Has Your Walk Changed?
Ephesians 2:1-7
In Colossians 2:6, we are instructed, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” One’s walk is the daily conduct of one’s life; the habitual way or direction of one’s life. When a person receives Christ as Savior and the Lord of their life that person is to live a changed life, walking in a new direction. Has your walked changed? Too many believers have substituted words for works. They call Christ Lord but fail to back it up with their lives. They talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk.
I. The walk of a believer ought to different than his or her old walk
A. Ephesians 2:1-2 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience”
B. A walk that is “according to the course of this world” - the system of practices and standards associated with secular society
1. Fleshly walk - indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind
a. John Piper writes that flesh is the old ego that is self-reliant and does not delight to yield to any authority or depend on any mercy. Flesh craves the sensation of self-generated power and loves the praise of men....in its conservative form it produces legalism -- keeping rules by its own power for its own glory.... (in its more liberal form) produces grossly immoral attitudes and acts.
b. Verse 3 “we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind;”
2. Self-oriented – Here where the Bible speaks of the world it refers to the self-centered, godless value system and mores of fallen mankind. The goal of this present world is SELF - self-glory, self-fulfillment, self-indulgence, self-satisfaction
3. Disobedient - unwilling and refusing to comply with the demands of God.
4. Ecclesiastes 8:11 “...the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
C. A walk that is “according to the prince of the power of the air”
1. Satanically influenced and dominated
2. 1 John 5:19 “We know that we are of God, and the whole (world lies in the power of the evil one.”
3. Nearly two out of three adults—62%—agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” This response has remained relatively consistent throughout the Nineties. Among the more surprising findings, however, are that a majority of born again Christians deny Satan’s existence (52%); nearly three-quarters of Catholics say the devil is non-existent (72%); and women are more likely than men to reject Satan’s existence (64% vs. 59%). - Barna
4. Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
II. The walk of a believer ought to be a worthy walk –
A. Ephesians 4:1-3 “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
B. Walk in a manner worthy of and consistent with one’s position as a member of the Body of Christ.
C. Luke 1:5-6 “There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”
D. Colossians 1:10 “...walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
1. Worthy = Axios = Weigh. Axios strictly speaking means bringing up the other beam of the scales. means weighing as much as, of like or equal value, worth as much. It means having the weight of another thing and so being of like value or worth as much. Walk so that your life is balanced with your profession.
2. Bearing fruit – both the fruit of the Spirit and producing fruit of a like kind.
E. The believer who walks in a manner worthy of the calling with which he has been called is one whose daily living corresponds to his high position as a child of God and fellow heir with Jesus Christ. His practical living matches his privileged position. – Copied
F. DL Moody said, “Every Bible should be wrapped in shoe leather.”
III. The walk of a believer ought to be a loving walk –
A. Ephesians 5:1-2 “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.”
B. An agape walk – a self-sacrificial love
C. Not a love based on sentiment or emotion but a matter of will and action
D. Love ought to be the motivating power and deciding factor in the life of every believer.
E. The old walk was a selfish walk; the new a giving walk.
F. Love ever gives, forgives, outlives;
And ever stands with open hands;
And while it lives, it gives,
For this is love’s prerogative
To give, and give, and give.
G. What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things.
H. Romans 13:8 “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
I. 1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
IV. An Enlightened Walk
A. Ephesians 5:8 “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light”
B. Every man but a believer walks in darkness; in fact, he is darkness. Darkness describes the whole nature of unregenerated man.
C. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
D. A New identity calls for a new lifestyle.
E. You who are now believers were darkness. That was then. This is now. Now don’t behave like those who are in the darkness!"
F. 2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?”
G. 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
H. We are to be light reflectors!
I. I want to be a little light,
That glistens clean and true,
I want to show forth Jesus
In everything I do.
I don’t like smoky lamps, Lord,
Or candles dim and slow;
I don’t like flickering, hazy lights
That do not shine and glow.
Thou hast told me in Thy Word,
To let my light so shine,
That those who look into my face
Will know that I am Thine. — Selected
J. 1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
V. A Careful Walk
A. Ephesians 5:15 “See (Be careful) then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise”
B. Circumspectly – watchful and alert - refers to ethical behavior with a focus on careful attention especially regarding the dangers and deceptions that continually assault us
C. Be careful how you walk - carries the idea of looking around carefully so as not to stumble
D. For some reason, human beings can’t walk in a straight line. There’s just something about our inner orientation that causes us to walk in a crooked or warped way. That’s the conclusion of Robert Krulwich, science correspondent for NPR. In an interview on Morning Edition, Krulwich cites a study from Jan Souman, a scientist from Germany, who blindfolded his subjects and then asked them to walk for an hour in a straight line. Without exception, people couldn’t do it. Of course everybody thinks they’re walking in a straight line, until they remove the blindfolds and sees their crooked path. Krulwich observed, this tendency has been studied now for at least a century. We animated field tests from the 1920s, so you can literally see what happens to men who are blindfolded and told to walk across a field in a straight line, or swim across a lake in a straight line …, and they couldn’t. In the animation, you see them going in these strange loop-de-loops in either direction. Apparently, there’s a profound inability in humans to [walk] straight.
According to this research, there’s only one way we can walk in a straight line: by focusing on something ahead of us—like a building, a landmark, or a mountain. If we can fix our eyes on something ahead of us, we can make ourselves avoid our normal crooked course. Kurlwich concludes, "Without external cues, there’s apparently something in us that makes us turn [from a straight path]." Steve Inskeep, "Mystery: Why We Can’t Walk Straight?" NPR: Morning Edition (11-22-10)
E. Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
