Being built up... (14)

Living a life worthy of the calling...

My Dad used to this about my Grandpa, “If he could find a hard way of doing something, he would.” My Dad was one who thought outside the box to find solutions.

While I worked at the Feed mill in Ontario, I understood what my Dad meant. One of my co-workers, looking for work, would take the platform scale to a grain bin, and fill the burlap bags with a 10 litre pail, scoop by scoop. Each bag was hand tied.

There was something I learned about the scale, and about how dense each type of feed was. As I’d open the chute of the bin to fill the bags. It became a guessing game to see how close to 40 kgs, I could fill each bag. I tried to be within a scoop either way, but once the scale balanced, I knew it was time to take the bag off of the scale.

This morning, I’d like us to look at what we believe, as compared to how we live.

So let’s look at our Scripture passage:

Ephesians 4:1–6 NLT

1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.

As we start chapter 4, Paul switches gears and moves from what we believe to how we live. He was a prisoner in Rome, but even though he couldn’t go from church to church, he still ministered by what he wrote.

Live a life worthy of the calling...

The Bible Knowledge Commentary (4:1)

The word “worthy” (axiōs) means “equal weight”; one’s calling and conduct should be in balance.

How we live must match what we believe. If we only believe but have no walk, there is no evidence that Christ is living in us.

We are saved by faith alone. It’s not by works, but by God’s grace.

God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense

Jesus paid the price, but He calls us to follow.

Luke 9:23 NIV

23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

What is our calling?

Ephesians 1:4 NLT

4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

God’s will for our lives is that we will be holy, set apart, and without fault in His eyes.

Philippians 2:12–16 NIV

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. 14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

There needs to be a balance between our belief and our practice.

We can do all the good works that are humanly possible, but if there is no faith, there is no eternal value. We can’t be made holy or be justified in God’s eyes by good works, it’s only by the blood of Jesus.

We can have mountain moving faith but if it isn’t shown by how we live it is of little value.

James 2:16–19 NIV

16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

Our faith must be covered by agape love.

1 Corinthians 13:2 NIV

2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Why do we need to lead lives worthy of our calling?

Ephesians 4:1 (NLT)

1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.

We have a high and holy calling. God has called you to be His children.

1 Peter 2:8–10 NLT

8 And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. 9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”

I want to encourage you never to forget that God has placed a calling on you. He has His hand on your life. Sometimes we think of a calling as a calling into the ministry, but God has a special calling on each of us.

He calls us to be holy and blameless in His sight. He calls us to go and make disciples of all nations. We are more than conquerors because Christ loved us. We are the righteousness of Christ. You are precious to God.

He calls us to unity...

Ephesians 4:2 NIV

2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

How do we value each other?

There are three virtues or character traits that Paul mentions in verse 2.

1. Humility

(LANTC)

The Greeks saw this as a character flaw rather than something to be desired. Slaves should be humble because of their position, not the strong.

Humility is an attitude. It doesn’t diminish who we are, but it gives us an honest assessment of who we are.

Romans 12:3 NIV

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Romans 12:9–10 NIV

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Often we here about equality, and society has often done a poor job of treating people as they ought to be treated. According to what I can see according to Scripture, the Bible doesn’t teach equality. It goes farther.

Philippians 2:3–4 NIV

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Always be humble and

2. Gentle

Life Application New Testament Commentary Unity in the Body of Christ / 4:1–16

Humility is an attitude, and gentleness is the action derived from it.

Gentleness is strength under control.

Meekness does not = weakness

Do I consider others interests or just my own?

Do I have the same attitude Jesus had when He humbled Himself and became a slave and died a criminal’s death on a cross?

Micah 6:8 NIV

8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

When we walk humbly before the Lord, it always translates to people

Matthew 22:37–39 NIV

37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

3. Be patient

Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)

2 ...be patient, bearing with one another in love.

The NLT puts it this way,

Ephesians 4:2 (NLT)

2 ...Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.

When we come to grips that people aren’t perfect. It’s not that we are waiting for people to make mistakes, but when they do, we forgive when someone offends us.

People may not deserve to be forgiven, but we call this mercy and grace. We, too, have received grace upon grace from the Lord, so let’s extend grace to each other.

We aren’t always going to agree on everything. We may believe that we are right, but let’s make allowances for each other, walk with each other, bear with each other.

1 Peter 4:8 NIV

8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

We cannot ignore God’s word and overlook sin, but we can’t write somebody off to whom God still has a plan and a purpose.

James 5:20 NIV

20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Paul doesn’t leave verse 3 as a take it or leave it.

This is what he says,

Make every effort...

Ephesians 4:3 NIV

3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

We need to be diligent as we make keep the unity of the Spirit. We can’t be in unity with each other apart from the Holy Spirit. He is the One who brings unity as we follow His leading.

Galatians 5:16–23 NLT

16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

We don’t live by Flip Wilson’s phrase,

“The devil made me do it.”

Each of us must make the choice to submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Paul said, “I die daily.”

Each and every day, we make choices, and these choices affect our lives. We can be spiritually minded or earthly minded. We can take every thought captive or our thoughts can take us captive.

Joshua said

Joshua 24:15 NIV

15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Daily, let’s choose to keep the unity of the Spirit, bound or tied up with peace.

Let’s look at the unity that we find in the next three verses .

Ephesians 4:4 NLT

4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

There is one body...

There may be 45000 denominations but there is only one body of Christ. We all must enter the narrow gate. Jesus is the narrow gate that we must enter.

Acts 4:12 NIV

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

No one else has died on the cross for our sins, and there is no other name than Jesus Christ.

There is only one church, and that is the church of the living God.

There is only one Spirit...

We we come to faith, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. In fact, it is the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ, and it is the Holy Spirit that gives us the power to overcome.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. Holy Spirit will not lead us into error. He is God and He works according to His word. When prophetic words come, they are subject to the prophet, but the Holy Spirit is always in agreement with the word of God.

1 Thessalonians 5:19–22 NLT

19 Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. 20 Do not scoff at prophecies, 21 but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil.

Just as you were called to

one Hope

What is the blessed hope of the church?

Our hope is that Jesus is coming again.

Titus 2:11–13 NIV

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

Ephesians 4:5 NLT

5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

One Lord...

There is only one to whom we must give an account. There is only one to whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess.

One Faith...

We can place our faith in many things, but there is only one faith that has the power to save, and that is in Jesus Christ.

We will be accused of being close minded and intolerant, but Jesus only gave us one way to God, and that is in Him.

Paul includes

One Baptism...

Here Paul is speaking about water baptism. Baptism represents dying to our flesh and being raised alive in Christ. It is an outward expression of an inward work. When we are baptized, we are declaring to all present that we are children of the Most High God, and we want to follow Him all the days of our life.

We are not saved through baptism even though it can be a very important step of faith. We are saved through faith in Christ alone.

Let’s close with verse 6

Ephesians 4:6 NLT

6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.

Even though we believe in the Triune God, we only believe in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is only one Father.

Paul did not teach pantheism (“God is in everything, so we can worship nature”) or universalism (“God is Father of all and will therefore save everyone”). Rather, he taught about the omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God, ruling over creation and exercising his power through his followers on behalf of the church.

Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary (p. 819). Tyndale.

As we follow Christ, let’s live our lives worthy of our calling. He has called us to live out what we believe, according to the word of God, and to walk in unity in the bond of peace.

Let’s see Christians as brother and sister, not as competition or foe. God commands His blessing in unity, not in division.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

Matthew 16:18 NIV

18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Let’s pray!