The Walk

Good morning! Welcome to Lindsay Lane East! It’s so good to see you on this holiday weekend. I know you could have chosen several ways to spend this morning other than at church, but this is the choice you made, and I believe God honors that!

If you are new here, we have a gift for you!. If you will take the card from the back of the seat in front of you, fill it out with as much info as you are comfortable with, and drop it by Next Steps in the lobby on your way out today. Someone there will get you that gift and get you some info on our church.

This week, we are continuing in our study called Summer School. We are looking, mainly in the book of Ephesians, at some basic truths that we need to take to heart and understand more fully and correctly.

We have discussed the nature of God, sin, salvation, and baptism.

Today, we take another step. Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 4.

Last week I mentioned the day Kelly and I got married. It was June 20, 2009. It was 150 degree heat index and not a cloud in the sky. And my groomsmen and I all had on full tuxes. Needless to say, it was hot. But before our family and friends, and God almighty, we exchanged rings and pledged to love one another “so long as you both shall live.”

That was a really awesome day! And I still have a few vivid memories of it. HOWEVER, if you were to ask me, “Heath, are you married?” I wouldn’t think back to that day! It was 12 years ago. When I think about my marriage to Kelly, MANY more thoughts come to mind before my wedding or even my honeymoon! I think of yesterday laying on a blanket in the front yard in the shade to rest with her. I think of going swimming at night with just us and the kids last week at my aunt’s house. And a plethora of other memories! That’s because I live as her husband EVERYDAY.

However, way too many people when asked “Are you a Christian?” don’t think about yesterday or last week. They say, “Sure, I got saved when I was 10, 15, 23, whatever the case.” If that’s the first thought that comes, that’s fine, but I believe most often this is what is said because they have spent very little time since their salvation doing anything with Jesus!

What is missing in their life is “A Christian Walk.”

That’s about as cliche, churchy word as it gets. But the idea is actually a very biblical one! Paul talks over and over again in Ephesians about how a Christian is to walk!

That’s our discussion today: The WALK.

Let me read Ephesians 4:1, pray, and then we will come back and talk about it.

Ephesians 4:1 CSB

Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,

PRAY

This verse is the first time we see Paul using the idea of a Christian’s life as a “walk” in Ephesians. Here he says walk worthy of the calling you have received. If you remember week two, Patrick told us that the first three chapters of Ephesians are all about how God has saved us. It really is helping us know how to THINK about salvation. Chapters 4-6 help us know what to DO about salvation. This one verse is the pivot.

What we are going to see is that Paul spends significant time describing how Christians should be living. He tells his readers to walk four ways...

Walk in Unity, Love, Light, and Wisdom.

So, without any more of an introduction, here is point number 1.

1. Walk in Unity

Ephesians 4:1–6 CSB

Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Paul says to walk worthy of our calling and then he describes what that walk should look like. His overarching theme is UNITY in the CHURCH. Notice some of the things he says...

a. Lowliness and gentleness

Are you kind and humble in the way you deal with other believers? I can tell you that this is not my first reaction most days. I am more willing to puff myself up in a disagreement than I am to humble myself. Aren’t you? That’s the natural sinful reaction. But as Christians, we cannot be content to remain this way. We must seek lowliness and gentleness towards other believers.

b. Patience

Yeah. I don’t think I have to go into great detail here. Somebody just keeps messing up and doing the wrong thing. It is easy to get down on them. But aren’t you glad God was patient with you? What if God had written you off the first or second time you blew it? If the character of the God we serve includes patience, then those of us who call him Father should have that character trait as well.

c. Bearing with one another in love

Now, I can bear with one another with the best of them! Wouldn’t it have been great if Paul had stopped there? “Just survive this life living near one another and coexisting with one another. That’s all God wants!” Paul doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say “in love”. That’s the kicker folks. We must strive through this life with one another but do so with love for God and love for one another in our hearts.

Then, after Paul gives these descriptions of the Christian’s walk in unity, he gives a few pieces of why! He focuses on “oneness.” There is ONE LORD. ONE SPIRIT. ONE FATHER. Church, the same God that created you, created that person you fight with all the time! The same blood that Jesus shed for you was also shed for that coworker who drives you up a wall! The same spirit that fills you, fills that associate pastor who can really tick you off sometimes.

Christian, listen… God has called you as a believer to WALK IN UNITY because you share a oneness with others around you.

The second thing Paul talks about is…

2. Walk in Love

Ephesians 5:1–2 CSB

Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

What a picture! How beautiful? If Paul had said “WALK IN LOVE”, we could dismiss that away and say that we do that. See, love without a measure or example is a subjective issue. Many of us feel that we are loving towards others, but we need to take a moment and notice the example that Paul says we are to follow… “as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us”.

That is intense! We are not just to love others; we are to love them so much we would give anything for them. Right? That’s the calling here...

So, how are you doing on love now? Do you love people sacrificially? Do love anyone sacrificially?

If not, that’s an area to work on. You are not walking in the way Christ has called you as a believer. Christ is our measuring stick on this. Strive for it!

Walk in Unity. Walk in Love

Thirdly Paul says…

3. Walk in Light

Ephesians 5:8–14 CSB

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— testing what is pleasing to the Lord. Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. Everything exposed by the light is made visible, for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Paul begins this with a good reminder that will bring us all to a humble place this morning: YOU WERE ONCE DARKNESS! The Bible talks about us being IN darkness but here Paul says that we WERE darkness. If you have been a Christian for a long time, never forget that you once were a nasty filthy sinner separated from a holy God until the point that God saw fit to save your sorry tail. You ain’t got nothing to do with it. God saved you when you couldn’t save yourself.

For those of us who are Christians, our darkness doesn’t define us anymore. As Paul says we have been made LIGHT. Again, Paul chooses not to use the phrase “in the light” that the Bible often uses. He says that we ARE light.

What can light do? What abilities does light have? NONE! It’s just light. It can’t change. It can’t be something different. Light cannot be darkness. The sun cannot one day begin to shine darkness on the earth instead of light. Light is LIGHT! Paul is saying to us who have been redeemed: BE WHO GOD HAS MADE YOU TO BE! Don’t emulate what you see around you in the world. Don’t emulate what you see on TV. Be LIGHT. Be like Christ!

When the Christian life is lived properly, the believer will stand out from the world. But remember, it is not just different. Light is not just different from darkness. It dispels darkness! When light is shined into darkness the darkness goes away! That’s the impact believers can have on the world.

Sadly, most Christians hide their light in the shadows, in the corners of life. In Unity and in Love shine that light guy! Walk in LIGHT!

4. Walk in Wisdom

Ephesians 5:15–21 CSB

Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise— making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit: speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

The last way Paul sums up the CHristian walk is IN WISDOM. There is a whole sermon going on here in this passage, but there are two key movements in the verses that will sum it up some...

a. Don’t waste time

Notice verse 15. Paul says wise people REDEEM the time. And the very next verse says THERFORE. Paul says that because the days are evil, don’t waste time. He says don’t waste time getting drunk on wine; use your time wisely by getting drunk on the Holy Spirit. Don’t waste so much time singing songs about trucks and women; make good use of your time by singing songs about the glorious grace and mercy of our Savior, giving thanks to God. Don’t waste your time arguing with one another; use this little bit of time we have to submit to one another in love and in the fear of God. If the days are evil and time is short, we must be about God’s business, right? We must be focused on the things of God and not the world.

But my life is most often consumed with time wasters! May it not be so among God’s people here at East!

The second movement in the passage...

b. Understand the will of the Lord

This is a great text. Paul says don’t be unwise, understand what God wants. So the question then becomes, “what is the will of God?” You can look high and low in the Bible and you will see different answers to this question. Sometimes the passages are speaking to specific instances of God’s will. But in my studying the clearest picture is found in 1 Thess. 4:3. Paul seems to use the term God’s will synonymously with another word that is a churchy word: your sanctification. Paul is saying that God’s will is that you be sanctified.

Sanctification, for the sake of time, can be summed as the process of making you like Jesus. This is the lifelong process that God uses to fix your messed up self. If this is the ultimate will of God, then He will use whatever means necessary to accomplish this. He will use that boring times, the happy times, sad times, the devastating times, the good times and the bad times. Every moment in our life, every life decision, is an opportunity for God to shape us.

Walking in Wisdom is very much understanding that God has one plan for you: you looking like Jesus. We get so caught up in all the details: should I take this job or that job. Should I buy this house or that house. Should I eat this taco or this hamburger.... I’m not saying these decisions are not important, but is it wise to stress over these things?

When I was in student ministry, I noticed a lot of high school graduates not knowing what they were going to do after they graduated. But there were at least two different reasons. One was because they hadn’t thought about it. I don’t know I might go to college. I might get a job. I might try to make it as a Youtuber. Right?

But there was another group that were also confused about after graduation plans. These were those who claimed to be super spiritual. I can remember one girl so stressed out because she didn’t know if God wanted her to go to UAH or UNA. She was worrying herself sick over this!

I can remember sitting her down one night, reading this verse to her and asking, “Can you honor God at UAH? Can you honor God at UNA? Will your influence at both schools be about the same? OK. Pick one.

We find ourselves so consumed with unfruitful worry and thoughts.

PAUL SAYS WALK IN WISDOM! Not wasting so much time and recognizing the will of God to sanctify you!

So what does that mean for you? The last point I made tonight was that God wants to make you like Jesus. There are three types of people probably in the room tonight.

1. You are at a good place in life. You are following God and as you read the Bible and study, God shows you how you can be more like Jesus. He uses interactions at work, your children, and so many other everyday things to help shape you. If that’s you tonight, praise God. Keep it up. Keep being faithful. We want to help you by providing next steps for you like serving in the church and joining a group. Let us know what steps you need to take.

2. You and God are not on the best of terms right now. You are in a place where you are running from God. You may come to church and look good on Sundays but you are not focused on becoming more like Jesus today. You may even hope it’s down the road, but just not today. I beg of you to right the relationship tonight. As I said, God’s going to make you into the image of Christ. He can do it with your permission or without it. Allow God to work in you freely tonight. Strive to grow your marriage with him. Stop depending on a salvation that happened a long time ago. Write new stories of God’s faithfulness!

3. You don’t look anything like Jesus because you have never come to God for salvation in Christ. Tonight, I would love to share with you about how you can begin a relationship with Jesus and start the process of being made into His image. If you need that tonight, please do not hesitate to talk with me.

We are going to have a time of response to sing, come to this altar and pray or even to come talk with me about a decision you need to make. Whatever you need to do, do it!

Let me pray.

PRAY