I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4: 1-3 (RSV)
Paul wanted his readers to understand the calling that they, as a member of God’s Family, have. This devotion looks at how Paul says we should humbly perform God’s work while maintaining peace and unity within the Family.
Nuggets
- In this chapter, Paul began by focusing on the saints’ mission or calling.
- Since our calling isn’t about us, we need to approach it with the correct attitudes.
- Jesus wasn’t about religion; He was about relationship, about Family.
Paul began the next section of his letter to the Ephesians in Chapter 4. He began to reveal to his readers how they were to apply what he had been teaching them.
We All Have a Calling
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph. 4: 1 RSV)
This is the second time at Paul talked about being a prisoner. We mentioned in Chapter 3 how Paul rocked being a prisoner for Jesus. However, Paul didn’t consider himself just a prisoner for Christ. He was also a prisoner for the Gentiles because Jesus was also Lord for the non-Jews.
In this chapter, Paul began by focusing on the saints’ mission or calling. God calls us to a variety of jobs that we are responsible to complete to expand His kingdom.
God calls us because of His love and mercy. Mercy is where He didn’t judge us to the extent He could have. Instead of judging us, God wants us to grow.
We are called to be partners in the message. “And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest” (Heb. 3: 1 NLT). The message is Jesus is our Lord and Savior.
My Ladies and I talked about this today — sorta. I think we chased a little rabbit and were talking about praying. We talked about how most of our prayers focus on physical needs that we want God to fix. God, on the other hand, wants us to focus on the spiritual lives of others.
Unfortunately, we are many times uncomfortable with sharing our faith. We see all of our weaknesses and lack of abilities. We let that stymie us.
But look what is doesn’t say. It doesn’t say be a worthy person. It says, “… lead a life worthy of the calling …” (Eph. 4: 1 RSV)
It isn’t about us. It is about God.
This life is not the most important consideration for God. It may be for us, but it should not be. Our focus should be on ensuring that the eternal lives of ourselves and others are secured.
We can’t be partners if we do not do our part. We need to share God’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice with others.
Humble Workers
“with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love” (Eph. 4: 2 RSV).
Since our calling isn’t about us, we need to approach it with the correct attitudes. Look at the words used: lowly, meek, patient, and loving. Yep, Dictionary Chick needs to check things out.
Lowly is of lower importance or humble. I like Krauszer’s definition of meekness. It says, “Meekness, according to the Bible, is being humble and gentle towards others and willingly being submissive and obedient to the Lord.” Patient means calmly enduring situations. We’ve said in a past devotion that love is an intense feeling of deep affection.
I look at all those definitions and distill it down to chill. There is a calmness about them. The emphasis is taken off us and put on to whomever we are interacting.
I also think there is an element of the long haul. It isn’t just for the moment or even the day. There is a consistency about it.
United in Peace Revisited
“eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4: 3 RSV)
Paul had talked about unity and peace in previous chapters. Unity is when the group is joined as a whole. We join God’s Family upon conversion.
We talked about how that should unify us. That can be difficult at times because the Family is made up of individuals that, while they have similarities, have different experiences and values.
God wants us look out for each other. One way we do this is through intercessory prayer.
There is no more Jew and Gentile (Gal. 3: 28 NASB). Separate groups have become one — children of God. That unification should foster peace.
One of the fruits of the spirit, peace conveys the essence of completeness and fulfillment. It has components of harmony, safety, and contentment. Peace comes from God through Jesus because God is the God of Peace (Rom. 15: 33).
To read
How Does Peace Help Us Tear Down Walls?,
How Does God Build a Community?,
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Pray for the Family
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But let’s look at this this way. In a way, Paul was preaching to the choir here. They were already united — they were the church of Ephesus — one Family. (Yes, they had work to do.)
Who were the religious leaders of Jesus’ day? The Pharisees.
But Jesus didn’t want the Family to even start down the road to the Pharisee brand of religion. Jesus wasn’t about religion. He was about relationship, about Family.
So, Jesus didn’t want the Ephesians to be saying, “Let’s be more like the Pharisees” — aka, what they knew.
Jesus wanted them to say, “Let’s be more like Jesus” — aka, something new.
But Jesus does add a little nugget here. He said that unity can be found through the Spirit.
Where is the Spirit? Inside us. So, we don’t have to worry about where they were born, how much education they have, what kind of affiliations they have.
We are Family because we are all the same inside. One of the “same” is God is inside all of us. That is what unifies us and should be based on love.
Making the Connections
So, what have we been talking about? We have a calling to be humble workers in a Family united in peace.
We should be humbled because our calling comes from Sovereign God. Nothing we do is through our own abilities. It is all His doing. The work we do is for His glory and honor, not our own.
When we are humble, it makes the interactions with the other Family members more peaceful. We do not think we our better than they are. We don’t believe our opinion are right and theirs wrong.
It doesn’t mean that we give up our beliefs (unless God asks us to give them up because they go against what He says in His Word). We strive to live together peaceably.
How Do We Apply This?
When we get people gathered together — any number — we are bound to have some taking offense at something or being the ones offending others. We have to evaluate why we are doing what we are doing.
We have to watch and make sure this contention does not get a toe hold in our interactions with other Family members. We have to work to keep the peace.
Yes, it relationships, so they will take work. They don’t just happen.
Fruits of the spirit help. When we interact in “… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5: 22-23 HCSB), contention has a hard time finding the toe hold.
Paul felt strongly that God’s Family needed to present a united front to nonbelievers. While he knew that would take work, Paul knew that should, in fact, be the reality.
Loving Father. You love us so much that You sent Your Son to die for us. You do not limit who can come searching for You. Help us to celebrate our diversity while we strive to be one cohesive group doing Your work. Amen.
Related Links
Krauszer’s quote was pulled from https://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2015/10/07/what-does-the-word-meek-mean-in-the-bible-bible-definition-of-meekness/
What do you think?
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