Walk Worthy (Ephesians 4-6)

Intro: Hope you have been blessed, equipped, encouraged today with the sessions, breakouts and the fellowship.

We have learned what Christianity isn’t, we have covered what it is, now lets spend some time on how to live in light of the Gospel. In other words, if I claim Christianity , if I claim to be a follower/disciple of Jesus, what should my life look like?

According to Barna Reasearch Group

1 in 4 Americans are considered Practicing Christians

That number uses to hover around 50%. So where did everyone go?

Well the number of people who claim to have no religious affiliation grew, Barna calls this group of people is called the nones. In 2000 this group was at 20% in 2019 it jumped to 30%

Barna has another group of people that has grown, this group hovered around 20% in 2000 but has grown to 43% in 2020. Barna calls this group Non - Practicing Christians. These are people who claim Christianity, but do not live it out.

When we look through the lens of Scripture, there is no such thing as a non - practicing follower of Jesus. This is something our culture has created because at one time there was social pressure to be a church member, which is no longer the case, so now we have poeple who grew up in the church and claim Christianty as their “religion” but have no clue on what it means to follow Jesus.

I think sometimes we who cling to some form of “reformed theology” have been part of the problem, because of how we explain or loosely define the security of the believer or in one of my most disliked terms “once saved always saved”. But that is another session for another conference.

So the question before us this afternoon is, in light of the Gospel, if I claim to be a Christian, how should I then live? I plan to tackle this using selected passages from the book of Ephesians. So lets dive in, open your Bible to Ephesians so you can follow along.

1. The Gospel transforms us and reorients our lives to love God and love others.

What we find is Ephesians 1-3 is the riches of God’s glorious grace freely given to the sinner described as “in Christ”.

In Christ

we are chosen in love

we holy and blameless

we are adopted

we are redeemed

forgiven

we have been given an inheritance

made alive

freely given God’s grace

have been placed in a community, known as the church.

Why did God do this for us?

Ephesians 1:14 ESV

who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

God has done this in love, to the praise of his glory. God has lavished us with grace, ultimately for his Glory. God is gathering a people across the globe who live by God’s grace and for his glory. When God saves someone they are transformed by the riches of God’s grace, but they are also being transformed into the image of Jesus every day.

When the Gospel takes root in someone, your life is reoriented to live for God’s glory. Before Jesus took hold of your life, you were living for your glory, you were building your own kingdom, you were living for your self. Jesus reorints yoour life to live for his glory, to build his kingdom, to take up your cross and follow him.

Listen to Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2:1–4 (ESV)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

Paul is telling us

You were dead in your sins

you once walked in the ways of the world

we all once lived under the domain of the prince of the power of the air

We were all there… But God, rich in mercy and because of his great love, he made us alive in Christ. There is nothing we could have done, it all God. As a result of what Jesus has done in us, our life now is reoriented to live for him. Paul said before God’s grace showed up, you were dead, walked in the ways of the world, operated in the realm of prince of the power air, But NOT ANY MORE. Now....

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

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

What should we do? Walk in them.

Paul uses this term walk, 7 times in Ephesians, we have just read 2, he will use it 5 more times. What Paul is implying by using the word walk, is lifestyle, living or what should characterize are lives. Which leads us to our second point.

2. The Gospel Compels us to walk worthy of our calling as our act of worship.

Ephesians 4:1 ESV

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

This is the Romans 12:1-2 of the book of Ephesians. Do your remember Romans 12:1-2? In Romans 1-11 Paul is explaining to them the why they need the Gospel & what the Gospel has accomplished. Then he gets to Romans 12 and says

Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ephesians 4:1 is our Romans 12:1 moment for the church of Ephesus. If the Gospel has taken root in you, your act of worship to God is to walk worthy of the calling you have recieved. This is your spiritual act of worship to the Lord.

Jesus said it very plainly in John 14:15

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

How do we show our love and gratefulness to the Lord for what he has done for us? Walk worthy of the calling we have recieved. The God through the Gospel gives us the faith, desire and passion to walk worthy of the calling we have received through the power of the Spirit. God doesn’t say I saved you now go live it out in your strength. No God says I saved and I will be with to empower to walk worthy of the calling you have recieved until you breath your last breath or I take you home.

Notice what Paul says how we are to walk, with all

humility

gentleness

patience

bearing with one another in love

eager to maintain unity of the Spirit

in the bond of peace

Christians across the world can use a fresh wind of all this right here. Christian twitter can use a whole lot of this right here. Our local churches can use a whole lot of this right here. Many times we are going through life waiting for people to say or do something we don’t like ad then we blow them up. I got ya! A 20 tweet thread later, it turns out to be nothing.

I love what Ray Ortland says, gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. When you life is transformed by the Gospel your life will reflect these attitudes and characteristics. Now when you get a community of believers who live out these characteristics, then you will display the power of the Gospel to those in the church and outside the church. Which leads into our last point...

3. The Gospel compels us to walk worthy of our calling in our relationships with people.

God is working in this world through the local church.

Something I never noticed before, which i realized when I was preparing for this conference, is after Rom 12:1-2 and Eph 4:1 Paul moves immediately on how we serve in the community of faith the church. In both instances he talks about gifts the Lord has given the body of believers to work in the ministries of the church.

The work and activity of God is going to be accomplished in this world through the local churches who serve in their communities. Para-church orgs are great, but the local church is what God is going to use to transform lives and communities.

What does this mean?

In order to walk worthy of the calling we have recieved we need to be part of a healthy local church. You have something to give the community of faith you are a part of that they need and they have something to give that you need. and together we grow and become equipped to perform the work of the ministry to the world. There is no such thing as churchless Christianity.

God is working through you as his ambassador to the world.

Ephesians 4:17-23 (ESV)

Ephesians 4:17–23 ESV

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

Paul keeps reminding us of this doesn’t he. Do not walk like you used to , live different , you are free through the Gospel to walk worthy of the calling you have recieved, so walk in it. Paul has a reason for you to live different… because now you are an ambassodor of Christ, you are his rep on the earth. If you claim to be a Christian, the way you live tells the world what you think of Christ and the Gospel.

Ephesians 4:25–5:2 ESV

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

If you are transformed by the Gospel it should transform every social area of your life.

Your Relationships

Ephesians 5:3–21 ESV

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

2. Your Mariage

Ephesians 5:22–32 ESV

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

3. Your Parenting

Ephesians 6:1–4 ESV

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

4. Your work

Ephesians 6:5–9 ESV

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

When you get a community of faith walking worthy of the calling, walking in step with the Gospel, walking in love. You will have something beautiful and attractive.

You will also have Gospel impact, what do you mean? When I say Gospel impact, I mean you will begin to have Gospel influence in your community. When you read the book of Acts and Paul’s missionary journey’s. hen people came to faith in Christ, there was societal impact. People who sold idols were going out of business, women and children were being valued instead of being devalued, the Gospel had societal impact. Which is why, they said these men are turning the world upside down.

Unfortunately we are so concerned about what is or is not being said about social justice we have vacated this role to those outside the church. Many times it is because in the past we have been silent where we should have been marching or the church at times has been the advocates of social injustice that when we try and address any social issues people do not take us seriously. This needs to change, the Gospel has social impact in the society when people who transformed by the Gospel walk worthy of the calling they have recieved.

WOuldn’t it be great to hear that Christ the Redeemer in Pine Bluff is having a Gospel impact because the Gospel doctrine produced a Gospel culture and is flourishing and having a societal impact in Pine Bluff. People are being transformed through the Gospel and Gang violence is decreasing, marriage fidelity is increasing, abortion is decreasing, race issues are dissolving because the Gospel is flourishing. All of this to the praise of his glorious riches that he has lavished on us. Amen!