by Rob Globke

Intro - Ephesians 4:1-2
Part One - Who are you? You are Called.

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 read the intro or part 1, you should definitely breeze through those first. They will help set the stage for this article. In essence, they make the sauce pass back door for this article. So, they are pretty important. After all, most people like a nice tape to tape pass, right?

This is part 2 in our series on Ephesians 4:1-2. Part 1 answered the question “who are we?” In part 2, we will look at answering the question, “what are we supposed to do?”

If part 1 spoke to our identity, part 2 will speaks to our purpose.


So, what does Ephesians 4:1-2 say about what we are supposed to do?
It simply says that we are to walk in a worthy manner. Or, as one translation puts it, “to live a life that is worthy…” Ephesians 4:1 is telling us to conduct ourselves in a manner that measures up to the value of who we are. You see how important it is to start with part 1. We need to find out who we are if we are going to live the right way.


Ephesians 4:1-2 is not just talking about what you do on Sunday or when you feel happy. It’s not just talking about how you live when others are watching. It’s not even talking about how you live 23 out of 24 hours of the day. “Walking Worthy” is not a part time command. It is not a command for when you feel like it. It is a shift in your lifestyle, every second of your day, every day of your week.


Remember, we already established that we are called to be God’s children. What an amazing identity! Now, in light of this, how would you walk? If you truly believe God is your Father, what would you be doing with your time, with your words, with your thoughts?


This verse reminds us we are to stop living like the old sinful dudes (and dudettes) we used to be and live like a new people. We are to forget chasing after and worrying about earthly treasures because we have an eternal inheritance. Our life and how it is lived...how we act...should be evident by our true identity in Christ. If God is our Father, we should be living a life that lives up to the family name. If we are a new people, a new creation, we should be living differently than we used to live.


I hope you see how our calling as God’s chosen ones impacts what you are supposed to do. Like Paul, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of who you are. And I will leave you with some questions:


Homework:
Ask yourself: "Are you walking worthy?"
If not, write down some things you can change...so you can walk a bit more worthy of who God calls you to be.
What does walking worthy look like? (we will look at this question in the last part of this series)

Make sure to read the last part of this series, I would say it's the best to come, but I don't know if there is even a best...either way, take 5 minutes and finish off this series.

Read Part Three - How are we to Walk?

 

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