Sunday Morning Sermon Series - Walking Worthy

Whitten Baptist Church iconWhitten Baptist Church

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Now, I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel, it wasn't their military gods, it wasn't the type of people.
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The God who praised God. Turn with me to Ephesians four, starting in verse one, going to verse six.
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I want you to keep your finger here because I'm going to be all over the place today, but for the most part, the main point of our sermon is going to be here.
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So starting in verse one, therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the spirit with the peace that binds us.
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There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling, one
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Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
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You can always find something out about somebody just kind of by the way they walk. Now I'm not talking about the little intricacies like they raised their eyebrow, now they're lying.
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No, it's about the obvious things. For example, you have somebody chest out, you know, they're looking for, they're willing to make eye contact with you, they're making longer strides, this person's feeling confident.
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Or maybe you have the person who, they keep their hands in their pockets, they don't really want to make eye contact, they take shorter steps.
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They're not so confident, they're a little embarrassed, not feeling good about themselves, or maybe they just really have to pee. Well, the same thing is true about a
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Christian's walk. Your walk can be seen very clearly through the eyes not only of other
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Christians, but of non -believers. The way you walk in your life, day to day, matters. And that's what
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Paul's talking about today. He starts Ephesians four with the word therefore.
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Now, Ephesians, to understand this, is broken into two natural parts. Ephesians chapter one through three, they outline what
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God has done for us in our lives. He's adopted us, he's done all these great things. And then when Paul gets to four through six, he starts with therefore, now act like it.
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Now, act like worthy of the calling you have received. Now, Paul says he urges us.
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The Greek word used for urge here is perikleo, which can also be translated as begging. Paul's begging you, please,
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God has done all these amazing things, please act like it. Please let your life reflect what God has done.
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And now, but he's begging me, but what does it mean to walk? We'll have a few good examples here, starting with first, we need to know that to walk, means, we need to know what it means.
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We're to walk in the good works God has prepared for us. Ephesians 2 .10 says, for we are his creation,
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God created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time, so that we should walk in them.
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Now, this isn't saying that you're saved by works, but as a matter of fact, in two verses before,
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Ephesians 2 .8 and 9, for you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is God's gift, not from works, so that no man can boast.
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Yes, you are saved by faith, but if you have true faith, your walk and what you do in your life is gonna reflect it, you're gonna have works.
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If James 2 .14 through 17 says, what good is it, brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works?
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Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them things needed for the body, what good is that?
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So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. He's saying in this passage that God in his foreknowledge had already planned the good works in your life.
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It's already set out for you, now you're just a walk in it. But in order to do that, we need to know how
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Christ walked. 1 John 2, five and six says, but whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is perfected.
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This is how we know we are in him. The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.
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Jesus is the standard by which we are to live our very lives. 1 Corinthians 11, one says, imitate me just as I also imitate
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Christ. If you're going throughout your Christian walk, but you're not walking as Christ, you're not walking.
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Christ brings all things together. He is how you in your life are to act. But to understand how
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Christ walked, we have to know the word of God. We have to be in the word of God. Psalms 119, 105 says, your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
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His word is an illumination and a revelation. Now, several people throughout history have had revelations.
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For example, Isaac Newton, he was sitting under an apple tree and an apple fell on his head and he had a revelation that gravity affects us in our lives.
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Gravity is real. Then George Washington Carver, he was experimenting with peanuts and then something bad happened.
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But then he discovered that peanuts have a medicinal property. But most importantly,
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I had a revelation one day. So I was in the shower, I was doing my thing, I had shampoo in my hair,
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I was about halfway done. I was feeling good and then the power went out. But that was okay, that was okay with me,
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I was fine. I was gonna continue where I started. Mama didn't raise no quitter. So I was gonna keep going. So I'm like, all right, it's all cool,
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I'm good. So I'm still going. But then something bad happens, something really bad happens,
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I fall. But not only did I fall, I fell into the shower curtain and the shower curtain rod comes down, hits me in the head, now
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I'm wrapped in the shower curtain and now I'm being waterboarded by a $15 faucet from Walmart and I can't see,
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I can't breathe, it's still dark and now I'm angry, my shoulder hurts, my head hurts. And I'm laying there,
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I'm like, this sucks, and my bathroom's flooded. But then I had a revelation. This is what a
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Christian's walk is like if they don't know the word of God. Because God's word is a light into our path, is a lamp into our feet.
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He shows us how to walk and we just read, we're to walk as Christ walks. So if we're not in the Bible and we're trying to imitate
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Christ, it doesn't make sense because you don't even know how he walked. So live your lives as Christ did.
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And now, what does he mean by worthy? Yeah, we're to walk, we know how to walk now, but what does it mean to be worthy of the calling? Well, the
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Greek word used for worthy here is axios, which means of equal weight. We're to walk with equal weight to what
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Christ has called in our lives. We're not worthy, Jesus dying on the cross and imputing his righteousness onto us made us worthy.
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We are not worthy, we're to walk as if. As I said before,
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Ephesians chapter one and three shows some of the great things God has done in our lives. For example, Ephesians 1 .4,
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he chose us before the foundation of the world. 1 .7, he died to atone for our sins. 1 .11, we have received an inheritance with him, we have been adopted into his family.
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1 .13, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 2 .5, he made us alive even though we were dead in our trespasses.
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Ephesians 2 .14, he is our peace. Now Paul really sums this up in Philippians 1 .27.
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Just one thing, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then whenever I come and see you or I'm absent,
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I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working side by side for the faith that comes from the gospel.
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Remember, as you're doing this, don't forget that read the Bible. Know what
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Christ did, let your actions in your life reflect it, because everybody else can see it. And next,
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Paul gives several guidelines. And it's really a Christian who is walking worthy is going to bear fruit in their life.
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He starts with humility. Have you ever had somebody in your life, maybe another brother, who's really struggling with a sin, and they're always right even though they're wrong?
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It's just, it's so frustrating. You Google it, you put it in their face, and they're still like, no, that's not right, and I'm still right.
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But what happens when that one time comes around, and you're the one that's wrong, and you Google it, you know, you're so certain you're right, this person's always wrong, because you
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Google it, and you're like, oh no, I'm the one wrong. How hard is it to be humble in that situation when this person's always done that?
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And now it's your turn, and you have to humble yourself? Well, listen to what
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Jesus does. Philippians 2, five and eight says, make your own attitude of that of Christ Jesus, who existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for his own advantage.
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Instead, he empties himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when he had come as a man in his external form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even to death on the cross.
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I can accept when I'm obviously wrong about something, but Christ, seated at the right hand of God, came down and died for my sins, my unwillingness to be humble, that's ridiculous.
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And next, he says to be gentle. The word gentleness in the Bible is used in two different contexts. First, he speaks on how we are to talk to non -believers who challenge us.
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Second Timothy 2, 24 through 26 says, the Lord's slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness, perhaps
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God will give them repentance. One key thing to take away from this is that God will grant them repentance.
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You're not the one that does the saving. Don't grow angry when they just won't listen, or don't grow angry when they're really getting defensive, or they're attacking you.
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Be gentle, because it's not your job to save somebody. It's your job to give them the word of God, and God does the saving.
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Secondly, gentleness is used on how we are to confront brothers and sisters who are doing wrong. Galatians 6, one, brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit.
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Maybe you have a brother or sister who's caught in a sin. You were to confront them, but do it with gentleness.
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Don't attack them, don't grow angry. It's gonna be hard, because sometimes they're not gonna want to listen. But be gentle, and then he says next, be patient with that person, bearing with them in love.
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We are called to forgive as Christ forgave us. Colossians 3, 12, 13, therefore
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God's chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another and forgiving one another.
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If anyone has a complaint against another, just as the Lord has forgiven you, you must also forgive. But what if they did something bad to you?
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What if, it could be as small as them stealing a pen from you, or them cheating on you. How hard is it to be forgiving?
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But not only that, it says forgiving, and bearing with one another in love. But the word love here is the hardest kind of love.
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The Greek word for love here is agape, it's agape love, which is a selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional love.
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Now how hard, if somebody does something bad to you, or cheats on you, is it to be selfless, sacrificial, and unconditionally love them still?
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But that's what Christ did, and remember, our lives and our walk are to reflect that. You don't have an option, and in doing all this, we have to learn how to walk as one body.
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We are to keep the unity the Spirit has given us, as he says in 4 .3. But how do we find our unity?
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Romans 12 .5 states, in the same way we are who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
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We have all been connected by one Spirit, one God, one Father of all, who is above all and through all.
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Now we are to act like the body, we are to find our identity in it. In Ephesians 4 .17,
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Paul says, no longer walk as the Gentiles walk. But you know what's crazy about this? He's talking to Gentiles.
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He's saying, stop finding your identity in being a Gentile or a Jew, don't find your identity in being a Baptist or a
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Presbyterian, don't find your identity in your last name, or whatever your job is, find your identity in the unity the
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Spirit has given you. Stop walking as if you're not a new creation in Christ.
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Ephesians 4 .22 through 24 says, you took off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires.
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You are now being renewed in the spirit of your minds. You put on the new self, the one created to God's likeness and righteousness and purity of faith.
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So find your identity in that. And then next, to keep the unity, we have to encourage each other to keep going.
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Hebrews 10 .24 through 25 says, and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
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Not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another all in all the more as you see the day approaching.
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A Christian's walk is not an easy one. In fact, 1 Corinthians 9 .24 says, we are to run a race as to obtain a prize.
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We are to run to win. But it gets tiring. A Christian's walk is not easy.
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There's so many things we can't do. It's so hard. We get tired. We wanna stop. We start looking back while we're running.
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You know what happens when you look back while you run? You're gonna trip and fall. You start flirting with the ideas of past sin.
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You start doubting. It gets hard and you're tired. But you know who's gonna be there when you're on the ground and you're defeated?
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Your brothers and sisters in Christ that pick you back up and say, keep on going. That's how we keep the unity in Christ.
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Now I'm gonna ask the music people to please come up, but remember this.
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Stop finding your identity in who you are and find your identity in the unity the
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Spirit has given you and then encourage each other and walk together. Remember, your walk needs to be of equal weight, axios, to what
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God has called for you in your life. Your walk should be a reflection of how Jesus walked.
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If you're in here today and you keep looking back and you're struggling with that, well, there's brothers and sisters all around you today.
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This is a good day to get together and figure it out. And maybe you're not struggling. Maybe you're running your race and you're great.
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You're walking great. Well, now, this is a chance to go find somebody who's struggling, who's looking the wrong way.