Walking in Love: Embracing Long-Suffering and Endurance

Devotional

Day 1: Walking Worthy of Our Calling

Our calling in Christ is a profound journey that encompasses both a past rescue and a future hope. This dual aspect of our calling shapes our daily walk, urging us to live in a manner worthy of the immense grace we have received. Reflecting on the past, we recognize the transformative work of Jesus' sacrifice, which rescued us from spiritual death. Looking forward, we anticipate the eternal grace and kindness that God will lavish upon us. This understanding fosters a profound sense of lowliness and meekness, leading to a life characterized by patience and endurance. As we embrace this calling, we are reminded to walk humbly, acknowledging the grace that has been bestowed upon us and allowing it to guide our interactions with others. [01:23]

Ephesians 2:4-7 (ESV): "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."

Reflection: How can you consciously walk in a manner worthy of your calling today, acknowledging both the past rescue and future hope in Christ?

Day 2: Long-Suffering as an Expression of Meekness

Long-suffering, or patience, is a profound expression of meekness that allows us to endure others with grace. It is a spiritual maturity that stems from recognizing the immense love we have received in our calling. This disposition is not about passivity but about embodying a love that does not retaliate quickly. It is a step further in our spiritual journey, where lowliness and meekness feed into our ability to endure one another. By embracing long-suffering, we align our lives with the love and grace we have received, allowing us to navigate relationships with patience and understanding. [03:06]

Colossians 3:12-13 (ESV): "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."

Reflection: Who in your life requires your patience and long-suffering today, and how can you show them the love and grace you have received?

Day 3: Responding to Persecution with Blessing

The Christian response to persecution and slander is not retaliation but blessing and endurance. This reflects Jesus' teaching to turn the other cheek and embodies a love that seeks to do good, even in the face of adversity. By choosing to bless rather than retaliate, we align our lives with our calling and demonstrate the transformative power of God's love. This disposition is not about being passive but about actively choosing to embody a love that seeks the well-being of others, even those who may oppose us. [04:53]

1 Peter 3:9 (ESV): "Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing."

Reflection: How can you choose to bless someone who has wronged you, reflecting the love and grace of Christ in your response?

Day 4: Managing Anger and Embracing Love

Anger, if not managed, can become a destructive force that gives the devil a foothold in our hearts. We are called to be slow to anger, using our response as a barometer of our conformity to our calling. By putting away bitterness and wrath, we embrace a love that covers a multitude of sins. This love, rooted in the great love with which God made us alive, allows us to navigate conflicts with grace and understanding, reflecting the transformative power of God's love in our lives. [06:36]

James 1:19-20 (ESV): "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God."

Reflection: What steps can you take today to manage your anger and embrace a love that covers a multitude of sins?

Day 5: Imitating God by Walking in Love

Imitating God involves walking in love as Christ loved us. This love is the foundation of enduring one another, rooted in the great love with which God made us alive. By focusing on the grace we received, we become long-suffering people who readily endure others, living in love as an expression of our calling. This journey of imitation is not about perfection but about striving to reflect the love and grace of Christ in our daily interactions, allowing His love to guide our actions and relationships. [10:31]

Ephesians 5:1-2 (ESV): "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Reflection: In what ways can you imitate God by walking in love today, allowing His grace to guide your interactions with others?

Sermon Summary

In our journey through Ephesians 4:1-6, we explore the profound call to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, focusing on the virtues of long-suffering and enduring one another in love. This calling is rooted in the transformative event when God raised us from spiritual death, granting us life, faith, and hope. Our calling has both a backward dimension, reflecting on the immense work of rescue through Jesus' sacrifice, and a forward dimension, anticipating the eternal grace and kindness God will lavish upon us.

Understanding this calling shapes our walk, leading to a life characterized by lowliness, meekness, and now, long-suffering. Long-suffering, or patience, is an expression of meekness, manifesting as a disposition to not retaliate quickly. It is a step further in our spiritual journey, where lowliness and meekness feed into our ability to endure one another. This endurance is rooted in the recognition of the profound love we have received in our calling.

Paul exemplifies this in his ministry, enduring persecution and slander with grace, reflecting Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5 to turn the other cheek. This disposition is not about passivity but about embodying a love that does not repay evil for evil. It is about seeking to do good, as instructed in 1 Thessalonians 5 and 1 Peter 3, aligning our lives with our calling.

James 1 reminds us to be slow to anger, using our response as a barometer of our conformity to our calling. Anger, if not managed, can become a destructive force, giving the devil a foothold in our hearts. Instead, we are called to put away bitterness and wrath, embracing a love that covers a multitude of sins, as stated in 1 Peter 4:8.

Ultimately, we are to imitate God, walking in love as Christ loved us. This love is the foundation of enduring one another, rooted in the great love with which God made us alive. By fixing our gaze on the grace we received, we become long-suffering people who readily endure others, living in love as an expression of our calling.

Key Takeaways

1. Our calling in Christ is both a past rescue and a future hope, shaping our walk to be worthy of the immense grace we have received. This understanding fosters a profound lowliness and meekness, leading to a life of patience and endurance. [01:23]
2. Long-suffering is an expression of meekness, a disposition to not retaliate quickly. It is a spiritual maturity that allows us to endure others, rooted in the recognition of the love we have received in our calling. [03:06]
3. The Christian response to persecution and slander is not retaliation but blessing and endurance, reflecting Jesus' teaching to turn the other cheek. This disposition is about embodying a love that seeks to do good, aligning our lives with our calling. [04:53]
4. Anger, if not managed, can become a destructive force. We are called to be slow to anger, using our response as a barometer of our conformity to our calling. By putting away bitterness and wrath, we embrace a love that covers a multitude of sins. [06:36]
5. Imitating God involves walking in love as Christ loved us. This love is the foundation of enduring one another, rooted in the great love with which God made us alive. By focusing on the grace we received, we become long-suffering people who readily endure others. [10:31]
** [10:31]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:16] - Introduction to Ephesians 4:1-6
[00:32] - Understanding Long-Suffering
[01:09] - Walking Worthy of Our Calling
[01:40] - The Backward and Forward Dimensions of Our Calling
[02:31] - Lowliness and Meekness
[02:49] - The Role of Long-Suffering
[03:23] - Enduring One Another
[04:03] - Paul's Example of Endurance
[05:08] - Jesus' Teaching on Retaliation
[05:38] - Seeking Good Over Evil
[06:09] - The Call to Bless
[06:52] - Managing Anger
[07:21] - The Dangers of Anger
[08:04] - Love Covers a Multitude of Sins
[09:30] - Imitating God in Love
[10:31] - Becoming Long-Suffering People

Bible Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading

Ephesians 4:1-6
Matthew 5:38-39
1 Peter 4:8

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Observation Questions

What are the virtues mentioned in Ephesians 4:1-6 that Paul encourages believers to embody? How do these virtues relate to walking in a manner worthy of our calling? [00:16]
According to the sermon, how does Paul exemplify long-suffering and endurance in his ministry? [04:20]
What does Matthew 5:38-39 teach about retaliation, and how does this relate to the concept of long-suffering discussed in the sermon? [05:08]
How does 1 Peter 4:8 describe the role of love in covering sins, and how is this connected to enduring one another? [08:04]

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Interpretation Questions

How does the backward and forward dimension of our calling, as described in the sermon, influence our daily walk as Christians? [01:40]
In what ways does the sermon suggest that meekness and lowliness contribute to developing long-suffering and endurance? [03:23]
How does the sermon interpret the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5 about turning the other cheek, and what does this imply about the Christian response to persecution? [05:08]
What does the sermon suggest about the relationship between anger and giving the devil a foothold in our hearts? How can this understanding shape our response to anger? [07:36]

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Application Questions

Reflect on a recent situation where you felt wronged. How did you respond, and how might the teaching of turning the other cheek influence your response in the future? [05:08]
Consider a relationship in your life where you struggle with patience. What practical steps can you take to embody long-suffering and endure in love? [03:23]
The sermon highlights the importance of being slow to anger. Identify a trigger for your anger and develop a strategy to manage it in a way that aligns with your calling. [06:36]
How can you actively seek to do good to those who may have wronged you, as instructed in 1 Thessalonians 5? What specific actions can you take this week? [05:38]
Think of a time when you held onto bitterness or wrath. How did it affect your spiritual life, and what steps can you take to put away these feelings and embrace love? [07:50]
Reflect on the love you have received from God. How can this understanding motivate you to imitate God and walk in love towards others? [09:30]
Identify one person in your life who challenges your ability to endure in love. What is one practical way you can show them love this week, despite the challenges? [10:31]

Sermon Clips

So keep in mind what we're trying to do is understand how to walk worthy that is fitting in a fitting way to our calling, a calling that is an event that happened to us when God raised us from the dead spiritually and gave us life and faith and the hope that came from it, the hope of your calling. [00:01:11]

Long suffering or patience, not having a short fuse, being disposed to not retaliate quickly, I think that is a form or an expression or a manifestation of this meekness. It may be that it's a step further that first there's loneliness producing the demeanor of meekness, and then there's long suffering within something we are producing the activity of enduring one another. [00:02:56]

When reviled we bless, when persecuted we endure. Now there's the word enduring one another in love. When persecuted we endure, when slandered we entreat. We've become and are still like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. So how can Paul know this about himself that is his reputation stinks in the nostrils of hundreds of people? [00:04:14]

See that no one repays anyone evil for evil. Don't do that. If your wife says something demeaning to you, don't do it back. If she neglects you, don't do it back. If a husband does something displeasing to you, don't displease him back, but always seek to do good to one another and everyone. [00:05:35]

Know this my beloved brothers, let everyone be quick to hear, quick to speak, slow to anger. That's enduring one another slow to anger. If somebody says something, does something, slanders you, reviles you, abuses you, the quickness of your response is a barometer of how your life is in conformity to your calling. [00:06:29]

Let all bitterness and wrath of bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. So all that is to say endure one another in love is first Peter 4:8 above all keep loving one another, since love covers a multitude of sins, that means endures others. [00:07:52]

Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children so God adopted us and loved us and out of that love we imitate him, walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us a fragrant offering a sacrifice to God. So here we have the love of Christ and the love of our father. [00:09:19]

So knowing your calling and walking worthy of your calling is another way of saying live in love toward one another. That's an expression of bringing our lives into a fit conformity with the way we were called and what we were called to, so the way we become a long-suffering person who endures others in love. [00:10:35]

The way we become a long-suffering person who endures others in love is the same way we became a lowly person and a meek person namely by fixing our gaze on the glorious loving powerful unspeakably great grace we received when he called us out of darkness into life and when he gave us an inheritance beyond all comparison. [00:10:54]

And then we pray that reality into our lives until we become long-suffering people who readily endure others rather than striking back. [00:11:26]

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Walking in Love: Embracing Long-Suffering and Endurance

Devotional

Day 1: Walking Worthy of Our Calling

Day 2: Long-Suffering as an Expression of Meekness

Day 3: Responding to Persecution with Blessing

Day 4: Managing Anger and Embracing Love

Day 5: Imitating God by Walking in Love

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Chatbot

Walking in Love: Embracing Long-Suffering and Endurance

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