In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he talks a lot about what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. \u00a0In chapter 4, Paul talks about the church and its witness internal and externally as evidence of our faith or lack there of. \u00a0The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”<\/p>\n
In this verse Paul says we need to rightly identify who we are when he says, “the prisoner of the Lord.” \u00a0Paul is saying that he belongs to Jesus Christ. \u00a0Paul is not a moral free agent free to live and do as he pleases. \u00a0He says the same thing in a few different ways in other areas of the New Testament. \u00a0For example in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Paul writes, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God? \u00a0You are not your own, you were bought with a price. \u00a0Therefore, glorify God in your body.” \u00a0Then in 2 Corinthians 5:20 Paul says we are “ambassadors for Christ.” \u00a0As a Christian, we must remember that we belong to God and therefore we are called to represent Him in all that we say and do.<\/p>\n
Paul then in verse 1 says that he “beseeches you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called.” \u00a0That is Paul saying, because you belong to Christ, you need to live like Christ. \u00a0The word “worthy” that Paul uses here means appropriately or as in a manner that honors and is honorable. \u00a0So to “walk worthy” means to live a life that is honorable and honors the One we are representing. \u00a0In verses 2 and 3 Paul defines how we can live a worthy life for Jesus. \u00a0He uses words such as lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing, and unified. \u00a0So for a Christian to live a live that honors God we are to be humble, gentle, patience, loving, accepting of one another, and we are to have a desire to be unified with our brothers and sisters in Christ. \u00a0But how does Paul know, how do we know that living like this will honor God? \u00a0We know it because it perfectly describes the life of Jesus as revealed in Philippians 2.<\/p>\n
Philippians 2:2-8 can be broken down into two categories. \u00a0The first is prescriptive, that is describing what we should do. \u00a0The second part is descriptive, and that is Paul explaining the why of the first part. \u00a0The two parts of this passage are tied together by verse 5 in Philippians 2 which says, “let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.” \u00a0So verse 5 bridges the prescriptive section with the descriptive section. \u00a0How did Paul describe the mind of Christ? \u00a0We see it in verses 6-8. \u00a0Paul says that Jesus was humble, selfless, sacrificial, and obedient. \u00a0Even though Jesus was and is God, He still humbled Himself in submission to the Father’s will to come to the earth, die on a cross for sinful mankind, and rise from the dead three days later. \u00a0He did this, not because we wouldn’t do it, but because we couldn’t do it. \u00a0The God-man who had every right to be served, instead came to serve the world. \u00a0And Jesus didn’t just do it when it was easy or just those who loved Him. \u00a0Jesus walked in selfless humility all the way to the point of the most excruciating and humiliating form of death, crucifixion. \u00a0So then we look back at verses 2-4 and we can see Paul calling us to live by these same attributes. \u00a0We see unity in verse 2, selflessness and humility in verse 3, and sacrificial in verse 4.<\/p>\n
Therefore, if I am going to be considered by God worthy to be called a Christian then those three things should characterize my life. \u00a0In a day and age in which it is easy to say we are a Christian, and when it costs us relatively nothing to identify ourselves as Christian, the question then becomes, does my life give honor to God? \u00a0Can I actually call myself a disciple of Jesus’ according to how I’m living? \u00a0Here are some questions to help us think and pray through this.<\/p>\n
May this passage cause us to praise God for His great love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness towards us in that we don’t always walk in a worthy manner. \u00a0And may it call us to prayer asking God for His help in allowing us to walk in a worthy manner.<\/p>\n
Pastor Justin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he talks a lot about what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. \u00a0In chapter 4, Paul talks about the church and its witness internal and externally as evidence of … Read More