Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 240

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Living In Christ – 1

WALK WORTHY!

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Eph 4:1  I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the calling with which you are called, 
Eph 4:2  with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, 
Eph 4:3  endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Our series on Ephesians moves from Life In Christ (chapters 1-3) to Living In Christ (chapters 4-6) - and from an emphasis on “being and being in” to an emphasis on “doing and working out”.  Having established our place and privilege in Christ - we now find out what a God-indwelt life looks like in the Church, (chapter 4) in the family and society (chapter 5) and in the Heavenly realms (chapter 6).

The connecting verse is Ephesians 4:1 with its injunction to “walk worthy of the calling with which you are called,” We have a high calling – how then do we live it out? If God calls us saints and places us in the heavenly realms with Christ – how should we then live?

Paul does not answer this question in terms of material lifestyle. We are not told that as “God’s kids” we should live in luxury.  Walking worthily of the high calling is not a matter of possessions and gracious living but of obedience and gracious attitudes.

Living worthily of our high calling means we will be humble and peaceful: “with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Lets play it in reverse:  “With haughtiness and arrogance, with impatience, being easily offended, engaging in faction-fighting at every opportunity, and maintaining carnality and immaturity in an atmosphere of conflict.”

Put like this it is obvious what is of the Spirit, and what is of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16-23). 

Life in the Spirit is NOT characterized by back-biting, gossip and conflict. Rather the life of the saint is patient and humble, loving and kind, and gives each person space to grow in Christ.

Many of the attitudes inculcated into us when we first learn social skills – are of the flesh. Young adults are often encouraged to be elitist, proud, and haughty. They are taught to jump on minor social infractions, to reject others and to separate from others and form cliques. Unfortunately some of this sub-standard socialization makes its way into the Church.

The Church should not be like the world, and should not be driven by the flesh and by human pride and factionalism. Rather the Church should be a place where saints can be grown. 

The Church should be forbearing of new Christians, meek and gentle to the hurting, free of pecking orders and cliques and humble in a real and solid kind of way.  Such people are saintly and saintly people are worthy of their calling.

Lets look at these spiritual virtues in a bit more depth:

Lowliness – the opposite of haughtiness. Without superiority or class distinctions, able to serve, delighting in lifting up another person, never putting someone down. The lowly person surrenders the best seat.  Lowly people lift others up by getting underneath. This is why the Son of God called Himself “lowly”:

Matthew 11:29
(29)  Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls.

Lowliness is commended throughout the Scriptures and is something that God regards and gives grace to - (Job 22:29, Ps 138:6, Prov. 3:34, 11:2, 16:19; Luke 1:52) and the true apostles were lowly of heart (2 Corinthians 7:6, 10:1) and it is an essential part of the Philippians 2 section on humility: 
Philippians 2:3
(3)  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves.

With lowliness there are no pecking orders. 

Meekness: The opposite of arrogant abusiveness. Meek people are safe and gentle. They display true spiritual greatness, God defends the meek (Ps 76:9, 147:6) and they will inherit the earth (Psalm 37:11, Matthew 5:5). Moses was exceptionally meek (Numbers 12:3) and it is one of the characteristics of the triumphant Messiah (Psalm 45:4., Isaiah 11;4, Zech 9:9) and of course Jesus was meek (Matthew 11:29,) in fact it was one of His kingly virtues at His triumphal entry (Matthew 21:5). 

As the opposite of abusiveness and arrogance - meekness is to characterize NT church-discipline (1 Corinthians 4:21, 2 Corinthians 10:1, Galatians 6:1, 2 Timothy 2:25) and especially the life of the Christian teacher, apologist and defender of the faith (2 Timothy 2:25, 1 Peter 3:15, Titus 3:2, James 3:13). It is also part of being a truly godly Christian woman (1 Peter 3:4) and an attentive disciple (James 1:21). 

Long-suffering and forbearance: The opposite or irritability and swift judgementalism. The ability to put up with others and give them room to grow – as we ourselves would like others to give us grace and understanding. These attributes are at the very heart of the glory of God (Exodus 34:6,7).  Immature people lack them entirely. People who are forever fuming and fretting and being annoyed, need to grow up in Christ. While we can demand our rights now and then most of the time we should not be so fussy. Maturity involves “put-up-ability”. 

Finally we should have a spirit of cooperation and unity, a good “team spirit”, that is from the Holy Spirit, so that we are “forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” 

Thus walking worthily is thus not about spiritual elitism, fractious legalism, or divisive judging; neither is it about being a superior Christian – it is about being a lowly, meek , patient, loving and cooperative saint.  If we are walking worthily we will not over-emphasize denominational differences or divide off from others but endure their faults, pray for them and be meek and lowly towards them.

Blessings,

John Edmiston <johned@aibi.ph>

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