Chapter 4 deals with Christian living and with unity in the church. Today Paul urges us to walk worthy of our calling. This doesn't mean, of course, that we can earn grace, mercy, or salvation. It means that since we have already received the unmerited gifts of grace, mercy, and salvation, we should conduct ourselves as the children of God. Keeping in mind the great sacrifice the Lord made for us should cause us to want to honor Him in everything we do. Paul is going to talk about some ways each of us can honor the Lord and how the church as a whole can honor Him.
"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." (Ephesians 4:1) On the authority of an apostle and of one who is suffering for the Lord, Paul issues this valuable advice.
How are we to go about showing the Lord how much we value His sacrifice for us? "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." (Ephesians 4:2-6) We are members of one body and should not think of ourselves as better than any other member. We were all lost sinners at one time. We have all been saved by the same Lord. We are to love each other as family members should, not trying to get ahead of each other and not trying to put each other down.
In verses 7-13 below Paul is going to talk about not being prideful over our gifts and talents. When we came to Christ, God didn't give each one of us the same exact gifts. If all of us could preach, then who would sing the Lord's praises? If all of us could sing, who would teach Sunday School? If all of us could teach Sunday School, who would minister to the sick and bereaved? If we all ministered to the sick and bereaved, who would be mighty prayer warriors? You see where I'm going with this. God has called each of us to perform different tasks and He has gifted us accordingly. We aren't to value our gifts over someone else's and we aren't to value the gifts of others over our own. Just as the members of a family perform different roles, the members of the church perform different roles. But each role is very important.
"But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. That is why it says: 'When He ascended on high, He took many captives and gave gifts to His people.' (What does 'He ascended' mean except that He also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:7-13) Paul quotes Psalm 68:18 in verse 8. This psalm portrays the Lord as a mighty army general who returns victoriously from a great battle and bestows gifts upon His people from the plunder He took from His enemy. When Christ rose in victory over death, He plundered the enemy. Satan was a defeated foe. So was death, for its clutches failed to hold Him and will fail to hold all who trust in Him for salvation. Like a returning general, Christ bestowed gifts upon us.
These gifts are meant to be used for the building up of Christ's body (the church). We are to use them to minister to each other; we are never to use them in a way that lifts us up and puts others down. We also aren't to compare our gifts to those of others and feel bad about ourselves. God has chosen for each of us, according to our personalities and according to our locations in this world and according to the opportunities that will come our way, which gifts we can most effectively use to build up the body of Christ. He put a lot of thought into this. Your gifts were as carefully chosen as the gifts of anyone else. They are as valuable as the gifts of anyone else, so work hard to develop them and to make use of them at every opportunity.
Mature Christians will seek the good of the church as a whole. Mature Christians will minister to one another in love and gentleness and meekness. "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their dreadful scheming." (Ephesians 4:14) If the members of the church aren't mature and strong in the faith, the church itself will not be mature and strong in the faith. This can allow false teaching to creep in. We must stand firm and united on the truth of the gospel. Any teaching that contradicts the facts of the gospel must be rejected and kept out of the church for, as Paul is fond of saying, "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." (1 Corinthians 5:6, Galatians 5:9) One way in which we minister to the body of Christ is in being wise enough to recognize false doctrine and to nip it in the bud.
If we hold to the truth we will be strong individually and we will be strong as a church. "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Ephesians 4:15-16) Your service is vital to the body of Christ. My service is too. He chose us to be "supporting ligaments" of His body and we should consider it an honor to do our part. This is how we can live lives worthy of the calling we have received: by doing what we have been called to do and by using the gifts the Lord has given us for His glory and for the strengthening of His body the church.
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