Walk The Talk - Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Ephesians Series)

Ephesians four verse one. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've 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. There is one body and one spirit just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call, one lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Pray with me. Father, we thank you for the people that are here this morning.

For those that could not make it, we pray that you would bless them and touch them this morning. But, Lord, as we have gathered here under your word, we pray that you would speak clearly into our hearts. Lord, like the Israelites, would you lead us to the mount where you spoke so powerfully? May your word come in the same manner booming in our hearts producing the fear of the Lord. So we are asking in this moment, Lord, that distraction would disappear, hardened hearts would melt, and lives would be changed.

Father, we need you, and we need the power of your Holy Spirit. May this word not be delivered in speech only, but in power with full conviction and in the Holy Spirit. So, Lord, we trust in you. We thank you for this family. We thank you for this church, and we pray that you would be pleased to dwell in this house.

In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. Up to this point in the book of Ephesians, we have to realize that this one word in verse one of Ephesians four is very crucial. That one word is the word therefore. Therefore.

The reason why is because everything that we heard about the Lord and the gospel and all the spiritual blessings that come in him are hinged on this word therefore. Paul, the instrument that was used by the Holy Spirit to write this text, has done so in such a very precise manner with craft, with very important detail. The first three chapters of the book of Ephesians, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is sprinkled and decorated with theological truths. But we have to understand that those truths, though as marvelous as they are, if we meditate upon them, it does our soul good. We have to understand that neither is Paul, and more importantly the Holy Spirit, concerned about producing Christians that can simply marvel at truths, even Gospel truths.

The Holy Spirit does not just want us to marvel and stand in awe of what's available to us in the Gospel. He wants these truths to melt inner behavior. He wants these truths to get into the inner man. And so in verse one, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called can be translated this way. Everything that you just read about concerning the blessings and the glorious blessings that are found in Christ, every promise that you inherited because of your union to Jesus Christ and the power that is available to you by the Holy Spirit, every label and identity that you have been granted because you are in Christ, all of those things must motivate and be the reason for you and I to live in a certain way.

Therefore, meaning all those things should posture you to come to this point. Think about it. I've been predestined to experience these spiritual blessings in Christ, Ephesians chapter one. Therefore, what? I will trust and take joy in the Lord in all circumstances of life.

I've been granted access to the resources of heaven pertaining to godliness and holiness. Therefore, what? I bow my knees before the father in humility to receive the things above. I am being built up with my fellow living stones into a temple for the lord. Therefore, I will make decisions in my life to host the presence of God in me and to reject anything that would be contrary to His will.

I have a power working in me, the same power that God worked in Christ Jesus when He raised Him from the dead. Therefore, I will go to war against my sin, not dependent upon my power. Therefore. How terrifying is it to realize that a therefore is not only a Christian response, the right response, a therefore is a response by those who reject this gospel as well. That there are those who hear these truths and make a therefore claim whether they know it or not.

Think about it. The son of God came down on the cross, died to deliver me from the power of sin and the wrath of God. Therefore, I will reject him. For I love my wickedness more than the savior. There's a new life that awaits me in Christ, a new peace, a new joy that this world cannot even offer by the saving grace of God.

Therefore, I will rely on my own efforts and my own righteousness and reject that grace. I'm the object of God's love without measure, and I can experience that love in this life now. Therefore, I will not choose to make a covenant with him. That's what people do when they reject this gospel. They make a therefore claim, but in the negative sense.

And when you really see it in that way, verses like second Thessalonians one seven to eight and nine make a lot of sense. The Lord Jesus, when he is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, will what? Afflict vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. Makes sense, doesn't it, when you put the therefore when people reject this gospel?

Therefore, week after week, when you and I are being showered by the truths of the blessings of the word of God, we must respond with a therefore. There's no neutrality. You either accept it, you either move towards it, or you reject it and you move away from it. And Paul is coming to this place, and he's saying, therefore. But he doesn't just say therefore.

He says, therefore who? Me, a prisoner for the Lord. He's doing this on purpose. He's setting up an argument In order to make his call and his command by the Holy Spirit more gripping, he is making the believers who are reading this text realize that he in this moment is in prison for this gospel. He's trying to say, listen.

I'm speaking out of experience. I myself have made this therefore moment in my life. I made that decision, and it brought me to jail. When I understood these glorious blessings of Christ, I made a therefore. Therefore, I am willing to suffer at any length for this God and for his gospel.

And so what is Paul doing? He is preaching from experience. He he's telling them, I'm not I'm not telling you to do something that I haven't done myself. Consider my bruises. Consider my chains.

Consider the chill of my bones when I lay in this dungeon prison throughout the nights. And he says here, do it. I'm urging you, which is pretty interesting in a practical sense. That if you wanna be effective in your communication for the Lord, you first must be consistent in your communication through your own behavior. That if you wanna be able to stir somebody to obedience, let your life speak first.

Remember Timothy? Paul's spiritual child, his son. Timothy was young, first Timothy four twelve. And what does Paul say? Hey, Timothy, pastor Tim, listen up.

Let no one despise you because of your youth. Don't let anybody belittle you. Don't let anybody not take you seriously. Don't let anybody but how was Timothy supposed to do that? By arguments?

By being eloquent in speech? No. He says set the believers an example. Walk it out, Timothy, in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. If you wanna win the attention of people, if you wanna be taken seriously, Timothy, live what you preach, and you will gain their attention.

And so he's doing the same thing here. I am a prisoner for the Lord. I made a therefore decision in my life, and it got me here. And I'm gladly to bear that title, but I'm inviting you to join me. Think about it.

Are we willing to do this? Are we willing to come to where this man was, prison? He says here, I'm a prisoner because if you live in contradiction to your confession, you will forfeit your credibility. Let me say that one more time. If your living is in contradiction to your confession, you will forfeit your credibility.

But he here is not forfeiting any credibility. He is upping his credibility, and he's saying here, I'm a prisoner for the Lord. I've gone to this place with my faith. And we have to ask ourselves the same question. Are we willing to embrace that?

Based on all the glorious truths of the gospel in Ephesians one, two, and three, are we willing to say yes come hell or high water? Even if life takes a violent turn, you rob me of my health, you rob me of my comfort, you rob me of my privileges, I will remain faithful to the lordship of Jesus Christ. There is another prisoner of the Lord named John the Baptist. We don't see him as a prisoner of the Lord. We see him as a voice in the wilderness, and rightfully so.

But John the Baptist was also a prisoner for the Lord. And in Matthew 11, Jesus is doing all these miracles, and John has a question. He sends his disciples to go and to ask and inquire, are you the one or are we supposed to wait for another? Are are you the one that I was preaching about? Are you the one that people have been anticipating?

And who knows what was going on in his mind? Perhaps he anticipated this kingdom to come. Perhaps he had a limited understanding of what it meant for Jesus to come in the first place. People debate these things. I don't think so because he knew behold the lamb of God who took away the sin of the world.

Who knows what was going on in his mind? But he had this inquiry to know, and Jesus answers brilliantly. He points back to Isaiah 35. He points back to Isaiah 61, and he comes and he resurfaces the miraculous works that the Messiah will do when he comes. And John the Baptist receives that from his disciples, and Jesus, in a sense, by saying those statements said, hey, John.

I am that this I am the Messiah. Listen to these disciples. It's true. I am the one to come. And he doesn't tell him I'm gonna take you out of prison.

He doesn't tell him you're gonna get out of there. He just tells him who he is, and guess what? That was enough for John. That was enough for John. There is no question after that.

There is no request to come out of prison. That sufficed for John the Baptist, and he himself made a therefore claim in his life. He himself said, if you truly are the Messiah, I'm willing to die in this prison and lose my head and be buried headless, and he did. Think about people who have heard sermons week after week. Let's just do some math here this morning.

Fifty two weeks out of the year, let's say you average two sermons. You average two sermons a week, and maybe more between your commutes and all those different things. 520 sermons a year. If you do that times five years. Let's say you've been a believer for five years.

You've heard 520 sermons, two sermons a week. Out of all those sermons, was there any one of them where you made a therefore decision? All the sermons on prayer, therefore, did you did you change your prayer life? All the sermons on forgiveness, therefore, did did you say I'm willing to forgive? All the sermons on whatever it may be, has there been a therefore turning point in your life?

It's terrifying to think about that we can hear and hear and hear and not come to Ephesians four one and say I'm gonna make some changes in my life. I'm gonna make some changes in the way I deal with my family. I'm gonna treat my wife differently. I'm gonna treat my husband differently. I'm gonna obey my parents now.

And if you're that person, if you're just honest with yourself this morning, if we can all be honest with ourselves this morning and just examine our hearts to say, you know, I'm not one to really take a message, read the word, and ask myself what can I change, the holy spirit through his holy text has an instruction for you and me? What does he say? I urge you. I urge you. I urge you to walk.

I urge you to walk, not talk. I urge you to live this thing out. Now why? There's a plea. There's a desperate cry.

There's an exhortation here. Why is the Holy Spirit coming to this place? Here's why. Because it's easy. It's easy to fall into the trap to think that we are in the will of God simply because we sit and listen to the word instead of responding and walking with the word.

We can so fall into this comfort zone where sitting and listening is fulfilling the will of God, when in fact, you and I are called to respond by walking with the word. Let's be honest with ourselves this morning. Come on. We can all fall into this trap. This is the listen.

We are not bent on obedience. We're bent on backsliding. We're not bent we're we're we're not necessarily aligned to go full out for Christ. That's why we need these kind of messages, so that we can be realigned, reignited, refired up again to give ourselves to Jesus and His word. Pay attention.

How many of us have come to this word alone? We can fall into the trap where we feel like we are fulfilling the will of God simply by checking off the thing that we just read in the morning, having no impact on our hearts. Have we ever come to this word and open it saying, lord, show me how I can walk like Jesus. Yes, Lord, show me who you are, but show me how I can walk with you and walk like you. Have we ever approached the text this way?

Or even this morning, how many of us came this morning with the anticipation? Lord, no matter who is standing behind this pulpit, I'm willing and eager to receive instruction to know how I can walk like you, and walk closer with you. So the Holy Spirit is urging us to take all these glorious truths and to let them translate into the way we live. I urge you. He urges us what?

To a specific thing. I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called. Now if you're saved in this place, you know what it means to be called by the Lord. You know what the call of the Lord is pertaining to salvation. Every person who has been truly saved at one moment was called to come to Christ.

And there was this ringing sensation at one point in your days where you sense the Holy Spirit convicting you of your sin, calling you to go to the cross. You sense the wooing of the father to come to Christ, And you know that you had a choice in that moment, whether it was in a moment through a service or throughout the days periodically, you knew that the Lord was calling you and waiting for you to answer. And you did answer if you're saved. And he did come and abide in your heart. But that's not the only call.

There is another call, even as saved people, and it's a call that comes to us every single day by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not the call to salvation. It's the call to sanctification. And the call to salvation, if the Lord were to speak into our hearts clearly, it would be come to me. Pick up your phone.

I'm calling. I want you to come to me. But when you answer that call, there's another one that comes every single day like your alarm that goes off every single morning. And it's not come to me, it's be like me. Be like me.

I want you to be like me. Conform it. Renew your mind. Seek me. Let me empower you.

Be like me. That's the call that we're called to. And my prayer this morning is that you would hear that call louder than ever, and that you'd be sitting in this place this morning saying, I desire to be like Christ. I desire more. I don't wanna just I just I wanna know every dark area of my heart.

I wanna know where I can improve. I don't care how badly it hurts. I don't care if it convicts me to the place where it brings me to my face before God. I want to be like Him. I wanna answer that call.

If that's you, the rest of the scriptures are for you because the Holy Spirit now is about to show us how we answer this call and live according to this call, how we can live worthily to this call. How do we do it? He gives us four things to follow. Verse two. In order for you to answer this call and to walk in this call, you have to do it with humility, You have to do it with gentleness.

You have to do it patience. You have to do it bearing with with love for one another. Humility. The first thing that he lists here is humility. The appropriate response to the gospel is a person who understands who they are in light of that gospel.

The appropriate response to the spiritual blessings in Christ should produce within a man a sensation of humility. The Holy Spirit is urging you and me to have the right perspective about ourselves. First thing is I want you to see yourself rightly. When you look at Ephesians one, two, and three, there's this major important phrase throughout the text, and it's this, in Christ. In Christ or in Him.

These blessings in Christ. Your salvation in Christ, the works that you're even doing to serve and to glorify Christ, those who are prepared in Christ before the foundation of the world, what's the understanding? Everything comes from Jesus. Your salvation, your faith, the things that you're predestined to, the works that you think you're doing on your own effort, all of that comes from Christ. So where's the boasting?

There isn't any. So where's the bragging? There isn't any. So where's the desire for the praise of man? There shouldn't be.

Where's the discouragement from people when they reject you? Who cares? They're all in Christ. They all come from him, and it's very difficult to elevate yourself when your thoughts are anchored by the revelation of the grace of God. You can't puff yourself up too far and too high if you realize that everything is in Christ, that everything has been handed to you, that you contributed nothing except the sin that made your salvation necessary as Edward said.

Think about two kings who responded differently to the blessings that they received from God. Think about King David. In second Samuel seven eighteen, after the covenant that God made with David, look at how David, the man after God's heart responded to the grace, the calling, the covenant that he received from God. Second Samuel seven eighteen, then king David went in and sat before the Lord and said, who am I? Who am I, oh lord God?

And what is my house that you have brought me thus far? So he receives this prophetic word about the covenant that God's gonna make with him and his descendants forever. And how does he respond? I knew I knew that me after your own heart would do me some good. No.

He sits before God. He contemplates on the grace, and he is astounded, bewildered, brought to worship to realize it's not about my skill, it's not about who I know, it's not about the praise of men. It's all from you. Now here is one who responded the exact opposite, another king, King Nebuchadnezzar. And God warns this man in a dream about his kingdom coming, destroying all other kingdoms.

And how does he respond in Daniel four thirty? He's on the rooftop. And the king answered and said, is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty? Wow. Both of these men in some sense received blessings from God.

Both of them responded differently. And God is calling us that through the gospel, we would be a people that see ourselves rightly and see him correctly, that everything that we are in him and everything that we do for him is by him alone, not just humility. He says gentleness. The gospel when received truly, produces gentlemen. Produces gentlemen.

It produces men and women who are tenderhearted and kind in spirit. Gentleness. I believe the idea of gentleness as portrayed here is speaking about one who has this ease of approachability and sensitivity. It's a person who carries this this this attitude, this posture, this character that makes people want to approach them. There are some people out there, even believers, that you cannot approach them because you're afraid that at any moment they're gonna hammer you with conviction, or hammer you with condemnation, not conviction.

We need conviction. Judge you. You can't trust them with your thoughts. You can't trust them with your struggles, because they're not gentle people. But the gospel produces gentleness.

And this is what we have to understand about gentleness. It comes through embracing the gospel, and it translate in every area of our lives. Remember Galatians six one, we talked about that together. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. What are we talking about here?

We're talking about somebody who is careful with their words, somebody that's careful in their instructions, somebody that's careful in their input in somebody's life, not somebody that's careless, not somebody that wants to bring themselves up and to step on other people. Gentleness with care, with sensitivity, that's what should translate in our lives when we understand the gospel, even when we oppose those with false doctrine. Second Timothy two twenty five, I want you to oppose your opponents with gentleness. So we see here that we are to come to a place where humility reigns, where gentleness radiates off of us. Think about the savior.

Now gentleness is not being weak. Gentleness is not being soft. Gentleness is not being bold. Gentleness is operating in a wisdom of understanding who we are. Remember that humility comes before, and to let that come through our dealings with other people.

Jesus himself, as bold and as as sharp as he was with his words, the very same hands that he used to make a cord of whips and to flip open tables in the temple, those same hands were the hands that were sought after to touch and bless babies. Same person, ferociously zealous for his house, but also gentle. And as these people came to trust Jesus with their babies, you and I have to be a people that people can come and trust the sensitive things in their life, the the fragile things in their lives. Had the opportunity to hold a newborn baby this past week. And I could tell you I was scared.

It was so fragile, so gentle. You let go of that head, that head is going back. And every person that was holding that baby had to do so with such care, such sensitivity, such an awareness. You and I are to do the same with other people's lives. Gentle.

Not just gentle, patient. You and I are to be patient. Patient in what sense? In our dealing with other people. Patient in what sense?

That we are to walk with another type of sensitivity with those who are on the same journey as us, desiring to be more like Christ. And each person in this place has their own struggles, has their own type of inclination towards sin, has their own upbringing, have their own family background, and we must be patient with one another because every person is walking at a different pace. And the patience that we are to have has to come from the pulpit and has to be experienced in the pew. From the pulpit and in the pew. What do you mean from the pulpit?

I mean second Timothy four two, after Paul instructs Timothy to preach the word. What does he say? Preach the word. Preach the word, Timothy. Don't preach your life.

Don't preach this. Don't preach all those things. Those are just seasonings on top of the substance of the word of God. Preach the word in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with what?

Complete patience and teaching. Why would he say patience? Because if you wanna preach, you better be patient. Why? Because you can preach and preach and preach and preach, and it takes 10 messages on forgiveness before somebody gets how to forgive.

It could take two years before somebody knows how to overcome anxiety. And you better learn that if you wanna preach, you better be patient. People receive it differently at different times. People can hear you. They can be sitting there.

They look like they're paying attention, but they're thinking about something else. And yes, there are moments where God in his power can touch you in one moment, in one service, in one message, but there's a reality. Sometimes it takes time. So be patient. Be patient.

There's an interesting little verse in second Thessalonians. I love these verses because they say so much, but we can skim over them thinking that they don't mean anything. In second Thessalonians, Paul is trying to reencourage and remind the people concerning the second coming, and he says this one little verse here in second Thessalonians. He says, do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? He says, do you not remember in second Thessalonians two five that when I was with you, I told you these things?

So even the apostle Paul himself experienced teaching and telling people certain things, and they just forgot it by the time he left. And so there must be a patience from the pulpit. As you declare the word of God, trust that that seed will germinate at the right time. But it's not just from the pulpit, it's a patience amongst one another in the pew. First Thessalonians five fourteen, and we urge you, brothers, admonish the idol, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

So you have different types of people here. You have those that are idle, they're lazy, they don't do anything. If they wanna volunteer, you better pay them. And you have to admonish them amongst one another. Stir them.

Remind them. Not just that. You gotta encourage the faint hearted. Those that are experiencing something in life that you're not experiencing, a weight of oppression, circumstances that are overwhelming. Stir them up.

Encourage them. Help the weak. And guess what? The results may not come right away, So be patient with all of them. And the understanding is not somebody who's in willful rebellion.

Okay? It's not about somebody that's disobedient and living in sin and is not taking correction, not taking. It's about a person that desires to walk in Christ likeness, that is striving towards that, but is walking at a different level than you, with a different understanding, with different struggles and hindrances that are in their way. Be patient with them all. Why?

How how patient is Christ with you and me? Come on now. Think. How patient is the Lord with you in your struggles and your walk of sanctification, and all the vows and the promises we made? I'm gonna pray more, and I'm gonna read more, and I'm gonna give more, and I'm gonna serve more, and we fall two days after.

How many vows? I wonder how many vows went up to heaven every conference that goes on on weekends that are not kept. You know what God doesn't do? He doesn't throw us out of the covenant. You think about the disciples that walk with Jesus.

In Mark chapter ten thirty three, Jesus predicts for the third time that He's gonna go and die and suffer. This is His third time telling them. I mean, you would think that after Jesus is trying to pour out his heart to you and tell you what's to come, that you would get it right off the bat. No? It took three times.

And after the third time, you know how they responded? James and John said, that's great Jesus. Can we sit at your left and your right when you come in glory? And he doesn't get rid of them. He doesn't say, you know, I think I made a mistake by choosing you guys.

He sticks with them. Listen. There might be somebody in your life, in this church, that you wanna see grow in Christ, that you wanna see excel in their walk with Lord. You're not seeing it. Don't give up on them.

Be patient with them. Be patient with this church. Be patient with leadership. Be patient with the vision. Be patient.

Why? Because Jesus is patient with you, and he's patient with me. And this is the appropriate response to the gospel. And this doesn't stop there, but it connects so well with the next one. Bearing with one another in love.

That word bearing, another word that can be used as putting up with one another. What family language is that, Putting up with one another. Anybody in here have a perfect family? Would love to meet you. No?

Thought so. Bearing with one another in love. And And we understand what that looks like, but Paul uses this again in Colossians three thirteen. Just pay attention. You don't have to turn there.

Bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. Forgiving each other. Why? I'm sorry. This is a real deep this morning.

Why should we forgive one another as the Lord has forgiven you? So you also must forgive. How How quick is the Lord to forgive you and me when we fall? How quick when we run to our bedrooms because we said something we shouldn't, we responded in a way we shouldn't, we did something that we shouldn't. How quick does he forgive us?

Does he does he tell us, you know, seven days until you're consistent, I'll forgive you? Memorize 10 chapters of my epistle? No. He receives us immediately. As the Lord forgave you, think about how the Lord forgives you on a daily basis.

You forgive others the same way. I hope that you are feeling the weight of responsibility. It should feel overwhelming. It should produce this sense of this is too much. We're not even done yet because we're coming to a point here.

And when we take humility and when we take patience and when we take gentleness and we when we take up bearing up with one another in love, this will do something. It will produce a unity. Eager to maintain, verse three, the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. These Christ like attitudes are absolute essentials for you and I to walk this family thing out, this church, in unity. If you and I will not take upon ourselves the urgency that the Holy Spirit is bringing about here, I urge you to walk in these manners.

I urge you to embrace these things. We are in danger. Hear me very clearly. We are in danger of seeing something so beautiful such as this rot and become a hideous thing. And guess what?

All it takes is one person. All it takes is one person. One person not to walk in gentleness, not one person to walk in humility. That can cause so much friction, that can cause so much disappointment, that can make the harmony that is supposed to be experienced amongst one another a very distasteful thing. It's no wonder that Psalms one thirty three is so glorious, and even the Psalmist himself rejoices at the thought.

What does he say? Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. He's saying it as though it's rare. How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity, and he makes a comparison. He makes a comparison of what it's like when the church comes together and walks this thing out, bearing up with one another, gentle with one another, patient with one another, walking in humility, not intimidated when somebody's being used by God, not intimidated when somebody's up on the platform and you should be on the platform.

How silly. Something happens. What happens? It's like precious oil on the head. Running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron.

What is he saying there? When you go to Exodus, there is a chapter dedicated to the ingredients that are used to make the anointing oil for the priests, And if you really put those ingredients together, there's a fragrance that comes with it. And so when that oil is poured out upon that priest, there is this aroma that comes from him. And what he's saying here is the same way that when the church comes together and walks with one vision, walks together, walks not in competition, but in love, there is this fragrance that is created. It's like you walking in, perhaps you can relate to this.

You walk into a store and you can smell perfume, and it does something to you. You wanna remain there, you probably even wanna purchase it. When a church walks in that, it makes it attractive, not only to other people, but to the Holy Spirit who is the oil of God. And if we put these ingredients together, people of God, humility, patience, gentleness, bearing up with one another in love, there will be a fragrance in this house. And if one was not motivated by that, Paul now, by the spirit from verse four down to verse six, explains there's one body and one spirit.

We're one body. He's he's just he's going for now. There's one body. Don't act like you're two or three. There's one spirit living in all of us.

Just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord. We all say the same Lord. One faith, one baptism, one God and Father. We all have the same Father. What is he saying here?

We're all on the same team. We all have the same purpose, and each person here has a different role to fulfill. I want you to understand the oneness of the church, the oneness of the gospel, the oneness of the body, so don't come and divide against it. Don't try to be that person. Don't be the disease in the body that brings infection.

Don't be gangrene. Don't be a spiritual chancer to the body of Christ with your jealousy and your envy and your pride. Remember, it only took one person. It only took one person infected with jealousy named Saul to wreak havoc in the kingdom and bring division. It only took one person who was a son of David, who was king at a time, named Absalom to just whisper.

It's just whisper. People think that it takes a scandal to split a church. No, it just takes a whisper. Whisper. That brought a split and literally pushed King David out of his own throne.

Just one. You You want to be that one? I hope not. I don't want to be you on judgement day if that's you. Because you're literally coming against the body, the oneness, the very vision that God has for his church and his people.

You're fighting against it. And if we're not motivated by that, Paul echoes this in Colossians one:nine and we're ending there. Colossians one:nine to 10. So since we have heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, there it is again, fully pleasing to him, that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, For what purpose? To be not half heartedly, not one quarter, but fully pleasing to the Lord.

So if you're not motivated by this oneness idea, if you're not motivated by the aroma that can come from uni, be motivated by this, that when you embrace the understanding of walking in a manner worthy of the Lord, it pleases God. He delights in that. He sees that you take his truth, and you don't just talk the talk, my friend. You walk the walk, and that pleases him. And what's interesting is that here the apostle Paul instructs the believers, but in Colossians, he prays for them to walk into that.

So this is my prayer for you that you would walk in that. Once again, if you feel overwhelmed by the standard that is set here, we have to go back to Ephesians three verse 16. That he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being. All those things, patience and gentleness and love and humility, all of that is found in the inner man. And he says earlier, do you think he set that up for a reason?

Do you think the Holy Spirit set that up? Because from Ephesians four, five, and six, it's gonna get very practical. It's gonna be very practical, and the standard's gonna we're going all the way to how you speak, to how you respond, to you not going to bed angry. We're getting as detailed as possible, but before he does any of that, he says, there is power available to you to live these things out. Stop making excuses.

You can't. In this gospel, there's no room for excuses. There is none. Why? He did all the work.

This one person gave an illustration. I thought it was perfect. He was moving things around the house, and he was he is in the ministry. And he was moving these heavy things, these these things that he had to get out, and he needed a dolly to put it on, and his little son was running around the house just under the age of five. And he's saying, daddy, I wanna help you.

Daddy, I wanna help you. Daddy, I wanna help you. And he thought to himself, you can't do anything. How are you gonna lift up these things? But he said, okay.

I'll help you, or you can help me. And what does he do? Right before he's about to lift up this huge piece of furniture onto a dolly, here his son is putting his little hands on that furniture, doing absolutely nothing. And here's the father with all his strength lifting up that couch, places it on the dolly. You know what the father does?

He looks at his son and says, good job. Look how strong you are. And he gives him a dollar for helping and doing absolutely zip. And I think that's a great illustration for how we relate to our father. Even in our desire to serve him, he does all the work.

And here's the amazing thing, he does all the work. He calls you and lets you experience to see His hand moving in and through your life, and on top of that, He rewards you. He rewards you. Can you think of that? It's the Holy Spirit in you doing all the work, and when we get to heaven, if you've been faithful, here's a crown.

Here's your little dollar. Father, you did all the work. Yeah, but it is to my pleasure that I use you. And so this is how I want us to end this morning as we land here in verse six, that we would earnestly, in this moment, pray together and ask God, not only for the immediate exhortation we received, but for the rest of this Ephesians series, we would say, Lord, strengthen us. Empower us.

I want every detail of my life to be sanctified in you. I want every part of me to just radiate Christ. And, Lord, we want as a church to have the aroma, the anointing oil that was put upon the priests. This is what we should desire. This is what we see, unless you wanna walk out of here the same way you came in and completely reject verse one that just said, therefore, walk in this way.

So we're gonna pray. Just in your own heart right now, bow your heads before the Lord and ask the Lord, or show me in my life, is there a lack of humility? Lord, is there a lack of patience? Is there a lack of gentleness in my life? Is there a lack of love?

Is there a lack of a desire to see unity? Whatever it may be, ask the Lord and say, Lord, I want to make a therefore decision. And I wanna address even one person that came on this snowy day. You came here and you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. God brought you here for a reason.

And maybe it's your first time or maybe you've been coming for a series of days, but I wanna challenge you this morning. Just don't get distracted in your mind. Hear my voice. Are you gonna make that therefore decision this this day? Are you going to make that choice saying, I've heard the truth that Jesus Christ died for me, he wants a relationship with me, Therefore, I will give my life to him, or are you gonna say, therefore, I will reject him?

And if you make that, therefore, I will reject him, you have just stepped into condemnation for yourself. But But if you're willing to say, therefore, I receive him, you will receive blessing upon blessing, spiritual blessing beyond what you can even imagine, and it's awaiting you today. Do not wait. Do not wait. The call for salvation is here.

Answer the phone. The Lord says come to me. But for the people of God, there's a call to sanctification that's ringing. Will you answer and say, Lord, whatever it takes, I wanna walk the things that I know. I don't wanna binge on sermons and live on things that just accumulate in my mind.

I wanna translate it and let it melt into my behavior. If that's you, respond. Respond and answer that call in your own heart. We're gonna pray together in a moment, but just continue to seek the Lord.