Walking Together as a Church, Part 1 | A Strong Foundation for the New Believer

Ephesians 4-6

God values his own glory and so that is what we as a church value together, we value God’s glory. And God’s glory is manifest in the virtues of Christ, and so we want to see those virtues showing up in the lives of people of Grace Church. We want to see the fruit of the Holy Spirit growing within us. We want to see the love of the father, that love that has captured us. We want that love to keep on captivating us. We want his love to keep on controlling us, compelling us so that we’re characterized by that love. So that we’re known by that love. And when that happens, our church will be useful to Christ. Our church will be a place where he is pleased to have his Spirit dwell. Our place will be where he fulfills his mission for his church, which is to make disciples of all the nations.

And so, for the instruction of new members, for the information of inquiring and potential members, and to provide all of us a reminder, we’re going to address this topic of walking the worthy walk this morning out of Ephesians 4-6. I want to give you one more reason for tackling a topic like this. We need to set the record straight I think, about what it means to walk the worthy walk. I think it’s been far too common in years, decades gone past, whether you find this in a small group Bible study, or in discipleship curricula, or even in many sermons that I’ve heard. The prevailing view is that walking the worthy walk is an individual mandate for individual Christians.

It’s at least that, but it’s so much more than that. When Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1, “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy.” He is not there primarily or foremost writing to individual Christians; he is writing to an entire church. In that verse, the second person pronoun, you, I urge you, that is not a singular pronoun, it is a plural pronoun. So, in the parlance of some of our southerner friends, it’s not you, but it’s y’all, I urge y’all to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.  

This is a corporate command. And to be sure the command is incorporating all individual Christians who are in the Ephesian church but it is a corporate command to the corporate entity that Paul identifies in Ephesians 1:1. We read it just a minute ago. Ephesians 1:1. They are the saints who are in Ephesus. Saints. Identified as the church in Ephesus by Christ himself in Revelation 1 and Revelation 2.

The word church, it’s the word ekklesia. It literally is a compound word, a called out, and then a called out of. That prefix at the beginning there, ek, means called out ones. That’s the literal translation, but never really meant that. It just meant assembly, it meant an, an assembly of people. A publicly recognizable corporate body, one that is known publicly by, one that is marked by certain identifiable characteristics. It is an assembly that people would recognize and know, as with clearly discernable qualities. Whenever you say a Black Lives Matter protest, it has certain qualities. Whenever you see Proud Boys or Antifa, you see in our culture, in our day, we see a group, we can picture a group, we know their qualities. Same thing here.

This assembly, these are not characterized by any of that stuff, they are characterized by holiness. They’re saints who are in Ephesus. Saints, the word means holy ones. They are those who are set apart for holiness, that’s what holiness means, is to be set apart. And they’re set apart first of all by the sovereign election of God. They are set apart through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. They are set apart by the Holy Spirit himself for salvation. So, they’re justified. They’re declared righteous by God, because of the work of Christ, because of the power of the Holy Spirit. They’re set apart. They’re positionally in a sanctified position.

Not only that, though, they are saints and holy ones because they are being sanctified by God through the work of Christ, by the power of the spirit. This is called progressive sanctification. So, you are set apart. You are holy. And you are at the same time then being made holy. Being set apart one time, justification. Sanctification is an ongoing process. These saints, these holy ones are physically located, they are physically located in Ephesus. As it says there, they’re not, not saved by God and joined by the spirit in the body of Christ so that they can wander the earth, so they can do whatever is right in their own eyes, floating around as, as members at large of the church universal.

The body of Christ is a visible reality. It is manifest in the fruit of its members. It’s manifest in the love that they have for one another. And it comes and is made visible, yes, the invisible, but made visible in local churches. So, this assembly, this church, this one is in Ephesus. These saints live, work, raise their families, conduct their lives in Ephesus. Just as we live, work, raise our families in Northern Colorado. And so, what marks them as saints is the same thing that marks us as saints.

Invisible, spiritual realities are made visible in our physical lives. They are, in the language of Ephesians 1, they are blessed in the heavenly places in Christ with every spiritual blessing, and that does not remain hidden. That, that blessing comes out, is lived out in time and space. Their election before the foundation of the world, that is now realized in time and space, just as ours is, through faith in Christ. And it’s manifest in obedience by the Spirit. Their predestination, in adoption, for adoption as sons is now lived out as they learn the ways of the household, the habits, the rhythm of family life. A family that is marked by the character of its father, and so on and so forth through Ephesians 1, 2, and 3. All those spiritual realities, all those propositions of truth. All those things become manifest, known, as we obey the imperatives in Ephesians 4-6.

In fact, look back at Ephesians chapter 2, end of that chapter, this is vital, absolutely vital here. The household of the faith, the household of Christians is built upon it says in Ephesians 2:20, it’s “built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.” It’s built on the foundation of the holy apostles and the prophets of the early church. “Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” So, there is a cornerstone that sets the, sets a guide for the foundation. And the foundation stones are the apostles and prophets. And then we, referred to there in verse 21 as the whole structure, we’re “being joined together and we grow into a holy temple in the Lord. And in him, we also, you also are being built together into a dwelling place, for God, by the Spirit.”

So, you got a foundation of truth, starting with the truth of Christ, and guided off of the apostles and prophets. And that foundation is where? Below the surface. You can’t see, just like in your house, your foundation is below the surface of the ground. But what is erected, what is built up above the ground where everybody can see? The Church. Believers. Christians. Us. We’re being built up together. And notice, we’re not being built up as little cinderblocks here and there scattered all over the earth. We’re being built up together, not in isolation from one another. But established together on the same foundation, we are now growing together into a holy temple in the Lord. We are a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

This holy temple, as we’re reading about in Ephesians, it’s known as the Ephesian church, and in its local manifestation, this dwelling place for God by the Spirit. This is no longer a physical structure located in Jerusalem, where the Holy of Holies hides by a veil, the holiness of God. No, all this is, this temple now is a living organism, in people. A body of actual people. People who can be seen. People who can be known. People who you can, you can talk to. People who are physically present, actually knowable, they have personalities, dispositions. They have changing personalities that grow with time and experience.

And it’s in and through this gathered assembly of people, Ephesians 3:10, that “the manifold wisdom of God.” God’s, when we say manifold, we’re talking about a many, multi-faceted wisdom of God that is being “made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” Who are they? “Rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” What are we talking about there? Angelic beings, right? The angelic realm, talking about both holy angels and fallen angels. They are watching. So don’t ever underestimate, or understate the significance of what goes on here in a local church.

What is going on here at Grace Church of Greeley is being watched and observed by both angels and demons, every single week, every single day of the week. The holy angels see “the manifold wisdom of God” on display here, and it causes them to rejoice. It causes them to praise God. They act as ministers of, like flames of fire, they’re ministers of God to protect all of us, who are inheritors of salvation. They’re fighting battles that we’re not even seeing or perceiving, to protect.

The demons, they see the same thing. They hate what they see. They conduct a, what is really a futile war against us, and against God, because we’ve read the book, we know who wins in the end. God has won. He sealed the victory at the cross, and it’s all over but the shouting, isn’t it? But here we are, we are the source of praise for holy angels, and we’re the source of, of growling and groaning for the demons.

And the demons hate what they see. You know what they love to see? Christians who are ineffective. Christians who are neutralized. Christians who are off spinning off in the, in somewhere else, doing nothing. What really terrifies them. What really angers them. What really causes them to go to war are Christians on the march. Christians who are growing.

With all of that as introduction, let me set up our outline by looking at that word walk. It’s a key word in Ephesians, in the book of Ephesians. And it gives us our theme. The word walk is peripateo, literally means, peripateo, pateo and then peri. It means to walk about or walk around. You may have heard of someone being known as a, a peripatetic teacher. R.C. Sproul, in his younger days was walking all over the place. He’s very interesting to watch. But that’s a peripatetic teacher. One who can’t stand still, who’s always walking back and forth.

There’s also a common figurative use of the word peripateo in Scripture. To walk is a metaphor for living life. It’s a, it’s a picture, something that we can picture in our minds, and imagine referring to how someone conducts himself, conducts herself. It’s the, it’s the kind of behavior someone engages in. It’s how someone lives, as a characteristic habit and pattern of their life and Paul uses this word, peripateo throughout Ephesians 4-6. He says “we’re no longer to walk,” Ephesians 4:17, “as the Gentiles walk, in futility, in darkness, in alienation from God.” And all the rest.

Instead, Paul says, using the same word, “we’re to walk worthy of our calling.” Ephesians 4:1. And then he modifies that metaphor with words of virtue, so we “walk in love,” Ephesians 5:2. We “walk in the light,” Ephesians 5:8. We “walk in wisdom,” Ephesians 5:15. That’s really what it is to walk worthy of our calling, is to walk in love, light, and wisdom.

So, we’re going to organize our thoughts around that metaphor, walk. And we’ll unpack this idea of walking worthy through these final chapters of Ephesians. And we’re going to be doing this together as a church. So, again, we’re only able to hit the high points here. So I’m just going to put it on you, it’s your job to go home, read through Ephesians, and make sure that I’m representing Paul’s argument well. Okay? That’s your job. Your homework coming out of this, coming out of this sermon.

So, five ways that we walk together as a church. Five ways. First way, first outline point, you could say. We mature together in doctrinal unity. We mature together in doctrinal unity. Go back to Ephesians 4:1. We’ll take a look at those first opening verses together. Paul writes there, “I, therefore.” Therefore referring back to the propositional truth of the first three chapters. All the indicatives. All the propositions that he laid down of our union in Christ. Therefore, based on what God has done, “I, therefore, a prisoner for the, for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Stop there. Many wonderful things written there. I, I can’t hit them all. But I just want to zero in on one principle in particular, because it’s what Paul urges us in developing, and he uses to develop everything in chapter, chapter 4:3-16, and then following. He urges us here, he exhorts us to walk in such a manner as to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” What does that mean? “Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

The word eager, it’s spoudazo. It’s, it’s the word, to be zealous. It’s, it’s to show great urgency in some matter. It’s to make every effort. It’s to be diligent and passionate, eager. So this is no passive approach to maintaining unity of the Spirit. This is aggressive in nature. This is about taking initiative. This is something, being eager requires constant attention, passion, zealous energy. For what? Zealous energy to maintain the unity of the Spirit, to keep the unity of the Spirit, to guard it.

Paul wants us to be eager to maintain, keep this unity, as in the unity. The: there’s a definite article there. True unity, it’s a unity that already exists among all true Christians. So the expression Paul uses there actually is a word that can be translated, oneness. So it’s the oneness. Be eager to maintain the oneness of the Spirit, refers oneness there, refers there to a state of being. It refers to a state of oneness that actually exists. A oneness that is. No matter what it looks like on the surface, it’s a oneness that is. This isn’t something we produce, this unity.

We do not produce this, this is something the Spirit has brought together and manifests in the Church. It’s something that already is, because it is grounded in the very nature and essence of the living God. The living God whose essence is simple, whose being is one. As the Shema says, “Hear, O Israel: Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is Echad.” It’s Yahweh is one. It’s the same unity and simplicity of God that is manifest in and through the unity of the church.

Look at verses 4-6, there is, here, here again, one, one, one, one. All over, that, these next few verses. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Those statements, we should not pass over them quickly. We should actually think carefully about what they’re, what they’re actually representing. They, they refer to something that is deep, this oneness, this unity. Something that is profound. Something that is most fundamentally true about all of us as Christians. And they said, this isn’t something we produce. But it is something that we manifest, externally. This is something that God is, in oneness, in his essence. This is what God has saved us to. It’s what he’s joined us to, by his Spirit. It’s what all Christians have in common, whether they really know it or realize it or not.

First we belong to one body. What’s that talking about? That’s talking about the church. There’s a spiritual entity over which Christ is the head. And when we study this together, this one body, we’re learning ecclesiology, which is the doctrine of the church.

Second, we’re joined together to the one body by one Spirit. The study of the Spirit’s work is called pneumatology. Pneumatology, the study of the Spirit. We learn about the Spirit’s role in creation, in revelation, in the incarnation and ministry of Christ, in the salvation and sanctification of the believer. All pneumatology.

Third, by the Holy Spirit, we’re saved to one hope. One hope refers to the doctrine of last things. We formally call that eschatology. The eschaton, the study of last things. We direct our thoughts to the future fulfillment of all God’s promises.

Fourth, our hope is grounded, and bought and paid for by one Lord. That refers to Christology, the study of Christ our redeemer and head of the Church.

Fifth, in Christ we’ve been saved in one faith. That is “the faith that is once for all delivered to the saints.” This is bibliology. This is the study of the canon, the inspired, authoritative Word of God. Absolute authority.

Sixth, we’re saved in one baptism. It’s a summary way that Paul refers to soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, and all of its glorious sub doctrines, like imputation, justification, regeneration, all these glorious doctrines packed into soteriology.

And then finally, seventh, we’re all saved for the purpose of by, through, and to one God. The one God who is for us become our father. He is the father of all. This is what we call Theology Proper, the study of the essence and attributes of God. This God whose glory is our chief end, whose Being is our eternal reward.

This is seven points of, summary points of doctrine. Ecclesiology, pneumatology, eschatology, Christology, bibliology, soteriology, Theology Proper. If those sound like chapters in a systematic theology textbook, that’s because they are. The study of Christian theology is simply just the study and the pursuit of greater clarity about the oneness of the Spirit, what the Spirit has saved us to. All that he has saved us to, all that he has revealed, can fit into one of those seven categories of study.

So how do we accomplish that? How do we get that done? How do we study together? We get to do this at the micro level. And as our unity grows here in the church, we then can grow in unity with other local churches. And as those local churches come together, well you never know where that can go.

To help us fulfill this mandate, studying together, bringing those deep unifying things, bringing them to the surface, exposing them. To help us fulfill this, Christ has given us gifts in the church. He’s given gifted men who lead, teach, shepherd the church. Look at Ephesians 4:11, Christ “gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers.”

Christ, as we said, he built the foundation of the church. A doctrinal foundation that was laid by himself “in the apostles and the prophets.” Ephesians 2:20. They wrote down what was “revealed to them by the Holy Spirit.” Ephesians 3:5. And so the ministry of the apostles and prophets, that has been fulfilled in that transition time in Acts. Fulfilled in the completed canon of Scripture and now, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, gifted servants of Christ, they take what’s been written down in Scripture and they use that inscripturated truth to instruct and lead and guide and teach the church. To what point? To what purpose? Look what it says there, further, “He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,” verse 12, here’s the point, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ.” That’s the point.

The gifted men teach the saints, the saints then do the work of the ministry, and they build up the body of Christ. How long? Verse 13, “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” We keep doing that so that, verse 14, “We may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ.”

So these gifted men, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers, they equip the saints for the work of ministry. Which is to make disciples, right? Matthew 28:18, building up the body of Christ. That happens in the local church when we strive for doctrinal clarity, when we strive for understanding truth. Verse 13, “The unity of the faith, knowledge of the Son of God.”

We keep teaching that doctrinal truth, massaging it in, encouraging maturity. Growth into mature manhood, verse 13, measured by Christ the standard. Strong, discerning, powerful, you know that’s happening when the language of the Bible, the language of biblical doctrine permeates the speech and the behavior and the conversations within the local church. That’s what verse 15 says, “speaking the truth in love.” Literally the noun, truth, aletheia, is made into a verb here. Alethuo, so it’s, the literal translation there, instead of speaking the truth in love. It’s literally, truthing in love. We’re to be truthing with each other. We’re to be speaking, yes, but also living truthfully, practicing truth together. It’s how the body, it’s how the church puts this deep doctrine that we’re learning and coming to understand into practical effect and when every member of the church is doing this, verse 16, the body is “building itself up in love.” That’s what it is, first point, to mature together in doctrinal unity.