Walking Worthy Of Grace

Walking Worthy of Grace Eph. 4:1-16 Cascades Fellowship CRC, JX MI Nov. 3, 2002 In boot camp, one of the primary lessons taught is unit cohesiveness – or unity. To emphasize this lesson a company commander will teach his unit to listen for the heartbeat of the company. What’s the heartbeat of the company? When a company is marching in formation and the company commander hears that everyone is in step, he calls out for the company to listen to the heartbeat. The members of the company then begin to step more heavily on their left foot. The only time you hear the heartbeat – a resounding thump – is when everyone is walking in step; when everyone is unified. A commander knows his company is growing in unity when he calls for the heartbeat and the left step of the company sounds like one giant foot slapping the pavement. In our passage this morning, Paul talks a bit about unity and its impact on the church. Before we get too far this morning, I would like us to refresh our memories on what Paul has said prior to chapter 4. It’s important that we do this because remember, what we refer to as the Book of Ephesians is actually a letter – written to be read all at once. Contrary to how we often approach reading the Scriptures today, Paul did not write this to be read in pieces – a passage here, a verse there. He didn’t write it so that a particular section could be read one Sunday, depending on what the topic might be. He didn’t write it so that the greeting at the beginning and the ending could be neglected in order that we could read the “good stuff” in the middle of the letter. No, when the apostle

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wrote this letter to the church in Ephesus, he intended it to be read as a whole, one part informing the next in the mind of the reader. We must always bear this in mind when we are reading the Epistles in particular if we are going to properly understand the message God would communicate to us through them. It is a basic principle of interpretation. In the first chapter of this epistle, Paul lays out his great hymn of praise concerning God’s sovereign grace in election. He paints an incredible picture of the vastness of God’s grace, emphasizing God’s power and prerogative in redemption. God determined to redeem us in Christ before the foundation of the world, despite the knowledge that we would turn against him. Paul then prays we will be able to fully grasp the immense love, grace and majesty displayed in God’s act of predestination. He prays that we will know completely the hope of our calling. In the second chapter he delves further into the wonder of this grace and calling by pointing out that God included in his act of redemption even those who had utterly rejected him – the Gentiles, the nations. He points out the severity of our circumstances – dead in our trespasses, separated from God, without hope. Then, through Christ, we were redeemed, included in the commonwealth of Israel – grafted into the True Vine. Not only were we reconciled to God, but we were reconciled with our fellow man. Jew and Gentile were reconciled and formed into one body through Christ, who himself is our peace – with God and with our fellow man. Just a quick sidebar here. Don’t miss the implications of the forming one body out of Jew and Gentile.

Up until this time the Jews understood that God’s plan for

redemption focused primarily on them – that the nations were meant for judgment. In 2

combining Jew and Gentile into one body God makes it clear that the scope of his redemption is every corner of creation. Every square inch of it belongs to him and he is not going to concede even a fraction of it to the enemy. In revealing that he intends to redeem from every nation tribe and tongue, God introduces a corrective into the badly skewed theology of his people. And this isn’t the first time he’s done this. This is also the message of the Book of Jonah. I could go into a whole separate sermon here, but we will save it for another day. But hear this; God’s desire is to redeem his entire creation. In chapter three, Paul once again prays for his readers. In the first part of the chapter he confirms his call as an apostle to the Gentiles – again emphasizing that the nations are included in God’s plan of redemption. Then he prays that in light of his calling to Gentiles – and all that it implies – his readers will be able to see the full dimensions of God’s love in Christ. Why? Because he knows that unless we see ourselves as God sees us – as one body, one people, one church – we will never on this side of glory be filled up to all the fullness of God. Then he adds the glorious caveat. This may seem impossible, he says (and I am paraphrasing), but remember God is able to do way more than anything we can dream up or imagine. Now let’s pick up our discussion in chapter 4. Based upon everything Paul has just said in the preceding chapters, he says: As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 3

The first question we have to ask is exactly what calling is Paul talking about? And then we need to ask how do we walk worthy of it? The calling that Paul is talking about is the calling that he has explained in some detail in the first three chapters. The calling unto salvation – of Jew and Gentile being incorporated into one body. For Paul, the two are necessarily connected because the body gives expression to the full scope of God’s redemption. That is why we spent the first few minutes remembering what came before. Remember back a couple Sundays ago I explained that the letter to the Ephesians was not meant just for the Ephesians. There is considerable evidence that Paul intended the letter to be passed around to all the churches – whether they were primarily made up of Jew or Gentile. One of the obvious intentions of this letter, then, is to address what the apostle viewed as a problem with discrimination in the church. What he called in chapter 2 the “dividing wall”, a wall that Christ destroyed. So the calling he is referring to is the calling for all believers in Jesus Christ to be built up into one unified body – regardless of ethnic or cultural background. The calling he asks us to walk worthy of is one of unity – the type of unity that Christ prayed for in the high priestly prayer of John 17. The unity called for is to be a reflection of the unity that exists between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Now let’s be clear here. This is no small thing that Paul is asking us to walk worthy of. Instead of marking the differences between us and judging each others value based upon those differences, Paul calls us to walk in humility. To make allowances for

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the differences, insofar that they do not violate God’s Word. Folks this is a thin line the church has too willing crossed in the past. Too often in the past we have considered cultural expression to be inspired and have treated tradition as sacred. We looked with suspicion on what did not appeal to our sensitivities and quite frankly have neglected the call to walk worthy of the calling. The unity that Christ prayed for calls us to tolerate difference in love. Again, let me be clear – where difference violates the dictates of Scripture our tolerance must end. Sin must be dealt with, error must be dealt with, heresy must be dealt with. But where a difference arises in preference or expression – as long as it upholds the Scriptures – we must be tolerant in love. And when there is a question concerning what the Scriptures say in a matter, we must be exceptionally patient with one another. Do you know what the primary issue is often in division? Pride. Pride drives us to extreme positions. My way or the highway – that’s where pride takes us. In the end we break the bond of peace over matters in which we should have exercised patience. And what is the bond of peace that we break when we disturb the unity of the Spirit? What does Paul call Jesus Christ in Eph 2:14? “For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.” Every rift, every schism, every secession – whether it be of a group or between individuals – is a breaking of the body of Christ. Our every division is a division of Christ. That is why Paul calls for us to “[m]ake every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Now let’s not forget why this unity is so important. Because we are to be built up together into one body, through one Spirit, to the one hope of our calling. In other words 5

we are to be a reflection of the communion of our Three in One God. Our unity is to reflect his unity. Our unity must reflect the unity of our one Lord. We must maintain one unified faith. We must celebrate one baptism into one body. When, as the church, we proclaim one God and Father of all to be over all and through all and in all, we image God to the world. We present to them a true picture of the magnificence and majesty of our God – a picture that will draw all men when lifted up. One more time let me clear. Where that image is not drawn in Scripture, we dare not draw a line. Tolerance does not mean we compromise on the essentials of our faith. Let’s be real, the Christian faith is in some sense exclusive. Where a teaching or doctrine does not match up with the historic Christian faith we must confront it and call for a return to the True Way. So the question now becomes how do maintain this unity? What does it mean to make every effort? Where do we find the humility and patience to be long-suffering with one another? Here is where the God’s grace again is poured out in abundance. Take a look at v. 7: But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. The first few times I read this chapter, I sort of got stuck here. Paul gives expression to this grand view of the church and what our calling is all about. Unity – that’s our calling. One body! One faith! Unity! Our corporate communion should reflect the unity of the Triune God. Then he gets all individualized. Each one us. Why “each one”? Why not “we all”? Why the sudden shift from speaking corporately to speaking individually? 6

Because he wants to make one thing perfectly clear. Maintaining our unity in the Spirit – maintaining our corporate identity requires individual effort.

We must all

actively engage ourselves in the pursuit of being unified with our brothers and sisters in Christ. No one is excused or exempted. Every single one of us is necessary for the body to be built up into all the fullness of God. Why? Because that is how God has graced us. Earlier in the year we talked about the way God has gifted his church. We talked about how he has given each of us gifts to be used for the edification of the body, so let me use and illustration here to make the point. When I was just knee-high to a grasshopper, there was a song in the top 40 about a roller skate. It was a fairly popular song, although I never cared for it much. That’s why I still remember it today, most likely. Because it irritated me so much I have found it impossible to eradicate it from my memory. I have managed to forget the verses, but the chorus just seems to hang on. It goes like this: Oh, I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skate You’ve got a brand new key I think that we should get together In perfect harmony I’ve been looking around awhile You’ve been looking to see That I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates You’ve got a brand new key. Now for those of you below the age of 30, this song probably doesn’t make much sense. What does a key have to do with roller skates? Believe it our not, at the time this song was on the charts a key had a lot to do with roller skates.

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In those days, roller blades were unheard of and skates with the full boot were expensive. The cheaper alternative was a skate that strapped right onto your shoe. Since people have different size feet, these skates were made adjustable, you just had to have a key to turn the mechanism that adjusted them. If you lost your key, you lost the ability to adjust your skates. Now, I don’t remember what the overall message of the song was any longer – but the chorus has a particular message. I have a pair of skates, you have a key. We must depend on each other if either of us is going to enjoy what we have. When it comes to skating, we need each other. Paul’s point in shifting from speaking corporately to speaking about how we are individually graced is his way of saying, “If we are going to keep the bond of peace, we need each other.” God has placed gifts in the church to instruct, to encourage, to lead and to edify us into one, unified body. There is just one catch – we have to use our gifts. We must each do our part individually if we are to experience the fullness together. Think about that for a moment. Each one of us here is essential to the person sitting next you in being built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Each of us is graced, as Christ has apportioned, for the equipping of the saints for the works of service, to building up of the body. In other words, we all have something to add here – no one is excluded. Each one of us has gifts and abilities we can use here that will benefit the life and faith of the other members. Like the song says, I think that we should get together in perfect harmony. 8

When we do, here’s what happens – looking at vv.14-16. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. You know, if you go into the Christian bookstore and look under Christian Living or in the Religion section of the average bookstore, you will find plenty of books offering plenty of advice on how to live the life of faith. Most of these books are reasonably good in content, with carefully thought out messages. Millions of these books are sold every year to the Christian community. It seems we are always looking for that elusive secret to growing in our faith. We want to be nearer to God – to experience deeper intimacy in our relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We want a relevant faith, so we read. We keep looking for that obscure catalyst that will convert our leaden faith into a precious faith of pure gold. Like I said, most of what you will find in those books is good stuff, worthy of your consideration. But let me share with you what the Scriptures say is the key to spiritual growth. According to Eph 4:7-16 it is using the gifts God has graced you with in concert with the gifts of every other believer to build up the church until we all attain the unity of faith. You want a relevant, vibrant faith? Then, if you don’t already have an inkling about how God has gifted you, find out and start using your gifts in the context of the church. You want to experience nearness with God? You want a deeper love for God? 9

Then start working toward building up the faith of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Work in concert with the church in carrying out God’s mission for his people. If you want your faith to be real, then invest your time, your resources, your energy into the church. Jesus said that anyone who wanted to save his life would lose it. But the one who gave his life for the sake of Christ would find it. If you want to experience the abundant life that Christ came to give you, you’ve got to give yourself away. People of God, when that’s the mark of the church – giving yourself away – that’s when we will see the unity Christ prayed for reflected in the church. And that is when we can say that we are walking worthy of our calling. That’s when we will stop being infants – susceptible to every lie and vain musing of man – but grow up into every aspect of maturity in Christ.

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