The Lowly Walk, Part 4

Ephesians 4:2

Take your Bible, if you will, and let's look at Ephesians chapter 4. We're studying the book of Ephesians together and we're really kind of taking our time as we embark upon the fourth chapter.

Let me read you the first three verses again as the setting for what we'll say this morning. Ephesians 4, beginning at verse 1:

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation to which you're called with all lowliness and meekness, with long‑suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Now, as I've been saying to you, we are examining what it means to walk worthy. That is the heart of this entire second section of Ephesians. As we went verse by verse through the first part, the foundation was laid. As we go verse by verse through the second part, we find the practical injunctions based on that foundation. And it all begins here in these first three verses; the worthy walk. And Paul is calling on us to walk worthy of the vocation to which we are called. If God indeed has called us, we are to walk worthy of such a calling.

Let's share together in a word of prayer as we begin our study this morning.

Father, as we come to the Word of God it is with a sense of sacredness that we do so. It is with a sense of awe that we hold in our hands the very revelation of Your own self. We feel as if we should remove our shoes for we stand on holy ground. Father, speak to us through the simplicity of the thought that You would bring to our minds this morning. Make it so we can understand it. Use the Spirit of God's power to penetrate and convict us to change things that need to be changed. To reinforce things that need to be reinforced so that we might live to Your glory and Your praise and walk worthy of that to which You have called us, for Christ's sake. Amen.

Martin Lloyd Jones, the great English expositor and pastor, said, I quote; "I do not think it is a harsh judgment to say that the most obvious feature of the life of the Christian church today is, alas, its superficiality." He said further; "The one main cause is our attitude to the Bible, our failure to take it seriously, our failure to take it as it is and allow it to speak to us." end quote And I would add, our failure to obey it. I think Jones is right.

It is true that the basic characteristic of the church today is its superficiality. I think it's changing from what it was ten years ago, which was even more superficial. But I think there is a mass of Christianity that doesn't know the meaning of real commitment. There is a tremendous amount of half‑commitment, of superficiality, of indifference, of complacency, of an indolent attitude that keeps people from : one, understanding the Bible; two, making application of it; and three, obeying it. And yet this is the heart of everything. What a tremendous sin it is for those who name the name of Jesus Christ to be indifferent about the principles of the Christian faith and yet that's very true. Many, many Christians are half‑committed, or less. Superficial, complacent and indifferent.

To study the Bible, for example, without letting it say what it really means is a serious sin. Peter speaks of that in II Peter chapter S and verse i8. And he's talking about Paul's epistles and he says this; "As also in all Paul's epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood,"

watch, "Which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest," w‑r‑e‑ s‑t.

"as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction."

Now the word wrest is the word you key on in this verse. The Greek word means to torture or to put on the rack. Now when somebody tortures somebody they have a goal in mind. The tormentor takes the victim, puts them on the rack, stretches his limbs to get the person to say what he wants him to say. Right? That's exactly what Peter is saying. There are some people who take the scripture and put it on the rack and twist it out of shape to make it say what they want it to say. That's a serious sin, to twist the Scripture, to not let it say what it really means. And that goes on in Christianity all the time. Twisting the Scripture to somebody's bias, twisting the Scripture because you are unlearned and don't have the tools to do it right, twisting the Scripture because you're unstable and you do not have a solid commitment to a theological principle of truth, twisting the Scripture because you know no better because you're not taught. There are many people who have taken the scriptures and forced them into meanings that are improper and, of course, under the umbrella of Christianity you have the cults and isms and chisms and spasms and everything else all doing this. There are people, then, who torture the Scripture on the rack to force it to say what they want it to say, to make it accommodate their own bias or justify their own behavior.

It is also a sin to study the Bible and even let it say what it means but then use it for your own ill‑conceived end. In II Cor.

chapter 2 and verse lT Paul says; "We are not as those who corrupt the Word of God." He uses the word kapeelos which means a huckster or a con‑man or a charlatan, or a phony or a fraud who takes something and pawns it off for his own ends. There are people who take the Word of God, even though it is rightly interpreted, they may even proclaim it but they use it as a way to get their own ends met.

There are people who, believe it or not, are getting fat rich off the Word of God.

So there is that area of sin where you study the Bible and don't let it say what it really means and then there is that area where you let it say what it means but you use it to gain personal ends.

Thirdly, it is also possible to study the Bible, let it say what it means, even make the right application and then refuse to obey it.

And that's the worst of all. James 1, or James 4 rather, verse 17 says:

"To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is," what?

"Sin." There is the sin, then, of twisting Scripture. There is the sin, then, of taking Scripture and using it for your own ends. And there is the sin, then, of not even obeying it. We cannot do that with the Scripture. We cannot torture the Scripture to make it say what we want it to say to fit our own thing. We cannot use it in a corrupt manner, not really sincerely trying to glorify God but to gain our own ends. And we dare not ignore it and not obey. Beloved, I submit to you that we must not be the half‑committed, we must not be the superficial, we must not be the indifferent, the unconcerned who do less then let it say what it means. Let it be applied to what it must be applied to and obey it with all our hearts. Only that is to walk worthy, nothing less.

And Paul says here that we are to walk worthy of the vocation to which we are called...it means we take the word of God at its face value and we allow it to say what it means. to be applied where it must and to respond in obedience.

Now as we come to this section of Ephesians 4, Paul is hitting on that bottom line. This is where commitment begins. If we're going to do that with the Word of God this is where we start. Now you're going to either take these verses for what they say or you're not. You're either going to apply them where they need to be applied or you're not. You're either going to obey them or you're not. And it's a question of the level of your commitment. Paul is at the bottom line right here. He's saying this is where it all begins.

If you're to walk worthy what do you do? You say ‑ Well, I think the first thing you ought to do is join the church. That isn't what Paul says. Well, I think the first thing you ought to do is read your Bible one hour a day. That isn't what Paul says. No, he's talking about something completely different than external things.

Well, the first thing you ought to do is...is witness. No, that isn't what Paul says. Well, the first thing you ought to do is make sure you say your prayers everyday, if you're really going to live the life ‑ walk the worthy walk. That isn't what he says.

Look what he says, "All lowliness, meekness, long‑suffering.

forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Listen, he's talking about the cultivation of basic attitudes. The worthy walk is predicated on the right attitudes. And Paul here is talking about you cultivating the right attitudes in the heart. If we are the children of God, if we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, if we were chosen before the world began, if we have been redeemed, forgiven, made wise, given an eternal inheritance, been placed in the body of Christ, made alive from the dead, raised to sit in the heavenlies, if we have been granted an inheritance and given the earnest of the Spirit, if we have been designed by God unto good works, if we've been made fellow citizens with all the saints, if we are the habitation of the Spirit, if we are partakers in the promise of Christ, if we're all these things then we ought to live like it. And living like it means we start with the five characteristics of the worthy walk in verses 2 and S.

Now we've already seen the call to the worthy walk in verse 1.

We went through that verse by vers...word by word, really in that verse. And now we're into the second verse and we're looking at the characteristics of the worthy walk and there are five of them in verses 2 and 8. Five characteristics, I think that you know that if you've been with us for a couple of weeks. The first one, the first thing that characterizes a Christian who is committed, the first thing that characterizes a Christian who is not superficial, somebody who is really there, really dealing with it as it ought to be dealt with, somebody whose letting the Word of God say what it means and mean what it says and who is obeying is characterized by ‑ number one, verse 2, all lowliness. And we talked about it, didn't we? All that exaltation, we're so high and heavenly and holy and exalted and lifted up and made to sit in the heavenlies and one in Christ, the incredible position of the believer, and all of a sudden we descend right to the very bottom with the first characteristic. We who are so exalted must live so low. All lowliness. And I told you last time the two words mean total‑‑total humility, total humility.

Five keys to a worthy walk. Five necessary keys, and they're progressive. You go from humility to meekness and then meekness produces long‑suffering. And then long‑suffering produces a forbearing love and where there is forbearing love there is the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. There is a beautiful logical progression.

Now we're still at point one ‑ all lowliness. And you know something? I planned to go through the second one, the third one, the fourth one and the fifth one this morning and I didn't get off the first one again. And I wound up preaching the message I didn't prepare but saying what was in my heart to say.

Let's go back to the concept of humility and look at that word.

All lowliness. Beloved, it is so hard, isn't it? To be humble?

It's so hard. It's just something you fight through day after day after day. But you know what I've noticed in my Christian life?

Uhm...I'm not humble enough but I'm humble more often than I used to be, but nearly enough. But I've seen as my live has grown, I've seen that I've learned to gain the victory of pride. Not all the time but more times than I used to be able to. And I guess it's because I've begun to concentrate in that area. One of the prayers of my heart constantly is ‑ God, teach me true humility, teach me true humility.

Somebody says to me ‑ Doesn't all that stuff going on at Grace Church go to your head? Don't you get to thinking ‑ Boy, you're really something? Oh, I've had that thought. Then my wife says to me ‑ You never take out the garbage. And I realize that I'm not so hot. You know, all you have to do is examine the reality about yourself and you're not kidding anybody. All loneliness...what...lowliness, what does it mean? Let me show you something. When Jesus our Lord came into the world He had a message to give. His first message was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Come on in the kingdom. Get converted. And as soon as He had gathered about Him, a little band of believers, as soon as He had some children of the King, as soon as He had some subjects of the kingdom He knew He had to tell them the basics of how to live. You know what the first thing He told them was? Look at Matthew chapter 5 and let's find out the bottom line in living like a King's child. The bottom line on being in His kingdom.

Matthew 5 verse 1; "And seeing the multitudes He went up into a mountain and when He was seated His disciples came unto Him and He opened His mouth and taught them saying," now He's got them there and He's going to teach them. What's He going to teach them? They're the...they're the ones who have entered the kingdom. They're the ones who've become fellow‑heirs. They're the ones who are part of what He is doing in the world. They're the children of the King of Kings.

What's He going to say? What is the basic principle? What is the basic stance that they must have? Well notice in verse S; "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you."

Listen, beloved, did you ever see such a pitiful bunch in your life? As that bunch? Blessed are the poor in spirit. And, by the way, Luke says ‑ "Blessed are the poor ‑ period." Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they who know they don't have anything so they hunger after and thirst after righteousness.

Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers, not the ones who stand up for their rights but the ones who are concerned that everybody get a fair share. Blessed are they who are persecuted and reviled and accused. Boy, that is a pitiful bunch. But those are the humble, you see? And that's where it all begins. Boy, I'm telling you, people, we live in the day when it's all fouled up. We're so busy in the Christian world exalting people and making superstars out of them and patting them on the back and handing them awards and degrees and notoriety and fame and making something out of them that we have got the whole thing completely reversed. These are the people, Jesus said. these are the people that belong in My kingdom. These are the children of the King.

And there we are at Ephesians 4 with the same thing, who is it that walks worthy? It's the lowly and the meek and those who suffer long and those who endure with love. Those are the ones. It isn't the great and the famous and the loud and the boisterous and the prominent and the talented and the rich and the super‑ duper ones. And yet in Christianity there is so much of that going on. This is the child of the King.

Peter put it this way in I Peter 5:5, and you see, he was writing there to people who are in the pastorate, to those who would be the shepherds, to those who would stand out, those who would be the leaders of the flock, those who would get the recognition and get the honor and the love and the attention and the affection and he says to them this; "Be clothed with humility for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." Keep your perspective, he said. Be clothed with humility. He used a Greek word that was used to speak of the overgarment or the apron that a worker put on to keep that which he wore from getting soiled. And when you take all of your graces and all of that which is true about you you deck it all over in humility, Peter says.

But it's an illusive thing, isn't it? We suggested to you last time there are three...three keys to humility; one is self awareness, seeing yourself for who you really are, a sinner and nothing more and worthy of nothing other than judgment. Honesty dealing with your own sin. Honesty dealing with your own weakness. Honesty dealing with your own stupidity, dealing with your own inadequacies. "We are not sufficient, II Cor. S:5 says Paul, to think anything of ourselves, our sufficiency is of God." An honest self awareness.

Secondly we said Christ awareness. Listen, if you follow II Cor.

3 again through to the lSth verse he says; "You'd better gaze on the glory of the Lord." And as you focus on the majesty of Jesus Christ you get a true picture of yourself in relation to Him.

Finally, God awareness and we read it, didn't we, in Psalm S; "When I consider Thy works, the moon and the stars which Thou hast made, what is man that Thou art mindful of Him." When I am really honest to see myself in my sinfulness, in my inadequacy, when I really see the majesty of Jesus Christ as I gaze at His glory, when I know what God is like I come out humble. Those are the perspectives that drive the heart to humility. You're not going to get humble by sitting in a corner wishing you were. You'll gain humility by sitting in that same corner and reciting before God your sins and your failures and your inadequacies. And you'll gain humility by opening the pages of the Word of God and seeing Jesus Christ and God and all His majesty.

And, by the way, God may shove you along a little bit if you're not doing too well. God has some things He uses to help us get humble. II Cor. chapter i2 Paul said that he had so many visions and so many revelations that the Lord had to give him a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. The Lord may give you that. The Lord may put something in your life that just constantly bugs you.

It's just a hurdle you just never get over. It's just a reality you constantly face that makes you see yourself for who you really are.

It's somebody you can't handle or you can't conquer, it's a problem you can't solve, it's something about you that you just can't seem to get over and it's there just to keep you in the place where you understand who you really are. Humility, total humility is the bottom line in the worthy walk.

Now let me talk about it for a minute and this is where I just digressed this morning and never got any further. I was trying to look at my own heart and say ‑ John, what is it that tempts you in areas of pride? What are the areas that you see people being tempted?

I just want to be practical. This is kind of a word study on the concept of lowliness. Where does...where do we fight to really be humble? Where does Satan really hit us? And I just listed some things, let me share them with you, they're just practical. Where are we tempted to be proud? First of all, I would have to say there's a sense in which we are constantly being tempted to be proud about what we do, ability pride, let's call it. Let's call it and I just thought of that one, I didn't have that on my list. This is going to turn out to be a good sermon when I get done with it. Ability pride...you know, you're always tempted at the point of your strength, you know, to get pushed over into pride...always. I'm...I've never been tempted to be proud about my fantastic mathematical ability. I can't do it.

I...ah, I don't want to tell you what I got in algebra but it wasn't good. I can't handle that kind of stuff. I am not tempted in that.

I have never been tempted to boast about my tremendous musical expertise. The best I can do is sing the melody line. But you know something, you know where I get tempted? I...I can preach because God has given me a gift. And so Satan says to me ‑ Boy, you know, you're really a great preacher. And I say ‑ Yeah, that's probably true. I mean they all come there and listen...see. That's how I get it, that's what I get. And then I go in my office on Monday and there's a letter....I was in your church Sunday and I want you to know I violently disagree with everything you said. I brought my neighbor so‑and‑so and you offended her...I'm never coming back again. Well, Lord, thanks for helping me keep the perspective.

Or else somebody will come up, this is funny, somebody said to me once ‑ We came here once to hear you but we like our pastor better.

I love that, see? That's great. Right there. Thank You. Lord. If I probably went to hear him, I'd like him better too, you know?

We're tempted to exalt ourselves in our own abilities. Let me give you an illustration of that, just thought of one. I Cor. 2, you know Paul was a well‑educated man. He had so much going for him. Man, he'd been....he studied at the feet of Gamaliel, he was trained in the Rabbinic traditions, he knew the Old Testament. I mean, he had so much that he could really rely on. He could have...and philosophical, he had a mind, a philosophical mind like a steel trap. He could go right to the moment and capture the prey. Tremendous...Look what he says, I love this, I Cor. 2; "And I, brethren, when I came to you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God for I determine not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Oh, I like that. He says ‑ I didn't lay any of that philosophical stuff on you, I didn't come with any of that logical wisdom from the human realm. And you know something else about Paul? He not only didn't use that but you know he had a lot of personal pazazz. The guy was a dynamo, we know that cause before he was a preacher he was a Christian killer. I mean, the guy was an intense, fiery guy and he had tremendous courage. I mean, you've got to have a lot of courage to be chasing around capturing the Christians. I mean, you've got to have a lot of boldness. He was sort of like a spiritual bounty hunter. I mean, this guy was a tough customer. Well, he could of...he could have come through his ministry like a bulldog but I love it, what it says in verse S; "I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling."

You know, and then he could have preached all this philosophy of these big long words and he could have come on so grandiose, but no, in verse 4; "And my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." Here was a dear man who avoided the temptation to have his strengths turned into sins. See? To get pushed over the edge with his power of personality or with his ability to communicate or with his logic and his knowledge of philosophy, he backed off. And later on, you know, as I mentioned earlier, in II Cor. chapter i2 he says to these same people, he says ‑ Ah, Oh, I really rejoice in my infirmities because when I am weak then I am...what? Strong. You know, we're all tempted like that. We're tempted where we have some strength to abuse it. We're tempted where we have some ability to want to flaunt it, to want to make a big thing out of it. You know, if we could...if we could do something well we want everybody to know we do it well. We want to, sort of, parade that thing. That's a....that's an area of temptation. Let's call it ability pride. It's kind of hard to stay humble about that. I guess the key is to remember that whatever you do you do it because God gave you the ability to start with. Right? Any gift, any talent useful to God is a gift of the Holy Spirit who divideth to every man severally as He will. There's nothing to be proud about. It's all a gift of God.

Let's go to another area. Economic pride. You know, especially in our society, I couldn't preach this message in some places in the world, places where I've been. I couldn't talk about economic pride, they wouldn't even know what I was talking about. I...I've stood in some places of the world on a mud floor with mud walls and a mud roof with sticks and this wouldn't even relate. But in America this is a problem, economic pride. This is the boasting and the bragging and the parading and the throwing around of our riches, displaying them, trusting in them, exalting ourselves and our accomplishment by parading what we've gained. That's pride.

This is the pride that says ‑ Look what I have! I must be somebody to have what it takes to have this. See? Now we all get in that game.

Let's look at Deuteronomy chapter S for a minute and see an illustration of this. Deuteronomy S verse 11, very vivid one; "Beware," Moses talking to the people of Israel' "Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I command thee this day." Now watch, "Lest when thou hast eaten are art full and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold are multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied then thine heart be lifted up." Now stop there for a minute. Moses says you're going to go in...you're going to inherit all these wonderful things in the promised land, God's going to give you so much, you're going to have goodly houses, you're going to have herds and flocks and silver and gold and you know what's going to be the tendency? You're going to forget where you got it. See? And you're going to think you did it with your ability. You're going to think you're the self‑made man. See? You did it. And your heart will be lifted up...and the next line...and you will forget the Lord your God who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage who led thee through thy great and ter