Sermon
Walking Worthy
February 24-25, 2001
Pastor Leighton Sheley

I'm going to invite you to take your Bibles and open to Ephesians chapter 4. While you're turning there I'll just note for you that our senior pastor has been in the mission field, and he's also, I believe, going to be getting some much needed rest and relaxation as well; so we can pray for him in light of that. And this message today is part of our series related to evangelism, which is the theme that Pastor has put before us as a congregation this year. And how it relates will become evident as we look through and study this particular passage.

Ephesians 4:1 and following reeds: As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make 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 when you were called--one Lord, one faith, when baptisms; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Now in the first three chapters of Ephesians Paul writes concerning the believer's blessings and honors and privileges as being a child of God, and from the beginning of chapter 4 where we are now reading to the end of this letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes concerning the consequent obligations and expectations for children of God. I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling that you have received. In some translations the phrase that is used is walk, which is frequently used in the New Testament as a reference to daily conduct -- our day-to-day living. Walk worthy; axios, has the root meaning of balancing the scales. Now if you were to look at a scale and you were to have something affect one side of the scale, it's going to automatically affect the other side of the scale. The two sides correspond or affect each other, and that's the root meaning of axios, which is worthy. Now when it's applied in a general sense it can be said that when somebody works diligently they are worthy of their pay. They are worthy, axios, of their pay because there is a relationship between their compensation and their diligence in work. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith which ye are called. The vocation wherewith which ye are called, as the King James puts it.

Now what is this vocation, or as the Philips says, high calling, that we are called to as Paul references? Now some of the divine concepts that Paul tries to communicate with us are not all that familiar to Americans. Americans tend not to be quite so familiar with royal families. That's probably less so in the recent years with all of the attention on Princess Di and the English royal family. Outside of the United States, royal families are quite universal. Outside of the royal family of England there are royal families across Europe, and throughout the Middle East, and in the Far East. I can remember in number of years back I was invited to go to Thailand, and I was informed that I should never ever say anything disparaging about the royal family, for that was considered a capital offense, and as such, I might not be coming back in a seat. 1 Peter 2:9 says, speaking of us; But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you might declare the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. We are a royal priesthood. Now, there are two aspects to that. It refers not only to the function of representing men before God. You see, the function of a priest was to represent men to God. The function of a prophet was to represent God to men. But beyond the function of representing men to God it was also reference to a family because the priesthood were all descendants of Levi. They were a family chosen by God for this priestly function, and so we are told that we are a royal priestly family.

Galatians 3:26 makes this very clear; You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. We are adopted sons of God, or children of God. Now I was watching a documentary on the royal family and it specifically emphasized Princess Margaret, but it told of the privileges of being part of the royal family. It also gave some insight as to the responsibility of being a child of royalty. You know, with all of the wonderful privileges of fame and wealth and power also comes the bearing of the responsibility of representing a nation in the eyes of the world. And his children of God we enjoy the privileges of royalty. We are famous. You might say, well Pastor, I've walked down many a street and there have been few times when somebody has greeted me; 'Aren't you, so and so, whoever it might be?' You know we might go down the street and not be recognized by those who are on the street, but we're famous in front of the only audience that really matters; and that audience is God.

God knows each and every one of us by name. Now my children are into some of these singing groups that are out that are famous. My daughter likes Nsync. My son likes 98°. And we're working on unity in Spirit and our house all the time. And my daughter can tell you hair styles. She can tell you when they change. She can tell you the color of the hair. But as much as my daughter likes the Nsync group, I'm sure that she does not have the patience to count the hair on their head, but that's what God does with us. He is so interested in us He even keeps count of the hair on our head, and so we are famous with the only audience that really, really matters. Now there's more than just being an audience of God because the Scriptures tell us that we're on display before a heavenly audience. Hebrews 12:1 says; Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith. We are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses. We're on display.

Now not only are we famous but we're also wealthy. Some of you might say, well there's not an awful lot in my checking account to evidence that, and I don't have my name on a bunch of deeds to a bunch of property. What do you mean we're wealthy? Well, but we may have little wealth on earth to claim the Bible tells us that we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ of all of the glories of heaven. And Jesus is preparing a place right now where we're going to join Him in our inheritance for all eternity. It's a place where moth and rust do not corrupt and where thieves do not break in and steal. In fact, there are not likely to be thieves anywhere in the neighborhood. And it tells us also that we're not going to be systematically robbed of our inheritance by taxes, Praise the Lord, because children of royalty don't pay taxes. How great is our wealth? Well it's beyond our ability to describe. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. It is beyond our ability to imagine, let alone describe, the wonders that God is preparing for us -- the treasures, the wealth that is ours in our inheritance in Christ.

So we're famous, we're wealthy, and we're powerful. You say, Pastor, you must be mistaken. No I'm not mistaken. Let me tell you why. We are powerful because our prayers can move the heart of almighty God. Our prayers can move the heart of almighty God. Our tears are gathered by Him and kept in a precious vial. God has promised to work everything out for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. The Scriptures tell us that one day we're going to rule with Christ and judge the world. And some might say, well Pastor, a lot of what you're talking about is future tense. And, you know, that is true a lot of what we have is something that we look forward to. I want to remind you that Scriptures refer to us as children of God -- children of God. You know it's not always prudent to entrust the full weight of fame, wealth, and power to a child; and we are children of God. Royal children must be raised and trained to appropriately wield such things.

1 John 3:1 says; How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are! Dear friends, now we are the children of God, but what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We are not yet like we shall be. I have two children. They are in the process of development. I don't know what they're going to become. I'm enjoying the process. We are children of God. We are in a process of development. We do not yet know what we're going to become. You see, God's salvation is more than mere fire insurance from the fires of hell. It is a patient, deliberate transformation into the imaged Jesus Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Now while we're in the process of being changed and growing, we're also active in our roles as ambassadors of God's kingdom. Representatives as royal children represent their nation, and as such, with our privileges also come responsibilities. Now Paul has summarized for us here the what and why, and now he tells us how. How do we live a life worthy of the calling that we have received? And he gives us these instructions. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Paul here identifies five essential attitudes for faithful Christian living, and each is related to and predicated upon the previous. And the first is and must necessarily be -- humility. Humility; tapeinophrosune, it's a compound word that literally means to think or judge with lowliness. John Wesley observed in his studies that the Romans nor the Greeks had any word for humility. In fact, the concept was so foreign and abhorrent to their way of thinking they didn't even have a term to describe it. You see some of the scholars believe that this term was actually created or coined by the Christians, perhaps Paul himself, as a way to describe a quality of character for which there was no word available in their contemporary languages. You see, the Roman and Greek cultures were built upon the glorification of a man and his accomplishments. Pride, self-promotion, and self-satisfaction were the standards, and other Greek and Roman terms like cowardly and ignoble were not appropriate to describe this most noble of characteristic. In the first few centuries when pagan writers borrowed the term, they used it in a derogatory sense, sometimes of Christians, because to them humility was a pitiable weakness. But humility is the most foundational of Christian virtues. It was humility that was modeled by Christ.

Philippians 2:3 and following says; Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross! And so Christ Himself modeled humility for us. Now humility is elusive. There are some people who pursue it with diligence, but it can never be claimed. Some people are really proud of their accomplishments in humility. Perhaps you've heard of the person you received an award for humility. When they showed up to get the award it was taken away from them. I know of people who are proud of being humble. You do too. Only Jesus could justifiably claim to be humble.

Matthew 11:29 it's recorded as Jesus saying: 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. So God left the throne room of heaven and walked on earth. He didn't exercise His divine privilege, but He came to serve. For Jesus said, as recorded in Matthew 20:28, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Now humility contrasts with pride, and it was pride that led Lucifer to exalt himself above his Creator. For we find in Ezekiel chapter 28; This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in the Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day that you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.

And Isaiah 14 says; How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will make myself like the Most High God." And so it was that pride led Lucifer into rebellion and the fall, and it was pride that led Adam and Eve into rebellion and the fall for they basically said, God, we don't like Your rule. That means, we don't like Your authority. We want to establish our own rules. We want to establish our own authority. We want to establish our own kingdom.

1 John chapter 2 warns us; Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. You see, the culture of God's kingdom, which we represent, stands in stark contrast to the kingdoms of this world and their culture; boasting self-promotion, recognition, manipulation, greed, and self-centeredness are the characteristics esteemed by this world's systems. And this is not only observed in the business world, but it's also observed in so-called philanthropic organizations as well. Sometimes even churches will develop outlandish recognition award systems to increase volunteer participation. And I want to make sure that I'm very clear here, it is important for us to express our appreciation to those who sacrifice to serve us. And those who sacrifice to service us should be encouraged often with our praise and thanksgiving. The praise of man should not be a motivation for service. The praise of man should not be our motivation for service.

Proverbs 8:13 reveals that God hates pride and in Proverbs 6:16 and following we find this: These six [things] doth the LORD hate: yea, seven [are] an abomination to him. The first one. Listen to this. A proud look -- pride is in the first one. A lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness [that] speaketh lies, and, listen to this, the last one, he that soweth discord among brethren. Now in Proverbs 13:10 it tells us that discord among brethren is caused by pride. And so these things; this list of six, nay 7 things, that God hates that are an abomination to Him begin and end with pride. Proverbs 16:18 says pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. In not only the Old Testament, but in the New Testament is also filled with guidance against pride, for Jesus taught as recorded in Matthew 23; The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you to do. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and they put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have men call them 'Rabbi.' But you're not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exults himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exulted.

Paul writes in Romans 12, Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment. James writes in 4:6, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Our only protection against pride is a proper understanding of God. You see, pride exults itself up against God, but humility submits to God's authority. A person cannot even become a believer without humility. And I want to remind you that all of our business success, accomplishments, fame, wealth, education, good works, good looks or whoever else we might claim here on earth, has absolutely no value before God. The Scriptures are very clear here, and listen to this, that whenever there is conflict between people pride is present. Whenever there is conflict between people to pride is present. Humility is the opposite of pride and it provides for peace and peacemakers.

Now there is a second characteristic and that is gentleness. Humility produces gentleness or meekness. In fact, you cannot produce gentleness without humility. Now some of the modern dictionaries give the definition of meekness as timidness or cowardice or some other such concept, and that's not what the original term praotes refers to. It refers to power under control. It was used to describe a Roman warhorse, which was somewhat the equivalent of a modern tank. Now some of you may recall that tanks came out in the battlefield in World War I and they caused terror in the hearts of the foot soldiers of the opposition, because the foot soldiers were carrying these little rifles and there was this armored tank and there was no way to stop the tank with their little bullets, and there was no way to outrun the tanks, and they were overwhelmed by the awesomeness of a tank. And that was true of the foot soldier of an army that was opposing Rome when they saw these Roman warhorses appear. These horses were powerful. They had armor about them. They were swift. No foot soldier could outrun these horses, and the rider was well-equipped and well-trained. One rider and one horse could literally control a whole army in opposition. It was power under control. Meekness, that was the term that was used to describe these Roman warhorses because they were powerful, and yet, they were docile because they were under the control of their master. Jesus had the authority to call 12 legions of angels to free Him from the guards in Gethsemane or to take Him down from the cross, and yet He did not exercise that power even though it was available to Him because He was the filling the assignment of His Father. It was the same word, by the way, meekness, that's found in the beatitudes when Jesus said blessed are the meek or the gentle, for they will inherit the earth. Meekness means that we're slow to anger in responding to those wrongs that are done to us.

Now there's a third characteristic and that is patience, makrothumia, which literally means long tempered. And I think we're all familiar with the term short tempered, aren't we? Well long tempered is not short tempered it's the opposite of short tempered, and it's sometimes translated as long-suffering. Now patience, long-suffering, long tempered is not a virtue that's largely promoted or experienced or developed in our modern society. You see, we have a tendency of measuring things in seconds, and sometimes nanoseconds. We might be standing in line at Burger King and were wondering why it's taking 30 seconds too long to give us our hot burger. You know? Or we might be sitting in front of our computer screen thumbing our fingers at the nanoseconds required for the computer screen to give us the information that we've asked for. And this kind of the paradigm is a rather recent phenomenon. When you look back over the history of mankind things weren't measured in nanoseconds, they were measured in seasons, and years, and lifetimes.

Noah, it took Noah 120 years to build the ark -- 120 years. Now mind you, he built it at a time when the earth had not experienced rain. The mists came up and watered the plants. He didn't build it next to an ocean. He built it in the middle of the wilderness. Can you imagine what his neighbors had to say? How long to you think you could endure such a neighbor? And a neighborhood? 120 years, and the Scriptures tell us he preached for 120 years. And do you know how many converts he had? Some have suggested his family, the eight, were his converts, but you know in that era when a dad said to do something the family did it. And if the dad said getting the ark, the family did it. And we're not sure if even the family were converts.

James said, Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and you've seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. The kingdom that we represent as children of God is a kingdom that is represented in compassion and mercy. Now by contrast, Aristotle who was one of the great Greek philosophers said that the greatest Greek virtue was a refusal to tolerate any insult and a readiness to strike back. And it's been that concept that has permeated the cultures of this world, but that's not part of the culture of the kingdom that we represent as children of God. We represent a kingdom of compassion and mercy.

Now there's a fourth characteristic, that of forbearing love or bearing with one another in love. The modern word love has many applications and numerous meanings. There are several Greek words that are translated love. The love that Paul writes here is not eros from which we get erotic; the ultimate motive for which expression is self-gratification. It's not phileo, which means brotherly love -- Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. For such love there is an expected reciprocation, but rather it's agape love which is a love without prerequisites, without requirements, without limits, without being reciprocal, without self gain. It's a love that gives, and gives, and gives, and gives, and gives, and gives without any expectation of anything in return. It's a benevolence that is extended to friend and foe alike.

Peter writes for us in 1 Peter chapter 4; Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. Then he goes and expresses to us how it is that we can love each other. He says, Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. Love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins. We're all weak. We're all creatures that occasionally sin, but if we can deal with each other in love there is room for forgiveness because love covers a multitude of sins.

The fifth characteristic is unity, and unity is the product of humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance. Now you'll notice here that it is not for us to create the unity of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit creates the unity of the Spirit. The unity of the Spirit is something that is not only created by the Holy Spirit, but it's also the desire of Christ. For we find this recorded in His prayer in John 17. Jesus says, I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one (unity) as we are one. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. And so you can see how this message and this passage relates to evangelism, for it's in our unity that it's evidenced that God's kingdom is present in our midst. And for people who are seeking God's kingdom they're going to seek a place where there is unity in Spirit.

Now though it is not our responsibility to create unity, it is our responsibility to protect or keep the unity of the Spirit. Verse 3 in various translations read: King James -- Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. You recall that when Adam and Eve were put in the garden they were put there to keep, which means protect the garden. Endeavoring to keep or protect the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Today's English version says, Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by the peace that binds you together. The New English Bible says, Spare no effort to make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives. The Philips Modern English says, Make it your aim to be at one in the Spirit and you will be bound together in peace. The Living Bible says, Try always to be led along together by the Holy Spirit and so be at peace with one another. And so whether we're pursuing unity or pursuing the Holy Spirit it's one in the same -- one in the same. It's only in the presence of righteousness that peace can truly exist for we find God saying in Isaiah 48:22, "There is no peace for the wicked."

Paul then concludes his thoughts concerning the reality of unity, and the need for unity and protecting it by writing, There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called-one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. There's one body. Some people think it might be a church. No, that's not what it's referring to. It's not referring to the entire congregation of any one church. The body of Christ is the assembly of all of the believers from all of the lands from all of the eras. That is the body of Christ. There is one body, and there is one Spirit, and there is one hope. Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes unto the Father except through me. There's only one way. There's only one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. And so some might ask this day, how can I participate in spreading the gospel, attracting those to the kingdom of God and participating in that? And this passage right here gives us guidance: that we should seek to be humble, that we should seek to be meek, gentle, that we should seek to be patient, that we should seek to love one another and by so doing these four things preserving, and protecting, and guarding the unity of the Spirit, which is the evidence of God's kingdom in our midst.

Let's pray. Lord we thank You for Your Word and the great insight that Your Spirit provides, the riches of Your Word. And Lord it is our desire individually and corporately to be Your temple in this world, to have Your Holy Spirit reside in us and work through us. Lord as we gather together we recognize this day, we're reminded this day, by the Scripture that You are evidenced by our unity. Thank you Lord that Your Word doesn't require uniformity because there's a great diversity in our midst, but in our diversity there's also unity because of Your Spirit. Thank you Lord for Your patience, and Your love, and Your provision for us. Thank you Lord for all You are, for all You do, for all You will do. In Jesus' name we pray, and together we say, amen. God bless you.