In Ephesians chapter four, we are admonished by the Holy Spirit of God to walk worthy of the calling to which we have been called. But what does that mean, and how will that impact my everyday life? F. W. Boreham reminds us of a story from the life of Francis d’Assisi, which might begin to give us a clue.

“Brother,” Francis said one day to one of the young monks at the Portiuncula, “let us go down to the town and preach!” The novice, delighted at being singled out to be the companion of Francis, obeyed with alacrity. They passed through the principal streets, turned down many of the by-ways and alleys, made their way out to some of the suburbs, and at length returned, by a circuitous route, to the monastery gate. As they approached it, the younger man reminded Francis of his original intention. “You have forgotten, Father, that we went down to the town to preach!”

“My son,” Francis replied, “we have preached. We were preaching while we were walking. We have been seen by many; our behavior has been closely watched; thus, we preached our morning sermon. It is of no use, my son, to walk anywhere to preach unless we preach everywhere we walk.”¹ While you are walking, you are preaching. Now that’s a thought. While you are living your everyday life, people are reading your life. What kind of message are you declaring by the life that you live before others? Walking Worthy of the Lord: What It Means for Your Everyday Life. That’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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Casting Crowns: Are Your Works Floor Worthy?

[Tweet “The ‘old you’ is no longer you so, therefore, your ‘old walk’ should not be your walk.”]

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Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
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Question of the Day: While you are walking, you are preaching. While you are living your everyday life, people are reading your life. What kind of message are you declaring by the life that you live before others?/callout]

Episode Resources

You can find more information on the book of Ephesians by clicking on the links below.

1. #S8-035: Why Your Holy Spirit Preparation Is Part of Your God Story [Podcast]
2. #S8-033: How God Grows A Courageous Church and Why It Matters [Podcast]
3. #S8-032: The Powerful Authority Resident in Being Seated with Christ [Podcast]
4. #S8-030: Why God Wants You to Have Spiritual Revelation Flowing In Your Life [Podcast]

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 42 years ago. He has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 38 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Podcast Notes

Walking Worthy: The Believer’s Walk

Ephesians 4:1–3 (ESV) — 1 I therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

• So, you hear the words: ‘walk in a manner worthy?’
• What does that mean?
• Seven times the Apostle Paul speaks of the believer’s walk in the book of Ephesians.
• This walk refers to how the Christian conducts himself before a holy God and a Godless world.
• You know it matters how you live.

2 Corinthians 3:1–3 (ESV) — 1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

• Did you hear what Paul by the Spirit of God said?
• You yourselves are a letter — your life is a letter.
• Walking worthy speaks of how you live — walking is not referring to a method of transportation.
• Walking refers to your lifestyle — your manner of living or way of living.
• It refers to behavior.
• How does your behavior add to or take away from Jesus and His message?
• Are you sending a mixed message by what you allow or don’t allow?

Walking Worthy: Your Old Walk

Ephesians 2:1–2 (ESV) — 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

• Your old walk was a death walk.
• You were, apart from Jesus, a dead man walking.
• Now that you are in Christ, the old life is done.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) — 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

• You see, the old life has passed away.
• The ‘old you’ is no longer you, so therefore your ‘old walk’ should not be your walk.
• Your old life is passed away, and anything that’s passed away needs to be buried.
• And, on top of that, here’s this thought.
• Once it’s buried, you shouldn’t be digging it back up again.
• Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to rid your new walk of any of the vestiges of the old walk.
• Get rid of the old — turn away from the old — embrace the new.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) — 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

• Your new walk is full of good works.
• It’s full of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Walking Worthy: Characteristics

• What else is this walk?
• This walk is a walk of humility.
• It’s a walk of gentleness.
• How about a walk of patience.
• This walking worthy is a walk where we put up with one another.
• Where we love one another despite our differences.
• It’s a walk where we are eager to maintain unity amongst the brethren.
• That means we refuse to fight.
• We refuse to contend with one another and get into nasty strife with one another.
• Followers of Jesus who are walking worthy make it their aim to live in an absolute bond of peace.
• Because when we do that, and because people observe us doing that, our testimony from the world is this: ‘those are Jesus people.’
• Those are people who really love the Lord, and we know they love the Lord because they love one another.
• Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles modeled what it meant to be a ballplayer.
• And, with that thought, here’s the illustration of the day.

Cal Ripken Jr. is the Iron Man of baseball. On September 6, 1995, he broke the record held by Lou Gehrig of 2,130 consecutive games played. Of course, there were days when that consecutive streak was in danger. In a June 1993 game Ripken was involved in a bench-clearing brawl. In Time Steve Wulf writes: Ripken twisted his knee, and when he woke up the next morning, he couldn’t put his weight on it. He told his wife, Kelly, he might not be able to play that night. According to Kelly, “Just before he left for the ball park, I said, ‘Maybe you could just play one inning and then come out.’ He snapped, ‘No! Either I play the whole game or I don’t play at all.’ I told him, ‘Just checking, dear.’ ” Ripken did play the full nine innings that night. In fact, he has played in 99.2 percent of every Orioles game since the streak began. In any high pursuit, we face the temptation to lower our standards, to do just enough to get by. Cal Ripken Jr. had committed himself to walk worthy of the title Iron Man.²

False Humility Is Not Walking Worthy

• Some people have a false humility that comes from not doing the hard work of examining and looking at themselves and settling in on the reality of who you are, what you are, and what you have in each area.
• Now mark this down; there’s another component involved in the whole ‘who you are, what you are, and what you possess.
• To every area in your life, there’s a God-ward part and a man-ward part.
• Humility is getting the parts right.
• It’s acknowledging the God-ward part as His part and the man-ward part as your part.
• What God did in your life, if you wanted to put a percentage on it, would probably be something like 99%.
• What I have or what I’ve done or what I’ve achieved is because of the grace of God and his power in my everyday life — that’s 99% of the who am I, what I possess equation.
• But there is still 1% left.
• And that 1% is your cooperation with the Spirit of God.
• Your will is an integral part of the plan – your 1% matters.
• You must choose to say Yes to Him – to follow Him, to obey Him, to respond to the promptings of the Spirit of God in your heart.
• Basically, your 1% is saying yes to Jesus.
• That’s your part.
• And you have to have both parts to make a success.
• Where would we be right now if Adam had said yes to God?
• Man, we would not be in the mess that we’re in right now.
• So you see, there is a man-ward side to every move of God.
• The Lord wants to bless you exceedingly, abundantly above all, you ask her, think, but you have to say yes to that.
• The Lord wants to elevate you: your giftings’ — He wants your giftings’ to come out in full force, but you have to say yes to that.
• God wants to bless you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
• But you know what?
• You’ve got to say yes to that.
• So, there is your part to play.
• And you have to do your part well.
• False humility, though, doesn’t acknowledge the man-ward side of the equation.
• False humility sounds something like this:

‘Well, it’s just all God – it’s just all God.

• So, someone will come up to you and say, ‘Wow, you did a great job there — with whatever project it is you were working on, and then that person will just say, well, it’s just all God is just all God.’
• The real truth here is that they are no more believe that than a man on the moon.
• No, that’s false humility – that’s religion – that’s a cop-out.
• That is not reality.
• In every aspect of your life, there is God’s part and your part.
• Humility is getting the balance right between the parts.
• To come to this type of reality – does take some spiritual development and understanding of how things work in God.
• If you don’t understand how things work, or you don’t get the balance right, you will take credit for some things you shouldn’t be taking credit for.
• I learned these truths from a minister years and years ago.
• I thought probably over 20 years ago, or 30 years ago, I don’t know.
• It’s been a while.
• But, I can tell you these four scriptures and these four realities have helped me more in this area of humility than probably anything else.
• And so, I want to share these with you today to get the same benefit.
• Now I’ve mentioned these verses several times in previous podcasts, but I’m telling you it’s worthy of repetition.
• The Word of God is never old.
• God’s Word never fades or loses its luster.
• It’s just like eating a steak.
• Just because you ate a steak one day doesn’t mean that you won’t need it again, and just because you’ve heard a Bible truth once doesn’t mean you don’t need to hear it again.
• Bible truth, reading the Word, studying the Word, meditating on the Word is feeding on your spirit.
• And just because you fed your spirit once doesn’t mean you don’t need to feed your spirit again.

Four Realizations That Will Help You Know the Truth about Yourself

• So here are four Bible verses to help you know the truth about yourself.

Walking Worthy: Recognize You Know Nothing By Yourself

Galatians 6:3 (ESV) — 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

• The first truth: You are nothing in yourself.
• Everything you are, you are because of Him.
• Everything you are, you because of whom you are In Him.
• People may say to you, “Wow, you are so anointed.”
• You know what? — you are anointed because you are in Him.
• People may say, “Wow, you are pretty talented.”
• You are talented because God gave you those talents.
• People may say, “Wow, you are so pretty, so or you are so handsome.”
• You are pretty, and you are handsome because God made your face just like He wants it.
• People may say, “Wow, you are so smart.”
• The reality is you would be dumb as a brick if it were not for God.
• You can go on and on, but you get the point.
• That’s one reason why you should never ever put people up on a pedestal.
• These people that you admire, where did they get these traits that you are admiring? — oh, hello.
• Some of these people in Hollywood are blowing up the man’s part.
• And then we inadvertently take the man’s part – forgetting about God’s part and stick that up on a pedestal and worship it. – that’s not how we walk!
• That’s not walking-worthy.

Psalm 127:1 (ESV) — 1 Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

• Get this now: If ‘nothing is trying to produce something, – what is that?
• Nothing producing something equals nothing.
• That is new math, according to God.
• Your nothing in yourself – to think that you are is deception.

Walking Worthy: Recognize You Know Nothing Apart from God

1 Corinthians 8:2 (ESV) — 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

• Here’s a second God reality that you need to embrace: You know nothing by yourself.
• You were not born with the knowledge that you now possess – that is reality!
• Your mother taught you your ABCs; your father taught you things; your school teachers taught you, even the bad stuff that you learned that you wish you didn’t know; someone else helped you know that.
• Surely anything spiritual, you didn’t learn by yourself, the Holy Spirit taught either directly or godly vessels that He called and equipped
• True knowledge should lead us to love people and to love God – if this isn’t the outworking’s of knowledge, then your puffed up and full of pride.
• Knowledge is to help people – not to club people – if you ever feel superior – you are not walking in love.
• Remember, it’s what you learn after you think you know it all that counts.

Psalm 51:17 (ESV) — 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Walking Worthy: Recognize You Have Nothing Apart from God

1 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV) — 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

• Here’s a third God reality that you need to embrace: You receive nothing because of yourself.
• Now, we are over into possessions – here is the question? What do you have that you did not receive?
• The spouse you have is a godly gift from God – acknowledge that.
• The house you live in – is a godly gift from God – acknowledge that.
• Yes, you had to work hard — you had to say ‘yes’ to work — that was your part.
• But, it was His grace that gave you the strength to work.

Matthew 5:45 (ESV) — 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sunrise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

• God gave you rain!
• Everything you have, you received because God was good to you.
• Appreciate what you have – quit griping about what you do not have.
• Instead of recognizing everything as a gift from God and being filled with gratitude, people possess their possessions — see them as their own—and look down on others who do not have what they have.
• That is pride and ungodliness and not what you are called to walk in.

Walking Worthy: Recognize You Can Do Nothing Apart from God

John 15:5 (ESV) — 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

• Here’s the fourth God reality that you need to embrace: You can do nothing by yourself.
• Spiritual life is a dependent life.
• Dependence means being led.
• It means having no mind of your own.
• Dependence means a willingness to do whatever He asks of you.
• The Greek here in John 15:5 reads like a double negative.

Apart from me, you can do NOT NOTHING.

• What does nothing mean?
• How about nothing?
• Look to Jesus as your example.

John 5:19 (ESV) — 19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

John 5:30 (ESV) — 30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

• Jesus is your example in humility; if he can’t do anything by himself, you can’t either.
• Walking in humility is one factor in what it means to walk worthy of the Lord.
• You guys have a great God week, and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

The Value of Humility and Consecration in the Miracles of God

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