Walking Worthy

Introduction

I. Walk in Truth

The first three chapters of Ephesians expound on the essential doctrines of the faith. In Ephesians 4:1, Paul says, “therefore.” What he is doing is he is tying in the first three chapters to these last three chapters. He is saying, “since you know the truth, they will enable you to walk worthy of your calling with which you were called. The entirety of these three chapters is how we walk in the truth that we received in the first three chapters.

In the small epistles in the back, written by the Apostle John, he talks about the love of God and how it is applied to us in a very practical way. In 3 John 4 he says, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” He is an elder of the church, and he says that his joy is that those he teaches learn to walk in truth. That is the joy of Paul as well, and that is my joy, that you walk in truth!

To walk in truth means to live your life and to have your mind saturated in the Scripture. Another theme that you’re going to see spelled out in the epistles written by John is the theme of obedience and how it corresponds with the love of God. Much like the book of Ephesians, which prays that we be filled with the fullness of God, the epistles of John tell us that when we have the love of God, when we have His fullness, that we will obey the commandments of God.

So, here in these first three chapters, there are some wonderful truths that we need to remember so that we are challenged to walk in them.

A. The Truths of Chapter 1

1. We Are in Christ

Ephesians 1:1 NKJV

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

To be “in Christ” means that He is also “in us.” It shows us that we are born again, and that we are now a spiritual people, not a worldly people.

2. We Are Spiritually Blessed

The Bible says that we are chosen, predestined, redeemed, and that we are made wise.

Ephesians 1:4–6 NKJV

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

3. We Are Accepted

Ephesians 1:6 NKJV

to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

The conclusion of knowing these things in chapter 1 is that we can walk in confidence knowing that we have been set apart to accomplish the will of God here on earth.

Then chapter 1 gives us the first prayer of Paul.

4. That We May Know

Ephesians 1:18–19 NKJV

the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

These all have to do with faith. We cannot forget that the Christian life has far less to do with skill than it does with trust. We must also remember from these things that we don’t simply have “faith,” but we have faith in God. Faith is nothing, but faith in the Word of God is everything!

B. The Truths of Chapter 2

1. What You Were Apart From Him

Ephesians 2:1 NKJV

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

This truth erases any kind of boasting or pride we could have. Knowing this is what keeps us dependent on Him. When we begin to feel as though we were always as mature as we are now, then we give into pride, and then we are chastised by God, and then we repeat the process. But having a spirit of humility comes from remembering our condition before He saved us.

2. Who He Is In Spite of You

Despite everything that you ever did or will do, God remains the author of love and the giver of life.

Ephesians 2:4–5 NKJV

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

This speaks of His love. And when we go back into the epistles of John, 1 John 4:19 “We love Him because He first loved us.” These attributes of God that are listed in v. 4 (His grace and mercy) are the outpourings of His great love. That because He is love, and because He loved us, He extended His grace and mercy to us, and now we can appropriate love Him and be with Him.

There is that fullness that Paul prays for in Ephesians 3:19 “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” That is to have your hearts filled with the love of God, which He has given to us through His grace and mercy.

3. What He Did For You

Ephesians 2:8–9 NKJV

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

What did He do? He saved us! He saved us and He recreated us.

4. What He Does in You

Ephesians 2:10 NKJV

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

In His Power, by His hand, we work in Him. Notice it doesn’t say that we should work for God, but it says that we should walk in the good works that He has made us for. So, we do not work for God, we walk in His power to accomplish His work that He prepared and established beforehand.

C. The Truths of Chapter 3

When we covered chapter 3, we talked on the content of our prayers, that we should pray for certain things.

1. To Be Mighty

Ephesians 3:16 NKJV

that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,

Not do mighty things for God, but for God to do mighty things in us and through us.

2. To Have Spiritual Depth

Ephesians 3:17 NKJV

that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

This repeats the conversation on the love of God. That if we want to see earth from Heaven’s perspective, we have to go deep as we walk in the love of God. It is that His love has to penetrate our hearts and make its home there, and it has to dwell there, and it has to be planted and grounded there.

This means to apprehend the love of God.

Ephesians 3:18–19 NKJV

may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

And what exactly is the love of Christ?

The love of Christ is absolute obedience to the Word of God. Even while He was in the garden praying, the blood rolling down His cheeks, He obeyed. And the Bible says that we know that we love God if we keep His commandments.

1 John 5:3–4 NKJV

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

When we have come into the fullness of God, we will know so, because we keep His commandments. and when we sin, we know that something is wrong with us, and we pray, and we confess, and we get back into fellowship with God because He forgives us, and now we possess again the love of God. Not that we lose our salvation, not that we are cast out of the family, but when sin is in our life, the love of Christ cannot dwell there.

3. To Live in Fullness

Ephesians 3:19 NKJV

to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

This is not something that we can get just from study or intellect, but it is something that the Holy Spirit produces in us. It cannot come any other way. If you think that you can possess the love of God simply through study, then you’re only half way right. This is why Paul says, “therefore, I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.”

II. Walk in Grace

In v. 2-3, we see six graces. These are not something that comes from the outward things like Bible study or church attendance, these are things that can only be produced from within.

He is talking about walking in unity with one another. Unity doesn’t come from outside pressure. Uniformity comes from outside pressure, but unity is something that comes when we intentionally walk in these six graces that are listed here.

When a person knows all there is to know about the Bible, but they do not have these internal graces, if they are not grounded there in the love of God, then they will be puffed up with knowledge.

1 Corinthians 8:1 NKJV

We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.

So, now that we know the truth about who we are, how should we walk in grace?

A. Lowliness and Meekness

Lowliness is humilty. Someone said that humility is the grace that once you know you have it, you’ve lost it. Humility boils down to this, putting Christ first, others second, and ourselves last. It is the fine balance of not thinking more of yourself than you should, but not thinking less of yourself than you should. Humility literally means walking in the truth.

Then there is meekness. And this is a term that denotes “power under control.” It is a ranching term. When a horse in broken, they would say that the horse had been meeked. Because you have this very powerful animal that is now just as gentle as he could possibly be.

B. Long-Suffering and Forbearance

To be long-suffering literally means to be “long-tempered.” It is the ability to endure insult and injury without fighting back. We are all tempted to defend ourselves when our character is being attacked. But the person who is long-suffering won’t lose themselves when an unfair accusation comes in.

That is combined with forbearance. This is where love is really shown. Because forbearance is more than just not retaliating. Forbearance is retaliating in love. It means that you go to a person that has wronged you, and you are as kind to them as you could possibly be.

This is what Jesus did on the cross. When they spat on Him, blasphemed Him, and murdered Him, He prayed, “Father, forgive them!”

C. Endeavoring and Peace

To endeavor means to “be eager.” This is something that we constantly work at. Some people when they’re wronged or if they mess up, they avoid things. Others get bitter. Still, others get even in a negative way. But the person that endeavors is not going to avoid, they’re not going to get bitter, and they’re not going to get even. They are going to go to that person in love and resolve the conflict.

We all know what peace is. But we cannot live at peace with others until we learn to make peace within ourselves. The grace of God is the extension of peace, the love of God is the instrument of peace, and God is the author of peace. If we want to have peace, we have to have the fullness of God. If we want the fullness of God, we have to endeavor to make peace. It’s a work in progress, but it’s something we must endeavor to do.

III. Walk in Unity

Ephesians 4:4–6 NKJV

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

What we find here is a complete and perfect list of God’s unification. Why do I call it perfect? Because, in the Bible, the number 7 is the number for completion and perfection. Here, we find 7 truths about why we’re unified.

A. One Body

This is the church. The church is local expression of the love of God. If the church cannot love one another, we cannot ever tell the world that God loves them.

When we attack one another, we attack ourselves.

B. One Spirit

This is the Holy Spirit. He is the source of our unity. Unity is not something that we can achieve. It is only something that can be given to us.

Vance Havner - “We cannot be wired together by organization, we cannot be frozen together by formalism, we cannot be rusted together by tradition, but we must be melted together by one Spirit.

C. One Calling

This calling that we have, to look towards the second coming of the Lord Jesus. That each and every day we are to expec this, and this motivates us to keep on accomplishing His will.

D. One Lord

Jesus didn’t come to take sides, He came to take over. We belong to Him. And Everything we do must be done in Him.

In the story of Joshua, just before they take Jericho. Jesus tells Joshua, “As the Commander of the army of the Lord I have come.”

E. One Faith

Our faith is in the Word of God. That is why it is absolutely necessary to walk in truth.

We get confused about faith. It’s not enough to have faith, we must have faith in the right object. That is, we must have faith in God. Well, when we hear the Word of God, we then have the opportunity to have faith in His word and then to express faith by obeying His word.

Romans 10:17 NKJV

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

F. One Baptism

This is not water baptism, but it is baptism by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:13 NKJV

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

Some will say that we need salvation, and then we need the baptism of the Spirit. Well, according to God’s Word, salvation is the baptism of the Spirit. Now, we can be filled with the Spirit at different times, but we are only baptized in the Spirit one time. And this baptism cleanses us, and makes us acceptable to God.

Now, water can’t do that, only the Holy Spirit can. So, when we baptise someone, we aren’t cleansing them per say, but we are showing the world that they have been inwardly cleansed. That they have a new heart and that they have entered into a blood covenant with the Lord Jesus.

They are also testifying that they are in the Body, of the Spirit, worthy of the calling, that they confess the Lord, and that they trust in God’s word (they have faith), and that they have been baptized by the Holy Spirit of God. Water baptism shows us all of those things at one time!

G. One God

v. 6 says that we have one God. That He is above all, and through all, and in us all. Not that God is in the grass and in the trees. But that when we are in Christ, then Christ is in us, and when Christ is in us, we are in the Father and the Father is in us.

Quite literally, we become one with God. We have been reconciled to Him, and we are one with Him.

Hebrews 7:19 NKJV

for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.

That is the purpose of our faith, that we draw near to God through the blood of Jesus.

Conclusion

Unity is a gospel issue.

Unity doesn’t come from without but from within.

We have unity when we walk in lowliness, in meekness, in long-suffering, forbearance, and by endeavoring to keep peace.