Walk in a manner worthy of the calling

Ephesians 4:1-16 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, ² 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. ⁴ 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.

⁷ But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.”

⁹ (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) ¹¹ And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. ¹⁴ As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; ¹⁵ but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

In today’s text Paul says:  Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.   We must remember that Paul is writing to believers and he is writing about their relationship to and with other believers. When he speaks of tolerance for one another in love it is related to the patience, humility and gentleness. It is a tolerance of the things about people that might bother or annoy us. It is tolerating differences,  not a tolerance for sin.  Paul is the one who wrote to the church at Corinth regarding not tolerating sin in the church. 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 says:   I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;  I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.       So there is to be a higher standard within the church than outside of the church.  Even with the world though, Paul is not suggesting that we tolerate or condone sin. He is merely saying that being part of the society means that we will have to interact and associate with the world. In his second letter to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 says:   Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I willdwell in them andwalk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.    There are basically two reasons we associate with the world. One is that we exist within this world system. We are part of the society. Romans 12:18 says:  If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Hebrews 12:14 says:  Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  That leads to the second reason for our association with the world. We are to be holy among the people we associate in the world, so that they will see the Lord. In Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus says:  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”   We are to associate with the world, not to embrace sin but rather as Jesus says in Luke 5:32, when asked about his association with sinners:  "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

Returning to today’s text, within the church, as opposed to tolerating sin, Paul says:  He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.  We are to equip and build up the body, to have a “unity of faith.”  We may not always agree on everything, but our faith, the faith which leads us to salvation and God’s grace, is faith in the cross of Christ and the resurrection from the grave. In that we must be unified.  Paul says: As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.    If we differ on matters of doctrine, we should speak the truth in love, but always looking and depending first and foremost on the unity we share in faith in Christ, the cross and the resurrection. Some within the church believe that they are following Jesus by forsaking the church and loving the world. In John 13:34-35 Jesus says:   “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”    The world will not even recognize us as disciples of Jesus if we don’t love one another. They may love us more, but they will not see the Lord if there is no holiness or love among us.

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Amen.