Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called

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 yesterday’s text it said:  Be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.   It is important to remember that Paul’s letters are written to the churches. His instructions and his exhortations are for believers. We, as believers are the ones who are to be rooted and grounded in love. We are the ones who are to be filled with the fullness of God; not only with love, compassion, mercy and grace, but also with righteousness, holiness and with the light of Christ.  

In today’s text Paul continues saying:   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.   Again we need to remember that this is written to believers and that it is also an exhortation about the relationship believers are to have with other believers, not the relationship of believers with the world. So it is among believers in particular that we are to walk with humility, gentleness, patience and showing tolerance for one another in love. It is to preserve the unity of the Spirit, not to be unified with the world. Jesus Himself gave His disciples, His followers, believers a similar instruction. His was in fact more than just an exhortation. 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.”   Jesus commanded that believers should love one another. It is that love and that unity of the Spirit which causes the world to recognize believers as followers of Christ. That in part is what has ruined the credibility of the church in the world today. There is so much division over human preferences and ideas, that the world cannot see Christ in the church.

The world though is not without fault regarding Paul and Jesus exhortations and commandments. Those who do not believe or follow Christ will often try to hijack scriptures that suit them or fit their own agenda. They will try to hold believers accountable to love and tolerance of their sinful behavior, rather than the love we are to have for people. Paul describes true love, Spirit unified love in 1 Corinthians 13. In verses 4-7 he says:   Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.     The world, seeking their own, tries to dictate that we love in their own way. They insist that we not only tolerate but even rejoice in unrighteousness. They say truth is relative and subjective; that each individual defines their own truth. James 4:4 says:  You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.   In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says:  “Not everyone who says to Me,‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he whodoes the will of My Father in heaven.Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have wenot prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’Andthen I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you;depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”    In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus says:  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”   It is not an expression of love for us to relax the commandments of God or to embrace and tolerate sin, teaching others that it is okay.    

Here’s what Paul says in today’s text:   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. 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, 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.    It is important that within the church all of these gifts and callings are present and active. An evangelist for example, operating on their own, may cause people to become converts to Christ, but Jesus says:  “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)  He says:  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16)    We are not to make converts, but rather disciples who know and observe the commandments of Christ.

As Paul says, we are to love. Love is foundational to who we are and to how we are to treat and respond to others. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 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.   The reason for our love is that they would know truth. It is not that they would continue in sin, but rather that they would be fitted together into the body of Christ, that they would believe and be saved.  

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; may I indeed love with true love, with love that is:  patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.   May my love tell the truth that: God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  May Your body be built up in love.  Amen.