If you're new with us today, we're so glad you're here.
We're continuing in our study in Ephesians.
We call that loaded.
A study in Ephesians today is part eight.
Most of our life groups are on Christmas break.
If your life group is meeting this week and you are doing the study in Ephesians,
you'll need to listen real close and make your own discussion questions,
because I'm not making any this week.
To my life group, if you're here today,
since we're not meeting this week,
that doesn't mean that you are not to take notes.
You still need to take notes because when you take notes,
it helps you get more out of the message.
Every Sunday when Pastor Ken was preaching,
I took notes and that helps us learn.
We're not here just to do our time, are we?
We're trying to learn something so we can grow,
and it's always good to jot a few things down.
So let me encourage all of you to write a few things down,
take notes during the talk.
It'll help us learn more and get more from it.
I'll be reading today from Ephesians chapter 4 beginning in verse 1.
Therefore, I, the prisoner and the Lord,
urge you to live worthy of a calling you have received,
with all humility and gentleness,
with patience, bearing with one another in love,
making every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body and one spirit,
just as you were called to one hope that you're calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all,
who is above all and through all and in all.
All of us are wired with a natural desire to be accepted and to belongs.
Yes, some of us have that desire more than others.
Even the people who say that they do not want to be accepted,
and they do not want to belong,
will end up hanging out with the other people who say
that they don't want to be accepted and they don't want to belong.
Go figure.
But some of that desire is in all of us.
Along with that desire comes responsibility.
As a citizen of a country,
there are laws to obey. As an employee of a company,
there are policies to follow.
As a member of a club, there are rules to abide by.
Even to become a member of the church at Argyle,
there are requirements to be met and a church covenant to agree to.
There are areas of service within our church that have guidelines and requirements.
For instance, to serve in the children or student ministries,
a background check is required and there's a ministry covenant.
As an example, this is the requirement for our music people here in the church.
As a worship team member,
the music is your first priority on Sunday.
You should faithfully attend all rehearsals,
sound checks, and both Sunday morning worship gatherings.
It is your responsibility to find out in advance
what we are singing and to know your music.
As a worship leader,
you should come prepared on Sunday with a heart for God and ready for worship.
So there are requirements and responsibilities.
But there's something in some of us,
maybe even most of us that rebels at being told what to do.
Does anybody relate to that?
Most of us want to do our own thing.
In fact, my mother had a famous quote,
people do what they want to do.
Now, you can argue with that if you want to.
All I know is most of the time, my mother was right.
Actress Catherine Hepburn also had a famous quote.
If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.
Now, I know that Ms. Hepburn was not always right, because that isn't so.
But that's what our culture tells us,
because that's what they believe.
But listen to this quote from American author Alfred Montepart.
Nobody ever did or ever will
escape the consequences of his choices.
You see, anything of value,
anything that's worth anything, requires commitment
and has responsibility.
And that is certainly true of the Christian life.
It's interesting how we will commit and be dedicated to all sorts of things.
Clubs, our work.
But when it comes to our Christian life, we hesitate.
In the book of Ephesians, the first three chapters explain
how spiritually rich we are in Christ.
That as a Christian, as a Christ follower,
the way we like to say it here, we are loaded.
The first three chapters in Ephesians deal mainly with doctrine.
The last three chapters, which we are beginning today, explain our duty,
our responsibility as a Christ follower, as a Christian.
The first half of Ephesians talks about our spiritual wealth.
The second half of Ephesians talks about our spiritual walk.
The first word in Ephesians chapter four that we just read is therefore.
They taught me in Bible class and college, anytime you see therefore,
always ask, why is it therefore?
And so Paul is asking us here to refer back to the doctrine that he taught us
in Ephesians chapters one through three.
So let's review the bottom line that we had in each of the first three chapters
in our first seven weeks.
You probably remember those already, don't you?
From week one, this was our bottom line.
In Christ, we are loaded.
We inherit God's riches by faith.
We invest God's riches by serving.
How many of you remember us talking about that?
Yeah, one. Okay.
That makes me feel really, really special.
Number two, from week two, this is our bottom line.
By faith, we can claim God's promises and use his limitless wealth
to meet every need we may face because we are loaded.
From week three, this was our bottom line.
We need to open the eyes of our heart to see the hope of God's calling,
to see that we are God's inheritance and to see God's power in our life.
From week four, since no one can jump far enough,
you might remember we use the illustration.
What if to become a Christian, to go to heaven,
we all had to jump over the St. John's River, which is impossible.
And so we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus
because no one can jump far enough.
From week five, in Christ, we are one.
We are no longer divided. Christ has made us one.
From week six, whose prisoner are you? Paul said he's a prisoner of Christ.
We are all prisoners of something or someone.
Whose prisoner are you?
From week seven, when we put our trust in the Lord,
nothing is impossible.
Ephesians chapter four, verse one,
therefore I, the prisoner and the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received.
And there's that therefore again.
And it refers to the Christian doctrines of the faith
that Paul had been teaching us in chapters one through three.
Doctrine simply means teachings.
For us to live the Christian life,
it is important for us to understand what we believe.
So in order to do that,
we should all be in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
And our mission as a church is to lead people into a growing relationship
with Jesus Christ. That's what we're all about.
And that comes by spending time with God in prayer,
in personal Bible study,
in being faithful in the life group,
and being faithful in worshiping together.
It's important for all of us to connect,
to serve,
to give,
and to invite. That's all part of the therefore.
And again, we see Paul calling himself
the prisoner
in the Lord.
That reminds us that following Jesus
is not always easy.
And I know that message is bad for the book sales.
But it's the truth
that being a Christ follower just might cost you something.
Following Jesus got Paul locked up in prison.
Paul had decided
that no matter what the circumstances,
his trust was in God
and in God alone.
Now he's not asking us
for his sympathy.
Paul had decided
that he is a captive of Jesus,
whether he's in jail or whether he's free.
That Jesus was first place
in his life. That everything he did,
everything he thought about,
all of his motivation was for the glory
of God. In every sense of the word, Paul
was a captive of Jesus by his own choosing.
Now, if we are honest today
in our own heart,
most of the time
we are so
selfish.
We see everything by how it will affect
us.
When we should be growing to the place
where we see things
by how it will affect the kingdom of God
and how it will be best
for others.
So the question that we all need to ask ourselves daily is
whose prisoner
am I?
Am I a prisoner of myself
and what I want
and my own desires
or have I surrendered my life to God
and his best
for me?
Therefore,
I, the prisoner and the Lord,
urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received.
The word urge here
actually means to beg.
Paul is begging
the church at Ephesus. Paul is begging us
to live worthy
of our calling.
A recent survey of pastors
showed a large percentage of
discouragement and depression
among pastors
in the church.
Most of them said it was the result
of feeling like their work was never finished,
that there was never enough time
and as they pleaded with people to change and turn their life to God,
it seemed like nobody listened
and nothing changed.
But still, along with Paul,
the pastors continue to urge you
to live worthy of the calling you have received
and that calling we have received is to follow Jesus
and that calling comes from God
because we are saved by grace
through faith.
It's all because of him
and nothing that we have done.
But as a Christ follower,
as a Christian,
it is our responsibility to live a holy life
through God's power
and through His strength.
And so, Paul gives us
five attitudes that will help us
live worthy of the calling we have received.
Five attitudes that are essential
for the Christian to follow Jesus.
Humility,
gentleness,
patience,
love,
unity.
We see these attitudes in verses 2 and 3
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another in love,
making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit
through the bond of peace.
The first attitude that will help us
to live worthy of the calling we have received
is humility.
The quality of being humble,
not proud or arrogant,
having a modest opinion of one's own importance.
Humility was such an unknown concept in Jesus' day
that the Romans and the Greeks
did not even have a word for humility.
It was probably Paul
who came up with the Greek term
for humility.
The Romans were so full of pride
and so full of themselves
that even the idea of humility
was repulsive to them.
To them, to be humble
was to be weak.
But for the Christian,
everything
begins with humility.
In fact,
it's impossible to even become
a Christian without first humbling ourselves
before God.
We first have to realize our sinful condition
and that we need a Savior
and that requires humility on our part.
Jesus, the almighty Son of God,
the Creator of the universe,
is our example of humility.
Philippians chapter 2 and verse 7,
talking about Jesus.
Instead, he emptied himself
by assuming the form of a servant
taking on the likeness of humanity.
And when he had come as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death
even to death on a terrible,
horrendous, humiliating cross.
You know, humility is a strange thing.
If you give it too much attention,
it can actually become pride.
Humility is something
that we know we must have,
but we never will know when we have it.
The minute you think you have achieved humility,
you just lost it.
Being humble
doesn't mean you become an introvert.
It simply means you're willing to give up
what is best for you
for what is best for others,
that we submit ourselves
for the good of everyone else.
C.S. Lewis said,
humility is not thinking less of yourself,
it's thinking of yourself less.
Our culture celebrates pride,
not humility.
If you doubt that,
watch a little football this afternoon.
So you will be at polar opposites
with the world around you
if you try to grow in humility.
Pride is everywhere.
Sadly, it's even in the church.
It's our pride that makes us think
that we are always right.
It's our pride that makes us think
that we need to be right.
Our feelings are hurt way too easily in the church.
We must guard our heart
from the sin of pride.
Pride was the first sin,
and it will and can destroy us.
Luke 18-14, Jesus said,
everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled,
but the one who humbles himself
will be exalted.
You know, the very thing
that I love the most about Argyle
is the very thing that makes ministry here very challenging,
and it's our diversity.
I love the diversity at Argyle.
I love our racial diversity.
I would not want to go to a white church.
I love white people.
My mother's white,
but I'm so thankful that our church is so open
and that all of you feel welcome to worship here.
I love that.
I celebrate that.
It's a beautiful thing.
I'm thankful for the diversity we have here of age,
that we have young people.
Young adults, middle-aged people, older people.
I'm turning 62 tomorrow.
That's old as dirt.
It's relative, isn't it?
And I'm so thankful that everyone feels welcome to worship here.
And I'm not sure about hipster church.
I think we need hipster church, I guess.
I guess.
But I'm just thankful we can all worship together.
My heart's burdened for young adults and for our millennials.
And they need to be in church.
They need to be reached for Christ.
And we're doing everything we can to do that here.
But I'm thankful we can all worship together.
I'm thankful for the diversity and backgrounds we have here.
It's a beautiful thing.
And we got people from everything and everywhere.
It's amazing the different denominations and backgrounds
that are here, and I love that.
But it's a challenge.
We also have huge spiritual growth diversity here.
We have unbelievers here today.
And I'm thankful you're here.
We have new believers here today, babies in Christ.
I'm thankful you're here.
We have Christians here today.
You know Christ, but you're far away from God.
If you're honest, you're away from God.
I'm thankful you're here today.
We have people here today who think you're spiritual.
You've come to church a long time.
You have a lot of Bible knowledge, but you are not spiritual.
That's a dangerous place to be.
That's the Pharisees.
Even Jesus couldn't reach that group.
I pray God will break your heart today.
You'll humble yourself.
We have people here today who are growing in the Lord.
I'm thankful for you.
Stay with it.
It's tough out there.
Stay with it.
We have some here today who are strong in your faith.
You pray for this church.
You pray for me daily.
God bless you.
And so I'm trying to feed all of you from the same table.
And that's a challenge.
But there's one thing that will bring all of us together
from all that diversity, and that's humility.
The attitude of humility is the foundation of the Christian life.
And if we get this humility thing right,
then you will have a solid foundation to build your life on.
But if you try to build your life on yourself
and your own strength and your own power,
if you try to build your life on an attitude of pride,
your life will not have a solid foundation.
And everything in your life will be shaky.
So ask God today to humble your heart.
Repent of your pride, and ask Him to grow you in humility today.
And by the way, that's all of us, starting with the preacher.
The next attitude that will help us live worthy of the calling
that we have received, number two, is gentleness.
Number two is gentleness, to be meek, kind, and mild.
I wonder if we asked our culture today to describe Christians
if they would use those three words.
I wonder if we asked them to describe the Christians on Facebook
if they would use those three words.
I kind of doubt it, I hope I'm wrong.
Gentleness means to treat other people with kindness.
It means to softly encourage each other.
It means to encourage people, to urge people to do the right thing
by living a good example before them,
instead of being demanding and judgmental and critical.
Gentleness is a product of humility.
And if you're struggling with gentleness,
you might need to check your humility,
because you cannot have gentleness if you're full of pride.
Gentleness and meekness are closely associated,
but should not be confused with weakness.
Being gentle and meek does not mean you are weak.
Jesus was gentle and meek,
but as the Son of God, He was not weak.
Look at what He endured at the crucifixion.
That is not weakness.
He had the power of the universe at His command.
Listen to what Jesus said when He was arrested in the garden.
Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father,
and He will provide me here and now with more than 12 legions of angels,
over 70,000 angels?
That is not weakness.
Jesus could have right there opened up a can.
Excuse me.
One of the signs of gentleness is self-control.
And the ability to remain calm when we are criticized and threatened.
Proverbs 16, 32.
Controlling one's emotions is better than capturing a city.
Gentleness is power under control.
Never let gentleness be called weakness.
The next attitude that will help us to live worthy of the calling we have received,
number three is patience.
All right, preacher, you can talk about humility.
You can talk about gentleness, but don't be going messing with patience.
Patience, an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness
or annoyance when confronted with delay.
Patience comes from humility and gentleness.
If you're struggling with patience, you might need to check on your humility
and your gentleness.
The patience of some of the Old Testament saints just blows my mind when I read these stories.
God told Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation.
But Abraham waited 25 years until he was almost 100 years old to have a child.
25 years.
That's patience.
God told Noah to build a boat in the middle of the woods far away from the ocean
when it had never rained before.
And so for 120 years he built that boat while everybody made fun of him.
I think that's patience.
God called Jeremiah to preach to his people.
He was faithful and obedient and he preached for 40 years
and nobody listened and nobody responded.
40 years.
That's patience. We can't wait at the red light or in the line at Walmart's.
Patience means that we understand that none of us are perfect.
That we are all a work in progress and so we give grace to each other.
That's patience.
And thank God he's patient with us.
Proverbs 16-32.
Patience is better than power.
The next attitude that will help us to live worthy of the calling we have received,
number four, if you're keeping score.
Bearing with one another in love.
This means we accept the messes and the mistakes of others simply because we love them.
1 Peter chapter 4 verse 8.
Above all, maintain constant love for one another since love covers a multitude of sins.
To cover sin doesn't mean to hide it, it means to forgive it.
Not to ignore it, not to excuse it, but to choose to forgive.
When we have been sinned against, when we have been wronged, when we have been hurt,
we have a choice to get even, to hold a grudge, or to forgive.
You choose.
When someone has hurt us, it's as if they have taken something from us.
So they owe us, and there is a debt that they cannot repay.
And the only way to resolve that debt is for us to cancel the debt.
We have the power.
It's our choice to forgive the debt.
Ultimately, unforgiveness only hurts one person, you.
Bearing with one another in love is agape love.
It's God's love.
It's constant, unconditional love.
It's the kind of love that always gives and never takes.
It's the kind of love that gives you the power to cancel the debt.
It's the kind of love that gives you the power to forgive someone who does not deserve forgiveness.
Just like you do not deserve the forgiveness, God has given you.
It's God's kind of love.
That's what it means.
Bearing with one another in love.
The last attitude that will help us to live worthy of the calling we have received, number five, is unity.
The state of being one, oneness.
The bottom line from week number five in our study, in Christ we are one.
Verse three, making every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.
Do you know the first thing I noticed in verse three about unity?
Making every effort to keep the unity.
Keeping the unity doesn't happen by itself.
It takes effort.
It requires work.
Unity has to be protected.
The enemy would like nothing more than to tear this church apart.
For us to gossip and to talk about each other.
For us to be unforgiving and to hold grudges against each other.
Did you know that we cannot make or create spiritual unity in this church if we wanted to?
That has already been done by the Holy Spirit.
In Christ we are already one if we like it or not.
Our responsibility is to make every effort to keep the unity.
Therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord,
urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received with all humility and gentleness,
with patience, bearing with one another in love,
making every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body.
That's the family of God and one spirit.
That's the Holy Spirit.
Just as you were called to one hope, our hope is eternal life at your calling.
There's one Lord.
That's Jesus Christ.
There's one faith.
That's faith in Jesus Christ.
There's one baptism.
We are baptized publicly to say, I'm following Jesus no matter what.
Verse 6.
There's one God and one Father of all.
There is only one God, just one.
You don't get to pick your own God who is above all and through all and in all.
We can experience that oneness by living every day with the five attitudes
that will help us to live worthy of the calling we have received.
So here's our bottom line for week eight.
Humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love will keep our unity.
And in unity, we can live worthy of the calling we have received.
Right before we dismiss, I want to give you just a minute to meditate on your own
and to silently pray in some awkward silence.
That's probably good for us.
That's what we've been talking about this morning.
Let God just speak to your heart just for a moment, then I'll close in prayer.
So just do that now in your heart.
