The weight of your profession of faith, Ephesians 4:1-6

The Weight of your profession of faith Ephesians 4;1-6

Paul begins Ephesians with the gospel, truth, you could even call it doctrine. That is the theme of the 1st half of his letter. And, the second half of the letter has to do with what it looks like to live like someone who believes the gospel and has been transformed by the love and grace of God through their faith in Jesus. Paul writes about the life changing gospel of Jesus and then he writes about what the regular life of someone who’s life has been changed by the grace of God looks like.

Ephesians 4:1 is the beginning of the second half of the letter. Paul has written down the prayer that he is praying for the church. They have been saved, and because of their salvation he is praying that God will give them everything they need to grow in their faith and love, and he also prays that God would do even more with their lives than they could ever hope of imagine.

Paul prays for them, and then he begins to encourage and urge them to live the way he has taught them and prayed for them.

This is the heart of a shepherd… to see the flock flourish.

God has saved us to live a life that Jesus himself calls abundant. And it’s not abundant because it comes with the promise of the secular and worldly increase and benefits. No, it is abundant because it is defined by the always abounding and never ending love and grace of God.

Too many cultural Christians want the church and its pastors to provide some kind of chaplain service or simply be on call when they need something. But, the picture of the NT is that the church is made up of believers who have had their entire lives turned upside down by the love and grace of God through Jesus. And, as a result, they need shepherds to lead them to places and pastures where they can flourish… not just survive.

Following Jesus as a church is so much more than extracurricular activity or organization that comes with fun programs, entertaining environments, and a 24 hour help line.

Following Jesus as a church means joining together as one body to do life in a way that measures up to the grace that they have been given.

Let’s break down this passage so you can see what I mean by measuring up to the grace that you have been given.

Ephesians 4:1-6

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. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 4:1-6

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. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Paul began the letter by establishing his authority, but now as he begins to give them instruction on how to live, he appeals to his example and circumstances.

Paul wrote Ephesians from a Roman prison around AD 60. He is absolutely living the way that he is now instruction the church to live.

Ephesians 4:1-6

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. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Paul has praised the Lord, thanked God for their salvation, reminded them of the mystery that is God’s love for sinners and the unified church that bears His name… Paul has even prayed for them to grow in their faith… but now Paul is urging them… he isn’t begging with them, but he is earnestly instructing them and hoping for them that they will heed his words… and what is it that Paul is urging them to do?

Paul tells them that The Christian life should match the faith it professes.

This is what it means to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. If you claim to have faith in Jesus Christ, then God’s Word says that your life should look like Jesus has a claim on you. Paul means the way you live your life when he says “walk”

You’ve heard the phrase before, you talk the walk and walk the talk.

“Walk” means the entirety of your life. It means the whole of your day, the plans you make the appointments you keep, the rhythms of your life, the relationships you have, the things you buy, the reasons you save, the dreams you chase.

I know I don’t talk about giving much, and the reason is because I have heard so often how uncomfortable it makes people, and how so many churches just hammer giving Sunday after Sunday. I can say I have never been in a church that did that. But, I hear all too often how the church experience was reduced to showing up on Sunday and giving $… it is so much more than that.

But, I think you should hear today that when it comes to the whole of your life, you should be showing up on Sunday and giving to the Lord through the church because it matches the profession that a Christian makes. And why the church and not all the other things you want to pick and choose between? Because at the church you are surrendering it to the Lord and giving without being in control of it. I can tell you that it goes to so many incredible ministries and it even goes to support the lives of some incredible people that we call our pastors and staff. God multiplies His kingdom, cares fo the church, and supports his servants through the faithful giving of the body. So, if you have been sporadic in attending and giving I urge you to jump and let your faithfulness to meeting with your brothers and sisters and your giving match the profession of your faith in Jesus Christ.

But, like I said there is so much more… those really should baseline and beginning disciplines to the Christian life. We like to categorize and create levels where God doesn’t make them. For instance, you may think that serious Christians tithe, serious Christians share the gospel, serious Christians really do things different… and you may have believed the lie that not all Christians have to take their lives serious…

But, Paul is making sure that we know that every Christian has been saved to do things that God has planned beforehand.

In Ephesians 2:8–10 (ESV) Paul wrote,

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

And, Paul now makes sure that we know that

Every Christian has been saved to the same way of life.

“The calling to which you have been called.” Refers to the salvation call. This isn’t about an occupation, this is about the life you have been given as a gift of God’s grace. Without Christ you don’t have a life to live. You are dead in your sin and far from God… But, in Christ you have been saved to live worthy of the calling…

This means that Every Christian has been saved to the same transformed way of life.

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” - Deitrich Bonhoeffer

The full quote from his book, The Cost of Discipleship reads:

“The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” - Deitrich Bonhoeffer

You were once in darkness… and if you were saved young in life, that is still true… and it means that you have been saved to live differently that those who are walking in darkness, blind to the truth of the gospel, and in rebellion to the Lord.

This is why the movement in the church to say that some sins aren’t sin anymore is so wrong and dangerous. It doesn’t matter how passionate our culture becomes of the LGBTQ+ agenda and identity. Anything that God has said is sin is sin, and Christians are called to trust the Lord and live a transformed life. And the depth that transformation goes is to the heart, and it does’t mean that people just need to date and marry the “right way.” It means Christians have to fight sin no matter how intrinsic and natural it seems… The same God who gave you the grace for salvation will empower you to be faithful and with the same Spirit that calls you to trust in Christ He will change your desires and help you to be faithful the way of Jesus.

And, Every Christian living the transformed life means there is more to the transformed life than gender and sexuality.

We have a tendency in the Baptist church to get stuck on whatever major issue the culture around us pushing. Especially SBC churches… we keep a close eye on the culture and make sure that we are quick to let the world know what we are against. But, based on the number of moral failures with pastors, divorces, addictions to alcohol, vaping, prescription drugs, pornography, etc it seems we would serve ourselves and the Lord well if we kept a close watch on ourselves.

So, to the LGBTQ+ person who feels like we just hammer what you struggle with, I know why you feel that way, but it still doesn’t change the fact that God saved you from that sin to live worthy of his name. And to the proud and puffed up individuals who think they don’t have any sin, 1 John says you are a liar and don’t know the love of God. And to the one who wants to live the transformed life, but is wrestling with secret struggles, doubts, and failures… remember that it was God’s grace that saved you… and it’s grace that is keeping you, and it’s His grace that will help you. There is new mercy for you every day!

So, if every Christian has been saved to the same transformed way of life, then what does that look like?

Ephesians 4:1-6

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. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Seeing yourself for who you truly are, a sinner who is deeply loved by your Savior

The making of ourselves small is pride in the disguise of humility. But the esteeming of ourselves small, inasmuch as we are so, the thinking truly, and because truly, therefore, lowlily of ourselves.” The word is used in an early secular manuscript of the Nile River at its low stage, “It runs low.” Expositors defines it: “the lowliness of mind which springs from a true estimate of ourselves—a deep sense of our own moral smallness and demerit.”

Accepting God’s plans without grumbling or disputing, and being ready to say yes.

“Meekness” is prautētos (πραυτητος). Trench defines it as follows: “It is an inwrought grace of the soul, and the exercises of it are first and chiefly toward God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing. This meekness before God is also such in the face of man

Enduring with courage and hope through the trials of life.

The man who is patient (hupomonē (ὑπομονη)) is the one who under a great siege of trials, bears up and does not lose courage.”

Lovingly shouldering and enduring all of the ways those in the church struggle and even hurt you.

Forbearing” is anechō (ἀνεχω), “to hold up, to sustain, to bear with equanimity, to bear with, endure.” This is in explanation of makrothumia (μακροθυμια) (longsuffering).

We are to bear with one another “in love.” It is in the sphere of the love that God the Holy Spirit produces in the heart of the yielded believer (Gal. 5:22), that we are to be patient with each other as misunderstandings arise, as cutting words are said, as unkind actions are done. The love shown at Calvary was a forgiving love. Ours should be the same

Actively guarding the unity and peace that God has given us in the church.

“to take care, make haste, do one’s best.” It speaks of a determined effort. It has the idea of exertion in it. “Keep” is tēreō (τηρεω), “to keep by guarding, to guard by exercising watchful care.” It speaks of guarding something which is in one’s possession. “Unity” is henotēs (ἑνοτης), “unanimity, agreement.” It is the unanimity or agreement among Christians that is the product of the Holy Spirit. “Bond” is sundesmos (συνδεσμος), “that which binds together.” “Of peace” is genitive of description, defining this binding factor. Peace is the binding factor which will preserve the unity which the Spirit has produced. “Peace” is eirēnē (εἰρηνη), “that which is bound together.” Expositors says: “The unity, therefore, which is wrought among these Ephesians by the Spirit of God will be theirs in so far as they make peace the relation which they maintain one to another, or the bond in which they walk together

We are called to be eager, determined, wanting to keep what God has already given us… which is unity.

I am afraid that we are working to find unity rather than opening our eyes to see the depth and scope of unity that God has already given us. Just look at verses 4-5

Ephesians 4:1-6

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. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

If we are saved, then there are a host of ways that our unity is real, confirmed, and displayed.

One body and one spirit, there is no other body other than the one sealed and empowered by the Spirit.

One hope that belongs to your call- there isn’t another hope other than Jesus. Your works won’t save you, no other religion will save you… there isn’t another gospel than the one of Jesus… There is one hope-Jesus, and it to Him that you are called to trust and it is His name that you are called to live for.

Unity in the church depends on agreeing with Christ, not one another.

When the church walks together with Christ, the church will walk in peace and unity with one another.

The church is made up of those who are in Christ, who have trusted in Christ, who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit, and who surrender to the will of the one God and father who is over all and through all and in all.

Peace and unity are realities for the church… when we don’t have peace and unity- the first place we should look is to our own lives in relation to Jesus and His Word… not to one another. (This is what it means to be humble and gentle).

This way of life is very different than the world. This way of life is entirely centered on Jesus and His call to follow Him.

This way of life is different from the world because it’s not about self, it’s about Jesus and God’s plan for your life.

Every Christian has been saved to the same transformed way of life, and we are called to do this together.

Today I would like to suggest that you consider two questions as a way of responding to the Word:

Two Questions:

Does the way you live your life match your profession of faith in Jesus Christ?

Have you committed to walking worthy with your brothers and sisters here at Harrisburg?

You can come and pray, if you’d like… you could even just come and stand here at the front of the room together as a show that you are committed to walking worthy, and that you are committed to walking worthy together.

Possible Application Points:

Pastors have been given authority, but they have also been called to serve as examples. Commentary and Study Notes:

Thus, Paul exhorts the Ephesian saints to see to it that their Christian experience, the Christian life they live, should weigh as much as the profession of Christianity which they make. In other words, they are to see to it that they practice what they preach, that their experience measures up to their standing in grace.

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 93–94.

“Calling” (vocation in a.v.) is klēsis (κλησις). The verb refers to that divine summons into salvation which God gives a sinner, in which he is constituted willing to accept the salvation offered. It speaks of that effectual call into salvation which God in sovereign grace extends to a sinner. In Hebrews 3:1, the writer speaks of the recipients as partakers of the heavenly calling, “the calling whose origin, nature, and goal are heavenly” (Cremer). The word “calling” in English sometimes means “occupation” as, “His calling was that of a shoemaker.” But it is not so used here. Paul’s thought is that sinners were called into salvation and made saints. They are to be obedient to that heavenly calling or summons to be saints, and live saintly lives.

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 94.

The Christian lowliness is no mere modesty or absence of pretension, nor yet a self-made grace. The making of ourselves small is pride in the disguise of humility. But the esteeming of ourselves small, inasmuch as we are so, the thinking truly, and because truly, therefore, lowlily of ourselves.” The word is used in an early secular manuscript of the Nile River at its low stage, “It runs low.” Expositors defines it: “the lowliness of mind which springs from a true estimate of ourselves—a deep sense of our own moral smallness and demerit.” “Meekness” is prautētos (πραυτητος). Trench defines it as follows: “It is an inwrought grace of the soul, and the exercises of it are first and chiefly toward God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing. This meekness before God is also such in the face of man

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 94–95.

“Longsuffering” is makrothumia (μακροθυμια). Trench, contrasting this word “longsuffering” with hupomonē (ὑπομονη) (patience) says: “Makrothumia (Μακροθυμια) (longsuffering) will be found to express patience with respect of persons, hupomonē (ὑπομονη), patience in respect of things. The man who is longsuffering, is he who, having to do with injurious persons, does not suffer himself easily to be provoked by them, or to blaze up in anger (II Tim. 4:2). The man who is patient (hupomonē (ὑπομονη)) is the one who under a great siege of trials, bears up and does not lose courage.” “Forbearing” is anechō (ἀνεχω), “to hold up, to sustain, to bear with equanimity, to bear with, endure.” This is in explanation of makrothumia (μακροθυμια) (longsuffering).

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 95.

We are to bear with one another “in love.” It is in the sphere of the love that God the Holy Spirit produces in the heart of the yielded believer (Gal. 5:22), that we are to be patient with each other as misunderstandings arise, as cutting words are said, as unkind actions are done. The love shown at Calvary was a forgiving love. Ours should be the same

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 95.

“Endeavoring” is spoudazō (σπουδαζω), “to take care, make haste, do one’s best.” It speaks of a determined effort. It has the idea of exertion in it. “Keep” is tēreō (τηρεω), “to keep by guarding, to guard by exercising watchful care.” It speaks of guarding something which is in one’s possession. “Unity” is henotēs (ἑνοτης), “unanimity, agreement.” It is the unanimity or agreement among Christians that is the product of the Holy Spirit. “Bond” is sundesmos (συνδεσμος), “that which binds together.” “Of peace” is genitive of description, defining this binding factor. Peace is the binding factor which will preserve the unity which the Spirit has produced. “Peace” is eirēnē (εἰρηνη), “that which is bound together.” Expositors says: “The unity, therefore, which is wrought among these Ephesians by the Spirit of God will be theirs in so far as they make peace the relation which they maintain one to another, or the bond in which they walk together

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 95–96.

“The article defined charis (χαρις) (grace) as the grace of which the writer and his fellow-believers had experience, which they knew to have been given them, and by which God worked in them. What is given is not the charisma (χαρισμα) (extraordinary powers such as special gifts) but the charis (χαρις) (grace), the subjective grace that works within and shows itself in its result—the charism (χαρισμ), the gracious faculty or quality. The emphasis is on the hekastōi (ἑκαστωι) (to each one), and the de (δε) (but) is rather the adversative particle than the transitional.

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 97.

This grace which is in the form of the enabling and empowering of the Holy Spirit, is given the saint “according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Expositors explains as follows: “Each gets the grace which Christ has to give, and each gets it in the proportion in which the Giver is pleased to bestow it; one having it in larger measure and another in smaller, but each getting it from the same Hand and with the same purpose.” We must be careful to note that this grace has to do with the exercise of special gifts for service, not the grace for daily living. The former is limited, and is adjusted to the kind of gift and the extent to which the Holy Spirit desires to use that gift in the believer’s service. The latter is unlimited and subject only to the limitations which the believer puts upon it by a lack of yieldedness to the Spirit. The context here, (4:11, 12), is one of service, not of general Christian experience

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 97–98.