses 7 and 8 Paul's writing here again he says but but he emptied himself talking about Jesus here by taking the form of a servant in other words you know he takes on flesh so they can come into this earth being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death in other words this is just exactly what our saviors done why would it be out of you know context for us to be called to do it humility is a huge part of our faith you you and I can't even come to faith in Jesus without humility you say what do you mean no one comes to faith in Jesus Christ if they think they can save themselves no one comes to faith in Jesus if you think I don't need him I'm the self-made man you're not coming to faith in Jesus then you see faith in Jesus requires that I stop and I go you know what I am a sinner I do fall short of the glory of God I need him to save me that's humility it changes everything so a Paul is asking here when he writes the church here in Ephesus he's asking the church to have an awareness of sin we said well what does that look like well at different times that looks a little bit differently I mean Isaiah who was this prophet of the Lord gets this vision in Isaiah chapter 6 of being and then in the throne room of the Lord you know when the angels are flying around and they're crying out holy holy holy is God you know and they're even covering their eyes and covering their that their feet and Isaiah does it go whoa that is the coolest picture of visual effects stuff I've ever seen in my life he stops and he goes woe is me for I am a sinner Paul primary writer of the New Testament the first Timothy 1:15 says that Christ it's a true statement a trustworthy statement that Christ came into the world to save sinners he goes and I'm the foremost Peter in Luke chapter 5 verse 8 he's out with his friends and they've been fishing all night long cotton thing this guy standing on the beach says hey throw the net out to the other side they do that the catch is so amazing it literally begins to start ripping the Nets apart they bring it in and all of us that he realizes it's Jesus and his responses back to him is Lord depart from me as I'm a sinner let me show you one more keep your finger in Ephesians go over to Luke chapter 18 or to the left Luke chapter 18 starting with verse 10 Jesus is telling a story here that's very important for us to get he starts off in verse 10 and he says two men two men went up into the temple to pray one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector the Pharisees standing by himself prayed thus God I thank you that I am not like other men extortionists unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector pointing to this guy over here to the side he says in verse 12 I fast twice a week I give tithes of all that I get verse 13 but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but he beat his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled but the one who humbles himself will be exalted that's Jesus's words we're called to be humble folks there's a second part there in verse two and that is to be gentle gentle I got to be honest with you as a guy no male wants to be gentle right that would not be I mean like you to do how the guys really smart or he's talented nobody wants to go yeah that's a really gentle guy can I get a timeout starting over you know I mean we don't want that but you know that's because we equate gentleness with meekness and weakness that's not what this word means this word means strength under control it's the picture of a big strong powerful muscled up horse that it just could run and jump and crush any possible thing but it is completely controlled by its master the idea here is this as followers of Christ based upon the fact that God has done all these amazing things he's made us worthy now I'm supposed to exercise self-control over my life that doesn't mean run wild the third thing he says here in verse two is patience patience literally means long temper dismiss it's where we translate usually as like long-suffering it's the idea that that the patient believer just endures it goes through it he stays at it he lives through the negatives Abraham was a perfect example of that you're gonna you're gonna get be fathering a whole nation well that didn't happen for a while the worthy walk makes us different than the world the final one there in verse 2 is where Paul writes and he says bearing with one another in love this could be really the least favorite of all the walking worthy ones because bearing with one another means it's it's a it's a perfect picture of the fact that you and I need bearing with it you know me we're not perfect right it only fits in Scripture I mean Peter in 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 8 would tell us that love covers a multitude of sins that's bearing with one another proverbs 10 verse 12 says love covers all offenses folks that's who were called to be because that's who our God is with us in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32 you know Paul writes there he says I want you to be kind they're hearty forgiving each other just as God in Christ Jesus forgave you you know that thing that God really shouldn't have had to forgive you for you learned to forgive that makes us christ-like the word here to uses these is bearing with one another in love that word love here is the Greek word agape you probably heard that many many times that word use but you know what's really interesting here about that word is the three most common Yuli used words in the scripture for love eros phileo and agape are all very different eros is a selfish love phileo you know is where we get this this is the word Philadelphia the city of brotherly love it's a reciprocal love you know we just loved each other but agape is completely different agape is an unselfish love that exists without getting it just loves that's who we're called to be can you see what Paul is saying here based on all that God has done for you based on all that God has done for you be humble exercise self-control with your life be patient with one another love each other and not because they love you anybody can love someone that loves them what makes us different is that we love even when we're not loved now the third part of this is you see in verse three is the call to unity what he says here he goes eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace be eater that's a cool word it means to make every effort but to do it in innocence enthusiastically maintain the unity now let me tell you what it doesn't say it doesn't say you have to create unity it says our duty is to maintain it now let me tell you why that's a struggle because there's a difference between unity and uniformity no place in the Bible is it calling for uniformity uniformity is when everybody looks alike and and everybody acts completely alike and you know I mean no places that say that has to be true of us but unity is special because what unity is is when you take things that are alike and dis alike and they all come together and they're all committed to the same things Jesus the church each other no you get to verse 4 and verses 4 through 6 give us the final one and that is the basis for unity let me read that ok there is one body in one spirit just as you recall - one hope that belongs to your call one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all now clearly unity is a big deal because Paul mentions 1 7 times here and the reason why he does that is he basically has to and if you think about it churches are loaded with people with all sorts of you know different kind of opinions on life and on politics and that's why we never I mean the UNAM in our small groups the one thing you can't do you can talk about lots of different things you cannot talk about politics because it separates the body and so we do that to maintain the fact that we all ought to be together so the church though has people that disagree we have people that that have different personalities or people that come from different spiritual growth patterns and people that have different backgrounds socioeconomically and culturally and and different desires and approaches on how they you know handle an issue or how do they respond to others just different experiences you take all those different people and you put them into a new family they're gonna disagree unless something supernatural happens Paul is saying here work hard to maintain the unity and he gives seven reasons why because there's one body there's one spirit there's one hope one Lord one faith one baptism one father that list right there should Trump the differences list every single time do you know what's interesting here is that people I've heard people actually say this before they say you know doctrine I hate that cuz that's that's what divides us as people you ever heard that before it's absolutely not true in fact it's so interesting his the doctrine is the one thing that prevents division here it's what we believe that causes us to be united look what he says here there's one body talking about the body of Christ the church which every single person if you're here this morning and you believe in Jesus Christ you've trusted in Christ you are a part of the body you're a part of the church he says there's one spirit there's only one Holy Spirit that dwells within us same spirit that dwells within me dwells within you there's one hope that hope that one day that we'll be in heaven with Jesus that all will be made right and perfect there's one Lord Jesus is Lord there is no debate no division about who's on the throne within the church it's Jesus there's one faith one baptism not talking about immersion here there's no mention or idea of immersion here this is baptism of the Spirit when you and I come to faith in Jesus Christ we are baptized in the spirit there is one god and father over all that is the unifier folks sin is a separator it's divisive it's disruptive it's selfish it is exactly the opposite of what Paul is calling us to here the question is what are we going to be known for see my prayer would be is that we would be a church that would be about cherishing the unity about building the bonds of family to the myths of hurt sorrow heartache all of it [Music]

Channel: Highlands Church

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Keywords: sermon, church, highlands church, bible, scottsdale, arizona, jesus, god, religion, christian, non-denominational, evangelical, christianity, theology, christ, pastor, Bob Wade, Ephesians: Made Worthy. Walk Worthy., Ephesians, Ephesians 4:1-6, A Worthy Walk

Id: ysjtAB0Vv1M

Length: 25min 35sec (1535 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 23 2018