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This weekend we come to an important juncture as we continue to study the letter of Ephesians. The first half of the letter helps us know who God is, who Jesus is, and what God has done for us in his unfolding master plan. We have also been encouraged to live “in Christ.” Now, as we delve into the second half of the letter, we start to explore how we actually live the Jesus way with our actions, words, thoughts, and attitudes, individually and collectively as God’s people. Join us as we step out into God’s best.

 

When my father died in 1994, he left a will and a handwritten note instructing his children and grandchildren that a few items were to go to specific people. In those notes he wrote “My desk is to go to the youngest grandson since it came to me as the youngest grandson.” Our son, Andrew, was the youngest. That is how he came into ownership of a Middle Tennessee crafted drop-front desk. That desk has been through a few moves since the mid-nineties and for the last few years has been back in our house. Andrew moved into his own place last fall and we offered to load up his desk and take it to him. Andrew lives in Seattle. That’s right, the Seattle that is in the state of Washington— like two-thirds of the continent from here.

So, Laura and I made a sixteen day vacation of it. We drove through six states and two Canadian provinces on our way to Seattle. We spent time in Glacier and Banff national parks. When we arrived in Seattle, we unloaded Andrew’s desk. There was just one spot for the desk in the six hundred square foot apartment and it fit perfectly. We enjoyed three days with our dear younger son and then headed home by a more southerly route through Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. The trip back included a number of re-connections with friends and family, the last of which was with former zpc pastor Bob Jordan and Vicky, Matt and John where they are serving brothers and sisters in Christ in Omaha. They send you their love.

During the course of our road trip, all five thousand, four hundred forty miles worth, we traveled in some areas that were well known to us and went through many areas for the first time. There were long days on the road, traffic tie ups now and then and times we were not quite sure where we were. With each mile we passed through amazing terrain from mid-west corn fields to glacier-fronted crags. We spent time with servers in hole-in-the-wall diners and had long conversations with dear friends. Every day had its touch of the highly anticipated and totally unexpected. We approached the trip as an adventure and that is exactly what it turned out to be.

Here in worship at ZPC, we have been on our own adventure since April. It is an expedition that has taken us into the presence of God, into the fullness of Christ and into a way of life that is intended to transform us by the love of God. Weekend after weekend we have opened up the book of Ephesians, learning, growing and taking to heart who God is, who Christ is and who we are in Christ. This is information that has come to us so far in our series in rich theological teaching. We have been encouraged to sit and take it all in. Many of us have found that, no matter how often we have traveled through Ephesians before, there are new important discoveries along the way.

Just last week, Glenn brought us to the end of the first half of the letter where Paul writes a prayer for his readers and points them to the love-infused power of God in verses twenty and twenty-one:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

With this amazing affirmation of God’s power in mind what do you think would be the very first thing Paul would address as he begins the last half of the letter? I would have guessed he would drive us to vision, mission, strategic plans, a course of action that would compel all sorts of glorious, heroic accomplishments for the sake of winning the world, vanquishing evil and result in wild applause and accolades from the heavenly host. What would you expect?

Turn with me in your bibles to Ephesians 4:1. As you open your bibles, let me also ask you to stand with me and give voice either from memory, reading from your bibles or reading the text as we have it on our screens. Let us speak this portion of God’s holy word together. [READ Ephesians 4:1-3.] Every time we read God’s word he intends us to gain understanding by the work of his Spirit. We pray that this would be true for every one of us today. Please be seated.

What does Paul focus on first? It is not compelling vision or a motivating mission statement. It is not a hard hitting set of exciting actions that drive us on to ultimate victory for Christ. Paul first addresses inward character. I believe Paul well understands that people can give themselves to kingdom-of-God causes like the ministry of ZPC and do the work of ministry while missing the character transformation from which real ministry springs. Some years ago, in another congregation, I kept hearing strategic-minded people say, “Pat, just tell us what to do!” “I am telling you what to do,” I replied. “Doing starts with being. Be more and more like Jesus, live the way of Jesus and he will show us what we are to do.”

Paul has that same conviction. Look at verse one. He tells us he is a prisoner. He is in chains day and night as he waits to find out whether he will live or die by verdict of the emperor. His words about being a prisoner, most accurately translated “the prisoner in the Lord” drives home his understanding that his physical imprisonment still finds him “in Christ” as does every other circumstance in which he has ever found himself. He also means that he is constantly bound to the Lord. He writes of this in other letters as being a slave to Christ. This phrase speaks to full surrender to Jesus as his rabbi, his Lord, his king and his God.

As Jesus’ prisoner he issues a remarkable succinct command. Again, look at verse one. “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” “Live the life worthy.” It would do us well to underline that in our bibles, to write that phrase and stick it on our bathroom mirrors, in our lockers, place it on our dashboards and at our desks and use it as a screen saver. If we memorize no other portion of this letter, these four words should be etched in our minds. With that command constantly before us, we would be reminded to live more and more like Jesus in every situation. We are to live the life worthy.

Do you want to live a life worthy of your calling? Let me repeat that question? Do you want to live the life worthy? So far in Ephesians, Paul has preached to us. Now he is going to start meddling. Up to now he has focused on belief, doctrine, theology and now he tells us to shape up, to change, to grow up, to have our actions, words, thoughts and attitudes increasingly line up with those of Jesus. Paul tells every one of us to get up off our duffs where we are complacent, where we make excuses and where we are less than obedient to Christ in what we do, say and think. Do you really want to live the life worthy?

Let me encourage us to stop here for a moment. We are gathered here in the presence of God to honor and glorify him. He knows us as we are. He knows where we may be living worthy of our calling and he knows where we are not. Let’s take a moment to thank God for where our lives line up well with our calling. Take time to also confess where we are not living worthy of our calling. [Allow for silent prayer and end it with, “Lord thank you for calling us to follow you. Thank you for helping us live for you. We also know we are not all we should be in Christ. We readily admit that. Forgive us. Thank you for your forgiveness. Encourage us today through Paul’s words to live worthy of our calling in new and fresh ways. Amen.”]

Paul tells us what this life worthy is in verse two. It is a way of life characterized by humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance and love. Just take a look at these five words for a few seconds each. On a scale of 1-10 with ten as perfection, what number would you honestly place next to each of these for yourself? Humility . . . gentleness . . . patience . . . forbearance . . . love. We are going to go a bit deeper with this by looking at the biblical meaning of each of these. Let me ask you to be as honestly engaged with this as possible for the next few minutes.

First: humility. Its opposite is self-centeredness. In Paul’s day this was always presented as a negative quality. Being humble was equated with abject servility, subservience like a crouching, cowering fear-filled sniveling slave. Paul uses it as a huge positive. He sees humility as a right understanding of self; an awareness that all we are and have is from God. We are nothing. God is everything. The text we read earlier in the service as a responsive reading (Philippians 2:5-13) says that Jesus exhibited humility, a right understanding of himself, when he came to earth from glory to be one of us and to die for us. He valued us and counted us worthy. Was that a position of weakness? Not at all. It was a position of great strength. Think of all the situations depicted in the bible where Jesus is involved. Don’t we always admire the way he carries himself, the way he thinks of himself and others, the way he treats others? Jesus epitomizes humility.

Second: gentleness. Its opposite is harshness. New Testament commentator Findlay defines gentleness as “the absence of the disposition to assert personal rights, either in the presence of God or [people].” A gentle person is strong and keeps that strength under control. A gentle person is master of self and servant of all. A gentle animal is one that has been tamed. That is not to be equated with weakness. A domesticated animal is still just as strong as ever. The natural strength is channeled so that the animal is as productive as possible for its purpose. We are productive in the way of Jesus when we live every moment in strength maximizing gentleness.

Bring humility and gentleness together and you have a winning combination. A humble person thinks not at all of personal merit. A gentle person thinks not at all of personal entitlement. A humble, gentle person sees self as all from Jesus, in Jesus, all for Jesus. Gospel writer Matthew, one of those who spent the most time with Jesus records his master’s words when he said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Walk in step with me and work with me, learn how to do life like me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” We are to be characterized by humility and gentleness because they reflect the way of Jesus.

Third: patience. Its opposite is impatience which springs from tyranny of our own agenda. Early church great John Chrysostom defined this characteristic as the exhibition of “a wide and big soul”. It is the exhibition of endurance in the face of aggravating people over a long period of time. In Proverbs 19:11 we read, “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.” Listen to this description of patience attributed to God in Psalm 86:15: “But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness.” God is patient with us. We are patient when we hold our agenda in check for the sake of God’s agenda in us and others affirming, “In your time God.”

Fourth: forbearance. Its opposite is intolerance. Bearing with one another is what enables two or more people to live together in peace. If we address every single thing in another person that displeases us we become far more than boorish. We demean each other when we do not practice forbearance in the non-consequential things in others. Putting up with one another in the minor things allows us to build room for growth in all things in Christ.

In the same way that humility and gentleness form a perfect pairing, patience and forbearance are also a winning combination. As all our relationships are infused with “in your time God” and mercy-filled grace we reflect the way of Jesus with all people.

Fifth, love. Its opposite is indifference. This love is not an emotion or feeling. This love is an act of the will. It is a choice and it is always costly. God loved when he watched those he created mutiny. God loved when he gave commands and watched his people disobey. God loved when he judged his people who were in rebellion. God loved when he sent his son to rescue us. “This is love,” the apostle John writes, “not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends,” he goes on, “since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (John 4:10,11) Love is of God and is of the will. Love is the foundation for and encapsulates the other four qualities. When we love we seek the welfare of every other person and the good of the whole.

Humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance and love are what make up the life worthy of our calling. God help us, when we fail to exhibit these five characteristics, for then we are unworthy of our calling. That should make us tremble because every one of us wanders down paths of self-centeredness, harshness, the tyranny of our own agendas, intolerance and indifference in some way or another. Paul urges us to turn back to the calling we have received to live the life worthy. We are to be completely humble, gentle, patient, forbearing and loving.

Maybe you are just coming to know the God of the bible who loves you and values you. Today you have been shown the way of Jesus. I hope you will, like someone starting on a long road trip, invite God to ignite the engine of your soul, pull out of your spiritual driveway and begin the adventure. Many of us in this room are already on the road. But we have grown accustomed to a life of excuses. Even as we come to a text like this one, we go to our default, “I can’t be that way.” Paul tells you, “You can.” This is where it all starts; not with activity but with character. I join Paul in saying to you and myself, “No more excuses!” We can continue our expedition with fresh commitment to invest in new ways as we live the life worthy.

I mentioned earlier that Laura’s and my road trip adventure included Banff National Park in Canada. We looked forward to seeing Lake Louise and hiking a trial there, but got there at a time of day where there was no place to park. Disappointed, we decided to hike near Moraine Lake. We arrived at the beginning of that trial which was right at a point where some stone steps started up to our right and went out of sight. Just as we were ready to start down the trail someone came down those steps and said, “If you haven’t been up there you need to go.” With no idea where those steps would take us, we trusted that testimony. Up and up we went, up dozens of steps, wondering what we would find. And this is what we found. It is Moraine Lake. We posted a picture of ourselves standing against this backdrop on Facebook. Friends wrote, “It can’t be real. It looks like a photo studio painted backdrop.” It does look that way. But it is real. I’m so glad we did not miss it. I’m glad someone told us the climb was worth it.

Paul describes the Jesus way as one of humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance and love. It is the life worthy. The effort you and I make to live this life is totally worth it. I promise you, as you join me in living the life worthy, you and I will be astounded by what God has in store, things we cannot even begin to imagine from our vantage point. Paul points there and says, “You need to go.”

Let us pray.