Walking Worthy

Ephesians 4 verse 1, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation or the calling wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness and longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Let's go to chapter 5, chapter 5 verse 1, be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Verse 8, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.

Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Let's just go down a little further, down to verse number 15, see then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Now that's all we'll read and we trust God will bless to us the reading of his precious word. Now I'm sure you know when we come to chapter 4, we're coming to a change in the character, in the delivery of what Paul is writing here to his believers at Ephesus. The first three chapters very clearly have to do with what we have come into because of God's great salvation.

Chapter 1 and 2, chapter 1 has to do with the wonder of our salvation, all these different things that have been bestowed upon us, it's all what God has done for us. All these things are coming this way. It's all being heaped upon us, blessing after blessing, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had blessed us with all spiritual blessings.

And so in chapter 1, someone has said there is the wonder of this salvation. When you come to chapter 2 and chapter 3, we have the workings of that salvation. You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin, raised us up, made us to sit in heavenly places.

And again, it's all coming our way. It's all what God is bestowing on us, and they are ours, and they are as sure, and our place in heaven is as sure as if we're already there. But then of course when we come to chapter 4, chapter 4, 5, and 6, there's going to be a change now, and it's not the things that have come to us, but now it's because of what we received, this should be the outcome.

This should be what our response is to this which God has given us. You know, someone has said that most world religions, they would open with chapter 4, 5, and 6, and if we did our part, then we would maybe come into the good of what we have in chapter 1, chapter 2, and chapter 3. But this is what changes, this is what differentiates what we have in Christ from anything, any religion that is in this world. These things have been given to us, all of grace, simply because it pleased God, it's been given to us.

And now he's saying our response to that should be one, he says here, of a worthy walk. A walk that is worthy, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation where which ye have been called. It's amazing when you go through the earlier chapters there in the book of Ephesians, it's amazing, and I sometimes don't appreciate the many things that I've been brought into.

Holy, without blame, before him, it tells us that in chapter 1. This is what we've been called to, this is what is ours. Sons by Jesus Christ to himself, again in chapter 1. Chapter 2 tells us, fellow citizens with the saints, members of the household of God. A holy temple in the Lord, chapter 2. Chapter 3 tells us, fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ.

So this is what we are, this is what we have. And now he's saying, because of what he has given me, because of the blessings he has bestowed upon me, he says that there is a walk that I should be walking. And it is a walk that is worthy of the calling of this vocation wherewith we have been called.

Chapter 4, he's going to tell us that the type of walk he's mentioning here, it's a walk together in unity. There is a united walk, there is a walk of unity in chapter 4. In chapter 4, near the end of the chapter, there's also a walk of purity in all truth and in holiness. And so this is the type of walk, this is the type of walk that should be manifested in my life if I am walking worthy of this calling wherewith I have been called.

But when we come to chapter 5, he is going to expand what this walk is. He is going to further expand these three finer points as to a walk that is worthy of the vocation wherewith we have been called. He's going to tell us here in verse number 2 that this walk that is worthy of the vocation wherewith we have been called, it is a walk in love.

Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love. Our son got married back in August and we had to pull out a whole bunch of pictures, you know they do those crazy montage things now where you have all these pictures to try to embarrass them as much as you can. And there was one picture that I had forgotten had been taken and it just, well, made me cry, okay, I'm not usually a cry baby, but it made me cry.

And it was a picture of my son when, well he was still in diapers so he had to be less than 5 years old, no he was younger than that, he had to be less than 2 years old. But he's just in this diaper and he's got these little tiny feet and it's a picture of him walking around in my size 11 shoes. And they're not done up, they're good shoes, but you can see me just standing there and he's got this big grin on his face because he knows that everybody's watching and he's walking in his dad's shoes.

And he was proud of it, even though he stumbled a bit as he went and shuffled across the floor, but he was trying to impress us, look, I can walk in your shoes, I can walk in your shoes and I hope you're noticing. Well here he says here, be therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love. This is, we've been hearing a bit about this, love and light.

But here, he is talking about this love with the Lord Jesus Christ as our example because that's what he's going to go to here right in this very next verse. Even as Christ also had loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. So our walk is going to be a walk that is manifested in love.

Now you can decide what that means in your own head, but I think it tells us here in these following verses what walking in love is all about. Because these things here, these terrible things that are mentioned, they are things that a person who is me-oriented will do. All these terrible, they're all the focuses on me, this fornication, this uncleanness, this covetousness, all these things, you know, deceit, idolatry.

They are things where the focus is on me and all that I can get out of this life and all the things that this flesh can enjoy. Where if I'm walking in love and my example is the Lord Jesus Christ, his attitude, his emphasis was never on me. That is for himself.

His emphasis always was towards others. That was his whole purpose in coming. He said, I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give my life a ransom for many.

As people saw him, whatever they thought of him, if they only stopped and considered the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the walk with which he walked, they would see there a walk of love. A walk of devotion first and foremost to his father in heaven, to God, out of love to his father, being obedient to his father's will, speaking the words that his father gave him to do, doing the works that his father gave him to do, his whole attitude was love first to God, but certainly one of love to those that were around him. Love and compassion to a world that was around him.

And that's what marked his life. He walked a walk of life. And so here he was, as he moved amongst men, a positive influence wherever he went.

Not seeing, oh yes, he saw the sin and he condemned sin when he saw it, but he had a love in his heart for the sinners. He had a love in his heart for the lost and perishing. And so Paul is here telling these believers at Ephesus, as he's telling us today, if I am going to walk worthy of the vocation with which I am called, it'll be a walk that is marked with love for others.

Not love of self as we have with these many terrible things that are mentioned, but not only will it be a walk of love. He tells us there that if I'm a follower of God as a dear child, not only would my walk be a walk of love, we read in verse number eight, that it will be a walk as children of light. So it'll be walk, walk of light, walk as light.

There's something here that I just noticed a while back. For the first time, I've read this so many times and through the Ephesian epistle, but it doesn't say for ye were sometimes in darkness. It says there ye were sometimes darkness.

We weren't in darkness. We were in fact ourselves darkness. And that was the kingdom to which we belonged.

And that was the leader of that kingdom whom we followed. And he tells us that very clearly here in the Ephesian epistle. But he says now you who were sometimes darkness, imagine we were darkness.

But now because of what we've been brought into, because of what Christ has done in us and for us, he says now our walk should be marked not by darkness, but our walk will be marked as light. Walk as light. And what is light? Well, he tells us here, the things of light, they're so opposed to the things of darkness where he says the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

And certainly that stands in opposition to those things of darkness that we read earlier in this chapter. He says we're to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. And there are some things, he says, that are so of that realm, he says, that we're not even to speak of them.

Things that are so heinous in the sight of God, things that are of darkness, he says don't even speak of those things. It's not becoming of someone who is walking as light. Not walking in the light, that's what we have in 1 John, but here we're walking as light, as luminaries in the world in which we move.

As they look on us, they're not seeing the darkness that is all around them, but they're seeing light. So he says here that we are to walk as light. So how are we to carry out this role as children of light? How do we walk as light? Well, this is where the next one comes in.

This is where the wisdom comes in. He says we are to walk as wise, circumspectly, he says, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time for the days are evil, therefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And so here he says now we're to walk as wise.

In order to walk as light, there has to be wisdom. There has to be wisdom that we can understand, wisdom that will guide us, wisdom that will direct us. We've been hearing a little bit about that already.

That wisdom comes from, well, certainly comes from the word of God. It comes from an understanding of the word of God, but where does that wisdom come from? How do we understand what we read? What is it that teaches us and causes us to understand so that we might walk as wise, that is walk in accordance with the word of God? Well, we haven't got time to get into all this, but it's interesting here as the chapter progresses as he goes on to the way that we are to walk as wise is we're to be filled with the spirit. That's where the wisdom comes from.

That's where the knowledge of how we ought to walk, of how we ought to walk as wise, it's going to come from the very next verse down in verse 18. So he says, and be not drunk with wine where in his excess, but be filled with the spirit. And so if I want to walk as wise, if I want to walk as light, if I want to walk in love in this world that is around me, it is going to be manifested if I am filled with the spirit, if my life is under the control of the spirit of God, not under the control of the flesh, not under the control of my own will, of my own mind, but under the control of the spirit of God.

And so he says there, be not drunk with wine where in his excess, but be filled with the spirit. And I know you know all this, but it's good to refresh our memory. You see, what this verse is all about, it's about a point of control.

It's about what is controlling me. And it's very easy, you know, we see the poor fella down there on whatever street it is in Waukesha, I know back where I come from, it's down on Front Street. And sometimes we're driving down Front Street and you can see that poor soul and he's tripping from the curb back up onto the sidewalk and from side to side and you can say, well, there's someone that's under the control of something that's not the spirit.

Well, it's spirits, but it's not the spirit. He's under the control of liquor. And so he's talking here, he says, when it comes to the point of control, he says, we should be under the control of the spirit of God.

Just as the liquor controls the life of the drunkard, it controls his walk. You can see him as he's stumbling down there, he's under the influence of something that's controlling his walk. It controls his talk.

When you stop and talk with that man, why he will, if he can't talk, he will usually slur or is very hard to understand. His talk is under the control of that liquor. His thoughts too.

You know, there are many people and when they're not under the influence, they're very nice people to talk to. They're very, you know, mild-mannered type people. But get under the influence of that and they, you know, they become, they think they're Superman and they want to fight everybody that's on the street.

Their actions become under the control of the liquor that is in them. So you can see how it controls them. It controls their walk, their talk, their thoughts, and their actions.

Well, someone who is filled with the spirit, and I'm not talking about baptism in the spirit. This is not what it's talking about here. There's only one baptism.

And baptism in the spirit means that I belong to the body of Christ. When it comes to being filled with the spirit, it means that I'm allowing my body to belong to Christ so that by the spirit, he can use it for his purposes, for his will. And so here, it's a point of control.

He says, so be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. So it's a thought of control. Who's controlling us? Who are we allowing to control us in our walk? In our walk of love, in our walk as light, and in our walk as wise? So it's the thought of control.

But this verse also talks about completeness. It says, be ye filled. That word filled means to be full to the top, nothing lacking.

And so it's being filled right to the top. And so it's really telling us, if there's any room in our heart for anything else, then I'm not filled with the spirit. If there's room for the flesh, if there's room for the world, then my heart is not, I'm not filled with the spirit.

So it's control, it's completeness, full to the top. But it's also the thought of consistency. It's an active word, an active tense.

It says, go on being filled. And so it's not just a one-time deal, but it is something that is active. There's activity involved.

And so it's, we're to go on being filled with the spirit, and it's our consistent living of a life for God, excuse me, in this world. But not only is there a thought of consistency, I'm going over these pretty quick because our time's gone, but there's also the thought of compliance. It's a passive voice as well.

And it's the thought of the filling is something that is done for us. Someone else does the filling. And so the emphasis, the onus then becomes, am I a clean vessel that I can be filled? Am I a clean vessel that I can be used, or is there something in my life that is grieving the spirit of God? Something in my life that is quenching the spirit of God? Because if those things are in play, then he cannot use us, he will not use us as far as being filled with the spirit.

And so it's a passive voice. We have to allow him to do the filling. But not only that, is it a point of control and completeness and consistency and compliance, it's also command.

It says, be ye filled. It's not a request. It is an imperative.

So it's not an option, but it is a command. And so when we don't allow God to do his work, when we don't allow the spirit of God to do his work in us, we are rebelling to the clear word, to the clear command of God. So he says here, be ye not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit.

And as I said, as I've gone over these very quickly, we're going to see that a believer that is under the control of the spirit of God, it's not just theology. It's not just stuff for the super Christian. But those that are filled with the spirit, it affects every single aspect of their life.

In the next verses that follow, we see there, because one of the evidences of being filled with the spirit is having the spirit of submission. And then he's going to bring that into day-to-day life. It's going to affect our everyday life, where it's going to affect the wives, the women.

It's going to affect husbands. It's going to affect children. It's going to affect fathers.

It's going to affect servants, and it's going to affect masters. Those that are filled with the spirit, it will have an effect upon our everyday-to-day life. And that will be a testimony.

That will be an evidence of someone that is walking worthy of the vocation wherewith they've been called, not under the power, not according to the power of their own flesh, not according to the power of their own will, but according to the indwelling spirit of God as we allow ourselves to be filled. We have vessels that are clean that the spirit of God can use so that we can fulfill. We've been hearing tonight, today, about the will of God.

Well, this is what he says here. He says, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil, wherefore, be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. So the will of the Lord is that we walk worthy, worthy of the vocation wherewith we've been called, that our walk will be marked by love, our walk will be marked as light, our walk will be marked as wise, circumspectly.

And even when it comes to those three things, the only way we'll have a true walk, a walk before God, is if it's done in the power of the spirit of God, that who would fill us every day. Trust God will bless us all.