Walking Worthy of the Calling

Ephesians 4:1-3
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Tonight I want to continue in the book of Ephesians and talk about walking in a manner worthy of our calling, what that means and how it is lived out in our daily life.
Paul has just described in the previous part of his letter to the church in Ephesus what Christ has done for them, who they are in Christ, the privileges they now have as his children, the power that is available to them in the Holy Spirit, the wisdom and understanding God will give them and the unfathomable measure of love God has for them.
In spite of all these things Paul finds himself as a prisoner which seems to be in human terms a real let down. It does not seem to match up with all that God has done for him in Christ, we don’t expect these things to happen but Paul did not see his imprisonment through human eyes and understanding. He saw himself as a prisoner of Christ, not a prisoner of Rome. It was because of his faithfulness to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles that Paul was placed in prison. God was with him in the prison just as he was when he was preaching to the crowds. His life was entrusted to God. Paul was not bitter, angry, upset, mad at God and mad at the Roman government or the Jews who had him arrested. He took things in stride and realized that God was in control. Paul’s life was an example to the Ephesians as well as to us today on how to live out what you believe in spite of circumstances that seem to be less than favorable. God had a purpose for Paul being in prison in Rome and Paul was not going to let anyone or anything hinder God from accomplishing His purposes.
Maybe you are here tonight and are facing adversity, things are not going the way you anticipated they would and you wonder if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. If you have submitted your life to Christ and are trusting in him to guide you then you need to look at your present circumstances as part of God’s plan to help you live out your faith in Him. God has placed you where He wants you because He has things he wants to do in you and through you. It would have been easy for Paul to say, “This is not where I should be! I have been called to preach the gospel to the nations and I need to get out of here!” Paul does not state this because he understands that Christ has allowed him to be where he is at for a divine purpose.
Paul was not thinking about being in jail but he was encouraging the Ephesians to remember all that God has done for us in Christ and with all of this in mind Paul makes a request, an appeal, that the Ephesians would walk worthy of the calling in which they were called.
A story is told of a man who was being tailgated by a woman when the traffic light turned yellow just in front of him. When he came to a rather sudden stop, the tailgating woman hit the horn - screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection. In mid-rant, she looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed and placed in a holding cell.
After a couple of hours, she was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, and using really bad language with the man in front of you. I noticed the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.”
We all can give examples of Christians who are not walking worthy of their calling and I think all of us can give personal stories of situations in which we were not living out our faith. I had one of those episode last Sunday in the parking lot of Miraflores. The lot was pretty full but I found a space that would work well for the van and just as I turned to go into the spot, another driver came down the lane going the WRONG WAY at a very rapid speed with the intention of taking the parking place. I conceded the space to her as I did not want to cause an accident. But I was mad that she had violated the rules and took my spot. So I reacted, not in a good way, but I have to admit it felt sort of good for a short while as I laid on the horn to let her know that what she did was not a good thing. The security guard came over and talked to me but he was not willing to do anything about the situation. He just said people don’t respect the laws and do things like this. I murmured a few things and Marianne reminded me that I was a missionary and I should respond in the opposite spirit. She was right and I have since repented and received inner healing.
What does it mean to walk worthy of our calling? Paul uses the word “walk” which signifies our daily experience of living out the Christian life. It describes a person’s entire lifestyle. Our entire lifestyle should be one that is worthy of our calling.
The root of the Greek word “worthy", is translated as of equalizing or balancing the scales. Thus, a Christian's lifestyle ought to be equalized with his identity. There ought to be perfect harmony between who you are and how you live. In the case of the woman in the previous story it could be translated that the bumper stickers and other Christian messages on the car should accurately describe the person behind the wheel. Your identity is now in Christ and the life we live should be directed by the Christ in us.
There is a new movie out that I want to see and it is called, “The Blind Side” It is the story of Michael Oher, who as a young black boy who was adopted by Sean and Leigh Ann Touhy, a white Christian family. This family lived out their faith and helped Michael become a very successful football player who now lives for Christ. Sandra Bullock is one of the actresses in the movie and she was very impressed with the Toughys. She made these comments in an article in World Magazine, November 21, 2009.
Also agreeing with this assessment was Sandra Bullock, who, while getting to know the Touhys during the filming process, found her own preconceived notions about Christians challenged. "One of my biggest issues has always been people who use their faith and their religion as a banner but don't do the right things, yet still go, 'I'm a good Christian and I go to church and this is the way you should live your life,'" said Bullock. "And I'm like, you know, do not give me a lecture about how to live my life when you go to church every week but I know you are still sneaking around on your wife. And I told Leigh Anne in a live interview, one of my largest concerns getting involved with this project was that whole banner-waving thing because it scares me, and I've had experiences that haven't been great with people like that. I don't buy a lot of people who use that banner as their shield. But she was so open and honest and forthright with me I thought, wow, I've finally met someone who practices but doesn't preach."
Bullock's next comment suggested that the Touhy's newfound fame has provided them fresh opportunities to impact others with the hope that they have. "I now have faith in those who say they represent a faith," Bullock commented. "I finally met people who walk the walk."
The world is watching us and taking notes. Our motivation in walking worthy of our calling is not so much to please the world but to please the Lord. Our motivation for living out our life worthy of the calling is to give honor and praise to Christ who has made it possible.
The “calling”we all have been called to is living our lives as members of Christ’s body, his church in a way that reflects Christ. We have been called out of the world of sin to be called into a new relationship with Christ as members of his body of believers. We cannot extricate ourselves from the body and be very effective in fact any body part not attached to the body should seem a little weird and a body part that is attached to the body that does its own thing would be considered very unnatural and unproductive. One of the problems I see in the body of believers is that some Christians have compartmentalized their walk. They may get a daily dose of God or maybe a weekly dose but live the rest of the day or week completely detached from the body and do things that are not worthy of their calling. Many of us have lived a compartmentalized Christian life. We attended Church and maybe some other activities of the church but parts of our lives were not lived according to the principles of the Scriptures. We were basically doing our own thing and thinking that we were a Christian. One person I talked to said her life was compartmentalized Christianity. She and her boy friend would go to church and worship the Lord and then spend the night in bed. She eventually realized that this was not walking worthy of the calling and broke off the relationship.
Paul continues by listing several things that should be part of our lives as we walk worthy of our calling. The first thing he mentions is humility. The word humility means to bow ourselves to the ground, to be low. When a King entered the room the natural and required response of the people was to bow before the king as a sign of respect and submission to his authority. The people recognized who they were in relationship to the king. This is the same thing we must do as believers, recognize who we are in our relationship to our King Jesus. Jesus humbled himself in a way that none of us could ever do by becoming a man and giving his life as a sacrifice for our sins. He is the greatest example of humility and this is probably the most important quality that we must have in our lives as we serve our King and serve one another. Humble people spend more time thinking about serving others than they do about serving their own needs. Humble people are willing to do whatever is needed to help meet a need, nothing is too beneath them because they are already as low to the ground as they can get. Humble people do not worry about receiving credit for what they do, they do not need special recognition to reward them, they do what they do because they value others more than themselves. It is not that they have a low opinion of themselves or think of themselves as a lowly worm but rather they choose to deny themselves and give preference and deference to others. If I would have been walking in humility when the lady took the parking spot I would have gladly deferred to her and viewed the situation differently. I was really guarding the spot for her! As she pulled into the spot I should have raised my hand like they do in Guatemala to say please go ahead or thank you. Pride and arrogance are the opposites of humility. Pride demands its way while humility yields its rights to be a blessing to someone else. Pride wants everyone to look at them while humility is content to be unknown and in the background. God will bring the prideful ones down but he promises to lift up those who are humble. It would be good for us to evaluate what we do and why we do it to determine if we are maintaining a humble heart or doing it out of pride.
Gentleness it the next quality that reflects the life of Christ being lived in us as we walk worthy of our calling. A gentle person is one who does not take offense when people attack them or do things against them. A gentle person is a person who has the strength to fight back but chooses to not retaliate. I think of a friend of mine who worked with us for a period of time and how he responded in a situation that truly reflected gentleness. He was riding on the bus, standing in the aisle, with his one arm carrying his backpack and the other grabbing the rail above him. He said that he felt the lower part of his pant leg being lifted up and he looked down to see what was happening. To his surprise he saw that his billfold was at the top of his pocket in the front of his pants and just as he looked it fell to the floor. One of the passengers had pushed his billfold to the top of the pocket and was obviously going to rob him of it. He saw the person who had tried to steal his wallet and as he reached down to pick it up, he looked him in the eye. It was the moment of truth as to whether he would walk worthy of his calling or take offense and retaliate. He is a big man and I am sure could have done a lot of physical damage with one blow but he decided to not take offense and simply look the man in the eye to let him know that he knew what he had done and he was going to extend mercy and not justice. A gentle person responds in the opposite spirit. They bless when they a cursed, the show love toward their enemy, they respond in a different tone of voice than that used against them, their gentleness may be perceived as weakness but it is really them demonstrating strength by controlling a response that seems natural to the flesh.
“Be patient with each other, allowing for each other’s faults because of your love.” LB
The word for patient has with it the idea of someone who is in a contest to see who can stand the longest. A patient person is able to stand a long time waiting for something to change. In Guatemala and other Latin American countries you have ample opportunity to develop patience. Most of us have experienced standing in line for a long period of time waiting to transact business or whatever only to find out when you got to the front and talked with the person you were in the wrong line! In our relationships with each other we have to patient with each other’s faults and weaknesses. This does not mean that the person who has the issues is free to take advantage of your patience and not address their issues but it does mean that we will stand with them and suffer with them as long as it takes to see them get the victory. At times when I find myself being impatient with someone I have to ask myself does it really matter that much if I wait longer, what will I really be losing if I am a little later than I want to be? Other times I have to examine my own heart and ask if my impatience is really me judging the other person without really knowing what is happening to them. We can easily jump to a wrong conclusion when we do not have all the facts. A patient person with holds judgment until all the information is given and there is understanding of what has happened.
“Bearing with one another in love.” When you love someone you are willing to put up with some things that others would tell you to “throw the bum out.” I am not talking about abuse or things of this nature but there are many other things that are very damaging to a relationship that require a lot of forbearing or bearing with the other person. One person I believe has demonstrated bearing in love is the wife of Ted Haggard. He was the pastor who fell into sin while he led a church of 14,000 members. His sin was for many people one that would justify his wife leaving the relationship. I am sure it was humiliating for her to find out what he had been doing and struggling with for years. Yet she knew her husband in a deeper love than anyone else and she saw something in him that was worth fighting for and staying with the marriage. Love sees the potential in others and helps us bear with them and fight with them to see them gain the victory over their weaknesses.
The final aspect of walking worthy of our calling is to make every effort to keep unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We are already united in Christ, we are one body, spiritually linked together. Our common ground as believers is Christ, we may have different doctrines but we share the same Christ who is Lord and Savior. Jesus prayed for unity among the believers before he ascended to heaven. When believers are united spiritually great things happen. The Transformation video made in 1995 profiled Almolonga, Guatemala, as one of the 5 cities that God has moved powerfully because the church was united in prayer and worship as they petitioned God to bring changes in the community that was marred by violence, drunkenness, family disintegration and poverty. When the churches came together in spiritual unity changes began to take place and the community was transformed. The church is a tremendous force on the earth but disunity keeps it from achieving its potential. This why Paul stated that we must make every effort, be determined and exert heroic perseverance to keep the unity of the Spirit. Let’s not let petty differences keep us from working together in the Kingdom of God. We need to stand with each other and support each other and offer help to one another as a demonstration of our unity in the body of Christ. Let’s be known as people who bring people together for the common cause rather than people who isolate themselves from others and are unwilling to work toward unity in the body. The church has suffered greatly because of the lack of unity but I believe we can bring about a change if we diligently work to create and maintain unity in the body.
A few years ago there were a group of Mennonite young men studying Spanish in Antigua. They attended one of the Thursday night services and I had opportunity to talk with them. I invited them to come with us to do ministry around Lake Atitlan and Chichi as we were a small group and really needed some more people to go with us. They said they would pray about it and get back with me. When I met with their leader he explained to me that this was really something that they as a group do not do. They pretty much only do things with other Mennonites and this carries over into their businesses as well as spiritual things. It was not an easy decision for them to make but they decided they wanted to go with and we had a great time of ministry together. It was an example of unity in the Spirit and God honored our efforts and gave us a fruitful time of ministry and fellowship. The world needs to see more of a united effort by the churches because it honors Christ who is the head of the church and it sends a powerful message to a lost world.
Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. Our daily decisions and actions need to reflect who we are and what Christ has done for us. We are called to be part of his body of believers and if we are walking worthy of this calling it should be demonstrated in our humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with each other and doing all we can to establish and preserve unity in the Spirit. How are we doing tonight, are we walking worthy of the calling?