Walking Worthy: Balancing Doctrine and Practice in Faith

I should like to call your attention this morning to The Words which are to be found in Paul's epistle to the Ephesians in the fourth chapter reading the first three verses the first three verses in the fourth chapter of Paul's epistle to the Ephesians I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called with all loneliness and meekness with longsuffering forbearing one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. [00:00:10]

Christianity is not merely a matter of Doctrine it isn't only a matter of experience it is birs and we must put at the very beginning but it doesn't stop at that it is a life which we have to live what is called here a walk it's a way of life the Christians were first called the people of the way it is a conversation as the Apostle Peter describes it in that section that we have read just now. [00:01:52]

Sanctification is not so much something that you receive as a gift subsequent to your salvation it is the outworking of the Salvation that you have received in terms of the understanding of the doctrine that you hold I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you so the way of sanctification is first and foremost to take a firm hold of the doctrine there can be no true sanctification without an understanding of Doctrine. [00:02:54]

The first word of course is the word worthy I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the calling where with or whereby or into which you have been called what is this word worthy mean well the Learned authorities tell us that it has two basic ideas in it and certainly they're both very important the first idea is this it's the idea of equal weight balancing uh that two things should be of the same weight so that when you put one on one side of the scale and the other on the other there's no tilting to one side or the they're just balancing happily and comfortably. [00:07:39]

The other idea in this word is the idea of something that is becoming now it's interesting how when these translations were made how the men responsible translate the same word in different ways and use different translations at different points they might very well have translated this like this I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk in a manner which is becoming of the calling wherewith you are called. [00:11:40]

The doctrine is as it were the foundation garment the kind of fundamental garment then what is the life well it's the adorning that you add to the foundation garment there must be some basis some Foundation something to build upon well then you add to that and you must always be careful that you are decorations that your adornments are suited to and are congruous with and match the foundational garment that you've already put on the doctrine is the foundation the life is the adorning and of course the purpose of the adorning is to make it attractive to make the doctrine attractive to cause people to admire it. [00:15:31]

The Christians the save the Believers are always described as the called ones these who have been separated from the others and they've been called from there to hear and they are the called unto us which are called Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God one other thing is of importance and that is that we must notice is the point at which the calling comes in this question of Salvation and the answer is that calling comes before justification. [00:25:29]

The call is the thing that draws him there's power in the call and it draws him he can't come without it or take the way in which we are given an account of the first convert in a sense in Europe there is the Apostle Paul preaching to the little prayer meeting of women outside the city walls in Phil on a Sunday afternoon and there he spake unto them the word of the lord and there was a woman named Lydia a sell of of of of purple from the city of th Tyra listening to him whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things that were spoken of of Paul that's the call the opening of the heart which makes us attend and believe without it the word has no effect. [00:27:35]

The Apostle has rarely said all this at the beginning of chapter 2 and he's got all that in his mind as he talks here about the calling wherewith you have called This is the position you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins he comes back again and says it again in verse 5 even when we were dead in sins has quickened us a dead person can't Quicken himself God Alone can Quicken and that's how he does it oh there's a wonderful illustration of all this it seems to me in the Gospels it is of course the case of Lazarus. [00:28:30]

The Apostle is saying here that we have been called in order that we may show forth these things be worthy he says of the vocation the calling to which you have been called that's the foundation garment now then he says Adorn it live in such a way that you'll set it out make it look yet more wonderful more glorious and more attractive and you do that I say by applying the doctrine and the knowledge that you have very well I say this is the way in which you and I have got to live we've got to live as those who realized that we have been called by God into this heavenly calling. [00:33:31]

What is it that has made it possible for me to come from Death to life from that grave of sin to newness of life and to be seated in the Heavenly places with Christ the answer is this it's the free grace of God by Grace he are saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God we are his workmanship while we were dead and desperate and hopeless in the creatures of lust he quickened Us in spite of it and how did he do it all and what made it possible if I may so phrase it for God to do it and you remember the answer don't you it is by the blood of Christ ye that sometimes were far offer made nigh by the blood of Christ. [00:41:27]

I beseech you as one who is a prisoner myself walk in a manner that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called oh if we but saw this calling if we but grasped its meaning in all its parts there would be no problem about Christian Living we would count it our Supreme Delight to hear his dictates and obey amen. [00:44:46]