If you are born again, you are alive with Christ! If you are born again, everything listed in Ephesians 1:3-14 is true of you! In those twelve verses the phrase: “In Him” or “in Christ” is stated. Before we even touch Ephesians 4:1-3, I want you to marvel over what it means to be in Christ. In Jesus, I can now know the God for whom I was made. In Jesus God no longer sees my sin, but the righteousness of His Son. In Jesus, I am becoming more and more like the person I was born to be. In Jesus, I have redemption and am now a child of God instead of an enemy; here are eighteen other reasons to celebrate what it means to be “in Christ.”:
- In Christ, I am justified freely by His grace (Rom. 3:24)
- In Christ, I am now God’s child (1 Peter 1:3)
- In Christ, I am forgiven of all my sins (Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:14)
- In Christ, I have peace (John 14:27)
- In Christ, I am loved by God the Father (John 16:27)
- In Christ, I belong to God (John 17:9)
- In Christ, I will never be forsaken or abandoned by God (John 10)
- In Christ, I am treasured by God (1 Peter 1-2)
- In Christ, I am the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21)
- In Christ, there is for me NO condemnation (Rom. 8:1)
- In Christ, God is working all things together for my good (Rom. 8:28)
- In Christ, I have obtained an inheritance that only God alone can give (Eph. 1:11)
- In Christ, I am a new creation… the old is gone and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17)
- In Christ, I am a son/daughter of God (Gal. 4:6)
- In Christ, I am no longer a stranger or alien, but a fellow citizen with the saints (Eph. 2:19)
- In Christ, I am a member of the body of Christ (Eph. 3:6)
- In Christ, I am set apart for the mission of God (Eph. 2:10)
- In Christ, I am loved by an everlasting God (1 John 4:19)
Paul begins verse four with the word, “Therefore.” When you read your Bible, this word serves as a clue that in light of what has been written, what you are about to read next is in response to what proceeded it. Another way to say it is: “In light of Ephesians 1-3, this is how you are to behave. How are we to behave? Since we are alive in Christ, we are to walk as the spiritually living. Since we are not the only ones made alive in Christ, we should walk together as the living. I want to look at both of those points Paul makes in the verses that follow.
How to Walk as the Living
Paul begins with these words: “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you…” (v. 1a). So far in his epistle this is only the second place when Paul tells his readers to do something. The first time Paul told the Ephesians they had to do something, it was in 2:12, “remember that you were…”. Remember what Paul? Remember who you were and who you now are! In Ephesians 4:1, Paul is not telling these Christians to remember their identity in Christ but to walk in step with their identity as those who have been called out of death into life with Christ.
There are two words I want you to notice that I will call, “The Two W’s of the Christian life.” The first word is “walk”, and the second word is “worthy.” The W’s of the Christian life serve as evidence that you are alive in Jesus and no longer dead in your sins. When Paul uses the word “walk” in his epistle, he is referring metaphorically to the way a person lives out their life ethically. Paul uses the word “walk” thirty-two times in his epistles, eight of which are used in Ephesians, and every time it is used metaphorically!
In Ephesians 2:1-2, our walk was governed by a Christless life: “And you were dead in your offenses and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” In Colossians Paul also described the way the Christian used to walk, listen to the way he uses the word, “walk” in Colossians 3:5-7, “Therefore, treat the parts of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.” Jesus used the same metaphor in describing what will happen to the one who follows Him: “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12). Listen to the other ways Paul uses the word walk in his epistles:
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” (Gal. 5:16)
“Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:4)
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Eph. 5:1–2)
Here, in the verse before us this morning, we are commanded to, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called…”.
The second “W” word of the Christian life is the word “worthy.” The Greek word Paul uses is axiōs, and it literally means “worthily.” The word worthy means to have worth or value in the same way a scale measures the weight of something. So, picture a scale in your mind; on the one side of the scale you have all of the doctrinal goodness that is true of you in Christ from Ephesians 1-3, and on the other side of the scale is the weight of your new life in Jesus applied in the way you live out that doctrinal truth. Martyn Lloyd-Jones describes what Paul is saying in this verse in the following way: “The Apostle … is beseeching them and exhorting them always to give equal weight in their lives to doctrine and practice. They must not put all the weight on doctrine and none on practice; nor all the weight on practice and just a little, if any at all, on doctrine. To do so produces imbalance and lopsidedness. The Ephesians must take great pains to see that the scales are perfectly balanced.”[1]
Let me say it in another way: Orthodoxy is “right doctrine”, and orthopraxy is “right-practice.” Here is where it gets real for you and me! In evangelical churches, you will probably run into two types of people who claim to be Christian: the first is the kind of Christian who can quote chapter and verse from the Bible, seems to have their theology nailed down and dialed in, but has little to show for it in the way they live out (practice) their Christianity. The other person you may run into seems to be a really nice Christian but has little understanding of the Bible or what passes for right doctrine. What we learn from Ephesians 4:1 is that our metaphorical Christian scale needs sound and solid doctrine from the Bible that is balanced by a life that is shaped by a growing understanding of the Word of God. Let me say it another way: as a Christian, you should be growing in your understanding of who God is and what it means to follow Jesus, and as you grow, your life will demonstrate that growth in equal measure.
The Way We Walk Together as the Living
So what does it look like to, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called”? It looks like verses 2-3, which is a life with, “all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Two themes flow out of Ephesians 4-6 and that is, 1) unity between the redeemed and 2) the godly life lived out. In verses 2-3, Paul provides a list of five character traits that the one who is truly alive in Christ ought to long and strive for as he/she follows Jesus. What Paul lists are five characteristics that ought to be on the side of the scale that is labeled: practice.
- Humility. Think about your salvation and what it cost Jesus to redeem you. You who once stood before a holy God as a child of wrath living in the lusts of your flesh and mind (vv. 2-3), God made you alive in Christ (v. 4-5). Could there not be any clearer statement to shatter any hint of pride in you: “but God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us… made us alive together with Christ.” If you understand the doctrine of God’s grace and mercy, then you will understand that the grace you received was not free and the mercy you received was not deserved: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). There is no room for pride in the blood-bought and redeemed life of the Christian.
- Gentleness. To be a Christian is to be a disciple of Jesus, and to be a disciple of Jesus is to follow and imitate His ways. We have been redeemed by and follow the One who invites all: “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28–29). To be gentle is to be meek, but that does not mean that Jesus was weak. Moses is described in Numbers 12:3 as, “very humble, more than any person who was on the face of the earth.” If you know anything about Moses, he was a courageous and gifted leader who bravely stood before the most powerful man of his day to demand that he let the Hebrew slaves go. We who were far from God, he found us and met us in our sin! Consider Romans 2:4 and the kindness of God: “Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” When it comes to the way we treat others, we ought to be known for our gentleness, and when it comes to the sins of others, the Word of God is very clear: “Brothers and sisters, even if a person is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you are not tempted as well” (Gal. 6:1).
- Patience. The Greek word Paul used for “patience” is makrothymia which also means “forbearance” or “long-suffering.” How do you develop long-suffering as a Christian? We develop patience in the Christian life through the things we suffer. Listen, suffering is the fire God uses to purge the dross from our lives. Find a person who has suffered much and you will find a person who is either bitter or empathetic towards others. W. Tozer, a pastor known for his prayer life, once said of the person who wished to be used of God: “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply." God raises up storms of conflict in relationships at times to accomplish that deeper work in our character.”
If you don’t buy into what Tozer said, consider what we read in Romans 5:3-5, “And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:3–5). If you are serious about following Jesus, you will experience the suffering God intends for your good and His glory.
Patience in the life of the Christian will not only come by way of suffering, but it comes through confidence and trust in a good and sovereign God. The more you grow in your understanding of who God is (orthodoxy) the greater your patience will become (orthopraxy).
- Bearing with one another. The fruit of godly humility, gentleness, and patience is the desire and hard work of bearing with one another. The Greek word for “bearing” here can also be translated as “tolerate,” “put up with,” or “endure.” To the scattered and suffering Christian located in what is now modern Turkey, the apostle Peter instructed: “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8). Christian, you are a work in progress and the goal of becoming holy and blameless is not complete in you and will not be until a death or a resurrection, yet God is patient with you; oh, how easily we forget the 10,000 ways God endures us while He remains committed to the good He is doing in us! If God endures you, how is it that you are unwilling to endure your brother or sister in whom God is committed to do the same thing He is doing in you? How often and to what degree do we continue to wrong Him who endured the cross for our redemption? How easily we forget our Lord’s words from His Sermon on the Mount: “For if you forgive other people for their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive your offenses” (Matt. 6:14–15).
- Unity. Paul does not just tell us to be united, but to be, “diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The way the NASB translates “diligent” is not a bad translation, but in the original language (spoudazō) the word is better translated as “zealous” or “eager.” I think the way the NASB translates this verse loses the edge and urgency that Paul meant to communicate to the Ephesian Christians.
Listen, Paul is urging you, Christian, to be zealous and eager to maintain the unity we share as those who have been redeemed through the slaughtering of the Lamb of God so that we can be the children of God. As His Church, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit as His redeemed people. This is the “unity of the Spirit” that we are to keep within the community of faith in such a way that it is visible to the world around us! This is why Jesus commanded: “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35).
Oh, the petty things we allow to disrupt our union as Jesus’ Bride! The things we fight about and break fellowship over grieve the heart of the One who was crushed and cursed so that we could be reconciled to the God we sinned against. Peter O’Brien wrote of this verse the following indictment that would do us well to heed and respond to in repentance: “To live in a manner which mars the unity of the Spirit is to scorn the gracious reconciling work of Christ. It is tantamount to saying that his sacrificial death by which relationships with God and others have been restored, along with the resulting freedom of access to the Father, are of no real consequence to us!”[2]
We have spent 20 weeks together in first three chapters in Ephesians, and some of you are still on track for reading through the Bible in a year. I have been with you for over five years now, and I have seen so much growth in many of you regarding your theological understand of God. I love that many of you honor or have grown to honor the Bible for what it is as the Word of God. I love that I can hear pages of your Bibles turn as we engage the Word of God each and every Sunday together! I am so proud of you and your growth dear brothers and sisters! My question for you this morning is simply this: What are you doing with your orthodoxy?
Permit me to close our time with some questions to think about: How has your growth and understanding of who God is through His revealed word deepened your humility? How has it tenderized you towards others? How has your theology of Ephesians 1:3-14 and 2:1-10 made you a more patient person? Has your right awareness and understanding of God’s choosing, redeeming, and sealing of you as His reconciled child created in you to extend the same mercy and grace that you received to others who God is working through and with? Has your zeal for knowing God fostered a zeal to find what you disagree with, or has it created in you a zeal to maintain and celebrate the primary things you agree upon?
