We'll look in the Word of God today at the fourth chapter of the book of Ephesians. Education is important, but not as an end in itself. One may study science, engineering, law, business, medicine, and all of that is good, but with limited benefit until it is applied in practice. does not touch the reality of life. As that is true of secular subjects and knowledge, so it is even more true of the Word of God. Knowledge without application does not benefit in that it does not teach the
reality of life. So it is, as we come to Ephesians chapter 4, that the Apostle Paul begins the application of the truth of our calling in Christ Jesus to the lifestyle of the believer. Truth will now be applied to life. We have learned as we have studied the first three chapters that we are seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenlies, that we are the possessors of every possible spiritual blessing in Christ. We have been told that we are members of the body called out to belong
to Christ himself. We have gained some understanding of the purposes of God in the history of the world and mankind. We have looked at the fact that you and I have a direct connection to the living God of the universe. And we have reminded ourselves of the knowledge that we are accepted by him. as his own son. Our sins have been forgiven, and now God looks upon us as dearly as he looks upon his own precious son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now these privileges that we have learned about carry with them a certain dignity as well as responsibility. One claiming to be a child of God cannot suppose to live the same way as the unregenerate in the world around. Life for the Christian has a new significance, and thus there are also unusual expectations. I suppose that many of us have been intrigued at some time in our life by royalty, particularly British royalty, because so many of our roots come from the British
Isles. We may be tempted to think that they are but a privileged and pampered family, not worthy of respect. But if you study the royal family, you find that along with the privileges which they enjoy, there is heavy responsibility. The children born into the royal family learn very early on that they are not like other boys and girls, that with their birth into that family has come a responsibility because they are the royalty of the nation. They understand that they
cannot be the same as everyone else. You and I, who are the redeemed of Jesus Christ, purchased by his precious blood, are the royalty of God's universe. We are born into the family of the King of kings and have become by that birth the heirs with Christ of all things that God has made. Your call into God's family and his royalty, your call to be different, should not be viewed
by you as burdensome. or as a handicap. In fact, it is a privilege that is extended to us by the grace of God, quite apart from our own works. With that privilege comes responsibility. The conduct of the child of God is described for us in chapters 4, 5, and 6 of Ephesians. He has told us in chapters 1 through 3 who we are in Christ. Therefore, he now says, this is the way that God wants you to live as his dear children. We could probably summarize it all in maybe five
words. First, unity. The first part of chapter 4 deals with this truth. If we are the children of God, we are to live together in unity. Secondly, he tells us that we must live in honesty, the last part of chapter 4. Thirdly, if we are the children of God, we are to live in purity. He covers that in the first part of chapter 5. And then in the last part of chapter 5, he tells us that as the children of God, we are to be characterized by harmony. And finally, in chapter
6, as children of the living God. We are to be characterized by victory in our lives, all because of who we are in Christ Jesus. For that being the general outline that we're going to follow in the upcoming weeks, let's first take a look at this matter of unity and its ramifications. Unity begins in the character of the individual believer. But it spreads out from there to impact the whole body of which he belongs, that is, the local church. You see that in Paul's explanation.
Notice in verses 1 through 3, he talks about our personal character as preserving unity. We'll get into that some this morning and more, the Lord willing, in a couple of weeks. Then in verses 4 through 6, He talks about the doctrinal foundation providing for unity. Notice the seven oneness of our faith. He talks in verse 4 about one body, one spirit, one hope. Verse 5, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Verse 6, one God and Father of all. That is the doctrinal foundation of our
unity, providing for it. Then in verses 7 through 13, he explains to us God's practical plan. promoting unity. And finally, in verses 14, 15, and 16 of this paragraph, he explains to us the natural results in a church proving unity is there. How do we know when a church is unified? Well, those verses will come to life in that church. Now let's back up all the way to verse 1, where we are encouraged by God to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of our calling. What does that
mean? Well, let me say in the first place that it has no sense of meaning, such as living so as to merit God's pleasure or to somehow claim God's blessing because of what we've done. That is not what the Apostle is saying here when he tells us to walk worthy of our calling. He is not saying to us that we can somehow balance all of the good on this side of our lives, and surely it will outweigh the bad, and God will
be pleased. He is not saying that we somehow get God's blessing by climbing the ladder of our own goodness and deserving it. That is not what he means when he talks about walking worthy. Beloved, all of God's blessings, whether it be the blessing of salvation or all of the blessings that flow from that initial blessing, All of God's blessings are given to us on the basis of grace. That is the unmerited kindness of God toward us. Favor which we do not earn or deserve
by anything, by anything that we do. Now I emphasize that because there are so many people deluded in the thinking that somehow, someday, they're going to get to heaven on the basis of their own righteousness. Their own good works. One of the testimonies in baptism this morning in the first service dealt right with that truth. The person shared that in her early years she was depending upon her own self -righteousness.
But it was later that she realized that she was a sinner needing to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's when she became a real Christian. If you today are somehow convinced that you're going to make it into heaven, that you're going to get salvation from God by the good things that you're doing, let me warn you that that is deception. It may be the common way of thinking among men, but it is not the
truth. And Paul is not saying here that somehow we are worthy of salvation by living a good life. That is not what he's saying in verse 1. He is rather addressing those of us who are saved by faith, by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. He is speaking to us, and he is telling us who are saved now to walk worthy of our calling. The word worthy literally means of weight, or it
means an equivalency. He is saying here that our calling should be on one side of the scale, and on the other side of the scale, giving balance to that should be our lifestyle. That's what he's saying. He's saying, look at who you are. See your calling in Jesus Christ and the weight of that, the glory of it. And once you have that in mind, he says, then walk worthy of it. Let your lifestyle, your conduct, your behavior be equivalent to who you really are. We who are
children of God are forgiven and set free. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit that we might become all that God has created us to be. That is our calling. When we are born into God's family, we are born looking ahead, looking to the future. That is the direction of God's children, not the past. So often we tend to live in the past, either in its glory or in its problems, its failures. If we live in the past in its glories, then we
become arrogant. If we live in the past with all of its failures, we become depressed and discouraged. All of us. None of us can boast about where we've been. God doesn't tell us to focus on the past. Forgetting those things which are behind. That's what the Bible says. It's over. You say, yes, but there are some things in my life I wish I could go back and correct. Oh, if I could only go back and live that. You can't. It's done. That's history. What we can
have happen to us is have that forgiven. And every child of God knows the meaning of that. It means that that past that hangs over us like a cloud is wiped away. It's cleansed so that we're no longer guilty over those sins that are in the past. Don't focus on the past, beloved. Focus on the future. Someone has said, That for the child of God, the best is yet to come. And that's the truth. When the Bible talks about our calling, it is telling us to look to what
God wants us to become in Jesus Christ. Don't live regretting your past. Focus on your calling. And notice that the calling is in the passive. We're acted upon. He says, the calling with which you have been called. In other words, you didn't call yourself into God's family. He's just reminding us here that salvation wasn't something that originated with us. It wasn't your idea or mine. We didn't one day all on our own say, hey, you know, I think I want to become a Christian. I
think I want to have my sins forgiven. I think I want to have a new hope. I want to have it. That wasn't from us. He says that calling by which we were summoned out of the world to belong to Jesus Christ came from outside of us. And, of course, it came from God himself. He is the one who has called us into the fellowship of his son. The Lord Jesus Christ has liberated us. Not only from our past, but from the power
of sin within us even now. He has liberated us so that we can give ourselves to him as Lord. We can give ourselves again to sin. We can give ourselves to our own lusts. We can live to please ourselves is the point. Even as God's children. But how tragic that is. What a waste. For God has called us out and set us free. He has liberated us so that now we can freely give ourselves to Jesus Christ to obey him. That's what he's talking about here when he says, walk in a manner worthy
of your calling. Don't be content to be what you've always been. Press on to be what God wants you to become. Walk worthy. Develop a lifestyle that is consistent with your calling in Christ. This is not an isolated theme to Ephesians. Turn over to Colossians and look in chapter 1 and verse 10. Here Paul makes it a matter of prayer for the Colossians. He prays what he does in verse 9 and then goes on to verse 10 to say, that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
Notice, very similar language. Here he doesn't emphasize walking worthy of your calling. He says, walk worthy of your Lord. You say, can I really do that? If you couldn't, God wouldn't tell us to. Walk worthy of the Lord who has called you. If you bear his name, Didn't walk worthy of the name. The story is told of Napoleon, who went to the front lines in some heated battle, and there he saw a soldier who was afraid to go into battle. He would not go to the front
lines. Napoleon walked over to him and said, Soldier, what is your name? And amazingly, the soldier replied, Napoleon. The great general looked at him and said, soldier, get to the front or change your name. Walk worthy, my friend, of your commanding officer, Jesus Christ. Walk worthy of the calling by which you've been called. Turn over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse
12. Here the apostle says, I am... pleading with you, I am exhorting you, as a father would his own children, verse 12 now, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Now let that trickle down into your mind a little bit. God has called you to inherit his kingdom. He has already predestined you to be conformed to the very glory of Jesus Christ, child of God that is true about you,
every one of you, that's your calling. Paul says, oh, that you would walk worthy of that calling to glory. You'll notice going back to our original text now in Ephesians chapter 1 that this message from the Lord does not come as a command. Does that amaze you as it does me? Paul doesn't say, I therefore command you. He says, I entreat you. Remember, God is speaking through him. God is here begging us. That's what the word means. Urging us that we would walk worthy of our calling.
This is the same word used of the Holy Spirit in John's Gospel, where he's called the Comforter, the one who is called alongside to help us. The Apostle pictures himself, and God is using Paul to picture himself, as coming alongside us, putting his arm around us and saying, Look, my child, this is who you are. Now, would you please live worthy of your calling? Do you see the gentleness
of God in that? Here is not some dictator who is making demands, but here is a Lord who gently comes alongside us and urges us to get moving in this direction. to begin getting into our lives, the truth about ourselves, to recognize the high position and the holy privilege that we have to be the called ones of Jesus Christ, to let that truth soak down deep and instill in each of us a fresh desire for a lifestyle
that reflects who we really are. You know, that's the one thing that really matters in your Christian life. That is, conducting yourself according to your heavenly calling as God's royalty. Not money or clothes or that profession you've been wanting to get into. Not the house you own or the car or the job or the promotion you're working for. Not your educational degrees. None of those things are important compared to this. It's not the big game. It's not that once -in -a -lifetime
opportunity. It's not your dream vacation that you've been working toward when you retire. It's not even getting married and having a family. But the most important thing in life is what he talks about in this verse. To conduct ourselves worthy of the calling that Jesus Christ has given us. To live this way requires supernatural assistance. You and I cannot in ourselves live worthy of Jesus Christ. That's why God has given us his
Holy Spirit. As we draw upon the resources of the Spirit of God in our lives and live like he tells us to, and he will explain what he wants from us. As we begin to put this into practice by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, some things will take place. First of all, you'll be pegged as different from other people. That's all right. You're royalty. You will make some people uncomfortable. There will be people who will misunderstand you and, yes, even hate you.
Because of the way that you live, that lifestyle. But never neglect the fact, don't ever forget the truth, that you are a child of God. Not because you are something in yourself, but because of the calling of Jesus Christ that brought you to faith in himself. And because of that calling, that you had nothing to do with, that came to you from the outside because of that calling to become and to experience the fullness of all
that God has planned for His children. Because of that calling and that destiny, God urges us now to get our lifestyle into sync with it. In the Old Testament, God said to his people, I will bless you if you obey me. But in this age, what God says to us is this, I have blessed you, so please obey me. Let's pray together.