Ephesians – Sit, Walk, Stand, Bow Part 2

This is part two on my series in Ephesians. Yesterday I wrote about who we are in Christ. If we are going to be able to stand firm in the evil days, then we first need to realize who we are. We are not “sinners saved by grace”, but we are saints who are seated in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus. The Bible never refers to a believer as a sinner. Our sin nature died when we accepted Christ. We are no longer sinners, but “saints who sin”. Please don’t underestimate yourself. If we underestimate ourselves then we will have difficulty walking worthy of our calling.

In this lesson we are going to learn how to walk as a believer in Christ. In chapter 4, Paul tells us to walk worthy of our calling.  “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, ² with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, ³ endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” Eph 4:1-3 (NKJV). We are told to put off the old man and put on the new man. We are no longer to walk in sin as the lost do, but we are to walk in love and walk as children of light. As believers there are certain behaviors that we should “put off” as Paul says. These behaviors we are to put off are as follows: lying, stealing, anger, speaking unwholesome words, bitterness, and sexual immorality. For a full sin list that you may use during your prayer time click here: Sin List from A-Z

The behaviors we should put on are as follows: be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, walk in love, and walk in Godly wisdom. If we know who we are in Christ according to Ephesians chapters 1 and 2, we should have a desire to act like Christ. The book of 1^st Peter says, “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy” 1 Peter 1:15-16 (NKJV). As Christians, we are to act holy. The church in America is being destroyed from the inside out because of our lack of holiness. The world looks at us and doesn’t want to have anything to do with us because many are hypocrites. If we want to change the world as the disciples changed the world, then we must be holy in our behavior. God does not want our sloppy seconds. We need to ask ourselves if the world needs our kind of Christianity. If Paul would have acted as many of us act, would he have turned the world upside down?

Many in the church in America need to work on their walk. If we don’t learn to “sit” in Christ and learn to “walk worthy”, how are we going to be able to stand in the evil day. Tomorrow we will learn how to bow and then we will be prepared to stand firm in our faith.