Walk Worthy of Your Calling
Have you ever seen someone claim an identity they haven't earned? Perhaps a person posing as a military veteran, wearing honors they never received? While we might find such behavior appalling, how often do we as Christians fall into a similar trap spiritually?
Many of us claim the identity of Christ, carrying our Bibles, using the right words, and showing up on Sundays. But when we examine our lives Monday through Saturday - our priorities, relationships, and character - there's often a massive disconnect between who we claim to be and how we actually behave. We're claiming to be spiritual Navy SEALs while living like spiritual couch potatoes.
This identity crisis in the church is at the heart of Ephesians 4. The apostle Paul reminds us that we have been called to be the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, the family of God. Yet too often, we live like strangers who just happen to show up at the same building on Sunday mornings.
Paul's urgent plea is for us to "walk worthy of the calling you have received" (Ephesians 4:1). This isn't about trying to earn God's love or salvation - those are already secured in Christ. Rather, it's about living out the identity we've been given.
So what does it look like to walk worthy of our calling?
First, we must recognize that we're not a random crowd, but one body. Paul grounds our unity not in shared interests or backgrounds, but in our shared identity in Christ. This identity transcends every other marker - political affiliation, race, economic status, personality type. If we're in Christ, we have something in common with every other believer that goes deeper than surface-level differences.
This unity should produce character qualities like humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. These aren't natural human tendencies, but they flow from understanding our position in Christ. When we grasp that we deserved hell but have been given heaven instead, it produces a humility that can't be faked.
Paul gives us seven "ones" as the foundation for unity: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. These aren't goals to achieve, but facts to acknowledge. We're called to act like the one body we already are.
Secondly, we need to understand that the church isn't a show we watch, but a body we build. Every believer has been given grace and gifts for ministry. The lie that ministry is only for professionals has crippled the church, creating spectator Christianity. But that's not what Paul describes.
Church leaders aren't meant to do all the ministry while everyone else watches. Their job is to equip every believer for ministry. We're not customers or an audience - we're co-laborers and an army. If you've been a Christian for more than a year and aren't actively serving in some capacity, you're living below your calling.
Thirdly, and perhaps most bluntly, Paul tells us to grow up. Spiritual maturity isn't optional. Staying a spiritual baby isn't cute - it's dangerous. Spiritual infants are unstable, easily deceived, and vulnerable to false teaching. They can't distinguish between biblical truth and attractive falsehood, often drawn to teachers who make them feel good rather than those who help them grow.
Mature believers, on the other hand, speak truth in love. They don't compromise truth for peace, nor abandon love for truth. They're growing in every dimension of life to become more like Jesus. This destroys compartmentalized Christianity - you can't be spiritually mature on Sunday and a complete pagan the rest of the week.
So how do we walk worthy of our calling? How do we live out this vision of unity, ministry, and maturity?
For non-believers, it starts with understanding that you can't walk worthy of a calling you haven't received. All the behavior modification in the world won't make you right with God. You need to be born again, trusting in Christ's death and resurrection as the only basis for your acceptance with God.
For believers, it begins with taking your identity seriously. You are not who you used to be. You're not defined by your past, failures, circumstances, or feelings. You are chosen, adopted, sealed, and saved by grace. That identity should transform how you think, feel, and behave.
We need to actively pursue unity with other believers. This doesn't mean agreeing on everything, but approaching conflict with humility, gentleness, patience, and love. Look around your church - every person who has trusted in Christ is your brother or sister. Act like it.
Discover and use your spiritual gifts. You weren't saved to sit on the sidelines, but to serve. If you don't know your gifts, seek guidance and pay attention to where God is already using you. If you do know them, stop hoarding and start deploying them.
Finally, commit to spiritual growth. It doesn't happen automatically but requires intentional effort. Be in God's Word, in prayer, in biblical community, and in service regularly. Be willing to be challenged, corrected, and changed.
Consider the story of a man who woke up from a long coma and had to learn to walk, talk, and feed himself again. No one ever suggested he should just stay in bed because it was too hard. Everyone understood that if he was alive, he needed to live like he was alive.
That's Paul's point in Ephesians 4. You were dead in your sins, but God made you alive with Christ. Jesus called you out of the grave - now walk like you're alive. Walk worthy of your calling.
It isn't always easy. Unity requires effort. Ministry requires sacrifice. Maturity requires growth. But that's what resurrection life looks like. Don't settle for spiritual infancy when God has called you to maturity. Don't settle for isolation when He's called you to community. Don't settle for passivity when He's called you to ministry.
You know who you are in Christ. Now it's time to start living like it. The question isn't whether you're capable - in Christ, you have everything you need for life and godliness. The question is whether you will choose to walk worthy of your calling.
Will you pursue unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Will you discover and deploy your spiritual gifts for building up the body? Will you commit to growing in spiritual maturity?
God didn't just call you out of the grave so you could live like a corpse. He called you out so you could walk in newness of life. So walk worthy of your calling. The journey to spiritual maturity awaits. Are you ready to take the next step?
Many of us claim the identity of Christ, carrying our Bibles, using the right words, and showing up on Sundays. But when we examine our lives Monday through Saturday - our priorities, relationships, and character - there's often a massive disconnect between who we claim to be and how we actually behave. We're claiming to be spiritual Navy SEALs while living like spiritual couch potatoes.
This identity crisis in the church is at the heart of Ephesians 4. The apostle Paul reminds us that we have been called to be the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, the family of God. Yet too often, we live like strangers who just happen to show up at the same building on Sunday mornings.
Paul's urgent plea is for us to "walk worthy of the calling you have received" (Ephesians 4:1). This isn't about trying to earn God's love or salvation - those are already secured in Christ. Rather, it's about living out the identity we've been given.
So what does it look like to walk worthy of our calling?
First, we must recognize that we're not a random crowd, but one body. Paul grounds our unity not in shared interests or backgrounds, but in our shared identity in Christ. This identity transcends every other marker - political affiliation, race, economic status, personality type. If we're in Christ, we have something in common with every other believer that goes deeper than surface-level differences.
This unity should produce character qualities like humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. These aren't natural human tendencies, but they flow from understanding our position in Christ. When we grasp that we deserved hell but have been given heaven instead, it produces a humility that can't be faked.
Paul gives us seven "ones" as the foundation for unity: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. These aren't goals to achieve, but facts to acknowledge. We're called to act like the one body we already are.
Secondly, we need to understand that the church isn't a show we watch, but a body we build. Every believer has been given grace and gifts for ministry. The lie that ministry is only for professionals has crippled the church, creating spectator Christianity. But that's not what Paul describes.
Church leaders aren't meant to do all the ministry while everyone else watches. Their job is to equip every believer for ministry. We're not customers or an audience - we're co-laborers and an army. If you've been a Christian for more than a year and aren't actively serving in some capacity, you're living below your calling.
Thirdly, and perhaps most bluntly, Paul tells us to grow up. Spiritual maturity isn't optional. Staying a spiritual baby isn't cute - it's dangerous. Spiritual infants are unstable, easily deceived, and vulnerable to false teaching. They can't distinguish between biblical truth and attractive falsehood, often drawn to teachers who make them feel good rather than those who help them grow.
Mature believers, on the other hand, speak truth in love. They don't compromise truth for peace, nor abandon love for truth. They're growing in every dimension of life to become more like Jesus. This destroys compartmentalized Christianity - you can't be spiritually mature on Sunday and a complete pagan the rest of the week.
So how do we walk worthy of our calling? How do we live out this vision of unity, ministry, and maturity?
For non-believers, it starts with understanding that you can't walk worthy of a calling you haven't received. All the behavior modification in the world won't make you right with God. You need to be born again, trusting in Christ's death and resurrection as the only basis for your acceptance with God.
For believers, it begins with taking your identity seriously. You are not who you used to be. You're not defined by your past, failures, circumstances, or feelings. You are chosen, adopted, sealed, and saved by grace. That identity should transform how you think, feel, and behave.
We need to actively pursue unity with other believers. This doesn't mean agreeing on everything, but approaching conflict with humility, gentleness, patience, and love. Look around your church - every person who has trusted in Christ is your brother or sister. Act like it.
Discover and use your spiritual gifts. You weren't saved to sit on the sidelines, but to serve. If you don't know your gifts, seek guidance and pay attention to where God is already using you. If you do know them, stop hoarding and start deploying them.
Finally, commit to spiritual growth. It doesn't happen automatically but requires intentional effort. Be in God's Word, in prayer, in biblical community, and in service regularly. Be willing to be challenged, corrected, and changed.
Consider the story of a man who woke up from a long coma and had to learn to walk, talk, and feed himself again. No one ever suggested he should just stay in bed because it was too hard. Everyone understood that if he was alive, he needed to live like he was alive.
That's Paul's point in Ephesians 4. You were dead in your sins, but God made you alive with Christ. Jesus called you out of the grave - now walk like you're alive. Walk worthy of your calling.
It isn't always easy. Unity requires effort. Ministry requires sacrifice. Maturity requires growth. But that's what resurrection life looks like. Don't settle for spiritual infancy when God has called you to maturity. Don't settle for isolation when He's called you to community. Don't settle for passivity when He's called you to ministry.
You know who you are in Christ. Now it's time to start living like it. The question isn't whether you're capable - in Christ, you have everything you need for life and godliness. The question is whether you will choose to walk worthy of your calling.
Will you pursue unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Will you discover and deploy your spiritual gifts for building up the body? Will you commit to growing in spiritual maturity?
God didn't just call you out of the grave so you could live like a corpse. He called you out so you could walk in newness of life. So walk worthy of your calling. The journey to spiritual maturity awaits. Are you ready to take the next step?
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