The Worthy Walk Described

As you are making your way to your seats, you can go ahead and turn in your Bible to Ephesians chapter 4. in verse one, we will begin reading the passage there once again, Ephesians 4:1. I'm gonna read this passage to you, here in a moment. I'm, I'm the guy that's filling the pulpit today in a place of Pastor Milton.

He's usually the guy that swings the bat, but I'm a pinch hitter, and so, he'll be back next week and the following weeks, and so, anyways, you should be by now be in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1. Let me go ahead and, read verses 1 through 3. The apostle Paul says, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit.

In the bond of peace.

And may the Lord add his blessing to the reading of His word. Would you join me in prayer, please? Dear Lord, we come before you this morning. Lord, and we come before your throne of grace with boldness.

We know, Lord, that you give commands to us to do so. And Lord, we know that your throne is one of grace, and therein we have hope to be able to come to you. Lord, we are asking that you would make your presence felt amongst us. We are asking, Lord, that you would give to us a sense of awe and reverence of you.

We are asking, Lord, that you would cause us to tremble before your word and to find our hearts instructed by it. We are asking, Lord, that you would have mercy on us sinners, even as we have sung and even as we have acknowledged in communion, once again, Lord, we know that we are sinners in need of a savior. And we are thankful to you, God, that you are in fact a mighty savior. We thank you, Lord, that, your mercies over us and to us are new every morning.

We thank you, Lord, that in the name of Jesus, all of our sins have been atoned for and that Lord, you have cast our sins as far as the east is from the west. We thank you, Lord, that you credit the righteousness of Christ to our account. Lord, it's with boldness that we come to you and we pray, Lord, that you would see fit to speak to us through your word this morning. I come to you, Lord, as an unworthy vessel.

I come to you, Lord, as one who is in desperate need of you to speak your heart and your mind and your word through me. I come to you, Lord, not because I think that I can in and of myself accomplish any good, but of course because I know that apart from you, I can do nothing. Lord, I am but a branch, you are the vine. And so Lord, we pray that you would speak through me, and I pray, Lord, for the hearts of my brothers and sisters here.

I pray, Lord, that you would give grace to them, to help them, Lord, to be receptive to your word, even as this unworthy servant seeks to present it to them this morning. Lord, we ask for you to speak. For your servants are listening. And we ask that you through your word would transform us.

For your glory. As well as our good. And for the building up of the body of Christ, we pray these things in Jesus' name. In my last, sermon, I introduced a two-part message entitled The Worthy Walk.

And so what I would like for us to do is to review the five truths regarding the worthy walk that were illustrated last time by Paul. I just want to review these before we move on to the worthy walk described, OK? And so truth number 1 from the last message was that the worthy walk is marked by begging. Again, this is just review.

And the word for begging is paraalo, and it means to urge, appeal, exhort, to beg, and we learned that Paul was a beggar, and in this passage, he expresses his heartfelt impassioned desire to the Ephesians that they walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which they have been called. But from where does Paul derive such an intense concern and desire for his readers? The answer to this question is rooted in the second truth that we looked at the last time. The second truth was that the worthy walk is marked by gospel centrality.

The worth The walk is marked by the gospel. We see this in the second word in the Greek, the second word recorded in verse one, the word is un, which means therefore, and we learned last time that the passage literally reads, I urge, therefore you. And therefore links Paul's gospel proclamation of chapters 1 through 3 to gospel practice in chapters 4 through 6. Therefore, connects doctrine to duty, position to practice.

Paul's begging springs forth from the gospel. One's experience of the gospel should always give way to a desire for others to walk in a manner worthy. Of the calling with which they have been called. Li begets life, and you have tasted.

If you have tasted of the bread of life, you will desire for others to partake as well. One who has little desire to see others walking in a worthy manner is most likely stunted in his growth. You cannot be on the receiving end of great news without a strong desire. To communicate that news and to see others impacted by such news.

Paul's life was transformed, absolutely transformed by the good news of Jesus Christ, and as a result, we observe him here begging the Ephesians to walk in a worthy manner. His commitment to and passion. for the gospel gave rise to the 3rd truth that we looked at the last time, the 3rd truth regarding the worthy walk. It is marked by sacrifice, it is marked by sacrifice.

Now in John chapter 15 and in verse 18, we read Jesus saying these words. Now listen to him. If the world hates you, That it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love, its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. He says, if they persecuted me, and they did, They will also persecute you. You see, Paul elsewhere declares to Timothy, he says, indeed, All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Once again, all who desire will be, it's not, they might be, but it is that they will be in, in some way, in, in, in one way or another, they will be persecuted.

And here in Ephesians 4:1, Paul describes himself as a prisoner. He is a prisoner, he was in prison for the sake of Christ. His unwavering and fearless commitment to the gospel is evident in his willingness to suffer for Christ. Those who desire to walk in a worthy manner must embrace sacrifice as well as suffering.

The Roman world in Paul's day was antagonistic to the gospel. This is no different from the world in which we live. As Christ followers, we are increasingly viewed as judgmental and narrow-minded. We are criticized for believing that there is such a thing as objective truth to which we must submit our lives, our sense of Right and wrong is scoffed by the world that surrounds us and the world wishes to press us into its mold.

We are pressured to make compromises and those taking a stand risk attack and persecution in the day in which we live. We should be concerned about the compromise that takes place in professing Christendom across our nation. The authority and sufficiency of scripture is under attack. Some of the critical truths of God's word are being jettisoned.

worldly approaches to ministry are being brought into the church. A Google search reveals alarming numbers of denominations that fully embrace homosexuality, for example, as an acceptable lifestyle. I recently listened to a sermon by a pastor chaplain of a Christian university. And this man brilliantly articulated a defense of modern-day homosexuality that was rooted in his embrace of process theology.

For those of you who don't know, process theologians view God as in the process of discovering Himself in response to the choices that he sees man making. This pastor chaplain argued that God in our day fully embraces homosexuality, declaring that he himself, this pastor himself once denounced homosexuality as sinful, but since then he says he realizes that it is folks who embrace such views, the views that we embrace, who are the problem. Brothers and sisters, according to this pastor, chaplain, We are the problem and virtually the entire student body erupted in praise at the conclusion of his chapel message at the university.

There are forces outside the church, as well as forces from within the professing church that stand in opposition to the biblical truths that we so cherish.

We live in a post-Christian era and we should not be surprised if and when we suffer for our faith. The worthy walk is marked by sacrifice and the Willingness to embrace suffering if and when it comes our way. And then last time we looked at the 4th truth regarding the worthy walk, it is marked by divine perspective, divine perspective. The apostle Paul describes himself as a prisoner, and though he was a prisoner of Rome, he flips that around and refers to himself as a prisoner of the Lord.

At the At the end of the day, he affirmed God's sovereignty in his situation and saw his earthly suffering through the lens of the divine and he hastened to describe himself as a prisoner of the Lord. He was not Rome's prisoner as much as he was God's prisoner and he embraced such a title gladly. And then the fifth truth by way of review that we looked at is that the worthy walk is marked. By divine purpose, divine purpose.

You look at the apostle Paul and you read what he says and just his, his heart is just screaming. He lived with divine purpose, his desire out of the overflow of the gospel was for the Ephesians to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which they have been called and by the way, this represents God's desire for his people throughout the ages. Paul knew that God had called the Ephesian believers unto himself and expressed his desire for them to walk in a worthy manner and in so doing Paul models for his readers the worthy walk.

He is a model here of the worthy walk.

We cannot lay claim to walking in a worthy manner apart from an earnest desire for the spiritual well-being of God. People. This is Paul's very heartbeat throughout this epistle thus far. Here is a man totally transformed through the power of the gospel and who in turn expresses a consuming desire for his readers to experience absolute and total transformation through the power of the gospel.

We see this consuming desire through Paul's Gospel proclamation in the 1st 3 chapters, we see this consuming desire to his two prayers for the Ephesians, and Paul's consuming desire is on display in chapter 4 verse 1 when he declares, I urge you, therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. Such a consuming desire for the spiritual well-being of God's people serves as an illustration of the worthy walk and so ends our review of the worthy walk illustrated, we will now hasten to part two of the series and this message today then is entitled The Worthy Walk Described, the Worthy Walks described.

We will consider five descriptions. Of the worthy walk that should mark our lives.

And mind you, brothers and sisters, that these are descriptions for which we have no option. We must exhibit these fruits in our lives if we are to lay claim to being those who are walking in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called. But let's take a look then at description number one, humility. Description number one, humility.

The worthy walk as described by Paul is marked with all humility. He uses the adjective all. Every aspect of the believer's life is to exhibit humility. Humility must adorn every part of our very.

Existence various lexicons define humility as having a humble opinion of one's self, a deep sense of one's moral littleness, modesty, humility, lowliness of mind. Doctor Stuart Scott, a Bible teacher and professor Christian man, offers this excellent definition. He says, humility is the mindset of Christ, a servant's mindset, and then he goes on to unpack what he means by this. It is a focus on God and others, a pursuit of the recognition and the exaltation of God and the desire to glorify and please God in all things and by all things that he has given.

The humble person is chiefly concerned about the glory of God and not self. He esteems others as more important than himself. He is little impressed with his own accomplishments. He sees himself as the chief of sinners and is overwhelmed with a sense of his own sins, having been forgiven.

The humble person recognizes in himself the seeds for wickedness, and yet the humble person by the grace of God is able to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which God has called him. you will notice that of all of the places Paul perhaps could have gone, he begins here as he's describing the worthy walk with the attitude of humility that is noteworthy. The worthy walk must come from the inside out. It begins with the right attitude.

It begins with the attitude of humility and the broader context makes it clear. that the backdrop of humility is the gospel. It is no mistake that immediately on the other side of Paul's gospel proclamation that his first description of the worthy walk is the attitude of humility. I also want you to note those attitudes and behaviors that lie downstream from humility.

Paul will go on to say, gentleness, patience, tolerance for one another in love and diligence to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and further downstream, Paul addresses relationships within the church, including relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and slaves and masters. Paul has some very specific concrete things to say to each group. Wives submit, husbands love, wives respect, children obey, fathers do not provoke, slaves obey, masters stop threatening.

Yet all of these commands lie downstream from the attitude of humility that immediately arises from the gospel.

I submit to you that if you wish to slay 1000 giants, it begins with an attitude of humility that is immediately rooted in your experience of the gospel. Paul knows this, and this is why a gospel-oriented humility serves as his first description. Of the worthy walk because in it, you slay 1000 giants. Now, Stuart Scott underscores the importance of a gospel rooted humility as he provides us with a list of its manifestations.

The following are fruits of humility, and I love this list and Stuart Scott says that the humble person affirms and embraces the truth about God. Trusts God and does not question his sovereignty and authority. The humble person depends on God. He seeks after the Lord.

He prays in a biblical manner. And he prays often, being concerned chiefly with God's glory and not his own glory. He is overwhelmed with God's undeserved grace and goodness, is thankful toward others, and he expresses his appreciation. He relates to others in a gentle and in a patient manner, and we will see these terms as we continue in the message.

He sees himself as no better than others. In fact, the humble person sees himself as the chief of sinners. You would be hard pressed to convince the humble person that you. You are a worse sinner than him.

He has an accurate view of his own gifts and abilities. He does not bemoan his lack of giftedness in comparison to others, nor does he exaggerate his own abilities. The humble person, listens well to what others have to say. He talks about others only if it is good or for their good.

He gladly submits to and obeys those who are in authority. He prefers others over himself, receives criticism or reproof with appreciation and thankfulness. He has a teachable spirit and seeks always to build up others. He serves, confesses sin, and is quick to admit his own wrongdoings, quickly grants and seeks for forgiveness, minimizes others sins or shortcomings in comparison to his own.

He is genuinely glad for others, is honest and open about who he is and the areas in which he needs growth. And he possesses close relationships. He is generally well liked by others. Now, these are but some of the fruits of humility.

As we bathe ourselves in the beauty of humility, we slay 1000 giants. As we move downstream, we come to the next description of the worthy walk. Description number 2, gentleness. Description number 2, gentleness.

The Greek word proud taste is translated gentleness, and it can be linked with humility, courtesy, considerateness. Gentleness is rooted in and it flows out of humility. It overlaps humility but contains distinct features. The gentle person thinks about others, and he acts in such a way so as to show thoughtfulness and courtesy.

The adjective all connects to gentleness as well. The worthy walk is marked by all gentleness. When we think of a gentleman, we envision a man who thinks about others and prefers others over himself. He allows the ladies at care group to be first in line when it comes time to share in a meal.

He is quick to open the door so as to allow others to enter a building ahead of himself. He is the type of person who identifies needs and he steps in when able to help. I saw this on display this morning when I was coming through the front door. One of the elders here noticed that there was a lady who needed help taking stuff into the kitchen, and without anyone telling him to do it on his own initiative, he just picked some of the stuff up and began taking it.

And then I saw it on display just a few moments later when as I was beginning to walk through the door, another gentleman opened up the door and he allowed me to go through the door before he allowed himself to walk in after me. This is the type of gentleness in part that we are talking about. Well, John MacArthur relates gentleness to meekness, and he says it refers to that which is mild spirited and self-controlled. The gentle person is one who when sinned against, responds in a mild-spirited and in a self-controlled way.

He does not explode in an outburst of anger. He maintains the ability to remain under control against the backdrop of the most trying of circumstances, and I have to admit to you, I have to confess. That as I have spent time meditating on this passage and thinking about these qualities, these descriptions of the worthy walk, I have found myself convicted. of how woefully short I at times fall of the glory of God, and how on more occasions than I would care to admit, I have lived for self and not for God, and I have failed to relate out of the overflow of humility and with gentleness.

Again, the gentle person is one who when sinned against, responds in a mild spirited and self-controlled way. He does not explode in an outburst of anger. He maintains the ability to remain under control against the. Backdrop of the most trying of circumstances.

Paul describes Jesus as gentle in 2 Corinthians 10:1. Gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:23. It is therefore produced by the Spirit as we abide in Christ. We need for God to help us to walk.

In a gentle manner. We are called to restore wayward believers in a spirit of gentleness according to Galatians 6:1. In Colossians 3:12, Paul exhorts us to put on a heart. Of gentleness.

In 1 Timothy 6:11, Paul charges Timothy to flee lust and to pursue in its place gentleness. In 2 Timothy 2:25, Paul tells Timothy to correct those opposing him, but to do so. In gentleness in James 3:13, we learned that wisdom is to be demonstrated by gentle behavior. James would say that if you don't react to situations in a gentle way, then you are not wise.

Conversely, you are a fool. In 1 Peter 3:15, we are to minister the gospel to the unsaved in a gentle and a respectful manner. And in our passage this morning, gentleness is one of the fruits that leads the way toward our ability to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. I submit to you that this preservation of the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace is extremely important to God and if we are to accomplish that.

It's going to begin with a gospel oriented humility and gentleness. So the worthy walk is to be marked by gentleness. Let's now turn to the next description of the worthy walk. Number 3, patience.

Number 3, patience. Now the Greek word is macrothumus. The word is translated patience, steadfastness, endurance, forbearance. The patient person is long spirited.

And he does not lose heart. This understanding carries many applications. perhaps you are ministering to a fellow believer and it seems that he or she will never get past a particular sin struggle. Your brother in Christ comes to you week after week with the same confession.

The Lord is calling you to patience. Do not lose heart. Elsewhere we read. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.

Galatians 6:9. I want to encourage you to continue in your efforts to minister and as you do so to exercise patience. Also attached to the word is the idea, now listen to this, of self-restraint in the face of provocation. Self-restraint in the face of provocation, it is the capacity to be wronged and not retaliate.

It speaks of foregoing the punishment that another deserves. And this represents another angle of patience. While it is true that we must be patient with folks struggling in their personal sin, we must also exercise patience when their sin splashes upon us. We may be tempted to take offense when sinned against, but we must never lose heart in God's ability to help such a person struggling in their sin.

And we must exercise confidence in God's ability to dispense his fruit of patience through us whenever tempted to respond sinfully. When sinned against. In other words, we must trust in God's ability. And what I love about this is if you look at the very end of chapter 3, right after Paul prays for the Ephesians, this prayer of empowerment, one of the things that he says immediately after praying for them to experience the fullness of God, he says to him who is able, to him who is able, To do exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond all that we could ask or think.

To Him be glory. You see, our God is able to work and sometimes he chooses to work in a slow manner and sometimes he does that for our own growth in the area of patience. God is described as patient in Romans 2:4 and 9:22. It is the same word used in Galatians 5:22 for one of the fruits of the Spirit, and you see this theme.

These are qualities of the Spirit. These are things that are born out of the Spirit. These are, are qualities that, that we can produce if we abide in Christ. In 1 Thessalonians 5:14, Paul exhorts us to admonish the unruly, encourage the faint-hearted, and to help the weak, and then he immediately goes on to say, be patient with all men.

Patience, as they say, is a virtue. Patience is a fruit of the spirit, patience is critical, and no matter what the believer may be struggling with, we are called to exercise, patience. Be patient, he says, be patient with all men. The context of Ephesians 4:1 through 3 indicates that we are to be patient as we relate to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We must remind ourselves that we are all in process. There are times in which folks fail to grow as quickly as we think they should, and we are to be patient, or perhaps a brother or sister behaves in a way that tries your patience. And I'm sure you can all relate. I wouldn't be surprised if for many of there, there's that person that comes to your mind, yeah, that one bugs me.

It could be your spouse, it could be your child. Perhaps they keep doing the same irritating thing again and again. An example of this is when I repeatedly leave my dirty clothes on the bedroom floor. this is a true story.

My wife finds herself bothered by my persistent irresponsible behavior. I'm assuming she's bothered so often I can't tell, and when she has a right to be bothered, she won't let me see it, so bless her for her humility towards me. She may be tempted by my lack of gentlemanly behavior to give me a piece of her mind, but instead, so often, She responds to me. In a humble manner.

Allowing the fruit of gentleness and patience to rule her heart. And to my shame I feel as if so often I have been instructed by my wife regarding the power of the gospel and how to flesh it out in one's life or perhaps you have a child who always leaves the sink surrounded by suds of and water. This is my story. The sink, and I come into it.

And my shirt gets wet because I press against the countertop and it says, I know it's completely soaked and there's suds and water, and I cannot tell you how often I discover a sloppy mess all around my bathroom sink. No, I'm not bitter. I will not tell you which of my children does this because I do not want Emma to get mad at me. But herein is an opportunity for me to overcome my type A disorder and respond in a patient way.

By the way, I realized that I can't use my personality I type A as an excuse for my sin. We need to be very careful about doing that. Maybe as a parent, you are ministering your God-given wisdom to your child, but for some reason, he fails to embrace what you are saying. To make matters worse, he challenges your logic and stubbornly refuses to take in the wisdom that you graciously have to offer.

Herein you have a choice to blow up in anger or respond in a patient manner, knowing that the battle belongs to the Lord and you trust that in due time, the Lord may cause your child to see. The wisdom of what you are talking about. I want to encourage you this morning, to walk in patience. The worthy walk is marked by patience.

So let's move to Paul's next description, which serves to further unpack the patience just mentioned. Description number 4. Showing forbearance to others in love, showing forbearance to others in love, that's exactly what the text says. showing forbearance is the Greek participle anna comoi.

It means exercising self-restraint and tolerance to endure patiently, to put up with, to bear with. You are greeted with the opportunity to show forbearance when another person acts in a way that annoys you. Perhaps such a person is legitimately annoying, not to say that it's legitimate for them to be annoying, but your argument that they are annoying is a legitimate argument. So let's say that's true.

If you are to walk in a worthy manner, you will show forbearance. You refuse to allow the faults of another person to hinder you from showing forbearance. You will endure patiently and not only that, but please take special note of the prepositional phrase contained herein in love, in love. The word for love is agape.

It is the highest form of sacrificial other-centered love. It is the very love of God poured out upon you through the blood sacrifice of his dear son. You are to love the annoying person in the same way that God loves you. Near the end of chapter 3, Paul prayed for the Ephesians, and he prayed that they would be strengthened with power by the Spirit and the inner man, so that Christ would dwell in their heart through faith and that they being rooted and grounded in love.

This is Agape once again. He's praying for them to be rooted and grounded in the Agape. A love of God and that they would be able to comprehend together with all of the saints in community, what is the breadth and length and height and depth. You get a sense that the love of God is ginormous here, it is incomprehensible, and he goes on to say, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, and he is calling us to show forbearance to one another in love, and it's the very love That he is talking about when he prays for them, that they would experience love.

When Paul begs his readers to show forbearance, he is begging them to act in a way consistent with how he has already prayed for them. The love of God is immense and Paul's readers should know that showing forbearance to one another in love is not out of reach. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond.

Brothers and sisters, we are called to love one another with the love that Christ has for us. There are times when this might not be easy, but it is not an option. If you find it difficult to love that brother or sister who is rough around the edges, I want to encourage you to throw yourself at the foot of the cross, and there at the foot of the cross, behold your suffering Savior, who loved you with a love incomprehensible and allow yourself to be filled to overflowing with the love of Christ and then to relate to those unlovely people with the love of Christ.

We are being called to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called.

Such a walk flows out of the gospel, and it is marked by humility, gentleness, patience, and showing forbearance and love, but Paul is not done yet. He gives us yet one more description. Of the worthy walk, and I believe that everything is moving towards this. This is what he wants to accomplish.

I am reminded of the end of his prayer when he wants for them to experience all of the fullness of God and this description as we look at it is being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit. In the bond of peace, you see, this is God's desire for his bride of the church. He wants for the church to experience his peace, and we are called to being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, being diligent to preserve this unity, this participle is in the active voice.

The worthy walk requires action.

Being diligent means hasten, hurry. be zealous for or eager for, to take pains to make every effort. The believer is to make every effort to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. You will notice that we have unity.

We are responsible to preserve it. We must live it out, and I believe that God would want for us to be at peace with one another, but he would want for us to be peacemakers and to, to help others to be at peace with One another as well. This is extremely important to God and this is one of the reasons for which Christ died so that we would be one and that we would realize, experience unity and peace in the context of our relationships with each other. we cannot take for granted any unity that we might enjoy.

Many great churches have fallen prey to division. Pastor Milton has often said that we all have enough sin inside of us to ruin a church. Every single one of us has inside of us the potential to ruin a church. Paul knows that the unity enjoyed by any church is maintained by diligence, so often it requires hard work.

It requires one giving himself over in strong effort, making every effort and taking pains to maintain this unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Often we need to fight for unity and Paul knows this and perhaps this is in part why at the end of this epistle he calls his readers to put on the whole armor of God. He wants his readers clothed in the gospel, in gospel armor, OK, so that they can do battle and part of the battle involves being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

So in closing, Paul has given to us 5 descriptions of the worthy walk.

We could easily add to that list when we consider the ways in which Paul himself models the worthy walk. He serves as an example of the worthy walk that we are called to emulate. But perhaps you are here and as you wrap your heart and mind around these descriptions and as you consider the example of Paul himself and as you take personal inventory and evaluate your own life in light of these things, you realize that you. Have fallen woefully short as you rewind the tape and view the recording of your life, you are reminded that countless times you have failed to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.

If Paul were here today, perhaps he would say welcome to the club. We do know that elsewhere in scripture, Paul says, here is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world and he died for sinners among whom I am chief. You see a final description. of the worthy walk is an acknowledgement that I am a sinner in need of a savior.

It is an acknowledgement that Jesus succeeded in what we failed to do. He is the ultimate example of the worthy walk. He is the one who some 2000 years ago left heaven and entered into this fallen world. He was born of a virgin and succeeded in living a perfect life.

He is the very epitome of the worthy walk, and such a walk culminated in Passion Week when he entered Jerusalem. Focused on the task at hand, he would be handed over to be slaughtered in our place. Jesus suffered beatings that left him unrecognizable. Jesus received a pounding that sent pulsating pain throughout his body.

Uncountable would have been the cuts on his body from the canoine tails. His bruised body would be hidden. By the blood it was covered in throughout the day, insult was added to injury. He was spat upon and he was mocked.

Tell us who hit you. A crown of sharp, long thorns was pressed upon his bruised head. Hail, king of the Jews, and keep in mind Jesus had already been abandoned by his dearest friends. They fled.

Every single one of them, so much for Peter's promise to stand by his master's side, even in the face of death. Brothers and sisters, Jesus was forsaken. He was all alone. He had no friends that day.

His body would be dragged on a cross made of splintery wood and spikes some 7 inches long and 1 inch thick would be driven through his hands and his feet. The cross upon which his battered, bruised and bloodied body was crucified would be hoisted, and there he would die a slow and agonizing death. All the while Jesus was praying for his enemies. He was praying for us, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Finally, the torture came to a merciful end when Jesus breathed his last and his lifeless body hung limp on the cross. Therein do we discover the ultimate example of the worthy walk. Jesus walked an absolutely perfect walk, and such a walk is now credited to our account.

We, according to the scripture, have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ and God looks down from on high upon us, and he sees us as if we have never sinned. He sees us as if we have in fact walked the worthy walk, though not a one of us would say that we have walked it perfectly, positionally because we are in Christ, we are seen as having walked the worthy walk and such is encouragement for us. To walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which God has called us today.

In our passage today, we are being called to do the very thing that God has in fact empowered us to do.

God in His word does not tell us to do what he has not empowered us to succeed in. It is through the power of the gospel as we consider our Savior suffering and dying on the cross, and then laid to rest and then raised bodily from the dead, the one who is at the right hand of the Father, from on high, he tells us, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. I want to say to you Brothers and sisters, it is not out of reach. Now to him who is able, to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond all that you could ask or think, to Him be glory, your God is able to help you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.

You look at that list and you're like me and you feel yourself to be convicted and you look at the details. of your life and you think, man, I have fallen short, but take heart because your sins have been atoned for and in Christ I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Be encouraged in the gospel this morning and do not ever allow yourself to deviate from the call that God has placed upon you today, to walk in a manner worthy, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which your God has called you.

If you are here today, and you have never placed your faith in Jesus, there is one step that I wanna ask you to take today.

There is no doubt that in, in an auditorium this large and with this many people, there has got to be someone who has yet to take the step of faith. I want to encourage you that the worthy walk begins with one step. It's a step of repentance and belief. It's a step that says, I know that I have sinned, and I know that I need my Savior, and I know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners like myself, and I I want to encourage you, if you are here and you have yet to be born again, come to Jesus.

Put your faith and your trust and your hope in Him. Ask Him, Lord, please forgive me for my sins. Lord, come into my life, make me the person you want me to be, come to the Lord. He says, come to me.

The Lord Jesus himself while he was here on earth, he says, come to me. Come to me, come to me, come to me, all who are weak and heavy laden, come to me and I will give you rest. I am here to tell you today that if you don't know Christ, but if you come to him, he will give you rest. I would bank my life on it, the scripture tells us it, and so we believe it.

He is willing to give rest to the weary. He is willing to give comfort to the worn out soul. The Bible tells us Jesus himself says, I came not for the righteous, but for the unrighteous. I came not for the healthy, but for the sick.

I came to seek and to save that which was lost. This is the gospel, that our God would condescend and come into this world and walk the worthy walk, do what we could not do and die on the cross for us, so that our sins could be forgiven again if you are here. And if you have yet to place your trust in Christ, do so now, do so now. Therefore, I beg you, therefore, I, a prisoner of the Lord.

To walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. With all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, and may the Lord, may the Lord bless you. And keep you, and may he cause his face to shine upon you, and may he grant you and all of us together the peace of God, a peace that transcends human understanding, and may we on the other side of all of that experience, not just the peace of God, but the God of that peace.

Will you pray with me?

And as the ushers come forward to receive the offering, And with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. Let us pray. Dear Lord God, we just come before you in the name of Jesus, and we thank you for your blessing upon us today. Lord, we wanna thank you for that, for what you have given to us.

Lord, we want to return back to you a portion of the material blessings that you have given to us. We pray that you would use this offering to advance your kingdom. Lord, we pray if there's anyone here who doesn't know you, that Lord, you would this day cause them to be born again. I pray, Lord, for my brothers and sisters in Christ that they, they would feel themselves encouraged and motivated and instructed, Lord, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which they have been called.

Fill them with your Spirit, empower them, Lord, as Paul says, strengthen them with power by your Spirit and the inner man. Christ dwell in the heart through faith. Lord, that we would be grounded in your love, comprehending, Lord, the immensity of your love, that Lord, we would be filled with all of your fullness, that Lord, we would be a people who would be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Now Lord, as we sing to you, may we sing with hearts that are fattened with praise because you alone are worthy, and we pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.