27.m. “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called”

 

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

 Romans 12:1   I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

 Acts 9:31   So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

 Colossians 1:10  so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

 1 Thessalonians 2:12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

 2 Timothy 1:9    who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

What does it mean to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called?  Our salvation is in Jesus Christ alone.  Nothing we could do or did do would add or take away from His complete work on the cross.  There is not a single “Good” person who has done good enough to merit what Christ did on the cross.  There is not a single “Bad” person who has done such vile bad things that the work of Christ on the cross will not save them completely.  The good and bad people are both sinners, lost, apart from God, walking in flesh and doing fleshly things, and in need of redemption, forgiveness, and salvation.  Once they have come to the saving grace knowledge of Jesus Christ, repent of their sin, and trust in, cling to, and rely on Jesus Christ they are saved, born again, a new creation.  The Holy Spirit is given to each one of them, to lead, comfort, and die them unlimited power to live in this world in a manner worthy of the price Jesus Christ paid for their sin.  So I ask again what does it mean to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called?

This is an ever-changing goal in the life of a Christian.  As we grow, here a little there a little, precept by precept, line upon line.  As we grow in our knowledge and understanding of God and His grace, mercy, and love, our understanding of what walking in a manner worthy will also grow.  That is why it is an ever-changing upward goal.  We do well to grow in our knowledge and understanding, precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little.  Too often our attainment of growth is limited because of our lack of knowledge and understanding of God’s Word.  Too often we neglect it.  Too often we are complacent.  Too often we get caught up in the busyness of life and worry about walking worthy of what our neighbors and family will think rather than the one who freely gave His life to redeem you.

21.f. “Cast off and cast away your cloak of filthy rags”

 

 

 

Romans 13:12   The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

 Ezekiel 18:31-32   Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”

 John 3:19-21   And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

 1 John 1:5-7   This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

 Galatians 5:16   But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

 1 Thessalonians 2:12   we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

We must cast off before we can put on. “The rags of sin must come off if we put on the robe of Christ. There must be a taking away of the love of sin, there must be a renouncing of the practices and habits of sin, or else a man cannot be a Christian. It will be an idle attempt to try and wear religion as a sort of celestial overall over the top of old sins.” (Spurgeon)

The flesh will be as active as we allow it to be. We have a work to do in walking properly, as in the day – it isn’t as if Jesus does it for us as we sit back; instead, He does it through us as we willingly and actively partner with Him. (Guzik)

Spurgeon makes the point of the idle attempt to think it is possible to wear the cloak of religion over the top of unrepentant, unchanged, self-reliant, self-worthy, and self-serving heart, and expect it to, by some means, make you right before God’s eyes.  There are those who spit on the garment of salvation.  They want no part of it.  They see this garment as a filthy rag.  They deny it has any beauty or purpose. 

There are people that may recognize the need for Christ but they continue to wear the cloak of self-reliance to cover their sin rather than an intentional choice to cast off the cloak of all hope in anything they can do and put on the garment of salvation.  They are quick-change artists.  They are able to slap an off-market garment that gives the appearance of being a Christian but under that garment still remains the filthy rags of un-repented sin and self-reliance.  They never want to take off their filthy rags only cover them up.  

The Word of God exposes the stench and ugliness of these filthy rags we cling to so tightly. In His Word, we are able to see them for what they are.  We smell the stench and see the ugliness.  We become aware and are able to cast them off.  It is in this “casting off” that we are able to put on the pure clean garment of salvation.  Casting off requires us to recognize the stench and ugliness of what cloaks our hearts, minds, and souls.  Without this recognition, the need for the garment of salvation will never be put on.  Jesus Christ paid the price (bought our new garment) and when we recognize the filthy rags clothing us and humbly take them off and lay them at His feet, He places this new garment of salvation on us.  The stench and ugliness garments are removed forever.  

The stench and ugliness of our filthy rags is sin.  The garment of salvation is believing in, clinging to, trusting in, and relying on and in Jesus Christ.  Recognition, confession, repentance, turning away, from the cloak of sin to the garment of salvation is an intentional choice.  We can never buy the garment of salvation, it can only be given to us by Jesus Christ as we cast off our cloak of filthy rags.