Sit, Walk, Stand - Part 6 — Gareth Evans

Humble today than anybody else in our church. Let me give the hymn books out, please, pastor. Oh, let me wash the dishes. I want to be humble. Look how humble I am. I want to be a servant even to the servants in our church.

Humility as Knowing Who We Really Are

Humility, the person who has it does not even know they have it. How does one define it? I would define humility this way. Knowing oneself as you really are, that's humility. Jesus was humble. He was the example of humility, just as Satan is the example of pride.

Christ's Humility and the Believer's Identity

And Jesus knew exactly who he was. Though he was equal with God, he did not think it was something to be grasped, but he humbled himself and even to death upon a cross. But Jesus did not walk about with his head bowed down and his coat over his eyes and say, well, you know, I don't want to interfere with you.

Don't let me rock the boat. I want to be humble. I do not see a man like that who walked into the temple and turned over the tables with money changers. I see a man who was strong, a man with great character, a man who knew who he was and knew his calling.

That's humility. Humility says, I'm but a sinner saved by grace. Humility says, I'm seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I'm a son of the King. Humility says, in my own strength I can do nothing.

Humility says, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. Humility says, I'm not worthy of your love, O Lord. Humility says, I will walk tall with a straight back and my head held high in a world of bowed shoulders and cringing souls.

Meekness as Teachability and Spiritual Malleability

That's humility, knowing who you are in reality. Walk worthily with gentleness. The word gentleness is meekness in some scriptures. It's one of the fruit of the Spirit. Meekness is a lovely word. It is not the word that we often think, you know, gentle Jesus, meek and mild.

That's not meekness. Meekness is teachability, pliability, moldability, people who are not so hardened in their growth, in their experience, in their walk, that the Spirit of God cannot mold them and transform them and change them.

Meekness is the malleability that the Spirit of God is looking for as he molds us into the image of Christ. That's meekness. And Paul says, if we have learned to sit in Christ Jesus, we need to learn to walk in a manner worthy of that.

Walking in Love and the Light

Let's go on to chapter 5. Be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love. He wants you to walk in love. One could expand on all of these. Let's go on to verse 8. You were formerly darkness, but now you're children of the Lord.

Walk as children of light. And as the light shines in your life, it's going to produce fruit, verse 9. For the fruit of life consists in goodness and righteousness and truth. As you walk in the light, you're going to understand God's will, for he's going to teach you to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, verse 10.

As you walk in the light, you're going to expose the evil around you. The world cannot continue in its evil form, verse 11, for you will expose the unfruitful deeds of darkness. Walking in the light means being transparent.

Truthful Communication and Transparency in the Church

It means when I talk with you and you talk with me and we talk with one another, I know where you're coming from. I know your heart. You're walking in the light. There's no politicking. One of the sickest things in the body of Christ today is politicking.

One of the sessions I shall teach from chapter 4, it speaks about communication. And one of the first things Paul says about communication, good Christian communication, is learn to speak truth to one another.

It's amazing how many half-truths are said in the body of Christ. Because we don't want to offend one another and because we want to do this, but if I make it clear to our church what we want to do, they'll probably vote it down.

So we'll only give them half the picture. A half-truth has always been a half-lie. Politicking. If we are walking in the light, we'll be transparent so our yeas and yeas, our nays and nays, and men and women know exactly where we stand on issues.

Standing Firm in Spiritual Warfare

Walking in the light brings health, brings fruit, brings transparency. And so we've learned to sit in Christ Jesus. We know the privilege of that. We know the security of that. Because of that, therefore, we learn to walk worthily.

We learn to walk in love. We learn to walk in the light. And then we come into chapter 6 and he ends the book and he says these words. So therefore, having learned these things, stand. That's when we're strong to stand in the battle.

That's when mature believers are. They've learned the privilege of being in Christ. They've learned what it is to walk in him. They've now come to the place where they can stand. Chapter 6, he says, we have a warfare on.

He tells us to take on the whole armor of God. He tells us, above all, to stand, resisting the enemy, having your feet shod, having your loins girded with truth, the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, etc., etc., so you may quench the fiery darts of the wicked ones.

The Sit, Walk, Stand Pattern of Ephesians

He said, stand, brothers and sisters, stand. And so my outline of the book, a book that Paul sent around all the churches, a book that becomes the queen of the epistles, the book that expresses Paul's great thrill of that revival reality that's in his life.

He says, brothers and sisters, we need to start off by learning what it is to be in Christ, seated and secure. Having learned that, let's walk the life he calls us to. And having done that, we should be able to stand.

Grace to Stand Through Future Trials

The days are going to come, as Peter said, maybe they're going to come here in Australia, where things are going to get tough for Christians. When they do, I want to know what it is to rest upon him and therefore be able to stand.

He's going to give grace sufficient, when we've learned to stand in him. Amen.