Sold Out Christians. Part 2 (Part 1 of 2)

Ephesians 4:1-3 – Walking Worthy of Our Calling

Ephesians 4:1-3 says,

Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The purpose of this passage is that we have a specific responsibility to match our lifestyle with our profession of faith. Take your private life—the personal you that nobody else sees—and match it with what you do in public. If you profess to be a believer in Jesus Christ, a specific responsibility follows.

After basking in the glory of Ephesians 1-3—the promises of predestination, salvation from deadness in sin, regeneration, and the mysteries of God—there's a risk. We could hear those truths and think, "I'm perfectly okay; it doesn't matter how I live." Some respond to the doctrines of grace by living sinfully, assuming God saves regardless.

But Paul counters that temptation. If Ephesians 1-3 is your reality, Ephesians 4-6 is your lifestyle. You're not just predestined to salvation; you're predestined to the good works God prepared for you. There's hypocrisy in claiming salvation while living contrary to it. Paul implores: "Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called." You've been called to a specific lifestyle and purpose. Without it, we question the genuineness of our salvation.

This passage assures us: If humility, gentleness, patience, and tolerance mark your life, you can be confident in your salvation. These aren't demeaning rules—they produce the highest quality of life, joy, purpose, and hope, even in hardship. The only hindrance is pride and selfishness.

Humility, Gentleness, Patience, and Tolerance

Paul calls for humility, gentleness, patience, and tolerance for one another—putting others above yourself. Like Isaiah 66:1-2, seeing God's immensity reveals our lowliness, leading to true humility: putting God first in desires, commands, and truth about you.

Gentleness, patience, and tolerance mean enduring others lovingly, not embracing their self-estimation, but who God says they should be. Endure, preaching the gospel, hoping for transformation into Christ's image. Pride resists God and others; humility is pro-God, pro-His people, pro-the lost—desiring their salvation through Christ.

Tolerating others means hope in the gospel's power, not silence. Don't stop preaching when rejected—be a relentless evangelist, like Ezekiel: preach whether they listen or not. Light irritates darkness; there's no coexistence (1 John 1). Wisdom sees the world through God's eyes and acts accordingly.

Jesus said in Luke 9:23, take up your cross daily: deny yourself, die to self, follow Christ. This is self-control—the ability to say no to yourself. No one is born with it; Ephesians 2 shows we're dead in sin. Cry to God for life to say no. The hardest battle is denying self in relationships, activities, desires—behind closed doors where no one watches. This is life and death, eternal principles.

If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. (Luke 9:23)

Preserving Unity in the Bond of Peace

Every biblical command is impossible without the Holy Spirit's power, trusting Christ's death and life for you. Justification frees you, counting Christ's righteousness as yours, so live from His life in you.

You're never meant to live alone—you're saved into community. "Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Peace means ceasefire with God or contentment amid trials. Unity with believers helps you endure life's blows.

Isolating from others keeps you in sin's clutches. James 5 calls for elders to pray and confess sins for healing; unconfessed sin wastes bones (Psalm 32). 1 Corinthians 11 links unworthy communion to sickness and death. Sin physically affects; community provides comfort and accountability.

Your sin affects the whole body—like leaven leavening the lump. Pride breaks unity; walking unworthily harms the group, dragging Christ's name through mud, branding believers hypocrites.

True Christians aren't hypocrites: they come to the light, confess sin, cling to Christ's alien righteousness (John 3; 1 John 1). Hypocrisy is legalism—boasting self-righteousness while hiding sin, like Pharisees: whitewashed tombs.

Be real: say no to pornography, immorality, drunkenness; yes to what pleases God. God matters more than you. Align your life with your calling to eternal hope. This produces tight-knit community protecting each other from sin and temptation. Do you have each other's backs?

Having Each Other's Backs Through the Gospel

Do you have each other's backs? If you know something is going on in someone's life, be diligent not to bring your own righteousness. That's where people get hurt—judging them by the standards of righteousness you set up, putting an unnecessary burden on their neck. That's still legalism. Instead, bring the gospel to protect them, to have their back, knowing they struggle with that particular sin. Even limit yourself for the sake of your brother or sister excelling. Maybe you don't wear particularly revealing clothing because every guy is attracted to women—it's going to happen. You might not say particular things because you know your sister gets offended by that.

There's one element that requires us to get to know each other: you won't want to know anybody else in this room until you see them as more important than yourself. If you're more important to you, you'll only surround yourself with people who bring you pleasure and happiness. Anybody who's somewhat annoying or mildly socially awkward becomes irrelevant. No degree of personality matters if it's not sin. The real sin is in your heart—intolerance toward somebody else because you're more important than them. If there's any inkling of irritation, you don't want to be around them.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, Scythian nor barbarian. If those larger people groups don't divide us, how much less public school versus homeschool versus private school? There's no label for you in the church. Not even male nor female in terms of salvation—there's no gender, no label, nothing except Christian, beloved, brother and sister in Christ. The highest degree of relationship under marriage that Christ purchased for you. There are no dividing lines or barriers anymore. Sin alienates you; the gospel pulls you in by humility.

Questions for Self-Examination

Are you diligently seeking to match the way you live publicly with the way you live privately? Do you think this just happens over time, that these pieces fall into place? If so, Paul is saying the stupidest thing in Ephesians. He implores, begs earnestly, desires sincerely beyond all else:

I therefore... urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. (Ephesians 4:1)

Are you diligently seeking how to do that? Are you diligently seeking others as more important than yourself? Are you diligently seeking God as more important than you?

Secondly, do you spend more time seeking your own good and pleasure, or are you constantly asking if your actions bring pleasure to God? When faced with an opportunity—a relationship, something you shouldn't look at—do you stop and ask, "Is this going to bring pleasure to God?" If no, does that prick your conscience? If yes, are you excited? There's a rush of excitement every minute of every day when you realize you have an opportunity to please God.

Are you concerned about whether your actions please God or please you? Over time, as you diligently seek the gospel, run from sin, and pursue righteousness, what pleases God becomes pleasing to you:

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

The desires of your heart are given 100% of the time when you're delighted in God.

Lastly, are you concerned for the well-being of other Christians, especially youth you can affect most? If someone's in a sport, are you concerned they excel for God's glory? In a speech competition or class presentation on a current event, do you pray they represent Christ well from God's worldview? If a relationship is rocky, are you applying the gospel to help? If someone's hungry because their parents fell on hard times, are you concerned for their next meal? For a youth leader going to Mexico, do they have the right materials?

I remember a mission trip: a family living in a shack the size of that closet, reusing one bathtub of water for weeks. Does that bother you? Or the six billion people, most dead in trespasses and sins? Brothers and sisters plagued with sin—you know the gospel, the remedy. You're the physician with the miracle shot among the dying. Are you a relentless evangelist? Are you concerned for others' well-being?