Walk Worthy — Westlake Bible Fellowship

0:00 Praise and Thanksgiving for God's Plan

Praise you, Lord. Thank you that the words of that song are true, Lord. You invite all to come in. And once we are in, we're not orphans, Lord. We're adopted into your family.

What a glorious God. What a glorious plan. Lord, we truly do give thanks for the Lord Jesus. Lord, he purchased our redemption. He brought us to yourself.

And we just praise you for this time. Thank you for leaving us your word. Thank you for the book of Ephesians. So rich and again, all that you have done for us, Lord. And that's what you have the apostle praying for that we could all grasp that and understand that more and more.

And then Lord, starting today in chapter four, you you've initiated it all. Now, you want us to respond. So, Lord, help us to hear from heaven in our hearts, Lord. Again, just focusing on you, Lord Jesus, through it all. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. So, it's almost 12:30. What's that? Oh, okay. It's almost time to go home.

It's almost 11:30. Okay. Great. Chapter four, Ephesians. My assignment is to go through the first 16 verses.

In doing so, we're not going to be able to go in-depth. Feel probably all of scripture is like this, but these 16 verses, there is a lot in it, and it raises a couple important issues that we're not going to address fully at all. But we'll try to do the best we can and give an overview of these 16 verses with the time. It's the time limit thing. And, maybe we can pick up some of these things, as Brother said, later on.

We don't want to miss... What did somebody say? You don't want to miss the forest because you're focused on just the tree, right? And so that's kinda what I'm hoping to do here is to give us an overview of these 16 verses. And it's all about God, as you heard in my prayer.

God initiates. All we can do is respond. It's all by grace. It's all by grace. And so the first verse there says, Therefore, I...

This is Paul, but it's also the Holy Spirit, God talking to us, right? So it's, Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. We're just going to stop there for a moment and then eventually read the whole chapter, just read it... Or not the chapter, but the 16 verses in its entirety. But the introduction here, I just...

What is this calling with which we've been called? And it really is the whole first three chapters. It's all the spiritual blessings that God has given us. This is what he's called us into. And so in that sense, because of that, I want to go back and I to just I'm gonna go through starting chapter one, two, and three, and you can follow with me if you like.

And I've just highlighted some. I don't... I might have missed a few or something, but just all these spiritual blessings. And we'll start with verse three of chapter one. So this is just an introduction before we read this passage on what's our response.

And again, this is the calling that God has called us to, all that he's given us. And then Paul says, so therefore... God says, so therefore live. Be who you are. Be who you are.

Walk worthy of this, and we'll talk more about that. But in verse three, blessed be the god and father of our lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. So this isn't health and strength and good jobs and that thing. This is our spiritual blessings. And he begins, and so these are some of the blessings.

First one, he chose us in him before the creation or the foundation of the world. He chose us that we should be holy and blameless before him, and that we are. This is what we are. And that's where Paul then says, because of all these blessings, because of this calling, walk worthy. He predestined us.

He determined a destination that all of us, as the song was just talking about, we're not orphans. We've been adopted as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to himself. We are children of God. Verse seven, In Christ, we have redemption through his blood. He's paid the price with his blood to buy us back off the slave market of sin.

We're not slaves of sin anymore. And the next part of the sentence says, which basically the definition of this redemption is the forgiveness of our trespasses. I'm sorry I couldn't be here the first service. I tried, but the highway was all shut down. There must have been a pretty bad accident, and I was just stuck there in the middle for quite a while.

But anyway, that's what the whole first service... But that's what all of it's about. That's what our whole life is about. We're just so humbled in remembering that our sins are forgiven. It's all by his grace.

5:34 Mystery of His Will and Inheritance

Verse 11, another one, we've obtained an inheritance. Future, we're going to receive where we don't have all of our salvation yet. We're fully saved in one sense, but we don't have all of this inheritance yet. We've been predestined according to his purpose, so he's gonna work out his purpose. He works all things after the counsel of his will.

Verse 13, in Christ we heard the message, after that we believed the message, then what? We get this wonderful gift of being sealed in Christ, secure in him, set set, sealed in him by the Holy Spirit, the holy spirit of promise. Another thing the spirit did at the same time is given... He's given to us is to be a down payment or the pledge of, again, this future hope. We'll talk more about that in the passage.

This future hope, this pledge, this down payment of our inheritance, we're guaranteed to receive our inheritance. We're guaranteed to be in heaven with a new body, in a new place, perfect world with our Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever. So he's given as this down payment with the view to the redemption, there it is, of God's own possession. He's gonna fully redeem us. Again, in one sense we are fully redeemed, the price has been paid, we're secure, but we don't have all of that redemption yet, the redemption of our bodies.

And this is all for the praise of his glory. Verse 18, and it's similar, but Paul is praying for this, but we can know the hope of his calling. And again, this is that future hope, that eternal salvation in heaven and glory. We've... I've experienced a couple homegoings in the last two months now.

A dear pastor friend of mine, Calvary Chapel, lost his 25 year old daughter September 20. And two weeks later, Penny, she's been at the home meetings a few times here in the assembly, and she went home, 48 years old. And it just really makes all things... Death is such a powerful preacher to us all to bring us back to reality, that future hope, that inheritance that we're all waiting for. And those two sisters, because they're in Christ, they are there.

They still don't have their brand new bodies yet, and that's kind of a mystery yet, but they themselves are with the Lord. And so we can know what's the the riches of the glory of this inheritance in the saints so we can know, we have a partial understanding of knowing that we are God's inheritance. He is our inheritance. Verse 19, we can know what the surpassing greatness of his power toward us is who believe, and this is the same power that's working... That was working...

That is working in us. It's the same power that God used to raise Christ from the dead, that God used to seat him at the right hand of the father in heaven heavenly places, the same power that Christ would be far above all rule and authority. He is lord. Verse 23, we've become his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Chapter two, we were dead in our trespasses and sins but god, right?

We lived in the lust of our flesh, the desires of the flesh. We were children of wrath. God was going to send us to hell until we got saved. Without being saved, God has to administer his wrath to people who are not in Christ. But God, being rich in his mercy, while we were dead, verse five, in our transgressions, he made us alive.

These are all the spiritual blessings. This is the calling that he's called us to. We're alive in Christ together with Christ, saved from our sins, saved from god's wrath. Verse six, we're raised up with him. We're seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and the best is yet to come.

Verse seven, so that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing... We... Who can comprehend the verse says. Right? It's not entered the heart, the mind of man, the good things that God has for those who love him.

Wow. Surpassing riches of his grace and kindness towards Christ in in in... Towards us in Christ Jesus. One day, we'll understand all of eternity. That's why we're saved for that purpose.

In order that, the beginning of verse seven, in order that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace. He chose us to be his children. He chose us to be his bride for his son, and he is going to love us and minister to us his grace in kindness, the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us for all eternity. And it's not by works. And yet, verse 10, another part of the blessings is that we get to work his works through us where he's prepared us to do these good works that we would walk in them.

11:02 From Exclusion to Inclusion in Christ

Verse 13. Now in Christ Jesus, we were far... Formerly far off. We've been brought near by the blood of Christ. All these spiritual blessings.

He himself, Christ himself, has become our peace, peace between an angry God and a guilty sinner, and peace we find out with one another. He makes the two groups, the Jews and the Gentiles into one new man. He breaks down the barrier, the dividing wall. Verse 15, he abolished in his flesh the enmity which was those commandments which condemned us. And Christ paid that price, the Bible says, on the cross.

He took our condemnation so that we get his righteousness. Wow. Kind of an unfair deal in human understanding, but for us, the richest gift of all. And he would make us these Jews and Gentiles into one new man, thus establishing peace. Again, one new person with peace between us and God.

He reconciled us, them, the Jews and the Gentiles, in one body. We are now the body of Christ. He did that through the cross when Christ died. He put to death the enmity. He came and preached peace to us.

We were far away, but now we're brought near. And we both... Look at verse 18 of chapter two. Now we have access in one spirit to the Father. We get to come right into the Father's throne room and call him Abba.

Cry out, Abba, Daddy, I need. Daddy, you're awesome. Daddy, I sinned again. Please wash me clean once again. And on and on.

We have access. We're no longer strangers and aliens, we're fellow citizens. And we are with all the saints. We're God's household. Verse 21.

And now we're this new building being fitted together, growing into a holy temple. We sang that song where God would dwell among us, in us, in the lord. Verse 23... 22, and where this building being built together, each member, each born again child of god, each saint who's been saved in the church age built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit. Chapter three verse six, Gentiles are now fellow heirs, fellow inheritors with the promises that were given to those who would receive Messiah.

We're fellow members of the same body now. We're fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus all through the gospel. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried. He was raised again on the third day according to the scriptures.

After that, he was seen by as many as over 500 people. Verse 10, chapter three, so that this manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through us, the church. So God, another spiritual blessing is as we're redeemed together, Jews and Gentiles, one redeemed back to God even though we were sinners, we get to proclaim our unity. Our unity proclaims to all the heavenly hosts up there good and evil, I guess, the angels, the angelic hosts, the manifold wisdom of God, how he would reconcile by putting his own Son on the cross. He's reconciled these enemies, adopted them into his family, and now we are as dear to him even as his own beloved eternal holy Son, the Lord Jesus.

Wow. Verse 12, we have boldness again, confident access through faith in Christ. Verse 19, now we know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. We don't know it fully. That's why Paul is praying that we would come to know it and experience it so that we can be filled up to all the fullness of God.

We didn't have this until we were saved, and God has blessed us with all these spiritual blessings. Verse 20. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, again, when those blessings... The power of God is in us through the Spirit to do what? To help us comprehend the love of Christ, the height, the depth, the breadth, the width, and to know it in experience.

And verse 21, To him be the glory in to him be the glory in the the church church and and in in Christ Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Next sentence, verse one of chapter four. Therefore, therefore, because of all that God has given you, because all that God has done for you, because all that you are now, because of who Christ is and what he's done for us, therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you, I beg you, I beseech you, to walk in a manner worthy of this calling with which you have been called. You've been given this incredible calling to be the children of God, to be the bride of Christ, to be the body of Christ, to be citizens of heaven. Now, walk worthy.

16:39 Walking Worthy of the Calling

I've been reading this for months now. But the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Verse four: There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, that eternal hope again. One Lord, one faith, one body of doctrine that we all believe, one baptism, one God, one father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. Now this expression he ascended, what does it mean? Except that he also had descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is himself also he who ascended far above all the heavens so that he, Christ, might fill all things. Verse 11.

And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors, and teachers. For what purpose? For the equipping of the saints, for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith, this body of doctrine that we all believe, and until we all attain to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature or the standard which belongs to the fullness, the completeness of Christ. Verse 14. As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming.

But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him, Christ, who is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. I would like you to maybe continue to read in your translation. I'm going to read the same 16 verses in the New Living Translation. No greater thing we can do than to read, and perhaps if I can help just make a few thoughts about the holy word of God.

Therefore, I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other. Making allowance... I love this.

Making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. I chuckled about that because I know you have to do that with me. And I have to do it with you. Verse three, make every effort to keep yourselves united in the spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. Why?

For there is one body and one spirit. Just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future, there is one lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is over all in all and living through all. However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. That is why the Scriptures say when he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people. Notice that it says he ascended.

This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens. Think of that. When Christ ascended, it says he ascended higher than all the heavens, all of the created universe, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself. Now, these are the gifts Christ gave to the church.

Earlier, it said that we've each received a gift and we have spiritual gifts, but here Christ has given the church, the body, five special gifts. And these gifts are not the abilities of these people, but it's literally these people themselves exercising these abilities. Verse 11, Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ who is the head of his body, the church. We're gonna grow.

That's the whole end result that we're gonna grow to be like Christ. He's the head of his body, we the church. Verse 16, he makes the whole body fit together perfectly as each part does its own special work. It helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. As you can see, there is a lot of material there.

23:44 How to Walk Worthily: Humility and Gentleness

How do we walk? Walking worthily. Walking just simply means living our life as this person who's received all these spiritual blessings, this calling with which we've been called. And how do we walk worthy? Look at this.

He makes it so simple. Not easy, but simple. Verse two. He tells us there's five things: All humility. Live your life with all humility, all gentleness, all patience, showing tolerance for one another, and in love.

And it's interesting, humility and gentleness. I personally, I think this is perhaps one of the main, if not the main application of this passage today. Christ, the Bible says, is the firstborn among many brethren. Right? I've shared this.

This is... To me, it's one of the most powerful passages in the scriptures to help us get the big picture. Romans eight twenty eight through 30. That God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God called according to his purpose because those whom god foreknew, he called and he predestined to become conformed to the image of Christ. All things working together for us, this gathering, the break time in between, the first service, the breaking of bread, your time at work, your time with your family, tragedies that happened in my life, all things working together to conform us to the image of Christ.

But that is not even the end result. The end result is the next part of the statement. So that we be conformed to the image of Christ in order that Christ would be the firstborn among many brethren. That word firstborn means the preeminent one, the protodikos it is. It's the one who rules over all.

He's not just the first one of the family as it were. He's the preeminent one. And Colossians says that too, so that in all things Christ might have the preeminence. So this is all about... Even all these spiritual blessings, we're not just given for our enjoyment.

We do enjoy them. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing. I'm not going to hell. I'm going to heaven. I got the Holy Spirit to walk through this life and guide me.

I got his word to talk to me. Right? All these blessings. But it's really that in a sense is a secondary. We get the blessings but it really is about the father exalting his son.

That he might be the firstborn among many brethren And so if you keep that big picture in your mind as we walk through this passage now, we can see that verse two, with all humility and gentleness. It's interesting. Those are the same exact words that Jesus, the only time in the scriptures that he describes his own character. Does anyone know where that's at? Matthew 11, right?

Come on to me. Why? Because I am humble and gentle, lowly and meek, some of your Bibles say. The exact same words. And wouldn't that make sense?

We're the body, and God is making us like our head, and the head in the picture of a human body, right? The body sends all the signals. And how do we walk worthy? How do we get this unity preserved, keep this unity of the spirit? Simply by walking with all humility.

How do we get humble? We're commanded. Humble yourself in the presence of the Lord. He'll exalt you. He resists the proud, gives grace to the humble.

Oh, how do you humble yourself? The word is lowly. It really means lowliness of mind. And it's just to remember, how do you do that? By focusing on Christ.

28:06 Transformation by the Spirit

It says the spirit transforms us into that same image from glory to glory. We do have responsibility, though, when I know that I'm not humbled before Almighty God, when I'm not looking at... I mean, this is how we get humbled, right? I don't know about you, but many times during the Lord's Supper, almost every time I end up crying, Lord, I'm so humbled. You've made me white as snow.

I like the snow. He's made me white as snow. I cannot ever be condemned. He remembers none of my sins, even the ones I'll commit tomorrow if I'm still here. Wow.

And I get humbled as I behold the glory of the Lord. And again, as brother last... Was it last week that came, Torek, brother Torek, he he came and he he gave us the second book of Ephesians. Right? The second letter to Ephesians from from the church in Ephesus in Revelation.

And what was their scolding? What was their correction? They did just that. They were doing all the right stuff, but they left their first love, him. They weren't beholding him in all their Bible teaching.

It wasn't conclusion all about him. Yes, there's some details, Timothy and Titus, how to be... How to organize the church when we gather in this, but it's still... We need to always be focusing on him. And even this passage does that over and over and over.

Let's continue. So how do we walk worthy? With humility, gentleness. That's that like a lamb that is just so gentle. And my goodness, I get convicted much when I read this.

But again, that's my flesh. So the solution is walk in the Spirit. Well, how do I walk in the Spirit? How do I be filled with the Spirit, controlled by the Spirit? The more I'm in God's Word.

We'll get to that hopefully at the end here. Showing patience. Woah. Longsuffering. And this one's showing tolerance or putting up with one another.

Guess where else that's used? Where the Lord comes down from the Mount Of Transfiguration and the epileptic, the demonic boy was there in his fit there again. And I always say epileptic because that is kind of the word in the Greek there. It was demonic, that's what they said. How come we couldn't cast out the demon?

Jesus comes and he casts out the demon. And the man says, I asked your disciples to do it, but they couldn't do it. O perverse generation, how long shall I put up with you guys? Tolerate your weaknesses. Maybe I'm exaggerating too much the way I'm acting out, but that's the same word, showing tolerance for one another.

You have to put up with my weaknesses. Tolerate them. Right? Love covers over a multitude of transgressions. Doesn't mean I can just go out and do anything I want and you guys have to enjoy it, but if it's sin, you have to approach me, but if it's just kind of a shortcoming, be patient with one another, showing tolerance for one another in love.

Verse three, being diligent. That basically is the word speed. In the original Greek, it has to be doing it quickly, swiftly. So be zealous quickly. Doing what?

Preserving, or the better word is keep, and again, the same word is used most of the time for guard. It's when the guards were guarding at the foot of the cross, the same word, they guarded Jesus. And then at the tomb, the same thing, they were called guards. It's the same word here. And they were guarding.

We have to guard, God says, be diligent, be swift to guard the unity of the spirit. We don't produce it. We've already got this. He's gonna tell us why in just a moment. We have this unity the moment we're brought into the body of Christ by the spirit, because there's one body, one spirit.

Right? Now we have to do all in our power humanly to fight for, to guard, to preserve, to keep. We can't have these, as Paul says in Corinthians, the divisions and things like that. And interesting, just a side note here, the body, it definitely applies to Westlake Bible fellowship, a part of the body. But this is for every true born again believer.

Again, born again believer. We don't have to agree with all their secondary doctrines, but this applies for all of us being one body. That's what God says. There is only one body. So we diligent to preserve, to keep this unity spirit and the bond of peace, there's one...

33:18 One Body, One Spirit, One Hope

One baptism. That sure seems to be the spiritual baptism. If you go to one Corinthians 12, I think it's verse 13. For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. There it is, this unity, this...

The one spirit takes every believer when they're born again, he baptizes them, he immerses them, he places them into the body of Christ. Whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, we're all made to drink of one Spirit. And then he goes on that there's different members of the body. But back to Ephesians and verse six, One God and Father of all, is over all and through all and in all. There's only one.

There's only one. And we are together. We're one body. That's part of the spiritual blessing that God has given us. But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

And this is one of the things that we're not going to go into. These are spiritual gifts and again, the elders can decide at some point we want to study that more but each one of us has a spiritual gift. Now, spiritual gift is something that is supernatural ability given by the Holy Spirit, and every Christian has at least one and is to be used, we'll see as we walk through the passage here, to be used to edify, to build up the body, and to minister, to do the works that God has us to do. And so there it says, but to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. We've all received grace.

Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive a captive... A host of captives. He gave gifts to men. Now this is not the gifts that were just mentioned back in verse seven. These are the upcoming five special gifts that he gives to equip the body to minister.

And we're gonna... This is a second issue. We're gonna skip over here, the ascension, and let's keep reading here. Now this expression, verse nine, he ascended, what does it mean except that he also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is himself also who ascended far above all the heavens so that he might fill all things.

We're not going to discuss what the dissension is. There's two major schools of thought here, but that's not the point of the whole passage. That's not why the Holy Spirit brings us up here anyway. It's about the ascension. And so if he ascended, wait a minute, hasn't Christ always been in heaven?

Isn't he the Lord? Isn't he? Yeah, but in order for him to come down and do what he did, he first had to descend. And so the accentuation there is when he ascended, he gave gifts to men. It's about his ascension, when he, after he accomplished the father's work, then he went back up into the heavens.

And what are these gifts? Verse 11. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, some teachers. The word apostle there is those sent on a mission, and it's probably not meaning... Well, we'll carry we'll carry on.

And some is prophets. Those are those who proclaim to forth tell God's word. These prophets are probably not the Old Testament prophets because that would counter what he's just talking about. These gifts were given when Christ ascended. So, there are New Testament prophets and this isn't telling the future.

This is foretelling. Some, god gave gifts to some that they can have just this authority, this this drive, this ability, and there's some among us here who, I believe, have that gift to to proclaim God's truth. And then there's some as evangelists, and those that would, primarily, their passion is the gospel and getting the gospel to the lost. And some as pastors, that's the only time that word is translated pastor. Some of your Bibles might say shepherds.

Right? That's how it's always translated all the other times. Literally, Jesus, the good shepherd, the great shepherd, the equation when at the lord's birth, the shepherds, it's the same word there. So it's not the word pastor. It's the word shepherd.

It's that that that caring for, that concern for providing and protecting the sheep, and they have a passion to do that. And I praise God that both of our elders here, they definitely are shepherds and teachers. And these, many of these, there's other parts of the Bible that qualifies them only to be men. But there's some here, I believe even that is not necessarily qualified, restricted to just male gender. There are some ladies who I believe have the gift of shepherding.

Definitely, there are some among us and they're just concerned about the flock. Now there's parameters in the New Testament on how to do that to the women and children, etc, and there's also some definitely gifted teachers. Well, these were all given. These five gifts were given to the body for one same purpose. 12, for the equipping of the saints.

38:50 Equipping for the Work of Service

Again, time doesn't permit us to go into that, but spiritual gifts. The big toe is just as important as the brain, in a sense, as my mouth, as my eyes, etcetera, etcetera. I could give many illustrations of some injuries. Fracture. Oh my gosh, just about crippled in bed.

Not really, I'm exaggerating, but it really affects the whole body because every part's got to do its work. I depend on that finger to be able to... I couldn't... Oh, anyway, praise God it's healed. So this is all for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body.

Until, how long they do this? Until we all attain to the unity of the faith I'm going fast here because we're just about out of time. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith. That's that god, one god, and three distinct eternal persons always existed. Jesus is God, the Father is God, the Holy Spirit's God.

They are one God and three eternal distinct personalities, as it were. And God so loved the world, he sent his son, he became flesh, he died on the cross for us, lived a life without sin, He resurrected from the dead on the third day. He was seen by witnesses. He ascended to the father's right hand. He's just waiting for the father to send him back to judge the world, come for his bride, and then judge the world.

And while he's up there, he's preparing a place for his children, and he's interceding for us. Wow. What a god. And it's all about Christ. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and that's what he says, and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to the measure of the stature or the standard that belongs to the fullness of Christ, till we all are in Christ's image, till we're all just like Christ.

That's the whole purpose. We mentioned that from Romans eight. That's what God is using all things together for to make you. Mason, why are you in the military? So that God can use that situation in all different ways, so many ways to conform you to the image of the of Christ.

Why do you have to go away and not be with us all the time and we miss you? Because god's working in our life. All these things working together to conform us to the image of Christ and you get all things means all things. I just wrap this up. As a result, we are no longer to be children.

What's gonna happen? We're gonna be like Christ, and we're not gonna be swayed by all this false doctrine. As a result, we're no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But what's going to happen? That's the negative, not going to happen.

We're not going to get tricked with false teaching, but instead we're going to be speaking the truth in love. I believe that's all believers speaking the truth in love to one another. And may I just give us all a challenge here? On our break time between the services, we kind of turned Jesus on, 10:00, then we finished the Lord's Supper, now it's back to life. Well, yes and no.

But how much of our conversation, speaking the truth in love? Maybe a challenge, maybe just a thought, an encouragement to to keep talking about Christ. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, right? So, we're going to be focusing more on Christ and what's going to automatically coming out. We appreciate your testimonies, Mason, that you're searching for other believers, you're trying to witness to other believers.

Jeremy's out of college doing the same thing, because out of the abundance of the heart, it's just when we're filled up with Christ, that's what's going come out. And then verse 16, From whom the whole body fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, again, I needed that little ligament that was messed up in my finger to help the rest of the body, according to the proper working of each individual part. This is gonna cause the growth of the body for the building up of the body in love. In closing, how do we do this? Jesus said there's only one thing needful.

You've heard this from me many times. To me, it's just... It's one of the most important passages in all of Scripture for the believer. There's only one thing necessary, only one thing. Jesus told Martha, right?

She's serving the Lord. And she's fretting, she's worried, she's bothered, she's complaining about serving the Lord, right? And she's comparing herself with other Christians, her sister, And she's gossiping about other Christians, her sister. And she's even basically interrupting the Lord from speaking, and it's all about me, it seems to be. Maybe a little exaggeration, but that's really where she was at.

What does Jesus say? Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things. Same thing he told to the church at Ephesus. But only one thing is needful. Only one.

He didn't say if it's only... I mean, Jesus says his truth. Right? He never exaggerates like I do and others do. There's only one thing necessary.

And Mary has chosen the better part. It won't be taken from her. Mary's doing it. Well, what is that one thing? One thing, two parts.

Sitting at his feet, listening to his word. That's how we become more like Christ. And you, of course, you wrestle through that and you need to... All that goes along with it. But number one, numero uno.

Then we're gonna be built up and serving the Lord. Martha was struggling with that. She was just doing it in her own strength. It's not wrong to serve the Lord. Later on, very soon after that, Lazarus says after he's raised from dead, it says Martha's serving, And there's no correction.

She learned her lesson. She's got a full tank. She's been sitting at his feet listening to his word. That's what it's all about, being conformed to the image of Christ. One last verse, I already quoted it.

45:34 Beholding the Glory of the Lord, Transformed

They're trying to keep the law. No. No. We're saved. Veil's been lifted.

We all with unveiled faces beholding. Strong word. Beholding. Gazing upon, focusing upon, beholding the glory of the lord Jesus. As in a mirror, that's this book.

We behold the glory of the lord even in today's passages. Even in today's teaching. Beholding the glory of the lord Jesus. It says, we are transformed into that same image. When I'm looking in the scriptures, especially like the Gospels obviously and so much teaching about what that all means, even the Old Testament Christ, it's all about Christ.

Christ used the Old Testament to preach about himself. Right? It's all about Christ. As we behold the glory of the Lord Jesus in his word, the Holy Spirit does his work. He transforms us into that same image from glory to glory.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Would you please, Lord, think we would all agree we want to be able to be more like Mary and less like Martha. We want to serve you.

Oh, there's a time to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. So much to do. Lord, would you please help us to put us first the one needful thing, to sit at your feet and to behold the glory of the Lord, to listen to your word. We give you praise. In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Walk Worthy — Ephesians 1-4

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Walk Worthy — Ephesians 1-4

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