Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Worthy Walk Msg 1226 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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A Worthy Walk Msg 1226 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: We have a love affair going with this letter to
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Speaker 1: the Ephesians, and all of us are enjoying the journey together.
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Speaker 1: I perhaps more than any of you, how I need this.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes have people ask me if I've been reading their
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Speaker 1: journal or if I talk to their wife before I
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Speaker 1: preach the sermon. I said, no, I just preach on
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Speaker 1: what I need to hear, and I'll let you listen
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Speaker 1: in that's how I feel about these things. In your
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Speaker 1: worship folder, you'll find an outline of the Letter to
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Speaker 1: the Ephesians. It really is a chart that you may
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Speaker 1: want to place here following our reading of the Ephesians
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Speaker 1: four Versus one to six, and just mark this spot.
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Speaker 1: We'll be back here shortly. Ephesians for one. Therefore, I,
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Speaker 1: the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in
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Speaker 1: a manner worthy of the calling with which you have
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Speaker 1: been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing
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Speaker 1: tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve
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Speaker 1: the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
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Speaker 1: There is one body and one spirit, just as also
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Speaker 1: you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord,
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Speaker 1: one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,
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Speaker 1: who is overall and through all and in all. Not
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Speaker 1: too hard to figure out. That's about unity, isn't it.
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Speaker 1: And we'll be dealing with that in a few moments.
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Speaker 1: Please join me in prayer. Just have a few moments
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Speaker 1: of silence here you bring your need to the Father
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Speaker 1: who cares about it more than you do. How good
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Speaker 1: and how rare are moments of quietness, and yet how necessary? Lord.
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Speaker 1: Everything seems to be full of noise and music we
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Speaker 1: didn't turn on, and sounds we didn't prefer, and just everywhere,
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Speaker 1: and to find a place of real solitude is hard
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Speaker 1: to do. Teach us afresh and a new as we
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Speaker 1: meet together to value times like that, times when we
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Speaker 1: can really be lost in wonder and love and praise.
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Speaker 1: Remind us to sing to you when alone with you,
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Speaker 1: as we give you our praise, for you are our righteousness.
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Speaker 1: We worship you, O Holy God. Now there are a
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Speaker 1: thousand distractions, and each one of us has his or
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Speaker 1: her own list of concerns that could preoccupy us during
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Speaker 1: this vital time of continuing worship. When we hear someone sing,
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Speaker 1: and when we give our offerings, and when we listen
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Speaker 1: to the teaching of the scriptures our minds can wander.
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Speaker 1: Seize our thoughts, Lord and capture our hearts, and bring
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Speaker 1: every thought into captivesvity. For the glory of Christ be
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Speaker 1: honored in the reasons behind our giving today. Encourage those
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Speaker 1: who can't aren't able to give and refresh, and inspire
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Speaker 1: those who are able to give abundantly. And remove from
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Speaker 1: our minds the distractions so that we can really focus
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Speaker 1: our thoughts on something as valuable as our walk in
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Speaker 1: unity together. May we be a freed from defensiveness and
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Speaker 1: anger and the things that resist truth, that the seed
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Speaker 1: of the word can lodge on soft, fertile soil and
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Speaker 1: grow change in us. For these quiet moments now, as
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Speaker 1: we give, and as we continue our worship, we thank
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Speaker 1: you in Jesus' name. Amen. All of us who love
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Speaker 1: to read have our favorite authors, don't we. In fact,
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Speaker 1: if you really like and author, chances are good that
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Speaker 1: you have collected that author's books over the years. Authors
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Speaker 1: love collectors, And you know, when you really love an author,
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Speaker 1: you learn his style, and you find that you don't
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Speaker 1: really look for a title or a particular subject that
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Speaker 1: she or he may have written on, but you look
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Speaker 1: for the name, and you often go into the bookstore
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Speaker 1: and you say, has so and so written a new
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Speaker 1: book lately, And they'll say, yes, we have this one,
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Speaker 1: and you, almost without looking into it, have learned to
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Speaker 1: trust that writer, that author to communicate in a way
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Speaker 1: that you find entertaining or inspiring or understanding. Every writer
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Speaker 1: has a style, and as you study the style of
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Speaker 1: the writer, you find yourself connecting with a sense of
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Speaker 1: comfort and encouragement and understanding. The Bible is a collection
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Speaker 1: of would you believe about forty writers. We can't call
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Speaker 1: them authors, because the Holy Spirit is the author of
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Speaker 1: the scriptures. But these forty writers, under the inspiration of
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Speaker 1: the Spirit, chosen by God, have put together those truths
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Speaker 1: that make up the sixty six books of the Bible. Now,
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Speaker 1: when you talk to people who have studied the Bible,
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Speaker 1: you find out that they have their favorite writers. I
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Speaker 1: have a good friend who says, my favorite all time
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Speaker 1: writer in the scripture is Jeremiah. He said, when I
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Speaker 1: hear something from Jeremiah, my life just sort of lights up,
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Speaker 1: and I look up and I smile because I have
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Speaker 1: this sense of kinship with Jeremiah. I have another friend
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Speaker 1: who says it about Moses, says to me, there's no
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Speaker 1: writing better than the first five books of the Bible,
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Speaker 1: and the way Moses puts his thoughts together is sort
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Speaker 1: of cements it in my mind. One of my Greek
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Speaker 1: props used to say it was Luke. He chose Luke.
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Speaker 1: He said, the intellectual stimulation of a vocabulary and the
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Speaker 1: syntax of a physician like Luke is like no other
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Speaker 1: writing in all the New Testament. That was his preference.
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Speaker 1: But I have the feeling if you ask the general
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Speaker 1: Christian crowd a number of Christian people if they have
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Speaker 1: a favorite author, most would say Paul Paul is my favorite.
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Speaker 1: Many would say, and like all the other writers, Paul
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Speaker 1: has a style. I find Paul's style fascinating, not only
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Speaker 1: because it is so consistent, but because at times the
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Speaker 1: very same words are used from letter to letter. I
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Speaker 1: also noticed that in Paul's style he usually lays a
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Speaker 1: solid doctrinal groundwork, and that takes up the better part
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Speaker 1: of the letter, certainly half of it, often more. And
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Speaker 1: then there's a turning point, which I call the hinge,
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Speaker 1: like a door has a hinge. The hinge in Paul's
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Speaker 1: letter then introduces the practical side. So we have orthodoxy
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Speaker 1: and if you will orthopraxy. We have doctrine, and we
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Speaker 1: have duty, we have the theoretical, and then we have
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Speaker 1: the reality. And it all hangs on the hinge. When
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Speaker 1: you study Paul, you find the hinge. You know you're
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Speaker 1: moving from the vertical emphasis to the horizontal emphasis, from
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Speaker 1: our relationship to God and understanding him better, to a
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Speaker 1: relationship with other people and relating to them better. Let
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Speaker 1: me show you this. Turn to Romans chapter twelve, and
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Speaker 1: I will introduce you to one of the hinges. These
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Speaker 1: hinges never squeak, by the way, they're well oiled, and
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Speaker 1: they often are our favorite verse of a particular letter.
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Speaker 1: Romans twelve one is the hinge. The first eleven chapters
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Speaker 1: have been full of great doctrine, depravity, salvation, the work
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Speaker 1: of Christ, the Cross, sanctification, and then you move into
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Speaker 1: the whole study of the jew and the gentile, and
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Speaker 1: God's sovereign work in calling and electing. Then you get
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Speaker 1: to the hinge. Paul writes in verse one one, Therefore
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Speaker 1: that's the word. Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the
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Speaker 1: mercies of God, to present your bodies. See the practicality
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Speaker 1: in it. To present your bodies a living and holy
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Speaker 1: sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
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Speaker 1: And if that isn't enough, do not be conformed to
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Speaker 1: this world, but be transformed. Do you feel the long
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Speaker 1: index finger punching you in the sternum you see Paul.
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Speaker 1: Do you feel Paul now suddenly saying stop thinking theoretically
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Speaker 1: and start realizing. This is designed to change your life.
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Speaker 1: The secret is the word. Therefore, one of my Bible
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Speaker 1: teachers used to say, you need to always figure out
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Speaker 1: what the therefo is there for, and in this case,
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Speaker 1: it's to change the emphasis from the verse vertical focusing
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Speaker 1: on God, to the horizontal focusing on your relationship to
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Speaker 1: the Lord and to others. I'll show you another one.
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Speaker 1: Look at Galatians. Skip the Corinthian letters. Turn to Galatians,
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Speaker 1: which is Paul's magnum opus on liberty. It is really
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Speaker 1: the magna carta of Christian liberty. And for four chapters
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Speaker 1: look at Galatians five. For four chapters, he makes it
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Speaker 1: so clear that we are no longer shackled by the
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Speaker 1: constraints of Judaism or the demands of legalism. We have
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Speaker 1: been freed. It is the letter of freedom. If you
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Speaker 1: struggle with legalism, you need to become a student of Galatians.
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Speaker 1: It will set you free. Now look at verse one
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Speaker 1: of chapter five. You'll hear the hinge. It was for
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Speaker 1: freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm,
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Speaker 1: and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
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Speaker 1: And he goes right on describing how you can live
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Speaker 1: out the freedom that Christ is made available to you.
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Speaker 1: Each time I meet up with a legalist, and that's that.
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Speaker 1: Seldom I remind them that the Book of Galatians is
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Speaker 1: still in the Bible, that there is a freedom that
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Speaker 1: is there that they have never really understood and are
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Speaker 1: afraid of. But as long as you have this kind
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Speaker 1: of practical direction, you won't be afraid of it. Because
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Speaker 1: paul now puts he rounds the corners on living a
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Speaker 1: life of freedom and teaches us to do it with
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Speaker 1: maturity and discernment and wisdom. Skip Ephesians. We're going to
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Speaker 1: be there in a moment. Look at coalitionans one more.
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Speaker 1: If i'm a chapter three again, this is so Pauline.
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Speaker 1: He does this again and again. He's talked for two
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Speaker 1: chapters about the great doctrines of Christ. Because in writing
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Speaker 1: to the Collisians. He's dealing with the heresy of the day,
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Speaker 1: gnosticism and intellectual religion that kept people from Christ rather
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Speaker 1: than drew them to him, and he's established a very
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Speaker 1: firm christology for two chapters. He gets to chapter three,
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Speaker 1: and there it is again the hinge. Therefore, if you
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Speaker 1: have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things
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Speaker 1: above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
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Speaker 1: Look at the practicality. Set your mind on things above,
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Speaker 1: not on the things that are on the earth. Isn't
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Speaker 1: that masterful. He's established that Christ is the pre eminent
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Speaker 1: one above all of the affairs of this life. Knowing
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Speaker 1: that there's everything in life to drag us down, he
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Speaker 1: says in chapter three, now focus on Christ, seek the
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Speaker 1: things that please Him, that honor Him, and you'll be
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Speaker 1: able to handle whatever life throws at you. Ephesians is
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Speaker 1: really the classic example of that. And when we get
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Speaker 1: to chapter four once again we come to another hinge.
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Speaker 1: And as a matter of fact, if you could read
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Speaker 1: it just as Paul wrote it, you would see that
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Speaker 1: four to one of Ephesians has the very same opening
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Speaker 1: three terms in the Greek text as Romans Chapter twelve,
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Speaker 1: verse one. Why it's rendered implore in verse one of
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Speaker 1: chapter four of Ephesians and beseech in Romans twelve one.
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Speaker 1: You've got to ask the translators, because it's the very
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Speaker 1: same word, I beseech you. Therefore is the way Romans
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Speaker 1: twelve one begins. Ephesians begins the same way, though it
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Speaker 1: reads differently, because the eye is emphatic in the original,
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Speaker 1: and so the writers, or I should say, the translators
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Speaker 1: in hopes of capturing that put the eye above the imploring.
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Speaker 1: So he says, therefore, I a go, I Paul the prisoner.
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Speaker 1: Remember I'm on your side. Remember I'm the one who
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Speaker 1: has stood in defense of the gentiles. I Paul, the
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Speaker 1: prisoner of the Lord, implore you. And suddenly he moves
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Speaker 1: into another series of practical directives. Some of them are commands,
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Speaker 1: some of them are pleadings. Here's a pleading, I implore
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Speaker 1: you to do what to walk? Isn't that a relief?
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Speaker 1: Isn't it great? It doesn't say to make a mad dash,
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Speaker 1: or to climb the highest mountain, or to move into
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Speaker 1: the marathon of misery through the rest of your life
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Speaker 1: as you live for God. No, he doesn't say that
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Speaker 1: I implore you to walk, to walk, to take one
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Speaker 1: step at a time, putting one foot ahead of the other,
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Speaker 1: to walk, to walk, how to walk in a manner
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Speaker 1: worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
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Speaker 1: For three chapters he has been emphasizing the calling, the calling.
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Speaker 1: We have been called by God, who initiated the plan
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Speaker 1: of salvation. We have been called by Christ, who implemented
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Speaker 1: the plan. We have been called and sealed by the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, who has inspired and enabled the plan. Now
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Speaker 1: he says, let it make a difference in your walk.
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Speaker 1: Walk Worthy. It's a great word. I love words. I
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Speaker 1: had a friends say the other day, you are a
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Speaker 1: word vulture. I took that as a compliment. I do.
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Speaker 1: I get on words like a buzzer gets on roadkill. Man.
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Speaker 1: I'm telling you, I will pick I will pick out
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Speaker 1: a word. I will dig away at it. I'll check
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Speaker 1: out the etymology, I'll find what the background of it is,
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Speaker 1: and I just find it fascinating. Worthy sounds like something
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Speaker 1: you do in front of a king, or you sing
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Speaker 1: in front of the Lord himself. But this is about us.
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Speaker 1: This is oxyone axio. We got our word axiom from it,
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Speaker 1: and the root word is to weigh something. In fact, really,
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Speaker 1: when you check it out, it means to be of
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Speaker 1: equal weight. It's a mathematical term, isn't it you who
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Speaker 1: love math. There's an equation and axioms. Axioms indicate that
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Speaker 1: the equation is true because what is true on one
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Speaker 1: side is of equal truth on the other, and it
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Speaker 1: becomes axiomatic. Here it's not about math, It's about life.
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Speaker 1: I implore you to walk in a way that balance
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Speaker 1: is out your calling. Your calling is great and pure
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Speaker 1: and holy. Your walk is to be pure and great
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Speaker 1: and holy. When I had the privilege of playing a
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Speaker 1: very small part in the memorial service for the late
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Speaker 1: great coach Tom Landry, behind the scenes, before we were
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Speaker 1: ever in front of the public, I had a chance
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Speaker 1: to listen to one ballplayer after another who played on
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Speaker 1: Coach Landry's team, and I want to tell you it
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Speaker 1: was a pleasure to hear what they had to say.
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Speaker 1: The most common remark was the one Randy White made
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Speaker 1: before the public a little later. He walked the walk.
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Speaker 1: He walked the walk. He didn't corner us and embarrass us.
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Speaker 1: He didn't drive his faith down our throat. He didn't
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Speaker 1: preach and use his coaching position in an unfair way
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Speaker 1: to take advantage of us or to exploit us as
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Speaker 1: a team. He walked the walk, and we couldn't deny
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Speaker 1: that it was a true walk. He walked worthy of
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Speaker 1: the calling. That's what he has in mind here. He
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Speaker 1: walked worthy of the calling. You have a chart that
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Speaker 1: we gave you several weeks ago and stuck it back
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Speaker 1: in the worship folder today, and I just look at
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Speaker 1: it here for a moment. It's a horizontal chart that
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Speaker 1: takes you from Ephesians one to one all the way
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Speaker 1: through to six twenty four, the whole letter. And in
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Speaker 1: my chart, I've shown you the hinge. Notice it right
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Speaker 1: in the center of the letter, at the end of
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Speaker 1: check chapter three, before chapter four gets very far underway.
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Speaker 1: I didn't write it there, but there's a therefore across
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Speaker 1: the hinge. We looked at what God has done for
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Speaker 1: us in Christ in chapter one. We saw what Christ
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Speaker 1: has done for us in chapter two, and we saw
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Speaker 1: what the mystery means to us in chapter three. And
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Speaker 1: all of that is so great, and all of it
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Speaker 1: is so important. It was like laying the foundation for
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Speaker 1: everything that he now wants to say regarding the living
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Speaker 1: of the life. When we get to chapter four, immediately
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Speaker 1: we move into the walk of the believer, followed by
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Speaker 1: the life of the imitator. Interesting. Maybe you didn't know it,
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Speaker 1: but we are told to imitate God in chapter five
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Speaker 1: of Ephesians. If you think walking the walk is tough,
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Speaker 1: think about imitating God. You can't do it without the
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Speaker 1: power of the spirit. And that's why chapter five is
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Speaker 1: full of truth regarding the Holy Spirit and the living
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Speaker 1: out of the fruit of the Spirit through the power
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Speaker 1: of the Spirit. And then the last section is the
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Speaker 1: strategy of the warrior as we deal with the spiritual
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Speaker 1: battles that are upon us. Now back to this early
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Speaker 1: part of chapter four, as we learn to walk in
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Speaker 1: a balanced way, remember the old chorus, some of you
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Speaker 1: will remember, after all he's done for me, After all
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Speaker 1: he's done for me, how can I do less than
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Speaker 1: give him my best? After all he's done for me.
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Speaker 1: That's an axiom, that's an oxiome chorus. If you will,
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Speaker 1: all he's done for me, how can I do less
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Speaker 1: than balance it out with a life of obedience that follows.
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Speaker 1: So beginning in chapter four, he implores us to take
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Speaker 1: the truth we've learned about God and Christ and the Spirit,
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Speaker 1: and to carry it out and our daily walk. Let
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Speaker 1: me give you a little outline. I think it will
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Speaker 1: help you. In the next sixteen verses, they kind of
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Speaker 1: fit together like sort of like Domino's standing on their end.
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Speaker 1: One bumps up against another, which pushes the third, and
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Speaker 1: then the fourth. We have in verses one and two.
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Speaker 1: The charity of our character. It's an old word for love.
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Speaker 1: I'm sorry it's gotten lost in the passing of time.
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Speaker 1: I love the word charity. The charity of our character.
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Speaker 1: That's the first two verses. That grows into the unity
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Speaker 1: of our body. That's three through six. The charity of
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Speaker 1: our character turns into the unity of our body, and
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Speaker 1: then this is enhanced by the diversity of our gifts
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Speaker 1: seven through twelve, and then that results in the maturity
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Speaker 1: of our growth thirteen to sixteen. This is one of
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Speaker 1: the greatest sections in all the New Testament on the
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Speaker 1: Christian life, the charity of our character, the unity of
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Speaker 1: our body, the diversity of our gifts, and the maturity
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Speaker 1: of our growth. Let me tell you something that's far
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Speaker 1: more important than growing larger, and that's growing deeper, Far
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Speaker 1: more important than numerical size, is the size of our maturity,
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Speaker 1: the depth of our roots. That's what the apostle is
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Speaker 1: pleading for. But it isn't going to be easy. That's
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Speaker 1: why it's the spirit's work through us. It's not the
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Speaker 1: work of the flesh. He says, to walk in a
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Speaker 1: manner worthy of the calling. And now he tells us
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Speaker 1: what is involved in that. So like Paul to do that,
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Speaker 1: he gives us five words. Now come the vulture. Okay,
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Speaker 1: you find the words in verse two that are the
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Speaker 1: ones worth attention. It's obvious, it's clear. The walk that
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Speaker 1: is worthy is a walk that is full of humility, gentleness, patience,
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Speaker 1: tolerance for one another, and all of it done in love.
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Speaker 1: John ow Stott calls these the five foundation stones of
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Speaker 1: Christian unity. That's a good word. These are solid stones
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Speaker 1: upon which unity is built. You get this in place,
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Speaker 1: you'll never split a church. You carry these things out,
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Speaker 1: you'll get along well in your small group ministry with
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Speaker 1: one another. You'll be able to make it without too
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Speaker 1: many arguments, because there's humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance for one another,
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Speaker 1: and it's in love humility. Let me spend just a
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Speaker 1: few moments on each one, or at least part of
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Speaker 1: them will be a group first humility. That means putting
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Speaker 1: Christ first, other, second, self last. Very simple formula, Christ first, Other, second,
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Speaker 1: self last. It's not popular. You won't read about humility
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Speaker 1: in the Wall Street Journal, you won't find it in
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Speaker 1: the business journal of your company, and you usually won't
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Speaker 1: see it among the strong leaders who are so busy
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Speaker 1: promoting themselves. Fact, did you know that it was despised
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Speaker 1: in the days of the Greeco Roman world. It was
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Speaker 1: considered a slavish, a slave kind of mentality. It was
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Speaker 1: to be humble. If you were the king or the emperor,
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Speaker 1: you acted like it. Balvany balvany, I am the one
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Speaker 1: in charge, and a life was only as safe as
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Speaker 1: the turn of your thumb. If you were the emperor,
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Speaker 1: you were the almighty. That's why they call themselves names
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Speaker 1: like Augustus the Great and Mighty ones and along King Christ,
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Speaker 1: who pointed out the importance of a humble recognition of
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Speaker 1: the worth and value of the other person, that's humility.
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Speaker 1: Humility isn't a living doormat. Don't let anyone ever tell
26:48
Speaker 1: you that. That's not Christ's definition of humility. It's a
26:56
Speaker 1: lowliness of mind. Toward one's own merit. Humility. One of
27:03
Speaker 1: these five foundation stone is Christ like Matthew eleven twenty
27:10
Speaker 1: eight to thirty. Come to me, all you who are
27:13
Speaker 1: heavy laden, and I will give you rest, for I
27:18
Speaker 1: am meek and lowly in heart. There it is the
27:24
Speaker 1: only time Christ ever described himself in his temperament was
27:30
Speaker 1: in Matthew eleven twenty eight to thirty, and he calls
27:34
Speaker 1: himself humble of heart. One man writes, lowliness was much
27:42
Speaker 1: despised in the ancient world. The Greeks never used their
27:46
Speaker 1: word for humility in a context of approval, still less
27:53
Speaker 1: of admiration. The crouching submissiveness of a slave. That's what
28:00
Speaker 1: they meant, an adject servile, subservient attitude. Not till Jesus
28:07
Speaker 1: Christ came was a true humility recognized. He humbled himself.
28:15
Speaker 1: Only he, among the world's religious and ethical leaders, has
28:23
Speaker 1: set before us as our model a little child. Think
28:28
Speaker 1: of that He came and said, except you be as
28:34
Speaker 1: a little child, you can't come into the kingdom the
28:40
Speaker 1: self forgetfulness of a child. One of the things we
28:45
Speaker 1: love about children. It's remarkable at times. Next word is gentleness.
28:52
Speaker 1: See that word, this is a synonym for weakness in
28:57
Speaker 1: many people's minds. But meess is not weakness. Did you
29:03
Speaker 1: know in the etymology of this word it has in
29:06
Speaker 1: mind strength under control. It was used to describe a
29:10
Speaker 1: horse that was broken. Let me ask you, is a
29:14
Speaker 1: horse that's broken any less strong than before? It's broken,
29:21
Speaker 1: just under control. It's no longer dangerous or wild. You
29:26
Speaker 1: can mount the horse, You can ride the horse. It
29:29
Speaker 1: will work with you in whatever may be the project
29:33
Speaker 1: or the need. It's broken, it's called meek. In another
29:39
Speaker 1: part of the scriptures, the meek person thinks as little
29:43
Speaker 1: of his personal claims as the humble person thinks of
29:48
Speaker 1: his personal merits. This is the absence of any disposition
29:55
Speaker 1: to assert personal rights. Ask you, is that rare in
30:02
Speaker 1: the twenty first century, probably as rare as inequality we
30:07
Speaker 1: could name? When is the last time you met a strong,
30:12
Speaker 1: natural leader who was humble and meek? You can number
30:18
Speaker 1: them on one hand, usually with fingers left over. Christ
30:26
Speaker 1: was like that. The whole point of this is that
30:29
Speaker 1: when you walk in a manner worthy of the calling,
30:33
Speaker 1: you will be like Christ, and the world will notice.
30:40
Speaker 1: You have to wear a badge, you have to wave flags,
30:45
Speaker 1: you don't have to put symbols on the back of
30:47
Speaker 1: your car, or wear a necklace the big cross on it.
30:51
Speaker 1: You don't have to do that. You'll walk the walk
30:56
Speaker 1: and it won't be able to deny it. Humility leads
31:02
Speaker 1: to gentleness, which results in patience and tolerance. Now don't
31:08
Speaker 1: rush too quickly beyond that. Tolerance in our day has
31:13
Speaker 1: gone to seede. Now you tolerate everything. I mean, if
31:18
Speaker 1: you've got conviction, you're intolerant. That's ridiculous. Christ had the deepest, strongest,
31:25
Speaker 1: most solid set of convictions one could imagine. But he
31:30
Speaker 1: was this gracious individual with the sinners, never once making
31:37
Speaker 1: a demand on them that was inappropriate. He talks about
31:45
Speaker 1: patience and tolerance, What a perfect combination with love. Here,
31:51
Speaker 1: let me tell you we are so lacking in these
31:53
Speaker 1: qualities in these United States of America. It's embarrassing. What
31:58
Speaker 1: other country is told not to act ugly when they travel?
32:05
Speaker 1: What other country is so notorious for bad manners when
32:11
Speaker 1: in a situation that requires adjustment and toleration and patience.
32:24
Speaker 1: My friend Kent Hughes, who passes a church up in
32:26
Speaker 1: Wheaton at the College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, in his
32:30
Speaker 1: book on Effesions, writes on this this subject has a
32:33
Speaker 1: special poignancy today in a world which has so failed
32:38
Speaker 1: in its attempts at unity and is so alienated. I
32:44
Speaker 1: was in my teens, writes Hughes, during the fifties when
32:48
Speaker 1: ecumenism was the big thing with the mainline denominations. But
32:53
Speaker 1: it all came to naught because it was based on
32:56
Speaker 1: an eviscerated spinalist theology instead of a vertebrate system of
33:02
Speaker 1: Christian belief. Today, the World Council of Churches is little
33:08
Speaker 1: more than a mouse that roared. I was in my
33:12
Speaker 1: twenties in the sixties, and I remember visiting hate Ashbury
33:17
Speaker 1: in San Francisco and being handed flowers and underground newspapers
33:23
Speaker 1: proclaiming a new day of peace. The bright colors were
33:28
Speaker 1: colors of optimism, the commune's wishful microcosms of the new order.
33:35
Speaker 1: But today all that is left is some middle aged anachronisms,
33:42
Speaker 1: cultural dinosaurs. We live in a cold, fragmented world. He
33:50
Speaker 1: goes on to describe where he recently spoke to a
33:53
Speaker 1: young man so starved for attention that he had his
33:57
Speaker 1: hair cut once a week just to be touched by
34:01
Speaker 1: another human hand in a non threatening manner. Life, says Hughes,
34:11
Speaker 1: for so many in this world is like an elevator ride,
34:15
Speaker 1: everyone facing forward, no eye contact, no conversation or interaction,
34:22
Speaker 1: and then everyone rushing off to their faceless endeavors. The
34:28
Speaker 1: world is looking for a new humanity, a third race,
34:32
Speaker 1: if you will, which is not only walking in unity,
34:38
Speaker 1: but has open, inviting arms and hearts. That's what he
34:45
Speaker 1: has in mind here. In fact, he says, there's a
34:51
Speaker 1: diligence involved in living like this. Look at the diligence
34:54
Speaker 1: in verse three, being diligent to preserve the of the
35:00
Speaker 1: spirit in the bond. I think of the word belt
35:04
Speaker 1: with the belt of peace around this body. Not a
35:07
Speaker 1: great word picture, diligent to preserve the unity. Think about it.
35:13
Speaker 1: You don't even create the unity. The unity is there.
35:17
Speaker 1: It's in the bond of peace, in the spirit. When
35:21
Speaker 1: you step into it, you are a part of the
35:23
Speaker 1: preservation of it. In my growing up years, I lived
35:27
Speaker 1: under the influence of two good parents, a father who
35:32
Speaker 1: had my good at heart and a mother who seemed
35:35
Speaker 1: to weave her words through the words of the scriptures.
35:38
Speaker 1: And the counsel I got was, if you will, an
35:42
Speaker 1: almost a barrage of truth from one angle and then another,
35:47
Speaker 1: and I found myself enveloped that in my growing up years.
35:51
Speaker 1: I didn't create that context, but it's my task to
35:55
Speaker 1: preserve it. And I live out the council the wisdom
36:00
Speaker 1: of good parents in my life. When I step into
36:04
Speaker 1: the body of Christ as a result of faith in
36:07
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for me, having paid
36:11
Speaker 1: the price on the cross, I step into the realm
36:15
Speaker 1: of unity that he has established. That's what he wants
36:19
Speaker 1: for his body. But I will tell you there is
36:24
Speaker 1: no more divided church on any continent in the world
36:29
Speaker 1: than there is in these United States. It is nothing
36:35
Speaker 1: short of tragic. Every city has its story of split churches.
36:42
Speaker 1: Every city, and many towns, even villages pastors that will
36:48
Speaker 1: hardly talk to one another, to say nothing of supporting
36:52
Speaker 1: and encouraging one another. There is probably no more envious
36:56
Speaker 1: profession on earth than the ministry. And I say that
37:02
Speaker 1: to my our shame. In my own career, the apostle
37:10
Speaker 1: is imploring ministers, congregational members, believers young and old alike,
37:16
Speaker 1: lay down the arms, pick up the belt of peace,
37:23
Speaker 1: preserve it. In fact, the emphasis is so obviously on unit,
37:30
Speaker 1: obviously unity that he uses the word over and over.
37:34
Speaker 1: Look at verse four. There is one body, one spirit,
37:38
Speaker 1: just as you're called in, one hope of your calling,
37:41
Speaker 1: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. Duh, I mean,
37:47
Speaker 1: how many times does he have to say it? It's
37:50
Speaker 1: so Pauline. He gets on a word that says it,
37:54
Speaker 1: and he drives it, and he drives it home from
37:57
Speaker 1: one angle and then another, and you finally say say, okay,
38:00
Speaker 1: I got it. Okay, okay, Wait, it's like drinking out
38:03
Speaker 1: of a fire hydrant. I mean, this is unbelievably obvious,
38:07
Speaker 1: paul Then do it walk like this. It's a good
38:18
Speaker 1: place for me to pause and just meddle. Are you
38:26
Speaker 1: a gossip? Please? Don't answer out loud or don't answer
38:31
Speaker 1: for your mate. Do you gossip? Do you spread rumors?
38:41
Speaker 1: Do you so discord among the family of God? Why
38:45
Speaker 1: do you do that? Why would you want to live
38:50
Speaker 1: so disobediently? Do you share confidential information that causes a
38:56
Speaker 1: disruption in the body of Christ? Why if you do that?
39:00
Speaker 1: Where did you learn that? You didn't learn it from Christ.
39:04
Speaker 1: You learned it from maybe religious roots, or you learned
39:08
Speaker 1: it from some bad teacher who may have been a friend,
39:12
Speaker 1: or you cultivated it out of your own cesspool of depravity.
39:16
Speaker 1: Maybe that's where it came from. But remember in the war,
39:22
Speaker 1: loose lips sink ships. Some of you are old enough
39:25
Speaker 1: to remember that. Most of you looking at me like
39:27
Speaker 1: where are you from? And there was a Second World
39:31
Speaker 1: War way back then, and remember seeing the motto loose
39:34
Speaker 1: lips sink ships, and if you talk too much the
39:39
Speaker 1: result was a sunken ship. I'm going to tell you
39:42
Speaker 1: something even worse than that now, Loose lips split churches.
39:50
Speaker 1: If you're an officer at Stonebrier Community Church, right alongside
39:54
Speaker 1: purity is confidentiality, and right alongside confidentiality is so control.
40:01
Speaker 1: Keep your mouth shut. You are dealing with information at
40:06
Speaker 1: times that is absolutely scandalous, difficult for the leadership to
40:12
Speaker 1: work through. You gain nothing in your insecurity of running
40:17
Speaker 1: off at the mouth by telling that information to another
40:20
Speaker 1: group that they might pray more intelligently. Please, if you
40:26
Speaker 1: are not confidential, you should not be an officer in
40:29
Speaker 1: this church. I should not be a pastor. Sowing discord
40:37
Speaker 1: among the brothers is breaking of the unity and failing
40:41
Speaker 1: to preserve it. Job one for the believer is to
40:46
Speaker 1: preserve it. Do you disturb the peace? That's another way
40:52
Speaker 1: of putting it, isn't it. They arrest you for doing that.
40:56
Speaker 1: Outside No one is here to arrest you. But you
41:01
Speaker 1: need to know the impact of a disturbed peace in
41:05
Speaker 1: a church. It's horrible. Lives are broken, fractured, sometimes irreparably
41:14
Speaker 1: harmed because we break the peace. The bond of peace
41:22
Speaker 1: is secured when we work in harmony with each other,
41:26
Speaker 1: when we allow love to flow freely and we forgive quickly.
41:34
Speaker 1: The most powerful testimony a church can demonstrate is unity.
41:40
Speaker 1: Don't think the world doesn't spot it. It amazes them
41:47
Speaker 1: when they see a truly happy church, when they see
41:51
Speaker 1: a church of any size working in harmony. The lost
41:57
Speaker 1: may be unsaved, they're not ignorant and they're not blind.
42:03
Speaker 1: Why do you think a number of those cowboys would say,
42:06
Speaker 1: even though they didn't embrace the Savior as Tom Landry did,
42:10
Speaker 1: he walked the walk. They saw it. He was different
42:16
Speaker 1: than other coaches they played. For One man had lost
42:21
Speaker 1: his wife and the game was coming that weekend. Coach
42:26
Speaker 1: Landry said to him, I know you're going through a
42:29
Speaker 1: terrible time. You don't have to play, said, do you know, Chuck,
42:32
Speaker 1: it was a playoff game. I was a starting running
42:35
Speaker 1: back for the team, and he said, if you don't
42:38
Speaker 1: feel up to it, you don't have to play. He said.
42:41
Speaker 1: When we ran out on the field, he had tears
42:43
Speaker 1: in his eyes as he put his arms around me
42:46
Speaker 1: in the locker room, said, I want you to know
42:49
Speaker 1: I prayed through the night for you and what you're
42:52
Speaker 1: going through. Said. I realized then that my life meant
42:56
Speaker 1: more to him than the game we were about to play.
43:02
Speaker 1: Can you name many coaches like that? If you can,
43:06
Speaker 1: they're walking the walk? Is this important? Well, you answer
43:13
Speaker 1: that the entire Trinity is behind it, The entire Trinity.
43:18
Speaker 1: Verse four is the Spirit circle. That verse five is Christ,
43:22
Speaker 1: the Lord circle. That verse six is the Father God circle.
43:28
Speaker 1: That one body that's jew and gentile living in harmony,
43:34
Speaker 1: one spirit that's of course the work of the Holy Spirit.
43:38
Speaker 1: Same in all the lives of the believers. There's one
43:41
Speaker 1: hope of our calling to be like Christ. There's no
43:44
Speaker 1: other mark, there's no other hope to be holy and blameless.
43:48
Speaker 1: According to Chapter one, verse four of Ephesians, one Lord
43:54
Speaker 1: salvation is based on the sacrifice of one death by
43:58
Speaker 1: faith alone in Christ will What hope that is for
44:02
Speaker 1: the Hindo who has ten thousand gods, never knowing which
44:07
Speaker 1: one he can appease. What hope it is for the
44:10
Speaker 1: pagan who doesn't know which god to follow, and they're
44:12
Speaker 1: all angry. Here is a heavenly father in the Lord
44:17
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, who is smiling because he has paid the
44:20
Speaker 1: price for sins, and he is the one Lord, through
44:24
Speaker 1: one faith and the one identifying sign. Baptism, baptism of
44:30
Speaker 1: the spirit, Yes, I think so, but baptism and water,
44:34
Speaker 1: whatever mode you may choose. The point is Baptizo means
44:38
Speaker 1: to identify or identification, and it's one sense of identification.
44:43
Speaker 1: And it's not some denominational name. It is Christ, it
44:47
Speaker 1: is Christian, it is follower of Jesus, one baptism, one
44:53
Speaker 1: God and Father of all. And talk about a high
44:57
Speaker 1: view of God. Who is overall, that's his sovereignty, who
45:01
Speaker 1: is through all, that's his omnipotence, and who is in all,
45:04
Speaker 1: that's his omnipresence. Magnificent statement of unity. Remember Paul's on
45:10
Speaker 1: his knees pleading with us, saying, why do you squabble
45:15
Speaker 1: over which mode of baptism? Why do you argue over
45:18
Speaker 1: which denomination is the best. Why don't you talk to
45:21
Speaker 1: a charismatic friend. Now understand, I am not charismatic. This
45:27
Speaker 1: church is not a charismatic church. But folks, we're gonna
45:31
Speaker 1: have to learn how to get along down here. We're
45:32
Speaker 1: going to spend eternity together, so we might as well
45:35
Speaker 1: get into practice. Now it's okay, it's okay, he said,
45:41
Speaker 1: what sounds pretty liberal to me. I actually it isn't
45:43
Speaker 1: liberal at all. It's just very unified. Just that if
45:49
Speaker 1: you're so narrow you can't see that you're part of
45:52
Speaker 1: the problem. This is a unity that opens itself to
45:56
Speaker 1: wherever Christ is named. Instead of fighting for one's rights
46:01
Speaker 1: and arguing over the nitpicking, petty details, it is saying,
46:05
Speaker 1: in effect, stand together in the body and march in
46:11
Speaker 1: step with each other, folks, because time is short and
46:15
Speaker 1: the message is getting garbled. Unity. Harry Ironside tells a
46:24
Speaker 1: great story that's a true story of from his own life.
46:27
Speaker 1: He was sick on one occasion and he had been
46:30
Speaker 1: involved in a series of meetings in Minnesota and was
46:33
Speaker 1: forced to return home by train, which was the best
46:36
Speaker 1: mode of travel back then. All the way back to California.
46:40
Speaker 1: He could barely stand up he was so sick. So
46:42
Speaker 1: this pastor of a church had the porter fix him
46:47
Speaker 1: up with a lower berth so he could really recline
46:50
Speaker 1: there most of the day as he worked through this illness.
46:53
Speaker 1: The first morning, he just quietly opened his Bible to
46:57
Speaker 1: have some time alone with the Lord. German woman walked
47:01
Speaker 1: by and said, what's that a Bible, and he said, yes,
47:08
Speaker 1: it's a Bible. Date she said, bate, I will get
47:12
Speaker 1: my own Bible and I will have Bible teaching with you.
47:16
Speaker 1: We do this together. Short time later, a tall gentleman
47:20
Speaker 1: walked by, according to Ironside, and asked, what are you reading?
47:24
Speaker 1: He was Norwegian, Ironstide told him. He said, I tank,
47:28
Speaker 1: I go get my own Bible. Each morning these three
47:31
Speaker 1: met and others began to connect with them. Ironstide wrote
47:34
Speaker 1: that once there were twenty eight people reading from twenty
47:38
Speaker 1: eight different Bibles, and that conductor would walk through the
47:42
Speaker 1: train saying, the camp meeting is beginning down in car thirteen.
47:46
Speaker 1: All are invited. It was a great experience, says Ironside.
47:52
Speaker 1: At the end of the trip, the cars were divided up.
47:55
Speaker 1: When they got to Sacramento, some to go north, some
47:59
Speaker 1: to go south. The German woman asked, what denomination are
48:04
Speaker 1: you anyway? Ironside replied, I belonged to the same denomination
48:08
Speaker 1: that David did. Really, but was that I didn't know
48:13
Speaker 1: that David belonged to denomination? Well, yes, David wrote that
48:17
Speaker 1: he was a companion of all them that fear God
48:20
Speaker 1: and keep his precepts. Ah, yeah, yeah, that's a very
48:25
Speaker 1: good church to belong to. Yeah, that's good, And he
48:29
Speaker 1: said the harmony in their fellowship was remarkable. My wife
48:35
Speaker 1: these days is spending time in India, the great country
48:41
Speaker 1: of India. She's never been there before, and we're in
48:45
Speaker 1: touch with each other by phone every day. And right
48:49
Speaker 1: now she's in Madras, it's now known as Chennai, on
48:53
Speaker 1: the southern coast near the Indian Ocean. Couldn't be further
48:59
Speaker 1: from home. It feels like she's been gone six months.
49:02
Speaker 1: It's only been nine days. I've said to her, how
49:06
Speaker 1: is it? She said, well, the best part of the
49:08
Speaker 1: trip is the fellow of believers. Can't understand a word
49:11
Speaker 1: they're saying, don't understand their culture. Never seen sights like
49:17
Speaker 1: this in my life. But as she chokes up, she said,
49:21
Speaker 1: but I'll tell you we belong to the same family.
49:26
Speaker 1: That a great line. We belong to the same family. Amazing.
49:33
Speaker 1: She can't even read from the Bible they're reading from
49:36
Speaker 1: and worshiping with. She doesn't understand the songs in the
49:41
Speaker 1: language of the people, but she stands to say a
49:45
Speaker 1: few things with the help of a translator, and she said.
49:48
Speaker 1: Their response is phenomenal as they link up with her heart,
49:54
Speaker 1: in her with theirs, the belt of peace is tight
50:01
Speaker 1: around the body of Christ in madrass I want it
50:12
Speaker 1: like that here. I want it like that here. We're
50:22
Speaker 1: all different. We have different temperaments, we have different gifts,
50:26
Speaker 1: we have different scars, we have different backgrounds, we have
50:30
Speaker 1: different convictions. That's why I love you, because you're so opinionated.
50:36
Speaker 1: You got strong convictions. People without convictions are whimps. I've
50:41
Speaker 1: got convictions. In case you haven't noticed, you don't want
50:45
Speaker 1: me without convictions. But surely people with great convictions. Though
50:52
Speaker 1: not agreeing that every little johd and tittle can link
50:54
Speaker 1: up together, because greater is he who is in us
50:57
Speaker 1: than he who is in that world out there. And
51:00
Speaker 1: he cheers with great delight when another church splits and
51:06
Speaker 1: another Christian stops talking to a brother or a sister.
51:09
Speaker 1: Stop that that is no way for adult believers to act.
51:16
Speaker 1: We are linked together. We are on our way to
51:19
Speaker 1: heaven together. Please give room and understanding, a little freedom
51:26
Speaker 1: to those who don't agree with every jot and tittle
51:29
Speaker 1: that marks you out as an individual. The only one
51:34
Speaker 1: we have to agree with fully is Christ, and he's
51:39
Speaker 1: easier to live with than any one of us. I'll
51:43
Speaker 1: tell you that, let's bow together, Let's close our eyes.
51:50
Speaker 1: Just sit quietly before the Lord, will you. He's very
51:58
Speaker 1: convicting for all of us. We are all so passionate
52:03
Speaker 1: about our pursuits, and we should be. We never want
52:11
Speaker 1: mediocrity to mark our lives. Certainly didn't mark Christ's life.
52:17
Speaker 1: After all, he died for what he believed, and he
52:19
Speaker 1: was only thirty three. They killed him, He gave up
52:24
Speaker 1: his life. It was that important that he paid the
52:30
Speaker 1: price for your sins and for mine. It was essential
52:35
Speaker 1: that he die. He died misunderstood and maligned and mistreated
52:41
Speaker 1: and tortured and hated. Had we been there, in our
52:45
Speaker 1: lost condition, we would have driven the nails right along
52:48
Speaker 1: with the Roman soldier. He walked the walk he lived
52:54
Speaker 1: the life he paid the price, why we love him.
53:00
Speaker 1: So if you've never come to the level ground of
53:05
Speaker 1: the cross, then I invite you to do that today,
53:08
Speaker 1: right now, right now, Step on in the family of unity,
53:16
Speaker 1: join ranks with fellow sinners who are learning to live
53:23
Speaker 1: like saints. Takes a lifetime. Now, Lord, this is straight talk,
53:32
Speaker 1: and this doesn't win votes, but it gets attention, and
53:38
Speaker 1: it teaches truth. And your way is the best. And
53:44
Speaker 1: forbid that we ever go any other way. We've tried
53:47
Speaker 1: those ways. They're all dead end streets or they lead
53:50
Speaker 1: into swamps. So I pray that you will give us
53:57
Speaker 1: a sense of recommitment to this matter of unity and
54:03
Speaker 1: harmony and confidentiality and purity and love and tolerance and patience,
54:11
Speaker 1: your words, gentleness, humility, and the bond of peace. May
54:20
Speaker 1: we model that, Lord at Stonebrier Community Church. May we
54:24
Speaker 1: model that when we're at home, in our neighborhood, at
54:30
Speaker 1: our work, behind the steering wheel of our cars, when
54:35
Speaker 1: we're doing business, when we're at the store, when we're
54:40
Speaker 1: meeting new friends and having a chance to impact another life.
54:50
Speaker 1: Give us great harmony, Lord, as you grow us up,
54:56
Speaker 1: grow us deep. Now, unto him who is able to
55:03
Speaker 1: guard us from stumbling, and to present us faultless before
55:07
Speaker 1: the presence of His glory with exceeding joy to the
55:12
Speaker 1: only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion
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Speaker 1: and power forever and ever, and all God's people said, Amen,
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Speaker 1: do it again. Amen, one more time. Amen, Great get
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Speaker 1: out of here, time to live in.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, A Worthy Walk was copyrighted in two thousand,
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Speaker 2: two thousand and one, and two thousand and nine, and
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Speaker 2: the sound recording was copyrighted in two thousand and nine
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Speaker 2: by Charles R. Schwindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
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Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.