A Worthy Life

For the past several weeks, we’ve been seeing what great things God has done for us. Beginning with the amazing blessings of Chapter 1, then the context of our sin and separation as Gentiles in Chapters 2 and 3. Paul’s prayers in Chapter 1 and 3 are that we understand how great these things are—but not merely to marvel at God’s goodness to us and soak it all in for ourselves. The amazing love God has for us should produce in us an eager desire to please Him and walk in His ways. But what does that look like? Paul has some definite instruction. If we truly understand the love of God for us, then we’ll realize that these “commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3, NIV84)! From Ephesians 4:1-6.

A Worthy Life

¹ As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Paul knows what it means to love the Lord and to know His love. It has cost him his whole life. Whatever he had in mind for himself when he was a young man training as a Pharisee of Pharisees, he’s given it all up (Philippians 3:1-11). It has cost him beatings, shipwreck, adrift in the ocean a night and a day. It has cost him homelessness, constantly on the move. He has been in danger from his own countrymen, from Gentiles, from false brothers. He has been imprisoned and stoned. He has lost sleep, gone without food and drink. And he has borne the pressure of his concern for all the churches.

He has endured all this so that people like you and me could hear of the love of God and the sacrifice of Jesus for our forgiveness. He has done this because he personally and deeply knows the vastness of the love of Christ. He is filled to overflowing with it; he has completely lost himself to it.

And here he is, a prisoner once more—on our behalf! So when he speaks, we should listen.

As one who knows Christ far better than any of us, he urges us to live a life worthy of the calling we have received. That word “worthy” speaks of an appropriateness, fitting. Live a life that fits the calling we have received. If anyone knows what kind of life is fitting, appropriate, worthy of the calling we have received, it is Paul.

We’ve spent several weeks talking about this calling we have received. It is not a calling to some position or job in the church or beyond. It is our being called by God, by the Spirit, by God’s appointed messengers to believe the Gospel. It is God’s invitation to us to have our sins wiped out by accepting His Son as Lord and His sacrifice as payment for our evil deeds. It is the call to a holy life, as saints, cleansed by the blood of Jesus and made holy, looking forward to the gift of eternity in God’s presence.

We were sinners like the rest, under eternal condemnation, objects of wrath. We were Gentiles, without hope and without God in the world. But Jesus gave His life for us and rose again to bring us new life. He opened the promise of eternal life even to Gentiles, who were formerly cut off from almost all hope. This gift and calling are so far beyond what we deserve that we should be utterly amazed. That God would want you and me!

And now Paul wants to teach us the most appropriate response to the greatness of the gift we’ve been given. If after the past few weeks you do not marvel over the kindness of God to you, then you won’t care much for what Paul has to say next. Not to say you’ll completely ignore it, but you’ll probably pick and choose what you like and what you don’t, and you’ll do those things you’re willing—only so far as it doesn’t cost you too much.

As if you just showed up at a Golden Corral Buffet after stuffing yourself on lunch an hour before. Rather than someone who has been subsisting on garbage scraps—few and far between—for months, who is unexpectedly taken from the streets, washed and given glorious new clothes, and invited to the same Golden Corral—all free of charge! You would gorge yourself on the feast before you! You wouldn’t know where to start, but you’d hit your maximum far too soon! You wouldn’t want to stop, but be forced to by the capacity of your stomach! Ah, but with training, you could take in more and more! If only you could go back again! What? You have a lifetime pass to the buffet? Did you die and go to heaven?

Isn’t it so true that in the early days of our acquaintance with the Gospel, we’re far more zealous for the Lord, eager to learn about Him and do whatever He asks? But our stomach for these things is small. We can only take in so much. Then after a while, we realize that we can go back any time; it’s no longer as exciting as it was at first, and now there are other concerns and interests that draw us away. Remember how good those McDonald’s fries were? Yeah, let’s get some Mickey-D’s! And we drift back into our old lives.

If we do not regularly remind ourselves of our past, our sin, our rejection—who we were before God came and rescued us—and remember how unworthy we were to be chosen and saved by God, then our love for God will grow cold, our interest in His Word will wane and our diligence to do His Will will fade. We’ll cease to respond to the love of Christ for us in a worthy manner.

So what is the foundation of a life lived worthy of this calling?

Complete Humility

² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

“Be completely humble and gentle.” We’ve been talking about this for weeks, even months. The Christian life begins and ends with humility, and all God’s instructions for us flow from humility.

The world promotes self! Glorifies self! It’s all about you! Me, me, me!

God hates that. He turns it all upside-down! God says that whoever wants to be great in His kingdom must be the servant of all (Matthew 20:26-27). And Jesus set the example (Philippians 2:5-8).

We should be known by our humility. And from humility naturally flows gentleness. We should be known as gentle. This humility and gentleness are not a softness or weakness, but rather full submission to God and to His will. Jesus Himself is the perfect example of gentleness, graciousness, submission even to unjust punishment in obedience to the Father. All the while He had power to decimate those who spoke against Him, those who mocked Him, those who questioned His authority! But He did not use it to exalt Himself, but only to do the will of His Father.

He humbled Himself because He knew the Father loved Him and promised Him everything, if He would but endure in obedience. He had that confidence, that assurance, that security.

There were times when He forcefully commanded nature and demons, and rebuked disciples and hypocrites. He overthrew tables and drove “robbers” out of the Temple. There is a time and place for you and I to exercise such force, but not often. Generally speaking, we should be known for our humility and gentleness. As Jesus said,

“You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” (Mark 10:42b-44, NIV84)

Even those in authority in Christ are not to “lord it over” those under their authority. Instead, their goal should always be to help those under them grow more in the knowledge and likeness of Jesus, even as they themselves set the example in so doing (1 Peter 5:1-4).

We seldom have excuse to be impatient and nasty with others, though we may think we have the right or everyone will understand our lashing out at certain people. God doesn’t.

The biggest reason we fail to exercise humility or gentleness is because we’re not getting what we want (James 4:1-3). We’re afraid of always having to give without getting anything in return. We’re afraid of losing out or being taken advantage of. We don’t want to be known as weak or a pushover. We don’t want others to abuse us.

Which shows how little we understand what God has done for us, what He has promised us, what He has commissioned us to do and what Jesus Himself has modeled for us.

Not everything we seek is material. Some of what we want has to do with how others treat us or respond to us. We want recognition; we want others to speak highly of us, even fear us! (Which is why we’re so quick to rant and rave when we don’t get what we want!)

But what do we truly need in this world? What must we absolutely have in order to survive? Anything beyond this should not be important to us.

Our commission from God is to witness to others about Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:9-10)—and if we really understood the Gospel, it would not be a duty but a delight! That’s why we were saved—and that should matter most to us! The souls of lost people. Nothing else should be so important! But we are required to “do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (1 Peter 3:15c-16, NIV84).

There are stubbornly rebellious and unrepentant people who do not belong to God. What did Jesus say to them? Nothing!—if they steered clear of Him. He didn’t go through the streets brow-beating and berating people. He went through the streets calling, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2, NIV84). Those who cared about entering the kingdom of heaven drew near to listen. Those who didn’t care went about their business.

The only unbelievers Jesus went toe-to-toe with were those self-righteous people who thought they knew God but kept trying to attack Jesus. And for the most part, He was gracious to them!

We also have a duty to train those under our responsibility to walk with God. That will sometimes require discipline and correction, rebuke and training, and that can get a little rough sometimes. But only with those believers who are stubborn and unrepentant! Take a look at Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians! That fits with the character and nature of God Himself. Even Jesus was exasperated at times by His disciples and the crowds that followed Him.

That’s not to say that we treat the tenderhearted and quick-to-repent the same way! Those people don’t need heavy-handedness because they respond so thoroughly to a simple word of instruction!

Humility and gentleness naturally produce patience, especially for fellow believers who are humble and gentle and desiring to learn the ways of God. Not everyone is at the same level of maturity and understanding. Not everyone has received the same gifts and background and experiences as you or me. Those who are less mature, less experienced and less well trained should be treated with patience.

We need to bear with them in love, understand what they’re lacking and do what we can to fill in their training. You don’t blast a five-year-old because he doesn’t understand calculus! They’re still trying to understand addition and subtraction.

If we love one another, we will take time to understand where each other is in their walk with Christ. We’ll treat the weaker with patience, bearing with them and building into them according to their needs. What does it cost you if they don’t understand God as well as you? If they don’t walk as well in God’s ways as you do? Nothing! It costs them! So out of compassion, we want to help them grow!

Where does impatience come in? When I must have what I want from them. That’s unjustified! When I think I have authority over them—but don’t really—and they’re not doing what I tell them. That’s also unjustified! If God hasn’t put you in authority over them, you have no right to demand anything of them. But you can appeal to a mutual authority.

Think of young siblings. One tries to boss the other and the other ignores them. The bossy one gets upset, impatient, perhaps even starts a fight. The bossy one is in the wrong! They are peers, neither has real authority over the other! If the one was truly concerned about the other breaking a parental rule, he was right to remind the sibling of the rule and the need to follow it. But if the other ignored their plea, the concerned child should go to the parent with their concern. It is the parent’s responsibility to enforce family rules, not the sibling’s.

Same is true in the church—remember the church discipline process of Matthew 18? In a company. As citizens. Problems happen when we take authority we don’t have into our own hands. That’s where bitterness, hostility and division come in.

You’ve heard the saying, “Too many cooks in the kitchen”? What does that mean? Everyone’s an expert yet no one agrees! There is no one standard; there are as many standards as cooks! So in all their expertise, there is no unity, only division. For there to be unity, there must be one in charge, one establishing the rules, one directing the program. When those who have no authority usurp that authority, then you introduce anarchy, chaos and division.

For there to be unity, there must be One we all submit to. And that requires humility. We have to obey His rules, do things His way, and trust He’ll take care of the whole.

When we speak, when we correct others, we must appeal to the One who makes the rules, and we must do so correctly, accurately, faithfully—with ourselves in submission to those same rules.

When Paul says to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace,” he’s telling us several important things. The most important is that God is the One that we must all submit to. God is the one who makes the rules and God’s rules are the ones we must follow. Those God places in authority are required to enforce God’s rules, as they also submit themselves to God’s rules.

The unity of the Spirit is defined and described by obedience to the Lord. He’s the head chef that all other cooks need to follow. If you don’t follow Him, you’re out of sync, you’re no longer in unity. The more you obey, the more in sync, the more in unity.

Those who hear instructions but don’t obey, they’re in disunity. Paul tells us to make every effort to keep the unity. It is those people we need to bring back into unity. It is those people who need to be corrected, and hopefully that’s it! But if not, making every effort means we need to go a step further. They need rebuke. They may need us to go the full Matthew 18 church discipline route. But hopefully not. Hopefully, they’re eager to get back in line with Jesus.

But making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace means we may have to remove from our fellowship those who refuse to line up under Jesus in unity. They’re competing with Jesus for control and vision and leadership. They’re an unruly cook that needs to be removed from the kitchen—because they’ve been corrected, they’ve been rebuked, but they won’t repent.

Church discipline has as its end goal the reunion of such formerly-unruly believers. When they repent and are ready to submit again to Jesus’ lordship expressed through faithful church leadership, we must be quick to restore them to fellowship. Unity is maintained, preserved and protected. That’s one of the lessons of 1^st and 2^nd Corinthians.

“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” does not mean we do everything we can to keep everyone together. Absolutely not! That’s how you end up with a house divided against itself, because those who resist God’s leadership through His appointed leaders remain free to roam the halls of God’s house, promoting disunity and rebellion. They form factions and a cold war develops. In time, a hot war breaks out. If rebuke and discipline had come when it should have, the unity would have been preserved.

If there are people who are unwilling to follow God’s Word, let them leave the fellowship. If not, you’ll lose everyone who loves God; they’ll leave and you’ll be left with a new leader who doesn’t follow Jesus but his own ideas! You may obtain unity, but it’s not of the Spirit, but of your new spiritual “warlord.” That has already happened in countless churches across this country and beyond.

The “bond of peace” does not mean that whatever happens “inside the family” stays inside the family. It does not mean you always put on a good face, sweep the hostilities under the carpet, so that you can maintain an appearance of peace that binds us together. On the contrary, it means we begin and end in love and a desire for unity. We are committed to helping each other walk in the true likeness of Jesus Christ.

Our bond of peace begins first with Jesus Christ, who made peace for us with God through His blood shed on the cross. We have come to God through Christ, surrendered to His superior forces, and found mercy instead of cruelty. By surrendering ourselves to the lordship of Christ, we have submitted ourselves to His rule and rules.

That means we can only really be bound together with others in peace if they also submit themselves sincerely to Jesus Christ and His rule. Remember, Jesus is the Christ, which means anointed one. Anointed to do what? To rule on David’s throne as king! And to rule in God’s house as High Priest! He is a priest in the order of Melchizedek, who is both king and priest—a union of the two offices (Zechariah 6:12-13).

So Paul tells us:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." (2 Corinthians 6:14-16, NIV84)

Isn’t that your experience? You find it impossible to have any meaningful relationship with an unbeliever. In fact, you find most often that they drag you away from Christ instead of you drawing them nearer Jesus. After all, the most important and amazing thing to you is God sending His Son to save you, and they care nothing about that!

If you do not find this to be true, if you find that you are able to have quite close fellowship with unbelievers—maybe even better than with Christians—friend, there is a problem in your relationship with Christ. And in your understanding of what He has done for you.

You need to spend time reevaluating the first three chapters of this letter, until you grasp the incredible grace and mercy you’ve been shown and you fall to your knees in broken amazement with Paul and plead with the Father to know Him better.

The bond of peace is defined by submission to Christ as Lord and submission to His instructions for our lives. Only those who are on the same page can be united and at peace with one another.

That’s Paul’s point in these last three verses:

Only One

⁴ There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called--⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

There is only one body, the Church of Jesus Christ. And only those who believe in Jesus as God’s Only Son, as fully God and fully Man, as God’s appointed Judge and King over all mankind, only these people belong to Christ’s body. Not everyone who calls Jesus Lord actually submits to Jesus as Lord. But only those who do the will of God as revealed in His Word.

John told us in his first letter,

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (1 John 2:3-6, NIV84)

True belief is revealed by our actions, whether we walk in Jesus’ ways or not. Everyone else is a false brother or false teacher, and not part of Christ’s body.

There is only one Spirit, but you’d think He was schizophrenic based on the number of denominations and systems of theology out there!

But there is only one Spirit, one God, one Lord and one faith—one revelation of absolute Truth we are called to believe and the One who alone reveals it. The problem is not with God or even with the Bible, but with our propensity to try to “figure things out,” even things that have not been revealed. Moses wrote, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29, NIV84).

You’ll notice that Moses says that the point of the revealed things is to help us follow the Law. There are many things hinted at in Scripture but not made clear. Like the mystery that the Gentiles were going to be equal heirs in eternal life in God’s eternal kingdom! That is now clear, however! So that belongs to us. We can bank on it!

But there are other things that are not vital to understanding so we can know better how to live as holy children of God. Like how exactly does election work? If we were chosen from before the foundation of the world, why do I have to respond to a message, to answer a call, to receive Jesus? Do I have a choice in the matter? How can Scripture talk of both human choice and God’s election?

One theological system discounts election. The other discounts free will, the power to choose. What if both are wrong and both are right, because both election and free will coexist? When we are determined to explain one to the exclusion of the other, we fall down a pointless rabbit hole. If we had stayed put with only what Scripture reveals, the Church would never have been divided!

When we demand that all adhere to our understanding of things that God has not made crystal clear, now we’re building unnecessary walls between believers, and we’re suggesting to the world that there is more than one God, more than one Spirit. Because our multitude of interpretations have become absolute truth, which only God can reveal. So either God’s confused, or He is incapable of communicating clear truth, or else there is more than one god. How does that help us advance the Gospel?

If we deny something revealed in Scripture, we err. If we go beyond what is there, we also err. There is only one Spirit, who together with the one Father and one Son, has revealed all we need for life and godliness. There’s lots of stuff in the Bible that stimulates intellectual debate, but that’s not where we’re supposed to go. “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1c, NIV84).

As Paul wrote to Timothy,

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. (1 Timothy 1:3-7, NIV84)

Just like Moses said, the goal of Paul’s instruction to Timothy—really, the goal of all Scripture—is love for one another and the lost, not intellectual debate and argument. We forget a key point in Paul’s instructions here: God’s work is done by faith, not controversies. But that ego sure wants to puff itself up, and appearing smarter than everyone else is a far less costly method than living in love.

The only legitimate reason for there to be differing views among Christians is because of spiritual immaturity and ignorance of God’s Word. If we are all seeking Christ and the one Father of all, then in time as we grow, we must all arrive at the same place, the same understanding of all that has been revealed.

The plumber’s apprentice does not know all that the master knows, not at first. But he attains a basic understanding that allows him to work alongside the master in short order. The longer he works alongside the master, the more he learns as the master teaches him, the closer he becomes in mastering plumbing. In Luke 6:40, Jesus said, “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (NIV84).

It takes time and diligence on the part of the student. The teacher must teach, but the student must listen, practice, emulate and learn. There is only one Teacher and one Master in our faith, so all who diligently seek to learn and imitate the Lord must one day become just like Him in word and deed.

Each of us who is seeking to know the Lord is at a different place in his development. Those of us who are more mature in Christ are called to help those who are less mature. Those of us who are less mature should not be ashamed of that, but be eager and diligent to receive help and instruction and to follow the pattern of the more mature as they live out the commands of God. The goal is that we all reach true unity—which is defined by God Himself, modeled by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The one hope we have is correctly understood as eternity in the presence of God, but it is also the fruit of a life seeking God and the goal of Paul’s prayer in chapter 3: That we know Christ through and through, and become like Him in life and godliness.

And there is one baptism, though many methods. There is only one baptism that matters, and it’s not actually baptism by water, but being cleansed by the Spirit Himself, who makes us holy and new, forgiven and clean, saints of Christ. Whether you were baptized by immersion, sprinkling or pouring, the real question is, Do you belong to Christ? Have you been washed by the Spirit of God as we saw in Titus 3:5-7? Have you believed in the sacrifice of Jesus and accepted His payment for your sins, and in conviction have you turned away from your sin to walk in the new life given you? If so, then you have the one baptism that matters above all others.

Conclusion

• Must understand the gift of our salvation and inclusion in Christ
• Right response is humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance which should define us
• Maintaining Unity in faith and practice under and in the Holy Spirit, Christ and God the Father, even as they are One

We must continually remind ourselves of the greatness and undeservedness of our salvation. We need to grow continually in our understanding of God’s love: His love for us and His love for the rest of the world. That brings us naturally into awareness of our smallness, our insignificance and the exalted gifts we’ve been given. Coming to grips with our smallness should lead us to a complete humility, secure in the love of God for us! That humility must define us in our interactions with others, especially those who belong to the household of God.

We have an eternity awaiting us in the presence of a God who held nothing back to call us to live forever with Him. We have nothing to lose! We’ve already gained everything! And these people around us, who also call on the name of the Lord for salvation, are our truest brothers and sisters, with whom we will share that eternity. Hopefully, they, like us, are just as overwhelmed by God’s love for them and compelled by His love to seek, know and grow in His likeness. In love we should be committed to them, to help them grow in Christlikeness, just as we welcome their help. The goal is God ruling over all, moving through all and revealed in all—all who inherit eternal life!