Sermon Notes
How Shall We Walk?
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. One of
the most exciting time for parents is when their small children begin to walk.
1. They quickly progress from crawling to
standing while holding on to something.
2. One day they turn lose and take those
first tentative steps and the next day they
are walking across the stage at
graduation!
3. There is a sense in which all of us are
still learning to walk. The Bible uses the
word “walk” as a metaphor for the way we
should live.
a. Genesis 5:22 - Enoch “walked with God.”
b. Genesis 6:9 - Noah “walked
with God.”
c. Genesis 17:1 - Abraham was commanded to
“walk before God and be
blameless.”
d. Deuteronomy 5:13 – “You shall walk
in all the way which the Lord your God has
commanded you, that you may live and
that it may be well with you, and that you
may prolong your days in the
land which you will possess.”
e. Psalm 1:1-2 – “How blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the
wicked, Nor stand in the path of
sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2 But his
delight is in the law of the Lord, And
in His law he meditates day and night.”
f. Psalm 84:11 – “For the Lord God is a
sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and
glory; No good thing does He
withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
g. Romans 6:4 – “Therefore we have been
buried with Him through baptism into
death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father,
so we too might walk in newness of
life.”
h. Galatians 5:16 – “But I say, walk by
the Spirit, and you will not carry out the
desire of the flesh.”
B. A
woman was speaking to a civic club one day and explaining how the medical
organization she worked for had helped a
small child with severely deformed feet
receive surgery and therapy to enable him
to walk. “Would you guess where he is
today,” she asked? Someone spoke up and
suggested that he might be an
outstanding student or an accomplished
professional. She replied, “No, he is in the
state penitentiary serving a life sentence
for murder. We taught him how to walk but
no one taught him how to live.”
1. The apostle Paul was concerned with the
way Christians walk. He knew that the
way we conduct our lives was a testimony
to non-believers in the world.
2. This is certainly true today. A majority
of people in our culture do not know what
the Bible teaches nor do they care. To a
majority of people in the world the church
is totally irrelevant. There is one
thing, however, that does get people’s attention.
The way we walk.
3. I believe this is why the apostle Paul
used this metaphor seven times in the six
chapters of Ephesians.
C. The
book of Ephesians was addressed to people who lived at the crossroads of the
ancient world. He understood that the way
they lived was going to affect the spread
of the Gospel throughout the entire region
of Asia Minor (West Turkey in our modern
day).
1. Like many of Paul’s letters there were
two sections to the book of Ephesians.
1. A section of doctrinal instruction to
combat false teachers – chapters 1-3.
2. A section of practical moral
exhortation dealing with our conduct in the church, in
our marriages and families –
chapters 4-6.
3. It is not surprising that 5 times in
these last three chapters he instructs us on how
we should walk.
a. Ephesians 4:1 – “Therefore I, the
prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a
manner worthy of the calling with
which you have been called.”
b. Ephesians 4:17 – “So this I say,
and affirm together with the Lord, that you
walk no longer just as the
Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,”
c. Ephesians 5:2 – “walk in love,
just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself
up for us, an offering and a
sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
d. Ephesians 5:8 – “walk as children of
Light.”
e. Ephesians 5:15 – “Therefore be
careful how you walk, not as unwise men but
as wise.”
f. The way we walk influences the
people in our families, on our job, at school, on
the ball field and in the church.
D. Let’s
examine the first of these “walk” passages. “Walk in a manner worthy of your
calling.”
I. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
A. The men and women of the Third United
States Infantry Regiment of the United
States Army are very special. They spend
eight hours preparing their uniforms and
their minds for duty. Each day they are
on duty they receive a fresh haircut. While
on duty they do not vary a single step. They
are completely focused on their task.
This illustrious guard has performed its
duty every minute of every day since July 2,
1937. They are the soldiers who guard
the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in
Washington, D.C. When they come on duty
they walk exactly 21 steps across the
tomb, representing the 21-gun salute. When
they turn they face the tomb for 21
seconds. They turn again and walk 21
steps across the tomb. They stop, turn
toward the tomb and pause for 21
seconds. Over and over the guard repeats the
process. They maintain their post and
their routine perfectly without ever flinching
or being distracted whether it is winter
or summer, scorching heat or snow, rain or
shine.
They are walking worthy of their calling
to honor those who have died for our
nation.
B. You and I are to walk in a manner that
honors the one who died for our souls. In
the first three chapters of Ephesians
Paul describes what Jesus has done for us.
1. Ephesians 1:3-11 – We have received
every spiritual blessing through Christ. We
have been chosen by Him. We have
been adopted by Him. We have redemption
through His blood. We have been
forgiven of our sins. He has lavished on us the
riches of His grace. Paul goes on to
say that we have been given the Holy Spirit
as a seal or guarantee of our
inheritance.
2. In chapter 2 he says that though we
were dead in our transgressions and sins
God, who is rich in mercy, has made
us alive through Christ (vss. 3-4). We have
been saved by grace through faith
(vss. 8-10). In verses 12-14 he said, that
though we were “separate from Christ,
excluded from the commonwealth of
Israel, and strangers to the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without
God in the world. 13 But
now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have
been brought near by the blood of
Christ.” Though we were strangers to the
covenant of promise, we are now
fellow citizens of the kingdom of God.
3. In chapter 3 Paul says that God has
made this great mystery of salvation in
Christ known to us. Even the angels
didn’t understand it but God has revealed it
to us. We serve a God “who is able
to do far more abundantly beyond all that we
ask or think, according to the power
that works within us” (3:20).
C. God has done all of this for you. He
hasn’t given up on you! He has not cast you
aside. He has not forgotten you. He has
not abandoned you. He has not thrown you
out with the trash. He has given the
very best He had for you! Now, walk in a
manner worthy of your calling!
D. Paul was serious about this. In
Colossians 1:9-10 he wrote, “For this reason also,
since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for
you and to ask that you
may be filled with the knowledge of His
will in all spiritual wisdom and
understanding, 10 so
that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please
Him
in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the
knowledge of God.”
II. WHAT DOES THIS INVOLVE?
A. It would be cruel for Paul (or any
writer) to tell us to do something and then not
explain how it is to be done. In the
next two verses he tells us exactly what he
means, “with all humility and
gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one
another in love, 3 being
diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace.”
B. There are four specific characteristics
that define walking in a manner worthy of
your calling.
1. Humility.
a. There are two men in the Bible
who are mentioned as being humble. Moses
(Numbers 12) and Jesus (Matthew
18:29). Why do I mention them? Many
people think that humility is
weakness. Neither Moses nor Jesus was weak.
b. Humility is a sense of your place
in the world. It is the realization that you are
part of a much larger picture
and the world does not revolve around you.
c. One of the most harmful attitudes
in the church is the idea that it’s all about
“me” and what “I think” or what
“I want.” It is not about you. It is about Christ.
The church doesn’t belong to
you. It belongs to Christ.
2. Gentleness.
a. I used to have a friend who owned
horses and invited me to ride with him. I
was amazed at the strength of
those animals and how they had been trained
to submit to the leadership of
their rider.
b. The word “gentleness” was used to
describe a powerful animal that had been
tamed.
c. I have a good friend who was once a body
builder. His arms and shoulders are
extremely muscular and strong.
He participated in competitive arm wrestling.
The thing that amazed me about
him was his gentleness with children. It is
such a spirit of gentleness that
God wants us to have with one another.
3. Patience.
a. Is there anyone with whom you
have trouble being patient?
b. Remember what Paul says here.
“Showing tolerance for one another in love.”
The idea is that we are to be
patient with one another in the same way God is
patient with us. Remember the
first characteristic of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4
is, “Love is patient.”
4. Diligently preserving the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace.
a. Walking worthy of our calling
means we are concerned about unity.
b. In the passionate prayer of Jesus in
John 17 he prayed earnestly for the unity
of those who believe in Him. John
17:20-21 - “I do not ask on behalf of these
alone, but for those also who
believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may
all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they
also may be
in Us, so that the world may
believe that You sent Me.”
c. Paul goes on in Ephesians 4:4-6
to talk about the oneness of the body. “There
is
one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your
calling; 5 one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who
is
over all and through all and in
all.”
d. One of the supreme texts on unity
is found in 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul
wrote that there is one body
with many different members. The greatest threat
to unity is our difficulty
accepting people who are not like us.
Not everyone is
like you. You may be an eye in
the body but not everyone is an eye. That
doesn’t mean they are not a part
of the body. You may be an ear in the body
but not everyone is an ear.
e. Being united requires diligent
effort. It is essential for walking in a manner
worthy of our calling.
CONCLUSION:
A. I once
read of a church building in Kansas where a young mother took her children
as the concrete sidewalk was being poured
and placed their footprints in the wet
cement pointing towards the church
building. This was a way of permanently
reminding her children how she wanted them to
walk.
B. How
are you walking these days? Are you walking in the Spirit or serving the
desires
of the flesh? Are you living for God? Have
you put on Christ in baptism for the
remission of sins? If we can assist you in
your spiritual life we invite you to come
today.
