Believers Behavior
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Introduction:
Introduction:
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
What does your walk look like?
When we take an honest look at how we live our lives, what does the manner of our lives reflect, are we people who want to keep the unity of God’s Spirit in the Church and where do we find our total satisfaction?
Are we holy in our walk, or are we callous when it comes to holiness?
Are we willing to put up with others in the Church or are we judgmental in our dealings with them?
Are we doing all that we can do to maintain the unity in the Church created by the Spirit or are we tearing that down?
With pastoral compassion Paul lays out the details of three areas that believers in the Church must do.
First, there is the Method of our Steps; Second, the Manner of our Submission and third, the Measure of our Satisfaction.
I. The Method of Our Steps (vs. 1-2a)
I. The Method of Our Steps (vs. 1-2a)
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
The Apostle begins this important section with a reminder to the believers that are Ephesus that he is a prisoner, and not just a prisoner, but that he is a prisoner because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The reason why that is important is because as a prisoner because of the Lord, it makes what he is about to say all the more authoritative.
And because the life that he lives caused him to be the prisoner of the Lord, I suppose that we could assume that Paul could have had the attitude that says, “well, if I can withstand being a prisoner because I lived faithfully, then I expect nothing less from you”.
But the Apostle, with all the love and concern of a shepherd, says to the Church “I urge you”.
The word “urge” is a beautiful word.
It is the Greek word “παρακαλέω”
The word literally means to “encourage, exhort, to appeal to”
So it is more with shepherd care, rather than Apostolic authority that Paul encourages the believers at Ephesus in certain actions.
Now notice how Paul is encouraging these believers.
He wants to encourage their walk.
“Walk” is “περιπατέω” and basically has the idea of how you live, our manner of life or the Method of Our Steps.
Paul, with pastoral care and concern, urges and encourages these believers to live their lives in a certain way.
And the way that Paul wants to encourage these believers to walk is in a manner that is worthy of their calling.
Paul encourages them that the steps of their life be in such a way that it is worthy of their call to salvation.
Now, that is a tall order, isn’t it?
But that is the call that the Apostle lays on these believers.
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Since the calling that we have received is a holy calling and we are to walk worthy of the calling, the Apostle is urging these believers to a holy life.
This is a call to sanctification.
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
The work of sanctification is a work of the Spirit, so Paul’s urge here is that we filled with the Spirit.
Believers are to actively pursue righteousness.
2 Cor. 7:1
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
And what I tell people from the moment that they trust Christ is that you will only grow in your sanctification to the degree that you are student of the Scripture.
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
The Method of our steps is to live a life that is worthy of your calling and that is holy calling, so holiness is to be the Method of our Steps.
And we are to walk that walk with humility (remembering where we came from), gentleness ( “πραΰτης” lit. courtesy) and patience (remember people grow at different speeds).
Believers are called to be long tempered.
The patient Christian endures negative circumstances and never gives into them.
II. The Manner of Our Submission (vs. 2b)
II. The Manner of Our Submission (vs. 2b)
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Sometimes one of the hardest things in life to do is to put up with each other.
We love each other, but sometimes the quirks tend to get the best of us.
I love how the Word of God is so practical and that it speaks to the very heart of matters with the life of the Church.
Paul began to speak on this when he told the the believers to exercise gentleness or courtesy.
We are to demonstrate power under control.
Believers are called to be quiet, soothing and mild mannered and never to be avenging, self-assertive, vindictive or self-defensive.
David, as a young man, showed this behavior to King Saul when he refused to kill him in the cave near Engedi, although he had opportunity and considerable justification from a human point of view. ()
After he became king, he again showed the restraint of courtesy or meekness when he refused to retaliate against the malicious taunts, curses, and stone throwing of Shimei ( )
Then he continues with telling them to be forbearing with each other.
I like this verse.
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
It throws a blanket over the sins of others, not to justify of excuse them but to keep the sins from becoming any more known than necessary.
Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
Forbearing love takes abuse from others while continuing to love them.
Love here is “ἀγάπη” and it is the love that gives continuously and unconditionally.
I like this word “forbear”, it is “ἀνέχομαι” and it has a range of translations.
It is translated as “endure”.
And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
It is also translated as “put up”
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
The idea is that as believers we are to “put up” or “endure” one another with continual love.
We submit to God and obey His commandments as we submit to one another and put up with each other; in love.
Love does not gripe, love does not gossip and love does not hold grudges.
The manner of our submission to God is as we endure one another with love.
III. The Measure of Our Satisfaction (vs. 3)
III. The Measure of Our Satisfaction (vs. 3)
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
This is all one continual process in the life of the believer.
As we live lives that are worthy of our calling, then we exhibit humility and gentleness and courtesy, then we are obedient to put up with one another.
Because we are living truly holy lives, we see ourselves are truly unholy in our selves and then we view others not as quite as judgmentally.
And when all of those things come together, we find our joy and satisfaction in unity with each other.
The word for “endeavouring” is “σπουδάζω” and means “to be eager”.
Believers find their satisfaction in unity, in the Spirit.
I am not talking about false unity, where we sacrifice Doctrine for unity; that is not unity in the Spirit.
Spiritual unity is not, and cannot be, created by the Church.
It is created by the Spirit.
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Believers are eager to maintain the same unity that the Spirit has created.
This is the same unity that Jesus prayed for in the upper room.
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
The church’s responsibility, through the lives of individual believers, is to preserve the unity by faithfully walking in a manner worthy of God’s calling (vs.1).
The Method of Our Steps is to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.
The Manner of our Submission is to submit to one another and put up with each other in love.
And the Measure of Our Satisfaction is to be eager to to maintain the Unity that Spirit creates.
