Walk Worthy of the Calling, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. God calls His people to live a life with a radically different purpose than the one we would live in our own flesh. In His goodness, He also equips us with everything we need to live out that calling vibrantly. We're delving into Ephesians 4-1 in this message titled, Walk Worthy of the Calling, preached on September 10, 2017. Now if you have your copy of the Scriptures open to Ephesians, Chapter 4, our text today is actually quite short. One verse, and in particularly one line within that verse. Ephesians is all about the riches of His grace, the riches that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, as we come to the second half of this book, this letter of Paul the Apostle to the church at Ephesus, the theme now for the rest of it is, Walk Worthy of your Calling. Walk Worthy of your Calling. In our text today is Ephesians 4-1. As Paul says that, that you walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, something becomes very clear and it's very easy to miss it. But Christians, listen, this is for you.

Understand this, all right? You have been called. You have been called. Repeat after me, I have been called.

Do you understand that? I'm not the only one in this room that's been called to ministry. You are called. As a Christian, you have been called to what? As Christians, we are called to a radical new community as one new people. And this is what he emphasizes in Ephesians 1-3.

And particularly where this comes out is in 2 verses 19-22. We are the household of God. The household of God is the place where God resides and His glory is manifest. And that, loved ones, is the church. This is our calling to be a radical new community as one new people. The newness that we have in Christ because of the riches of His grace.

So a radical new community as one new people to the glory of God. To glorify God means to point to Him. As I live my life, as I walk in my day to day, my life points to God, to His goodness, His majesty, His glory, regardless of the context, the circumstances around me. To the praise of His glory, says 1-6. In 3-10, that the church demonstrates, manifests the manifold power and wisdom of God.

That's who we are and that's our calling. That's what it means when it says that we are chosen, we are set apart to this task, to this calling. And if you are in Christ here this morning, you have been called. The apostle Peter says something very similar in describing the church.

Look at it with me. 1 Peter 2 verse 9. We are a chosen race and I change, he says you, but I changed it to we. It's not like I'm inspired or something like that, but that's why because we're all the church, okay? We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. So the apostle Peter here is echoing and saying exactly the same thing that the apostle Paul is. This is what we are and who I am in Christ. We need to know this, we need to understand this. So what I want to do is I'm going to read this again and that last line, I want you to affirm that with me when I get there.

You ready? 1 Peter 2-9. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. This is what we are and who I am in Christ.

Loved ones, I want you to know this. I call you to know this, grasp this by meditating on it and let this truth and the truth of Ephesians 1-3 fill, permeate, and transform your hearts and minds. Because if that doesn't happen, then getting to chapters 4-6 will become a mere duty to you and it will become a drudgery if all it is is a duty. This is your empowerment, this is your calling and your equipping.

So not only have you been called, but you have been equipped for the calling and that's what Paul refers to when he says, He's lavished upon us every spiritual blessing. Let's review these. Now there are 16 points here and I'm going to exposit each one for about five, I'm just kidding. We're not going to be, okay, this is all review. This is what we've covered in chapters 1-3.

There's a reason why 1-3 comes before 4-6. So we're reviewing this here, beginning with chapter 1 verse 7. You have been redeemed and forgiven. Everyone needs forgiveness and they know it.

Every one of us knows it and in Christ you have been forgiven. The freedom that comes from that because you don't have to work to appease the divine or find his favor. Chapter 1 verse 9, we've been given the ability to know the mystery of his will. Only those in Christ can know the mystery of his will.

An unregenerate person cannot. 1-11, we have obtained an inheritance. We have been predestined to it. It is a confident, secure future. The hope, the freedom that comes in that and it doesn't say you will have an inheritance.

It says you have obtained an inheritance. 1-13, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. Your future is guaranteed with the very presence of God residing in your lives.

Think about that. 1-19, you have access to his power and that's that same Holy Spirit who resides in you. He is the power of God, the guarantee of God and the power of God in you and you have access to the omnipotent power of God. The same power that rose Jesus from the dead and so we find then also in 2 verses 1-5 that you have been made alive. You were dead in trespasses and sins but now you have been made alive so live and he says in 2-6 that we've been raised up and seated with Christ.

The exalted position of the believer that your enemy wants you to forget. You have an exalted position seated with Christ because God's favor is yours and you don't have to earn it. You are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. 2-7, he has lavished his favor on you.

God has poured out his favor on you. 2-10, you have been created in Christ designed for good. Created in Christ designed for good so that we can do the same good that Jesus did as it says in Acts that he went about doing good.

It didn't mean he was doing a good job at something. It means he was doing good things and that's what we're all about. We are created in Christ Jesus to do good things as he did. 2-13, we have been brought near to God who is our peace. The omnipotent sovereign, the infinite one of all existence. You have been brought near to him and he is our peace and as we are brought near to God then we people will be brought near to each other and reconciliation between people is an outflow of our reconciliation to God. 2-18, we have access to the father. Think about that. Your loving, infinite, benevolent, omnipotent father. You have access to him. That's so worthy of your contemplation. 3-16, that your spirit will be empowered by his spirit.

Isn't that an amazing thought? Your spirit empowered by his spirit because he resides in you. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And then 3-17, so that Christ will be at home in your heart and mind.

That word dwell means to settle down and be at home. That Christ may dwell and be at home in your heart and mind. 3-18, that you will experience the immeasurable love of Christ. Not just know about it but experience, sense, be engulfed in the immeasurable love of Christ so that 3-19, you'll be filled with all the fullness of God. Isn't that just an amazing statement? To be filled with all the fullness of God.

And then lastly, 3-20, knowing that God is at work in us. He is the one who works to produce his good pleasure in us. He is able to accomplish beyond what we can imagine. Do you know what these things are? The Apostle Paul says to the Corinthian church that spiritual things cannot be understood by the natural mind. What is he talking about? This is what he's talking about. An unregenerate person cannot know or grasp or experience these things.

Why? Because they are spiritually discerned. Only the one who has surrendered himself in faith to Jesus Christ and then indwelt with the spirit can know these things. And this has been given to us, disclosed to us in God's Word.

This is what's true about you. So you're going to hear me talk today about indicative and imperative. Big fancy words.

No, it's just the kind of language that we're using, okay? Indicative just simply means this is true. This is true.

That's what indicative means. This is what's true about God. This is what he has done and therefore it's what's true about you. That's all of chapters one to three. And that's why we come to chapter four.

All these things being true. So, which means therefore. And when you come upon a therefore, you have to look back and see what it's there for.

And that's chapters one to three. The therefore refers back to one to three. So all of these things being true, the indicative, this is what's true.

What God has done and what's true about you. Therefore, we come to the imperatives. What's a synonym for imperative?

Commands. Therefore, do this. Since this is true about you, therefore, walk worthy of the calling. You have been called.

You even affirmed it this morning. You have been called and you have been equipped. And so Paul is saying, since your calling and equipping is true about you, therefore, walk worthy of the calling. You've been listening to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Visit our church website to see upcoming events or to listen to more messages at www.gbcwinston.com. To discover how to live by grace, tune in on weekdays at 10 a.m.