Week 1 Sermon
Here is the sermon from the night. Unfortunately, we cannot copy the booklet for the series to this blog because of the format, but you can get it from the website: www.christchurchec.org.
Passages is all about: The Word. The Journey. Together. It is Spiritual Formation that has Christ at its center. It is all about how we, as Christ followers, desire to live after the pattern of Christ. We do this by studying God’s Word, again not for information sake, but for the inward transformation that happens as we engage with the Holy Spirit so that our outward actions and inward heart match that of God’s. This year as we start the fall and this study, pay attention to how you actually do the study. Are you simply filling out the answers to the questions or are you stopping and thinking about how the Holy Spirit is using the questions and presentation in your life? One way to think about this is called the 4 “h”s. We talked about this last year, and will continue to emphasize it. Head, Heart, Hands, Homework.
This week we looked at Ephesians 4:1 and its significance on “The Call to Be the Chur
Ephesians 4:1 says, “I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called…” The TNIV says, “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
The question of the night is then…What is the difference between ‘attending church’ and ‘being the church’? The answer is all in the way you live, or is it walk?
Let’s look more closely at this verse, especially the phrase: “live a life worthy”
As you saw in your booklet, we concentrated on the Greek word peripatew which means “to walk” and translated “to live.”
In Eph. 2:1-2, cf. 3- 1And 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— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
And then in contrast, Paul continues with this verb: 4:17 “walk no longer as the Gentiles walk”; 5:2 “walk in love”; 5:8 “walk as children of the light”; 5:15 “therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise, but wise.” So he is comparing the way we lived before we had Christ and the way we should live after. In Eph. 2:10 it says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
So our “walking” and “living” are a supposed to be unique and different than the world’s way of doing things. Paul is urging us to lead a life that is equal to the call. Here Paul is a prisoner, as the history section says, Paul is probably a prisoner in Rome where is has limited access to the outside and is restricted in movement. He is in chains, but somehow he is still “walking.” His “calling” was a response to the love God showed him and he is urging us to understand our responsibility of response as well. So what is this “calling?”
Our calling is what God has already done for us. As believers we have already been called into the blessings of salvation (1:13-14) with its wonderful hope (1:18). We have been united with Christ in his resurrection and exaltation so that we now share in his rule over the new creation (1:20-22; 2:6). We have been reconciled to God by the death of Christ and called into one new humanity (2:13-16), members of God’s household, the new temple in the Lord (2:15, 19, 21) and have freedom of access to the Father by one Spirit (2:18)! Wow! That is an incredible calling, what should our response be?
Our response is to walk in this calling by living a worthy life. Wow again! So, as if Paul already senses our dumbfoundedness, he says…these characteristics are the right response: humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, and love. This is what the community of Christ should look like. This is all about being the community of Christ as well as the inward transformation of each individual.
When we say, I am the church, we are in essence agreeing to act in these ways. It is the way in which we can “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Now notice Paul says, “maintain.” This is essential. The unity we share as believers already exists because we are all one in Christ, but we need to walk continually in humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, and love in order to keep this peace.
Paul could not walk around freely but accepted his chains and used this experience to express the bonds we share as Christians to one another. Here is an illustration:
In 5th-8th grade, I was in a Drum & Bugle corp. We used to practice our instruments every Tuesday and Saturday. On Saturday, we would add to the practice, our marching. We would march for two hours straight. In the fall, spring and summer, we would even march on Tuesdays. Around and around, keeping in step with each other. If one of us misstepped or got behind, it was the job of the row leader to slow down and reorient that person. In my first parade, the Bristol 4th of July Parade, at age 11, I experienced a misstep. My drum got really heavy (I think this was around the 3rd or 4th mile) and I lifted up the strap to relieve the pressure. The strap somehow undid and now I was carrying my drum with one hand trying desperately to reattach the strap. Then I lost one of my drumsticks, it rolled to the side and was gone. I was desperate. As I struggled and twisted for my strap, a man came running up and started marching backwards in front of me and held up my drum so I could reattach the strap, then someone else came running back up and gave me my lost drum stick. It was a community effort. In order for the band to continue with all its members, others stepped up and aided me. This is what Paul is talking about. Are you thinking about church as a parade with all its members? Are you thinking about the person to your left, right, front and back as you walk this walk? Are you making sure that all of us are moving forward with no one left behind? That is what the unity of the Spirit is in the bond of peace.
We are to be walking in such a way that we are not focused on only our own spiritual journey, but on those around us and how we are to aid, support, and come to the rescue so that we are all finishing the parade together.
So what do we need to know tonight? In our groups we will be discussing the Apply section. With this in mind, think about your calling. Think about your response. Ask yourself, “Am I living a life worthy of this calling?” Are my actions and speech creating unity among believers or disunity? Am I thinking about my fellow band members and their burdens? How can I live this way this week?
