Open—Jim Hyland
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Like to go back to the book of Ephesians for a moment, to the 4th chapter.
Ephesians chapter 4 and verse one.
I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation, wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
In taking up the 5th chapter this morning, it was stressed as to how practical Christianity really is. And we need the doctrines and the principles of Christianity laid out for us because that's the foundation of everything. We really can't know how to walk for the Lord's glory unless we have those foundation truths brought before us. But sound principles should lead to sound behavior.
And so there's a very practical side of Christianity, and it was mentioned in the Reading meeting this morning.
That in the book of Ephesians we have a number of exhortations in connection with our walk. I'll just say in passing that there are seven times in the book of Ephesians that our walk in one way or another is brought before us and it's a very edifying and helpful meditation. I would encourage you to do that. We're just going to look very briefly at this one and then we're going to go to some other scriptures that bring before us this little expression that I know we've often taken up before.
But this little expression to walk worthy, I'm not going to make a lot of comments on each of these portions. We're going to read them.
We'll make a few comments and I will leave them for your further meditation. Because I suggest that ministry in a setting like this is really to give an outline and to whet our appetites. That we would be like the Berean Brethren. And we would go home and search the scriptures daily to see if these things are so. And if meetings like this have that practical effect on our lives, then they'll be true blessing following for each of us.
We're going to notice that this little expression as to an exhortation appears four times in the New Testament. And again it was brought out this morning, but will repeat it, that in each of the writings of the apostles, when they bring out certain principles and truth, then the exhortations are in keeping with the truth that has been expounded. Because the only happy thing in our Christian lives is to act.
On what we have heard or what we have read from the the word of God.
And so the apostles they set forth, usually in the beginning of the epistle, they set forth certain principles and doctrines, and then there are exhortations to walk in keeping with that. And we're going to notice this as we briefly touch on these four portions, that it is always in connection with the character and the ministry of the book. And in the book of Ephesians, as we well know, we have our heavenly calling or vocation brought before us.
Vocation is just another word for calling. We understand this in natural things, don't we? A young person may not have such an aptitude for study or academics, and so they may opt for a vocational school and at that school they learn plumbing or carpentry, electricity, whatever may be. It may be because they feel they have a certain bent to their nature, God-given ability, and they follow that calling.
And Our Calling as believers is a heavenly calling because Ephesians attaches us to Christ where he is now. In fact, that's what Christianity really is. Christianity is Christ. I remember one time being at a Bible conference like this and someone raised the question in a meeting, what is Christianity? And someone said, well, Christianity can be summed up in one word, Christ, but that needs explanation.
Because Paul said henceforth know we know man after the flesh, though we knew Christ after the flesh, henceforth know we him no more. In other words, it is Christ, but it's Christ, not the way the disciples knew him when he walked here in this world. They knew him as a man walking here, the apostle John said Our eyes have seen and our hands have handled of the word of life. It's not in the way that Israel is going to know him in a future day when he comes back and there's a shout of a king amongst them and there's rejoicing and blessing.
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For Israel and ultimately for this whole world know we know Christ, and we are connected and associated with Christ where he is now. Christianity detaches us from this world in every sense and aspect other than the fact that we are still physically in it. And so, as we have earlier in this epistle, we're seated together in heavenly places in Christ. Positionally, we're already seen as there, and so having taken this up in the previous three chapters.
The Apostle Paul as the prisoner of the Lord. And notice he doesn't say he was the prisoner of the Romans or the prisoner of Nero. No, he was the prisoner of the Lord. He took his circumstances absolutely from the Lord and how good that is for us because if we consider second causes, then we're going to be discouraged and it's going to cause failure in our lives. There are second causes in our lives, but the first cause is always the Lord.
And as the prisoner of the Lord, he beseeches them to walk worthy of what they had been called to. And brethren, I need this exhortation for myself. What I'm saying this afternoon is not pointing the finger at anyone, and I've been impressed in recent circumstances in my own life to realize how short life really is. We are only called to walk for God's glory in this world for a very brief time.
You blink and it's gone. I know that's a hard concept for some of you children and young people, sometimes it just seems like life drags and you'll never get to another stage in life. You want to get that license. You want to be of age and all those things, those landmarks in our lives.
But for some of us, we look back and it's gone. And for some of us too, as we feel the weight of years a little bit and circumstances in our lives, we realize we only have a short time to walk for God's glory, to serve the Lord Jesus, and to glorify him here in our pathway through this wicked world. And so we're to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. We're not going to comment on the statements that are that follow, that are all part of the same sentence.
But I just say this, that we then are told in the next verse the spirit and attitude with which we are to walk through this world.
There is an attitude that is in keeping with one who has had who is given a heavenly calling.
And is to walk worthy of it, lowliness and meekness and long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. Do we really seek in our interactions with one another to have that spirit and attitude? It's really the Spirit of Christ, isn't it? The one who was meek and lowly in heart. The one who said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. The one who humbled himself as he walked through this world and took upon him the form of a servant.
And when we do that, what is going to be the result? Well, he says here, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. If you're walking worthy of your vocation, if you're walking according to truth, if you have that spirit and attitude that was exhibited in the man Christ Jesus, what's going to be the result, brethren, We are going to be found endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. We're going to be found going on in happy fellowship with one another.
Because God has not just an individual path for us, but a collective path for us as we walk through this this world. And I believe that collective path is preserved to us until the very end, when Timothy was told continue thou that was individual. And like Second Timothy the the last days are characterized by individual faithfulness to the Lord. But he was also told in that epistle.
To go on with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And I say, if you walk with the proper spirit and attitude in obedience to the word of God walking, worthy of your vocation, you will find there are others who have the same desire. And you will find yourself in fellowship with them. Because God's desire for us is that we would go on together until the Lord comes and we're all together finally in the Father's house. But now let's go to the book of Colossians.
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For another similar exhortation, but in a different context.
Colossians Chapter One.
And I'll begin reading verse 9.
For this 'cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and desire that you might be filled with all null, all the with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you would walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering.
With joyfulness, well, here we have a similar exhortation. But notice here it's not to walk worthy of our vocation, it's to walk worthy of the Lord. Before we put this in its proper context, it might be helpful to say that if we had backed up a couple of verses, we find that Paul the apostle Paul who writes this to the Saints at Colossi, he had heard from Epifras a good report of the Brethren.
Isn't that commendable if someone came to visit your assembly and then they were going to?
Speak of the assembly in general in another to someone else. Would they be able to give this kind of report? Epiphras had told Paul that there was blessing in Colossi and the Saints were going on well, and Paul immediately says that from that day on they'd not cease to pray for them. You say, did the Saints at Colossi really need prayer? It's very remarkable as you go through Paul's epistles.
That we find that the more faithfulness there was in there in an epistle, the more Paul speaks of praying for that assembly. Now we need to pray for one another when there are troubles and difficulties, when there are assemblies who perhaps are going on poorly, or individuals who are taking up things in their lives that are a detriment to them in following the Lord. They certainly need our prayers. But I believe, brethren, it is good to pray for one another as a preventative measure.
Perhaps if we were more faithful in praying for our brethren when they were going on well, we wouldn't need to pray for them when things went wrong. Paul, I believe, recognized the power of prayer as a preventative measure. He also recognized that the more faithfulness there was in an assembly and the more desire there was to go on in the truth, the more the enemy was going to be right there to trip up and discourage.
Because whether it's collectively as families or individually, the more faithfulness there is, the more the enemy hates that. He hates everything that glorifies God and brings glory to the person of Christ. He hates everything that brings blessing to the Saints of God. And I say in the measure in which we're faithful, the enemy is going to be right there. This is a little aside, but I was touched by what a sister's asked me one time.
We were at a prayer meeting at an assembly many miles from here, and there were many prayers went up for different brethren, some who weren't at the meetings, some who drifted away and weren't coming on a regular basis or at all. And after the prayer meeting, this sister who I knew very well, she said to me, Jim, why is it that a prayer meeting, they pray only for those who are not out or those who have real problems? What about the brothers and sisters who?
Go on faithfully in the assembly. What about those who are seek to attend all the assembly meetings? Don't they need prayer as well? You know, that was a good word to my own soul. And so we need to seek to pray for one another. Epiphras, if we were to read later on, he sought to do that. He labored in prayer for his brother not only in Colossi, but nearby the nearby assemblies of Heropolis and Laodicea.
And now we find that part of Paul's prayer for them is that they would walk worthy of the Lord.
Why is it walking worthy of the Lord here? Because that's the subject of the Book of Colossians.
In Colossians we sometimes say that they weren't holding the head, that is, they weren't owning the Lord Jesus as their head in heaven and looking to him for direction. It was mentioned, I think in passing that in the book of Ephesians we have what the churches to Christ. But any Colossians, it's what Christ is to the church. He's the head of the body.
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And as the head of the body, we need to look to him for direction in every matter.
We need to look to him for direction in the assembly. When there's a difficulty faces the people of God collectively, what are we to do? Take a vote? No, the Assembly is not a democracy. It's not where the majority rules. What we do is we look to the head for direction.
One time we were ministering on this and someone raised the question well. In the first chapter of Acts. They took a they cast lots when it was a question of choosing a replacement apostle for Judas, and the lot fell to Matthias. God honored their the lot, and so on. Why can't we cast lots? Why can't we do the something similar or take a vote when problems arise in the assembly and we have a brother's meeting?
But it was quickly pointed out that while God honored that because the Old Testament tells us the lot is cast in the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord, and God honored that. But once the Spirit of God came in the second chapter of Acts, and they became connected as the members of the body of Christ to their glorified head in heaven, they never cast lots again. When problems arose in the early assembly, what did they do? They looked to the Lord for direction, and they took their direction from the Lord.
In the power of the of the Spirit. And so we need to own collectively the Lordship of the Lordship and authority of Christ. As families we need to do that too, and we certainly need to do it individually. When I was growing up, we used to often sing that hymn Lord of my life, I crown thee now thine shall the glory be. And in a very practical way I just want to apply this Do we really seek to walk worthy of the Lord?
To realize that he is, he should have that place as Lord in our lives. He's our savior and we're thankful for it. But he wants that place of Lordship in our lives. And you say, but Jim, you don't know how difficult it is in the world in which we find ourselves. Well, perhaps I don't.
I really don't understand what you young people face today. You know, when I was going to school, there was some line between right and wrong.
There was some demarcation between right and wrong when my girls were going to school. The line was blurred and now I realized the line is completely gone. As we said this morning, we live in an amoral society. And you say is it really possible to own Christ as as Lord and to walk for His glory? Well, He goes on to speak here of the the strength that He gives and all the resources that we that we have.
And we can still bear fruit in this day and age for God's glory. In fact, brethren, if the day ever gets so dark that we can't live for God's glory, that we can't own the lordship of Christ in every sphere of our lives, then the Lord will take us out. But as long as we're left here, as he said in the previous verse, there's the knowledge, there's the wisdom, there's the understanding to go on, even in days like this.
I think we mentioned in passing this morning Daniel and his three friends. And when they were faithful and you know, they didn't know how the story was going to end, It was great faith. We read the story with confidence because we know how it ended, but they didn't know how the story was going to unfold. But they were faithful to their God and as a result they were given these three things, knowledge, wisdom and understanding. As most of you know, I never was a math student, but I have appreciated this little.
This this little equation.
K + W = U yes, as we've said we need knowledge and.
Peter's last desire for the Saints was that they would grow in grace and the knowledge we need that.
But then there's there's wisdom. Because wisdom is the ability to take that knowledge and apply it to the situations of life. And when we do that, then there's going to be understanding. I think it was the men of Issachar who had understanding of the times, how to go in and how to, how to go in and go and go out, go out and come in. And so he provides everything. Well, are we seeking by the grace of God? And it's only by the grace of God, brethren, to walk worthy.
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Of the Lord. Now let's go to the book of First Thessalonians, chapter 2.
I Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 12.
That ye would walk worthy of God who hath called you.
Unto his Kingdom and glory well here we have an exhortation to walk worthy.
Not worthy of our vocation, not walk worthy of the Lord, but to walk worthy of God. If we were to back up to the first chapter, we would find that these Thessalonians had recently been converted from heathendom, from idol worship, it says. They had turned to notice this God. They turned to God from idols, to worship the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven. There were many things that these Thessalonian believers didn't yet know.
About Christianity, they were fresh converts. There wasn't really any point of telling them to walk worthy of their vocation that hadn't been unfolded to them yet. Perhaps they weren't even clear as to the Lordship of Christ in their in their lives. But one thing they knew, they were now brought into relationship with the true and living God in contrast to the dumb idols that they had previously worshipped.
And so the Apostle Paul. In writing to them, he tells them to walk worthy of God. But as we said this morning, I suggest this is a good exhortation for all of us, whether we've been saved a short time or whether we've been saved for many years, to never forget the source of all our blessing as we had before us this morning, when Paul wrote to Ephesus, he wrote that wonderful truth of their heavenly calling.
But he does remind them that God was the source of everything, and we never want to forget that. To walk worthy of the One who has called us, the one who has provided everything that's needed, provided His Son. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. It was God that sent the Son into this world. It was God that had that plan from a past eternity. And it's God that has reached out to us in all our need, brought us to the Savior.
Opened our eyes to see beauty in Christ and blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Him. But maybe I can just say this too, before we pass on. Maybe there's someone here and you're a little bit discouraged because you say I've only been saved a short time. And there's lots of things I don't understand about how I should follow the Lord. Lots of things I don't understand about my heavenly calling and those things that the brothers talk about in the meetings and so on.
Oh, don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged. Those things will come if you seek to to walk worthy of God. Those things will come line upon line, precept upon precept. Hear a little there, a little. It comes. It doesn't come all at once. It comes gradually as we go on and grow in the things of God. And so don't be discouraged. It's a little bit like the blind man in John Nine. He came to the Lord.
And the Lord healed him. And when they came, and they asked him all kinds of questions about who'd healed him in exasperation, finally he said, I can't answer your questions, but one thing I know, he knew one thing. He'd been blind. And now he saw he wasn't going to let the one thing he knew discourage him. And all the things he didn't know he wasn't going to let keep him from enjoying that one thing he knew. And so maybe you're like these Thessalonians. You haven't been saved very long.
Maybe you haven't been going on for the for the Lord very long, but to walk worthy of God, you know that God has called you, you know he's provided that wonderful blessing through his son and walk worthy of him, and things will open up to you as you go on in the path. Now there's one more exhortation. It's in the book of Philippians.
Philippians chapter one.
Verse 27.
Only let your conversation be be as it becometh the gospel. I'm going to read this in Mr. Darby's translation only conduct yourselves worthy of the glad tidings of Christ. Here they're told to walk worthy of the glad tidings of Christ. Or another word, the gospel. You know in Philippi. If you read this epistle very carefully, there was a great testimony and zeal in the gospel.
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There was great joy as a result too, because I believe when we're exercised individually and collectively in regard to the gospel, there's a great joy that comes in working together and in that outlet that is needed in our Christian life. You know, water running into a pool and never running out makes the pool stagnant. And I find as I visit my brethren in various parts of this continent and in various parts of the world.
That those who are really exercised in the gospel, there's a freshness in their souls and in their ministry because there's that outlet that we need and so we need to be exercised as to the gospel work in our lives collectively as families and individually as well. But there's a conduct that's in keeping with that. With our testimony later on, Paul said to them that he 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 holding forth the word of life. One is the life we live and the 2nd is the words we speak and the life we live needs to commend the the gospel. But it's very significant that this exhortation was needed here in Philippi, because later on we find that there was some contention coming in amongst 2 Sisters.
Now it happened to be two sisters in Philippi, but it could have just as well been two brothers or a brother and a sister. Because I believe that the enemy is ultra successful in hindering the work of the gospel by bringing in contention and discord amongst the people of God, I suggest there's nothing stifles the gospel work like that, that like contention amongst the people of God. And Paul saw this and he later on very carefully and delicately takes up this matter.
He didn't want something to come into the assembly in Philippi that would hinder.
The freshness and joy that was there because of their testimony to not only those in Philippi, but it seems like it had spread to other places as well. And so let's take heed to this little exhortation that we conduct ourselves worthy of the glad tidings of Christ. We're here in this world to tell forth the glad tidings like those lepers in the Old Testament. This is a day of glad tidings, and we hold our peace.
Brethren, are we holding our peace? This is a day of good tidings. We have good things to tell. But I say again, our life needs to correspond with what we say and and and our work. So again, as young people we used to sing that hymn. Your life speaks, Your walk speaks so loud that the world can't hear what you say. Isn't it a sad thing when a believer or a group of believers gets into a such a state of soul that they, when they seek to preach the gospel?
They seek to propagate the the glad tidings. It's spoiled. There's reproach because their conduct, either individually or collectively, doesn't commend the glad tidings. They're not walking worthy of the gospel.
I want to, in closing, turn to one more portion and this portion is not going to be an exhortation.
But I trust it will encourage and thrill our hearts in relationship to the subject we've just considered. Let's go to Revelation.
Revelation Chapter 3, I believe it is.
Yes, Revelation chapter 3. This is in connection to with the John's letter to the brethren at Sardis and Justice. Notice what he says in verse 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and I want you to notice this.
And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. What an encouragement, brethren, does this. Thrill our souls. There's a day coming when we're going to walk with the Lord Jesus in a sphere of things where we're no longer going to need the exhortations to walk worthy. We're not going to need to be told in that day to walk worthy of our vocation. We're not going to be need to be exhorted to walk worthy of the Lord. We're not going to be told to walk worthy of God or to conduct ourselves worthy of the gospel. No, we're not going to need those exhortations anymore.
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And we're going to walk with the Lord Jesus, and we're going to walk because we are worthy.
Why are we going to be worthy? Because of his worthiness, Because of what he has provided. But it thrills my soul to think that there's a day coming, and I'm going to stand with the Lord Jesus, and in his righteousness I am going to walk beyond the defilements, beyond the need of exhortation. We shall walk with him because we are worthy. And if, brethren, if that isn't the springboard or the motivation for us to walk worthy now in regard to the exhortation.
We have been given in Paul's ministry then. I don't know what goes on within our hearts but to look forward to that day. And as I said earlier, life is short. We've only got a few moments at best to live for his glory and to walk for him in a worthy fashion. Here, brethren. May it encourage our hearts to do so in light of what is ahead, and to realize that in that day he's going to joy over us with singing. He's going to give commendation for any little exercise.
Any little desire that he put in our hearts to walk worthy, and he's going to say, come walk with me, we're going to walk with him because we're worthy. In the meantime, let us, by the grace of God, take heed to the exhortations to walk worthy now.