Walking Worthy To Your Calling

➡ Paul, the voice-over for the ministry ‘Your Daily Bread’, encourages listeners to deepen their spiritual connection with Christ through daily devotions. The focus is on understanding and living according to the teachings of the Bible, particularly the concept of ‘walking worthy’ to one’s calling as described in Ephesians. However, he expresses concern about the superficiality and lack of commitment in the Christian church today, with many failing to truly understand, apply, and obey the Bible’s teachings. He emphasizes the importance of not just studying the Bible, but truly understanding and living its principles.

Hello, my name is Paul, and I am the voice-over for a ministry provided to you by Jim Pugh at God is Government called Your Daily Bread, taken from Christ’s teaching of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.11. This is a daily devotion ministry focused not only on uplifting Scripture, but Scripture that will grow your spiritual connection with Christ. We hope that you receive these devotions to uplift you, encourage you, but most importantly, advance your knowledge base of the Holy Scriptures. Today’s focused discussion will be on walking worthy to your calling. Ephesians 4, beginning in verse 1, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation to which 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.

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 ye 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 evening. Martin Lloyd-Jones, the great English expositor and pastor, said, and 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 10 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’s 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 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 16. 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, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other things. Now, the word rest 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’re unlearned and don’t have the tools to do it right, twisting the scripture because you’re unstable and you don’t 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 umbrellas of Christianity, you have cults and isms and schisms 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 behaviour. 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 ends. In 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 17, Paul says, we are not as those who corrupt the word of God. He uses the word kapelos, which means a huckster or a conman or a charlatan or a phoney, 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’s rightly interpreted. They may even proclaim it, but they see 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. 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 half-committed. We must not be superficial. We must not be indifferent, the unconcerned who do less than 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 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.

Thank you for joining us in this exploration of walking worthy to your calling. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].