Your Worthy Walk

God's kindness to us through Christ Jesus is because of the exceeding riches of his grace. It is by grace through faith that we are saved, having redemption through the shed blood of Christ, sealed in Christ and awaiting the day that our vile body will be changed and made like unto the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We did nothing to gain that and we can do nothing to maintain it. Paul says in Colossians that we are "complete in him." That's because every member of the body of Christ is the result of his workmanship. It was not by works of righteousness which we have done. Not of works, lest any man should boast. If we have anything to boast about it is about what God through Christ has done for us. Not what we have done, are doing, or going to do for the Lord.

Christ died for even our sins, us who in time past had no hope and were without God in the world. God reconciled the world unto himself in the cross work of Jesus Christ. He didn't save the world but he brought about a situation that made it possible for anybody, anywhere to be saved from wrath to come simply by trusting Jesus Christ and what he alone did in our behalf.

Once a person sees his lost, doomed and damned condition and realizes that he needs help, that he cannot help himself, that he needs a Saviour, and the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shines unto him and he believes that gospel and trusts Christ alone for salvation, at that moment he is sealed in Christ forever and for all eternity. He is given a position in Christ that exceeds all that we are able to ask or think. As far as God is concerned, every single person who has trusted Christ as his Saviour, believing that Christ alone has already done the work of his salvation...as far as God is concerned...that person was crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, raised with Christ, ascended up with Christ and now seated together with him in heavenly places. It is all an accomplished fact and done and complete as far as God is concerned.

That's what prompted Paul to say, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live..." So although every believer has the salvation and the position Paul writes about in the first three chapters of Ephesians, physically speaking, we are still walking along through this life and through this world. So there is a twofold condition for every believer. This is often referred to as standing and state, position and practical, judicial and experiential, and other terms.

In Ephesians, Paul writes to people who are just like the people of the world today. People who in time past were not associated with Israel and had no part in Israel's covenants and promises. But once Paul went into the Temple in Jerusalem at a point in time and the Lord told him to "Depart for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles," a revelation was made known which throughout all the ages of human history had not been made known, not written about, and remained unsearchable and was hid in God.

The doctrine pertaining to this mystery is brought out in the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians. But the last three chapters contain the practical side of that truth revealed to Paul. As you come to Ephesians 4:1 and onward, it is written in the light of the doctrine of the first three chapters.

Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

Paul is a literal prisoner, in bonds in Rome. The cause, he says, is "for you Gentiles." In other words at the time of Acts twenty-two Paul told the Jews in Jerusalem of the vision which he had previously had pertaining to his ministry. When Paul told them that the Lord was going to send him "far hence unto the Gentiles," they went ballistic. They tore their clothes, threw dust in the air and shouted, "It is not fit that this fellow should live." From that time, Paul's ministry took a different path than it had during the time period covered by the book of Acts. During that time he went and preached among the "commonwealth of Israel" but now the focus of his ministry is on aliens from Israel. That is, YOU Gentiles...people in the world today.

Now he "beseeches" these Gentiles to walk worthy. You couldn't very well walk in a worthy manner unless you knew something about the "vocation wherewith ye are called." Your walk, as a saved individual, a member of Christ's body, is the manner of life in which you should live. And your "vocation" involves an endeavour.

Ephesians 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The unity is made. Believers are to keep it, not attempt to make it. The unity is sevenfold and Paul brings that out later in the chapter. There is an endeavor involved, in other words, and effort is required in order to keep that unity. So there is a walk which is worthy unto the Lord.

The vocation wherewith we are called is a holy calling. A holy calling is an awesome calling, it is a sacred calling. It is a separate or separated calling. This calling, according to God's own purpose and grace, was given us in Christ Jesus BEFORE the world began.

2 Timothy 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

2 Timothy 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Notice again in Ephesians how he says we are to walk according to God's purpose, according to your calling.

Ephesians 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

Lowliness is to have a humbleness of mind. Meekness is never weakness. It means gentleness. Humbleness of mind is the opposite of pride and arrogance. We have not one thing to boast about or to be prideful of. Salvation is a gift. It is received as a gift. So to walk worthy is to walk with that attitude of mind, and he says "with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love." We are to walk in love, and the love that we walk in is the love of the Lord. It was God that loved. God commendeth HIS love to us in that when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Longsuffering carries the idea of fortitude, of patience. Forbearing is to bear with, to endure or to put up with one another in love...in the love of God in Christ. So the believer's walk in this world has a positive side and also a negative side. Paul says to walk worthy but then he also says to walk not:

Ephesians 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

The other Gentiles are religious Gentiles and the world is full of them. It was then, as Paul wrote the letter, and it is today. Religious but lost because their religion is the vanity of their mind. The religious Gentiles at Ephesus were interested in keeping their religion and it is not any different today. Religion is full of traditions of men and religious practices which do nothing more than blind men's minds to the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ. A believer is to walk not like religious men who are destitute of the truth, even though they might carry a bible and attend a church. Religious men follow man-made traditions and made up rules. They follow practices which have been handed down and made part of their denomination.

The worthy walk of the believer today is a spiritual walk. Paul says that though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual. The whole armour of God brought out later in Ephesians is spiritual armour because it is not for the carnal man but the spiritual man, that new creature in Christ, the saved man. The saved man, although he walks in the flesh he doesn't walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit. In other words to walk worthy is to walk, practically speaking, in newness of life.

Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

The newness of life is not a religious life but a life of liberty from the bondage of religion. In Galatians Paul says that we have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty as an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Our worthy walk is not in rioting and chambering or in strife and envy.

Romans 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Walking worthy is to study to shew thyself approved unto God but not handling the word of God deceitfully.

2 Corinthians 4:2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Our worthy walk is a faith walk because we walk by faith and not by sight. While we walk in this life it is necessary to walk in this vile body that we have, this physical, fleshly body, but although we walk in the flesh we do not walk after the flesh. Our position in Christ is not in the flesh but in the Spirit. So the only way to walk worthy is with a walk of faith and not sight. Notice in Galatians.

Galatians 5:15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

That old fleshly nature, the natural man that we are, the flesh, is contrary to the Spirit. He doesn't care the least bit about walking worthy. He wants to fulfil his own interests. He is contrary to the saved man, and he always will be as long as he remains. The conflict will rage between the natural man that we are and the spiritual man that God has made us in Christ right on until the end of the natural man. Only death puts a stop to it. So the only solution is to mortify it. Get a grip on it and control it. Someone once said that a believers condition is that he has two "I's". One is the "I" of the old man and the other is the "I" of the new man in Christ. Paul calls his old man "the body of this death."

Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Romans 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

So the battle rages and will continue to rage until death puts a stop to it. In time past all we had to walk in was the natural man that we are.

Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

But once we crossed from disobedience to obedience, in other words from unbelief to believing on and trusting in Christ things changed. We no longer have to obey the flesh in the lusts thereof. Sin, the nature of sin, has no more dominion over us, so we don't have to let sin, that old nature, rule our life.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

The very strength of sin is the law, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:56     and sin brings about the sting of death. So what God did was simply cancel that. He made Christ to be sin for us at the cross. He destroyed the strength that sin had over us by becoming a curse for us. He redeemed us from the curse of the law in Galatians 3:13. God made Christ to be sin (the nature) for us, and made us the righteousness of God in him, in Christ. So, judicially speaking we have been crucified with Christ and walking worthy is to think like God thinks and reckon it to be so, just like God does.

Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What we should do is count that fact to be so where we are concerned and realize that the very nature of sin has been dealt with and destroyed, positionally, in Christ. To do that is to realize that we already have the victory.

1 Corinthians 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works and God has ordained that we should walk in them. Walking in good works is the work of our ministry which is the edifying or the building up of the body of Christ til we all come in the unity of the faith of and of the knowledge of the son of God unto a perfect man.

A perfect man doesn't mean "sinless perfection" but rather is talking about maturity or being grown up, complete, perfected. All scripture is profitable for that, Paul says in 2 Timothy, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnish unto all good works.

Jesus said that as long as he was in the world that he was the light of the world. But Jesus is not in the world today. He is raised from the dead and ascended up, far above all heavens. And he sent down the message of grace to the apostle Paul so that, today, the light is the glorious gospel of Christ and it shines unto all who will believe it and trust in it.

Ephesians 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

Ephesians 5:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

So walking worthy is walking in that light.

Philippians 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us so that those who trust Christ alone for salvation are the sons of God, children of God. We have boldness and access to God by the faith of Jesus Christ and when we call on him we can say "our Father."

Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Both the Ephesain letter and the Colossian letter were written to people Paul had never met. He did not know them, he had only heard of their faith in Christ. For instance, in Colossians:

Colossians 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Colossians 1:10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Colossians 1:11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

Colossians 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

So walking worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called is to walk thankfully. When you consider all the spiritual blessings we have been blessed with in Ephesians chapter one there is so much to be thankful for. All of it because of the exceeding riches of God's grace and his kindness toward us. Not because any of us did one single thing in order to be a partaker of the inheritance we have obtained but because it was freely given to us of God.

Our walk, then, should be a walk worthy of God (1 Thessalonians 2:12) and we ought to walk in a way that will be pleasing to God. The only way to please anyone is to know what pleases them. To know what pleases God is to study to shew thyself approved unto God. Our walk in this life will consist of our work we do as a workman for the Lord. We want to be approved and not ashamed at the judgment seat of Christ.

The issue, of course, at the judgment seat of Christ is one of commendation and not condemnation. Once a person trusts Christ as his Saviour there is never again any condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. There can never be any condemnation because there is nothing to condemn us for. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? So instead of fear of condemnation our walk should be focused on commendation, on being approved of God, of walking worthy, of walking in newness of life, the new life of a new creature in Christ. Paul's desire was to walk as though he had already been raised from the dead.

Philippians 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Philippians 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Notice what Paul is aiming for? The prize! Paul already has the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It is the prize he wants to attain. The way to do that is to walk in the life of the new man. To aim at walking as though he were already raised from the dead. To make his position be his practical, to make his standing be his state. It will be a lifetime effort.

Philippians 3:16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

Philippians 3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

An ensample is a pattern. Paul urged Titus to shew himself a pattern of good works. But directly associated with the good works is the doctrine.

Titus 2:7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,

Titus 2:8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

So the worthy walk of the believer today cannot be separated from the sound doctrine committed to the church, the body of Christ today. We only find that doctrine in the 13 books written by Paul, in Romans through Philemon. You find confirmation of these practical things all through the bible, but the salvation doctrine committed to Paul is different than anywhere else in scripture. So sound doctrine together with the practical instructions for the believer today is the only way to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing.

Philippians 1:10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.