“I, the prisoner of the LORD, then call on you
to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called …”
Ephesians 4:1
As we pursue Him, we begin to see noteworthy details in the language of the Spirit in His Word. Words like “if”, “therefore”, “then”, “is”, and even “the”, carry connotations that impact our hearts with their subtle nuances.
In the verse above, there is a Greek article indicating something significant concerning our call. This is not just “a” call that could imply a suggestion but is rendered “the” call that brings the force and power of a command.
THE Call of God to each of us requires our response. It signifies my need to “walk worthily” of its vocation. THE Call is more than receiving unmerited forgiveness; it is to demonstrate the impartation of Christ by how we conduct ourselves in this world.
The Holy Spirit does not leave us uninformed as to how that CALL is exhibited:
“…with all humility and gentleness,
with patience, bearing with one another in love…”
Ephesians 4:2
The CALLED manifest their devotion to Him. The graces of the CALLED express the nature of the ONE from whom they have received the wonder of this life. To walk unworthily of THE CALL is to deny Him the authority to produce His likeness within us.
Unity of the Spirit
The CALLED bear with one another; they cannot separate themselves from others who are “walking worthily” in His Spirit. They deny doctrinal identities and secular and denominational affinities, for they inherently are pressed to “maintain” the Unity of the Spirit.
“being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace.”
Ephesians 4:3
This “Unity of the Spirit” is an unachievable concept to the religious, natural man. Those who live in Him recognize that the “Unity of the Spirit” is not something we achieve but something we keep or, as it says in the Greek, maintain! This Unity results from our sensitivity to His rule and reign within our hearts. The Spirit can never be dis-unified. It is the carnal man who is unconscious of His reality and, therefore, unable to walk accordingly.
“the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know [them], because they are discerned spiritually.”
1 Corinthians 2:14
The CALLED comprehend that the “Unity of the Spirit” is a reality they enter INTO, not a state of collectivity they obtain by carnal means.
Walking Worthily of the Call
To touch the unity of the Spirit requires a life lived IN the Spirit. This unity is discovered by those who conduct themselves “worthily” by the graces OF the Spirit of God.
“I, the prisoner of the LORD, then call on you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace…”
WHY???
“There IS one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the 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.”
Ephesians 4:4-6 (capitalization mine)
May the power of His Word impact our hearts!
“There IS one body and one Spirit…”
Ephesians 4:4
Again, those little words impact those who live in Him. “There IS”; not, there will be someday. To be filled with His Spirit is to feel His burden and His desire to produce within each of us the one truth: for me to partake of this eternal and existing Unity personally, I must walk accordingly.
“I, the prisoner of the LORD, then call on you
to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called …”
Ephesians 4:1
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PODCAST – Vision and the Mutual Faith
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.”
Psalm 133
Brian Troxel
Christ-constructive is the call away from the carnality of compromise and the hellishness of heresy by disdaining/disagreeing/defending doctrinally, while in the same liberating Breath of the Spirit loving lavishly.
1 Peter 4:8 AMP
Above all, have [a]fervent and unfailing love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins [it overlooks unkindness and unselfishly seeks the best for others].
Footnotes
a. This Greek word was used to describe the taut, stretched muscles of a runner winning his race.
God Himself Being Love (1 John 4:8,16), our loving lavishly is the expression, manifestation, and demonstration of the One All Magnificent Triune God, the infinitely united Trinity of loving, uniting Sublimity, ministering the positive, transforming, incontrovertible truth of 1 Corinthians 13. As faith is a function of love, our loving fuels and fortifies faith. Genuine faith in Christ is made known in actuality and shown in practicality through the excellence of the exercise of love.
Gal. 5:6 AMP
For [if we are] in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but only faith activated and expressed and working through love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 AMP
And now there remain: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13 AMP
The Excellence of Love
13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not [a]love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction]. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy [and speak a new message from God to the people], and understand all mysteries, and [possess] all knowledge; and if I have all [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love [reaching out to others], I am nothing. 3 If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body [b]to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good at all.
4 Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. 5 It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. 6 It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. 7 Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].
8 Love never fails [it never fades nor ends]. But as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for the gift of special knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part [for our knowledge is fragmentary and incomplete]. 10 But when that which is complete and perfect comes, that which is incomplete and partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma], but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by God]. 13 And now there remain: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love.
Footnotes
a. 1 Corinthians 13:1 I.e. a profound thoughtfulness and unselfish concern for other believers regardless of their circumstances or station in life.
b. 1 Corinthians 13:3 Early mss read so that I may boast, i.e. as a martyr.
Amen!
Blessings
BT
It takes someone who has recognized the imprint of the Holy Spirit to understand being “the” called. We cannot understand the significance of salvation without His direction. We cannot qualify or disqualify any word to receive it or deny it without the Holy Spirit. It’s why John wrote…
“But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”
1 John 2:27
There may yet be some in the church who still do not know this. Then they may walk worthy of the calling.
Thank you for this lesson, Brian. God bless you.
With respect to these precious truths we have multiple Parables of Jesus and a host of scriptures elsewhere in the NT but succinctly expressed by one scripture “For many are called, but few are chosen”. which in the Greek could be translated as one Greek scholar stated; “many are elected but few are selected”. This seems to be a pervading truth as expressed in the early church:
4 “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall…”
2 Peter 1:4-10
It is verse 10 that exhorts us to live dilligently to make our election sure – a vital truth lost in much of the preaching and teaching of today.
Blessings to you and your family
Brian
Amen. 🙂
Vast multitudes at some level sense the call of God by His revelation of Himself through creation, conscience, and preaching of the Word, but only the comparatively few respond because they are the ones who, recognizing their dire-most need of the Savior, are intrinsically interested in accepting Him. God so loved the whole wide world, the many (John 3:16). The many are called or invited into the kingdom, but none can come of their own accord or ability. The One Beautiful God must divinely draw the hearts of those who come, or they will not come. These are the ‘yes’ to Yah, the amen of the Amen, whom, as the Father of spirits, He foreknew and predestined for celestial communion and forever fellowship, the beautified bride He shall gloriously give in marriage to the Firstborn Son of His love.
John 6:44 AMP
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him [giving him the desire to come to Me], and I will raise him [from the dead] on the last day.
Yes, amen…
Blessings brother
BT