Walk Worthy!
The Walk
Ephesians 4:1
In our Hebrews study, we recently studied about Enoch and the fact that he “walked with God”. Then as I was visiting Joy Choate in the hospital recently, I shared with her what I had been praying for her and that my prayer was based on Isaiah 40:31:
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
And I reminded her that the majority of our life is not spent soaring or running, but walking. In fact, that’s one of the primary ways the Bible describes our life as a Christian. We are to walk with the Lord.
And out of those experiences, my mind began to ponder on what it means to walk with God. Why is that imagery so important? Why so many references to our walk. So for the next few weeks, I want us to concentrate on that subject with some studies and sermons based on the first six verses of Ephesians 4.
Listen to what Paul writes in this passage:
Ephesians 4:1-6
When a person joins a certain organization or society, he obligates himself to live or to act in accord with the standards of that society.
He is, in effect, endorsing what they stand for and he obligates himself to function according to the aims and the objectives and the goals and the drives and the purposes of that society to which he attaches himself.
That can be illustrated many ways. As an American citizen, a person who chooses to live in the United States of America, you obligate yourself to abide by the principles, the standards and the laws that govern this society.
As a person who is permitted to work in the place where you work, whatever place that is, a business or a plant shop, an office, a school, whatever it is where you work, you work there on the premise that you conform yourself and cooperate with the standards and the goals and the objectives and the principles that are a part of that particular organization.
If you choose to join a service club, you obligate yourself to function in reference to that service club in the manner that they prescribe.
If you join a secret society, whether it's the elks or the moose or the goats or whatever other things they've got, whatever you happen to join you automatically obligate yourself to cooperate with the standards that make up the organization.
I don't care what it is, there are certain principles that you pledge loyalty to uphold. That's the way human society is made. And if you choose not to cooperate and if you fall out of the line of conformity you will lose your place within the framework of that organization.
If a person fails to become what that society feels is necessary in fulfilling its purposes and aims he becomes a hindrance to that society and is dismissed from it. And that's a pretty standard procedure for anything that we align ourselves with.
And that expectation of conformity and support and unanimity is an amazingly powerful thing. I am continually amazed at what people will do if they think it will get them a raise or push them up the ladder a little higher.
I'm amazed at the loyalty of some people to the various lodges and secret societies and things that they belong to and service clubs, so if they miss something somewhere they'll walk across a burning desert on hands and knees, twelve hours in a row to get to a meeting to make sure they don't violate the code.
It's amazing how people voluntarily expose themselves to such things simply to be a part of the group. That speaks to a basic human need and that is the need to belong. Everybody wants to be a part of the team. That's just part of the human desire, to belong and to gain some acceptance in a sense of identity. And it's amazing how binding it becomes.
That’s why hazing has become such a big issue because, not only those who want to belong, but those who get to choose who belongs, go to such extremes and they know the belong-ees will do virtually anything to be a part of the group.
Why would people do that? Only because they want to belong and fit in and they wrongly assess the value of what it is they are seeking to join.
But here is the irony of that type of behavior. It very seldom happens with the church. When you translate that into the church something goes wrong. There are lots of people who come and a lot of people who want the blessing and the rights and the privileges and the honors but somewhere along the line they never make the commitment to conform to the standards.
And God forbid if someone says or does the wrong thing to them. They are out of here quicker faster than a speeding bullet!
Can you imagine what would happen if we required hazing in order to join the church? People would never stand for that, and yet they’ll humiliate and degrade themselves in order to join a college fraternity.
What if we required a man’s tithes be paid before he held office or voted in a business meeting or participated in a discussion at the church? No way. That’s between a man and God, but if you don’t pay your dues, you don’t participate at the world’s events.
Somehow, it doesn't seem to be nearly as binding when it comes to the church. And maybe it's because in all of the world's things Satan is in there holding it together. But in the church they’re trying to rip it apart and it's tough to stick with it. But you know, the standard at the church isn't any different. And when you come to Jesus Christ, you enter His church, the body, you receive His salvation, He gives you all the rights and honors and privileges that come with being a Christian, and in return, He expects that we conform to His standards.
Some of the most ignored passages of Scripture in all of the Bible are those that deal with church discipline.
For instance, 1 Corinthians 5 says if you’ve got someone in the church living in sin and immorality, they are to be removed from church fellowship until repentance takes place.
Second Thessalonians says if someone in the church is doing what they ought not to do and they don't respond to you put them out of the church. If there is somebody, Paul said to Timothy, who is seeking things that are not consistent to what we know to be the truth of God, put him out. Listen, God has it that way in His church.
He says if you're not going to conform and cooperate with what the church is doing then you are better off to be out. In fact, sometimes the Lord puts people out on His own.
And yet the church has tons of people who come and want the privilege of calling themselves a Christian and a church member, but they’ve never made the commitment to conform to the standards.
God says if you're not going to conform and cooperate with what the church is doing then you don’t deserve to be there. In fact, sometimes the Lord puts people out on His own. He said to the Corinthians, “It’s because of the way you have acted within the church that some of you are weak and sickly. In fact, some have even died because of it.”
First John chapter 5 reminds us there is a sin unto death where the Lord literally excommunicates the believer. They don’t lose their salvation but they are permanently removed from the church fellowship because they are more of a hindrance than a help.
And I’ll tell you something. If people can join athletic teams and take jobs and join the Royal Order of the Goats and everything else and follow the rules and conform to the standards, if people can make those kinds of commitments to things that don't matter, it just seems to me we better be a whole lot more serious about the commitments we make when it comes to the church of the Living God.
So what does all of that have to do with walking with the Lord?
Notice what Paul says in
Ephesians 4:1
If we were to take the time to read the first three chapters of Ephesians, we would find Paul talking about all rights and honors and privileges of being a child of God.
We found that He blessed us with all spiritual blessing. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. He made us to be holy, to be blameless. In love He even predestinated us. He adopted us. He made us to the praise of His glory. He made us accepted in the beloved One. He has given us redemption, forgiveness. He's given us wisdom. He's made known to us the mystery of His will. He has granted to us the Holy Spirit. He's given us resurrection power.
He's made us alive from the dead. He's taken us who are afar off, who are lost, who are cut-off and He's made us one new man in Himself. He's given to us the great mystery, the truth of the gospel, the truth of the church.
He's made it possible for us to capitalize on all of this by giving us His Holy Spirit who can strengthen the inner man so that Christ can settle down and be at home. So that we can be filled with incomprehensible love, so that we can have eternal fullness, the fullness of God. And He's done it all for His own glory. He's done everything for us.
But here he turns the corner to say, Now, here are the requirements.” If you want to be a meaningful part of God's church, if you want to be somebody that matters in His church, if you want to adorn the doctrine of God, if you want to advance the Kingdom, if you really believe in what we stand for and preach and teach, then here are the standards.
And the very first thing he mentions is our walk.
And simply, pointedly, directly Paul says, “Walk worthy! Live up to it!”
Now, if we know what He's done for us and who we are, then if we are going to walk worthy, we’ve got to discover what is expected of us. We need to learn how to walk. Now learning involves teaching.
It’s wrong to expect believer’s to walk correctly if they don’t know what is expected. You can't live a principle you don't know. You can't behave in a way you don't understand, and you must search the Word of God to know the principles.
Let me show you an interesting corollary I found this week.
Proverbs 2 is all about walking with the Lord and it talks about the way the wise and the unwise walk. And the point of the chapter is to teach us that it’s worthwhile to discover God’s wisdom because when you do, then you’ll know where and how to walk.
(Read chapter 2)
Note, in particular verses 4 and 5
The picture is of people searching for gold and silver and mining for hidden treasures and it’s describing the intensity of the search and how we show seek God’s wisdom in that way.
Then as a commentary on that, look at Job 28.
(read the chapter)
What Job is saying that it's incredible that man will literally go down into the the very recesses of the earth to find treasurer. He'll uncover the stones of darkness. He'll go into the shadow of death. He searches out everything to find silver, to find iron, to find bronze. He spares no expense in his attempt to find treasurer. But when it's all said and done, he never finds the wisdom of God.
And then when you put those two passages together, the conclusion is, “When you put as much effort into knowing the wisdom of God as men will do to find gold and silver then you'll know God's wisdom.”
And the underlying truth to that until you know God's wisdom, until the basis of doctrine is there, you don't know how to live. You can’t know how to walk worthy unless and until you have God's wisdom.
That's why we teach the Word of God. That's why week after week after week I stand here and teach principles of the Word of God. That’s why we put such a value and emphasis on Sunday School. How dare a Sunday School teacher squander away valuable teaching time talking about sporting events and politics when we have gathered to teach men and women the very principles of God!
We weaken the Word of God and fail to equip the saints when we challenge people to walk worthy and never teach them doctrine and principles and ethics.
Let me illustrate it this way. Let’s assume that when we get out on I-35, we all drive 70 MPH or under. And notice I said we'll assume that. Now why do you drive 70 miles per hour?
“Well, I was just praying about it one day and it seemed to be right, to just drive 70 miles an hour so I've just decided I'll do that.” No. The reason you drive 70 miles an hour is because there is a doctrine and that doctrine says you will drive 70 miles an hour and your behavior is predicated on that doctrine.
Or think about it this way. April 15th rolls around and you say to your wife, “Honey, I’ve just been thinking about it and praying to the Lord and I’ve decided we should just send a large check to the Federal government this year. They've done so much for us. We have these lovely parks that we enjoy and the highways upon which we take our vacation, the wonderful programs they have to provide for the needy. This government is so great, let's just send them several thousand dollars. In fact, let's borrow to do it, honey. Because I just feel there is something in me that wants to do this. And while we’re at it, let’s send one to the State of Oklahoma also.”
Is that how we do it? No, the reason you send that in there is because there is a doctrine that says you're going to send it. And we do it, even though we do it kicking and screaming because that's one of the rules.
Listen: that's the way it is in the Christian life also. You don't arbitrarily do things. And unless people know the reason you, you have a hard time getting them to make a commitment to the duty.
That’s why most of the time in our churches the pastor and staff are so frustrated because, like Christian cheerleaders, we run around trying to encourage people to get committed and do the right things and - they haven't got the faintest idea why unless they’ve been taught doctrine.
That’s why I take the teaching ministry so seriously.
I must teach you the principles of the Word of God.
Now first I've got to get you here to get you to listen, and then I've got to convince you that you ought to operate on those things. That's God's calling to me.
I'm not interested in getting you to conform legalistically. I'm not interested in getting you to conform emotionally. I'm not interested in intimidating you into that. I feel that my responsibility is to give you the truth of the Word of God and to allow you the responsibility to obey it or not obey it.
Sound doctrine is the key to Christian living and one of the reasons Christianity is in so much trouble is because it is so ignorant. We must know the Word of God if we will ever walk worthy.
You can't live what you don't know. You can't play the game if you don't know the rules. You can't live within the framework of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and walk worthy of it unless you know the standards. We must know the Word of God.
Well, Paul said, “I’m begging you to walk worthy of your calling.” Question: Who did the calling? Not Paul, but God. Therefore, I think it safe to say that by His Holy Spirit, God Himself is calling for us to walk worthy.
What happens when you do?
On Wednesday evenings we’re studying the 11th chapter of Hebrews. It’s a great chapter of the testimony of those who walked worthy of their calling.
First there was Abel in verse 4 who offered to God a more excellent sacrifice. And then there was Enoch. He walked so worthy that one day he took a walk with God and God liked him so much and their fellowship was so sweet he just kept on walking and the two of them walked right up to glory. And he never even died.
And then there was Noah and Noah walked with God for 120 years while he built that boat. And then there was Abraham and Sarah. They walked with God in faith.
Then there was Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses. Against the opposition and against the system, they walked with God and theirs was a worthy walk. They lived up to what they knew.
And then there was Rahab the harlot in verse 31. And then there were a lot more, like Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephtha and David and Samuel. He talks about the prophets who subdued kingdoms and brought righteousness and obtained promises and stopped the mouths of lions.
Verses 34-37
That’s quite a crowd! And I share them with you in order to say this: There is nothing keeping you and me from being a part of that same crew.
And notice the next verse, verse 38
When you walk worthy with the Lord, the world won't even be worthy of you.
Let's pray.
