Ephesians chapter 4. I have really
missed you all. I really have. I was sick for a while and others
have been sick for a while and out of town for a while and it's
just good to be together, isn't it? It is so good. I'm looking forward to this fellowship
dinner we're going to have. I'm looking forward to spending
time with you and just talking to you. And when these things
come up, usually they influence me to some degree, and I'm glad
they do. I believe that's what made me
want to look at Ephesians 4 for this Bible study this morning. This is the subject matter I
want us to see. I titled this a believer's career, a believer's career. Look with me here at verse 1,
Ephesians 4 verse 1, the apostle Paul said, I therefore, the prisoner
of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith you are called, the vocation wherewith you are called. Every single believer, every
single believer has been called by God into a career. Every single one called by God
into a career. Now, when it comes to making
money, Some of you get up every day and go to a job. Some of
you have retired from a job. Some of you work from home. But for a believer, our means
of making money is not our career. It's just not. I mean, it is
not. We are so thankful for our jobs,
aren't we? Aren't you thankful for your
job? We take our jobs very seriously. They are important to us. We
acknowledge that this is what the Lord has given us to provide
for our family. If a man won't go work and provide
for his family, he's worse than an unbeliever, worse than an
infidel, right? So thankful for them, but our
jobs are not our careers. They're just not. They are not
what we are striving to attain. Like the world. The world is
striving to attain something that we're not striving to attain.
And we're striving to attain something they're not striving
to attain. Our jobs are not our heart's goal. You know, working
for something, trying to get something, something I don't
have, so I'm going to work harder. There is something every believer
has been called to give himself to and work towards. And the Apostle Paul tells us
what it is right here. It's precious. Verse 1, I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called, now here it is, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering,
forbearing one another in love. Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace. Don't you love that? He
said walk worthy of it. Strive to master it. Strive to succeed in it. Not in order to attain the prize. You know, people start out in
a career and they start at the ground floor. Isn't that right?
You start sweeping floors, literally, and then you get a promotion,
and you get a little bit more money, and you get a little bit
more responsibility, and you work your way up. You're trying
to attain something you haven't attained yet. That's not why
we strive to master and strive to succeed in this. We do it
because we've already attained it. We've already attained it.
We can actually already retire. Look at verse 32 right here in
Ephesians 4. Verse 32 it says, Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you. He has. He has. When God calls his child, he
calls that child to a lifelong effort. He does it for Christ's sake. That's why. He does this for
Christ's sake. That child sees the humility
and the suffering of Christ for him. God calls that child and
he calls him to see Christ. See what he did. That child sees
how he gave himself in full. That makes the child in turn
want to give himself in full, everything that he is, everything
that he has, to the career of the Lord Jesus Christ. The career. Christ is a believer's career. His will. You know what I want
to get my hands on? His will. What would you have
me to do? His way, whatever He says. Isn't that right? Whatever He
says. What do we want to think about
the matter? What do we want to do in the matter? Whatever He
says. His will, His way, His word. That's our career. Love
for Him and love for His people. Didn't he say, that rich young
ruler came and said, good master, what's the greatest commandment?
He said, I'll give you two. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, mind, soul, everything you are, and love your neighbor
as yourself. Love your brother as yourself. Love for him, love for his people,
that's our career. His worship, what are we here
for? What are we here for? We're here
to worship Him. We're here to worship Him. His
worship, His kingdom, that's our goal. You know what we're
going to be doing for all eternity in heaven? You want to know what
heaven's going to be like? We're all going to sit, look,
listen, and worship. People have made the statement
before, if you don't enjoy worshiping God now, you're not going to
enjoy heaven too much. But this is our goal. We came
in, I was driving over here and I do what I do every time. I
start begging. I'm a beggar. What do you do
for a living? I beg God. That's what I do. Please help us. Please. I can't do this. Only you can. Please send your spirit. Please
bless your word. Please bless the hearts of your
people. Please, true worship is our goal. If we can walk out
of here and believe in our hearts, we worship God. God sent his
spirit and enabled us to worship him. That's the whole goal of
the day. That's our goal. It's our attainment. It's our
reward. It's our career. It really is
our career. Now, in business, if you're going
to succeed, You have to look out for number one. Nobody else
is going to. You have to if you want to succeed,
you're going to have to step on whoever you have to step on
to get ahead. You just have to. That's not
how it is in this vocation, not at all. This is what God's people
have been called to do. Verse two, Ephesians four, verse
two, with all lowliness. and meekness with long-suffering,
forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace." Lowliness, meekness,
long-suffering. Forbearing one another in love,
giving all you can to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond
of peace. That's our calling. That is our
calling. That's the vocation, this lifelong
effort we've been called to. What do you do? I walk in lowliness,
in meekness. forbearing my brethren in love,
and I endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. That's what we do. Because of what Christ has done
for me, why do I do that? I'm not saying I do it, I'm saying
I ought to, and I'm saying I want to. Why? Because of what Christ has done
for me. If it wasn't for that, this old,
cold, hard, dead heart would say, you're on your own. But
oh, because of what Christ did for me. Because of what Christ
did for me. Boy, he should have cut me off. But he didn't. He was long-suffering. And because of that, this is
our life goal. We want to be just like Him.
We want to be just like Him. Turn with me to Matthew 11. Matthew 11. Our Lord Himself
said in verse 29, Matthew 11, 29, he said, take
my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in
heart. That's how he said he is. That's how he said he is. You
ask a kid, what do you want to be when you grow up? Let's talk
jobs. What do you want to be when you
grow up? They're going to say fireman, astronaut, doctor, vet,
all those kinds of things. You ask a believer, come the
end of this whole run, when this thing is all over with, what
do you want to be? That believer will say, just
like Christ. That's what I want to be. I want
to be just like Christ. That's my career. That's my calling. He said, I'm meek and lowly. Go with me back over to Ephesians
four. Ephesians four verse one. I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called with all lowliness and meekness
with long suffering. Forbearing one another in love,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace. You know, we are all different. We are all different. We were raised differently, with
different opinions about things, with different ways of handling
things. We're all different. The reason
we get put out with each other is because another person is
not doing it like me. That's the whole reason. The
reason I'm upset with you, if you would have handled it like
I handled it, I wouldn't be upset with you. But you didn't. Therefore, I'm put out with you,
not like me. The thing about it is, though,
considering Christ, if we forget about that for just a minute
and consider Christ, considering all the sin of his people that
he put away, considering the fact that in eternity, none of
us are going to be like we are right now. We will all be changed. Well, you need to do this like
I'm going to do it. Well, right around the corner, I'm not even
going to be like me. Thank God. We're all going to
be like him. And considering the fact that
we're going to be changed, considering this absolute perfection that
one day, real soon, we're going to experience in Christ, what
do our differences really matter? What do they really matter? These
little bitty things. There is one thing that matters. Isn't that right? What think
ye of Christ? That's the only thing that matters.
Christ has been so forbearing with us. He has called us and
he's put a desire in us to be forbearing with each other. He
really has. And we know he did it because
we can feel it. It's not natural to us. But he
has done something in there. He's put it in there to be forbearing
with each other. In love, it says. You know, love
is what saved us. Isn't that right? God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, for God so loved the
world, while we were yet sinners, He gave His only begotten Son. Love saved us. Love called us. You know, those All of those
Pharisees, those self-righteous Pharisees that brought our Lord
to Pilate, cry and crucify him, that's us. And he said, Father,
forgive them. They don't know what they do.
Then he sent messengers to them, Peter and all those men on the
day of Pentecost, sent his spirit into his messenger, sent a message
straight to their hearts, broke them. And they all fell down. What
should we do? And they said, repent and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And God had mercy on them. Love
saved us. Love called us. Love is what
unites us. It really is. Love is what unites
us by this. shall all men know that you are
my disciples. This is how all men will know
that you belong to me. I chose you. I died for you. I called you. You're mine. This
is how they'll know. Love for my brethren. Love for
the brethren. Look with me at 1 Corinthians
13. First Corinthians 13 verse 1
says, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
though I could stand up and preach in such a way that people would
hear it and say, that's the tongue of an angel. Oh, he's so gifted. He can stand up, he can preach,
I'm telling you he can preach. Though I could do that if I don't
have love in this heart right here. You talk about a worthless sound.
I mean a worthless, just sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though
I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries, call
whoever you want to. What do you think that passage
means? I don't know. I don't know. Why don't you call him?
I'll tell you exactly what it means. Though I have the gift
of all prophecy, I understand all mysteries if I don't have
love. Matter of fact, I could not understand
any of it. What does 666 mean in Revelation?
I have no idea. But it has something to do with
the love of Christ towards sinners. If I don't have love, he said,
I'm nothing. Verse 3, though I bestow all my goods to feed
the poor. You've never seen a greater giver
than that guy right there. He's given it all. I could bestow
all my goods to feed the poor, give my body to be burned. If
I don't have love, it didn't profit me a thing. Not one thing. Love suffers long. Love is kind. Love doesn't envy. Love doesn't
vaunt itself. It's not puffed up. Love doesn't
behave itself unseemly. Love does not seek her own. is
not easily provoked. Thank God, God is love. And thank God, God is not easily
provoked. Aren't we so glad? Thinketh no
evil. Verse 6, love rejoices not in
iniquity but rejoices in truth. It bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Verse 13,
and now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three, the greatest
is love. Love, true love, love for Christ. And God has to put that in there.
Love for Christ, love for His Word, love for His worship. You know, when God does a work
in the heart of a believer, you don't have to drag Him to worship.
You just don't have to drag him to worship God. Love for His
glory. Don't you love God getting all
the glory? Could I please lay down in the
dirt? Would somebody pour dirt on top
of me? And could we just please ascribe all glory to Christ? and love for his people. Love
for his people. That's our career. That's what
a believer gives himself and his life to. He'll give up everything
else. He will give up everything else
to give his life to the worship of and the love of Christ and
his people. And it's very easy to see why.
I'm going to be quick. Go with me back to Ephesians
4. It's easy to see why. Verse 4, just a few more verses
here. Verse 4 says, there is one body
and one spirit. Even as you are called in one
hope of your calling, there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all who
is above all and through all and in you all. We are all different
members. We are all different members,
but we've been called into the same body. The same body. It's not hard at all to see why
God's people love each other. It's not hard at all to see.
There's one body. In the blood of Christ, we are
all made and all called to be members of it. Do you see these
two little pinky fingers right here? I love these little fingers
more than any little fingers on earth. I do. The only fingers that could
rival these are the ones that are attached to the hands of
my wife and my children. And that's a different illustration.
Would I give these for them to keep theirs? You better believe
it. That's a different illustration.
We love the members of this one body, don't we? We love them. We love them. Time goes by. We get older. Our eyes start
to not work. What do we do? Pluck them out
and throw them away? Yeah, let's get rid of them. They don't work anymore. No,
we buy glasses. We help them, right? We strengthen them. We nourish them. Our ears start
to not work. You see people slicing their
ears off? They buy hearing aids. Here, maybe these will help you.
Can I help you? Let's press on. And that's what
God's people do for each other. That's what members of the body
do for each other. They love each other. They help
each other. They strengthen each other. They
encourage each other. Verse 4 says there's one spirit. There's one spirit. If my mind
wants to grab that glass of water, my hand does too. And the reason
is because there's one spirit in this body. If Brother Roy
wants to show up, if he wants to present himself before the
true and living God, to bow down and worship Him, Brother William
wants the exact same thing. And the reason is because there's
one Spirit in this body. We all want the exact same thing. The exact same thing. There's
one spirit that motivates all the members to want and to do
the exact same thing. Verse 4 says there's one body,
one spirit, even as you're called in one hope of your calling.
I could start on the front row. What is your hope? I know what
his answer is. The blood of Jesus Christ. I
can go to the next row. What's your hope? The blood of
Jesus Christ. Well, surely you have a different
hope. The blood of Jesus Christ. The
blood of Jesus Christ. There's one hope. One hope. Verse five says there's one Lord.
Who is it? It's not Allah, is it? It's Jesus
Christ. He's Lord by right. He created everything. He's Lord
by the Father's decree. Acts chapter 2. God made him
Lord. Can't make him Lord. God did.
He's lured by death. Philippians 2 says, let this
mind be in you which was also in him who being in the form
of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made
himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant
and made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He gave Himself and He
died. Wherefore God His Father has
highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name that
the hearing of that name every single one of His people are
going to bow and confess. It's not Allah. It's not Buddha. I know a lady who just decided
to become a Buddhist. Bless her heart. It ain't Him. It's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
is Lord. Verse 5 says there's one faith. Whose faith is it? His. It's present, but he gets the
glory for it. Verse 5 says there's one baptism. Is it the one I decide to make?
No, it's the one He performed on me when He laid hold of this
sinful soul and plunged me into the blood of Jesus Christ. Verse
6 says there is one God. It's the God of this scripture.
It's not the God of our imagination. We don't worship the God of any
man's imagination. We worship the true and living
God as he has declared himself right here. Verse six says, there's
one father of all who's above all. He's above me. He's above
you. He's above all and through all
and in you all. What more reason do we need than
that right there? to love each other and cherish
each other and strive for that unity with each other. Christ
is in us. Why should I love him? Because
Christ is in him. That's why Christ is in him.
May God give us this ability to walk worthy of this vocation. We've been given a career. We've been called into a vocation. meekness, long-suffering, forbearing
one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
in the bond of peace. David said, behold how good and
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. I can't think of anything better
on this earth. There's no better gift a believer
could be given than that true heartfelt love and unity that
God gives to His people. It says in verse 16, look right
here in verse 16, from whom the whole body fitly joined together
and compacted. I love that. Everything perfectly
fits together. And after it's all fit perfectly
together, everything just gets pressed into each other, just
compacted into each other. And that's what we want, isn't
it? Oh, don't let me start easing away from my Lord and his people. And verse 31, he said, let all
bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to
another, tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's
sake has forgiven you. May God give us that ability
to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we've been called.
May that be our career from here on out. Okay, you're dismissed.