by Rob Globke
Intro - Ephesians 4:1-2
Part One - Who are we? We are Called.
Part Two - What are we to do? Walk Worthy
Ephesians 4:1-2
“I [Paul] therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,”
If you haven’t caught up with the whole series yet, please take moment and get caught up. You can find previous posts here: intro, part 1, part 2 .
Finally, we get to the last of our series on Ephesians 4:1-2. This last part will address the question, “how are we supposed to walk?” This question helps us define what we value. It helps us get at what’s important in this life, or what should be important. Thus, at the end of this series, Ephesians 4:1-2 will have helped us tackle our Identity, Purpose, and Values. I think that’s pretty cool and something worth our time.
So, in case you aren't really sure what walking worthy looks like, Paul adds some qualifiers to help us understand how our walk should look. They are found in Eph. 4:2 and are:
- Humility
- Gentleness
- Patience
- Love
This is a pretty short list and it definitely is not a complete list, but boy oh boy, this is a great place to start. These are some of the characteristics of “walking worthy”. These are the valuable actions that form a worthy walk.
Humility
Humility is the opposite of pride. It is a willingness to admit we are not the ruler of our life. As C.S. Lewis said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” Jesus showed humility when He gave up His heavenly realm to put on flesh and die so we could live. He humbled himself in serving us to the point of death.
When you think about this kind of humility, does it match up with your life? When you play hockey is it all about how well you do and your stats, or is it about the team? When the locker room needs to be cleaned, do you tell yourself that somebody else will do it, or do you try and serve your teammates over yourself and clean it up?
These are the kinds of things that mark a life of humility. What other examples can you think of?
Gentleness
Gentleness is not often thought of in hockey circles. As a hockey player, we are supposed to be tough, mean, gritty, and so forth. We must be thinking gentleness just doesn't fit into the mix. This would be a wrong assumption. Gentleness does not mean soft. Jesus was crucified, whipped and beaten. Yet, He was gentle. He dealt with his followers with compassion and was not harsh. He made time even when he was tired or hungry. He was courageous, but was not looking to start a fight. Don’t confuse gentleness with weakness. They are not the same.
Are you gentle? Or, do you have a temper which is aggressive and angry? How are you treating your teammates? What about your parents or siblings? Is gentleness something you value or do you think it’s something only for the “softies”?
Patience
Patience is a lost art in today’s world. The world operates as an instant society. When we want something, we want it now. Who has time to wait? With next day shipping, drive thru, and little computers in our pocket there is no need to wait. We can just “google” it, right?
The bible says differently. We are to persevere, to be steadfast, to be patient in everything. Being patient is hard, but it reveals a worthy walker. When things are'nt going your way, how do you respond? Impatience tells us we should argue with the coach about more ice time. Lack of patience tells us we should hurry back from an injury so we don’t lose our spot on the powerplay. An “I want it now” mentality causes us to ignore our teammates because we “don’t have time” to bother with the interruption.
Walking worthy as God’s children means we live differently than the world might tell us to live. This means we might have to be patient even when everything around us is telling us not to be. At the rink are you patient? Are you quick to get angry? Are you quick to say something you shouldn't? Do you get mad when you don't get your way?
Love
Lastly...love. The mother of all virtues in a worthy walk. Faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love. I will not try and capture all that love entails because there is a great passage in the Bible which does a much better job. God is much better at filling in the blanks than I could ever hope to be!
I will not include the whole chapter, but hopefully the text below gives you a good idea of what love is like:
“if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
1 Corinthians 13:2-8
Homework:
- Ask someone close to you to grade you on each of these categories
- Then, grade yourself
- How do the two grades differ? Why?
- Where can you improve in "how" you walk worthily?
