08-25-2019 – Walking Worthy of Your Calling?

These are the notes from the bulletin insert. There are full sermon notes on a click below.

08-25-2019 - Ephesians 4:1, Walking Worthy of Your Calling?

Read Ephesians 4:1... Paul urges Christians to live their lives as sons and daughters of God, by faith.
God’s children confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (cf John 1:12-13; Romans 10:9-10, 13).
In Ephesians 3:16-19 Paul prayed for us to be strengthened in our inner being by the Holy Spirit, so that our belief system and our behavior will begin to change.
Paul urges us (Ephesians 4:1) to live like we really are children of God, and that God’s Spirit is living in us (cf Romans 3:23; 6:23; Acts 2:38).
Jesus is (John 14:6) the Way to God, the Life from God, and the Truth about, God.
In order to mature as Christians, we must know and do what pleases God (Matthew 22:37-40; James 2:8; Romans 12:1-2; 2Timothy 3:16-17). Paul tells us to not conform to the ways of the world.
Peter tells us (1Peter 1:14-16) we should seek to be holy, as God is holy.
The only way to be holy is to accept God’s payment for sin, (see 1John 1:5-10; 1Peter 2:9); and to find out what pleases God and do it (see vHebrews 12:14; 2Timothy 1:8-10).
Ephesians 4:1 is an appeal for believers to walk worthy of the high calling we have received in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:6 says, “God raised us up... and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,” we are (v. 10) to “do good works” here on earth.
We have all we need (see Philippians 4:12-13).
Paul considers himself (Ephesians 4:1) “a prisoner for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Whether Paul was in jail or free, he appraised everything in relationship to Christ.
Paul was a willful prisoner and slave of Christ.
What keeps you in check, living in a manner that is pleasing to God?
Paul exhorts us, as God’s children, to obey Him.
Many Christians act as if they would rather not know what is expected of them in serving Christ with their life.
Romans 11:29 says “God's gifts and His call are irrevocable” [i.e., unchangeable, unalterable, i.e., permanent, terminal, eternal].
As Christians, our calling is secure, eternal, and is from God. If you belong to God the Father through God the Son, being kept by God the Holy Spirit, I urge you to- live as His witnesses [as God’s slaves], proclaiming the message of salvation by grace, through faith, in Christ, to everyone who will listen.
1Corinthians 1:18-21, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”
1Corinthians 1:26-31, “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’ ”