Norbie, Donald: Ephesians 1981-14 ~ Eph 4:1

It's a joy to be with you again and to look at the book of Ephesians. We've been, uh, going through the first three chapters, and for chapter four. Now, as he concludes chapter three, he says, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, unto all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Now unto him that's able to do exceeding abundantly. We were talking about the power of God working in the life of the Christian, and the need that we have not to be discouraged and not to give up, but to realize God wants to work in our lives. God wants to change us. God wants to make us more and more like the Lord Jesus, and he is able to do, it says, beyond what we can ask or think. God wants to make changes in our lives that are beyond that which we could expect. Oh, the way the Lord will work, if only we will let him. And so this last, uh, part here of chapter three, uh, ends with praise to this one who is our God and who's able to do, uh, so powerfully, to work so wonderfully in our lives, the one who's able to complete that which he's begun. The first three chapters of Ephesians are especially dealing with our relationship with God. We were alienated, we were separated, we were sinners, we were far from God, we were dead in trespasses and sins, he says. Then, through the death of Christ on the cross and through our turning to him and trusting him, we can know our sins are forgiven, we can be brought into a, uh, loving, personal relationship with the God of heaven. And so the first three chapters, in a special way, emphasize that vertical relationship with God that needs to be reestablished. And today, if you're not a Christian, if you are still carrying that weight of sin, God earnestly wants you to turn to him. He wants you to come to know the forgiveness of sin. He wants you to know the peace of reconciliation. God has done everything he can do. He's given his son. The Holy Spirit is sent here work with us, to plead with us, to draw us to the Savior. God is reaching out to you. I wish you could just see that this day. The God who's the creator of the heavens and the earth cares for you, is deeply, vitally interested in you, and he's reaching out to you. He wants you to turn to him. He wants you to accept what Christ has done for you. He wants you to turn from your sin and just in simple faith to come to him, and he wants you to become one of his children. Becoming a Christian is an act of submission of our stubborn wills. We come to the point where we say, Lord, I'm tired of fighting you, I'm tired of going my own way, and we just cry to him and say, Lord Jesus, save me. I want you for my Lord and Savior. I want to follow you. Have you done that? I hope you have. If you have, then you have a the beginning of life. You're in a right relationship with God. Now you can begin to live as you ought. And the remaining four chapters deal with the church, with Christians in their relationship with others, or we could say the church in society, in its, uh, relationships here on the horizontal level between men and women. Let's read the first verses here of chapter four. I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith you were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love, giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Paul here begins to plead now. He begins to exhort. He begins to say to Christians, now that you're right with God, let's live as we should in this world with other people. Because the way we show our faith is not simply by words, it's not simply by repeating the Apostles' Creed, it's not simply by saying the rosary, it's not simply by going over the Lord's Prayer in unison with the congregation, but the way we prove our faith is by our lives and by the way we treat other people. And this is very searching. Christianity is very practical, and there are many people in the world who say, I don't want to be a Christian because there are just too many hypocrites, and they've seen the lives of people who go to church and who carry the name of Christian and who will say, yes, I believe, and they very glibly repeat the Apostles' Creed, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, and they rattle right through it. And yet there is no difference in the life. There's no change in the life. I was talking to a man who was meeting with a group of Christians in another state fairly recently, and he said, I started coming here, and he said, these people are different. I said, what do you mean? Well, he said, you know, in most churches where I've been, on Sunday, people are one way, they act one way, they they function a certain way, but then he says, on Monday, when you're at work and in the world the rest of the time, he says they're very different people. And he said, what I like about these people is that they're the same. They're the same on Monday, just the same as they are on Sunday, and this is what Christians ought to be. Now, Paul here, as he begins to, uh, write this section to us as Christians, reminds us that he's a prisoner in the Lord. He's waiting trial. He can look over and see a Roman soldier standing guard beside him, and he's very keenly aware of the fact that he is not a free man physically. He is free spiritually, and he's aware of the fact that really, although he feels his trial will go well and he'll be acquitted and he'll be free, and events show that he was released and was free for a period of time before his final imprisonment and death, uh, still he's very much aware of the fact that, uh, uh, he is a prisoner, things might not go the way he hopes, he could be executed. Uh, he is under the iron hand of Rome, and, uh, he's in this position because of his faith in the Lord Jesus, because of his stand for Christ. And so Paul here to just reminds us of that. I think he reminds us of this, uh, in order that we might be moved. We might say, if Paul is willing to do that for the Lord Jesus, these to whom he was writing in that, they could say, well, Paul is still in prison, and if he is willing to be a prisoner, if he's willing to suffer for his faith, certainly I should listen to any exhortation he has. Certainly he speaks as one who means business with God, and certainly he is one who's willing to suffer for his faith, and, uh, he's not a hypocrite. He's not asking me to do something he hasn't done, and he would make that same plea to us today. I believe the Apostle Paul, he's gone to be with the Lord now many years ago, but still he reminds us, I suffered for the faith. I was willing to be imprisoned. Ultimately, he was willing to die, and so he makes that plea to us, and he would touch our hearts, uh, with the, uh, vigor of his own faith, the reality of his own faith, and he would say to us, he would say to you, uh, look, I'm willing to live and to die for the Lord. Are you willing to live for him? Are you just playing games with God, or is this thing real? See, is it real with you? Real enough so that your life is being changed as you submit to the Lord and as you know his power in your life? Or are you just playing nice little word games and saying nice God words over, and yet your heart is far from God, and your life is anything but Christian? Don't be a hypocrite. I think Paul would say that to us. He says, I'm a prisoner for the Lord. Now he says to you, us as Christians, I plead with you that you walk worthily of the calling wherewith you were called. What is the calling with which we've been called? Well, we've been called to be followers of the Lord. We've been called to be disciples of the Lord, learners from him. We've been called to carry his name. I like what James says in James two, where he speaks of that name as that beautiful name, James two seven, that noble name, that beautiful name by which you're called, the name of the Lord Jesus. And that's the calling that we have. We're called to be children of God, sons of God, to live in a way that would be a credit to him. Because when we go about, people look at us, if we carry his name, if we say, I'm a Christian, I've accepted Christ as my savior, people look at us and they say, well, what kind of person is he? They really begin to be critical. And they say, well, uh, how does he act? And when you make a slip, you know, the world's going to notice that. And so in our conduct, in the way that we live, we are a reflection on Christ himself. Are you a credit to the Lord? Am I a credit to him? As they look at my life, are they impressed with the kind of God I have? That's a serious, solemn question, isn't it? And Paul here says, oh, let's walk worthily of this calling with which we've been called. What a solemn privilege it is to carry the name of the Lord Jesus. Now, I'm, I'm sure that as you were growing up, there were times when your father may have said to you, now look, I want you to act and to, uh, not do anything, to act properly, not do anything that would be a discredit to our family name. I don't want you to bring shame to our family name. I want you to be a credit to me. I want people to look at you and say, well, now that's, uh, Jim's or John's son, and isn't he a fine young man? Isn't that a fine young woman? I want you to be a credit to my name. And really, this is what God is saying to us. You carry my name, Jesus says. As people look at you, as they see your life, are you a credit to my name? Are people drawn to me? Do people say, I'd like to be a Christian? You know, he's such a wonderful person. She's such a kind, compassionate woman. I'd like to be like him or like her. Paul here says, I plead with you, walk worthily of the calling with which you have been called. You carry the name of Christ. Be a credit to him. This is the plea of Paul to us today.