Ephesians 4:1

"Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling."

     Here in Ephesians, Paul picks up on this idea of "know your calling." Now, first of all, you do need to know what your calling is, and that was in chapter 3 (watch the full sermon below), but here in chapter 4, Paul writes and says I want you to walk worthy of the calling. Walk worthy of the fact that God, by grace, through faith, in Christ alone, saved you. Walk worthy of the mystery that's been revealed to you. Walk worthy of what God has done by dying on that cross and rising from the dead. I want you to walk worthy. That means I want you to fulfill the responsibilities of the task I've given you as a believer, as a follower. I want you to live up to this. 

     Don't stay a sinner. Don't stay a procrastinator. 

Don't stay angry. Don't stay wicked. 

Don't stay in immorality. Don't stay in laziness. 

Don't stay in mediocrity.

LIVE UP

to what I've called you to. 

And let me tell you 5 things from the next verse:

1 "With humility."

     One of the keys to living worthy is to be humble. That means you don't think it's all about you. I mean, people all the time, "It's all about me." The temperature, the time, the seat, the place, everything. "It's all about me." You go home, you walk in the door, "It's all about me," instead of thinking, "how could I minister to my wife, to my parents, to my children, to my husband? What if I thought about my neighbors more than me? What if I wasn't so concerned about their leaves blowing in my yard or their weeds coming over? What if I thought more about them? Look at Philippians 2.

Philippians 2:5-8

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

     He humbled Himself. The God of everything humbled Himself. If He could do that, couldn't we do that? Be humble and think about other people more? 

2 "Be gentle"

     That means soft of heart. So don't be harsh and ugly and mean and demand your rights. Be gentle.

3 "With Patience" 

     That means endurance. Don't ever give up. 

4 "Show Tolerance to One Another in Love"

     In other words, this love that he just described in chapter 3, that has a width and a length and a height and a depth, have that kind of love towards other people. And make sure we're being very tolerant of one another. Not, not tolerant about truth, TRUTH IS UNCHANGEABLE - Right is right, wrong is wrong - but we can still be very gentle and tolerant, in love with one another. 

5 "Preserve the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace" 

     In other words, a church that is not unified will never accomplish God's will. Who creates that unity? God. Jesus died on the cross so that He could bring us together with God and us together as people. He has provided unity, now He commands us, "Be humble and gentle. Be patient. And love one another by tolerating, putting up with people's weirdness." And then He says, "Preserve the unity. Do everything you can to keep everybody getting along with one another so that Satan is not able to divide."