I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
Paul pleads as one held in bonds for Christ, speaking by the Spirit so that his appeal carries greater weight than his personal presence could. The calling to which believers are summoned is high and holy and sacred, purchased at infinite cost so that life and powers are no longer one's own. To walk worthily is to make that calling practical in individual life, being doers of truth in every part rather than hearers only, following Christ's example in obedience, purity and love. That walk is lived in all lowliness and meekness, bearing long without revenge, forbearing one another in love and keeping the unity of the Spirit in peace. It rests on one body and one Spirit under one Lord and one Father, with varied gifts given to perfect the saints and build up the body, so that harmony among differing members becomes the strongest proof to the world that God sent His Son.
Prisoner and Holy Calling
Paul writes as the prisoner of the Lord, imprisoned for Christ and speaking by the Spirit, and words written under bonds therefore command greater attention and respect than when he was present in person with the churches. His imprisonment did not silence him or prevent him from guiding the churches, for his courage, faith and meekness under bonds gave his counsel greater weight and encouraged believers to greater fidelity and zeal in Christ's cause. He used his bonds faithfully, as when brought before Felix and Drusilla he sought to awaken them to the danger of rejecting truth rather than flattering them or protecting his own interests. His warnings, counsel, instruction and example under bonds strengthened believers and called them to responsibility, fidelity, zeal and faithful Christian service.
The vocation wherewith believers are called is high, holy, elevated and sacred, and it must not be treated lightly. Every power of being and every moment of time has been bought with the precious blood of the only begotten Son of God, so that no one is his own proprietor. Even one who feels unworthy of the calling must try to live worthily of God's cause, so that words and conduct do not harm the cause.
Walking worthy means coming fully to the Lord's side, coming out to Jesus by coming out of the world and being separate from the world. Although in the world, the believer is not of it but is a living representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, ever remaining a people distinct and peculiar and not coming down from that position. It means turning from the world's pride, fashions and customs and seeking to glorify God, with hope of the immortal inheritance shaping choices. True faith, if appreciated, keeps believers separate and keeps them from coming down to political strife. The mind is kept from being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, walking in Christ Jesus even as He was received, rooted and grounded and built up in Him and established in the faith.
The plea belonged to the peculiar privileges and dangers of the Ephesian church, showing its warnings and its call to believe and practice the truth of the gospel, sacrifice everything for the Master, not live to self, cooperate with Christ, and follow the Saviour's example as one created anew in Him. Yet it was designed to come down to the present as a call to heed God, bear light, and act in readiness for the Lord's return, with the worthy walk described in humility, meekness, patience, loving forbearance and keeping the Spirit's unity in peace. It is among the chapters to consult when the foundations of faith are under attack, calling believers to live in a way worthy of the calling they have received.
Meaning of Worthy Walk
The worthy walk is a life that matches the calling, something practical to do and not merely to profess. It is an individual responsibility carried out before the church and the world, to be met by relying on the Lord, for Christ and His righteousness are the only hope, faith in His name brings salvation, and His strength alone enables walking worthily rather than weakness and inefficiency. It means being doers of the word and doing the works of Christ, letting truth become a living principle in the soul that shapes daily life and character, not resting in long sermons or prayers or mere words. It is practicing truth in every part of life through a faith working by love that purifies the soul and makes it alive in Christ. Such a walk lets light shine before men in good works that glorify the Father, gives power with God and men to win souls, causes others to know the life has been with Jesus, makes its very presence an influence for good, and restrains from sin lest others follow folly.
It means believing and practicing the gospel, sacrificing everything for the Master, not living to self, cooperating with Christ, and following the Saviour's example as one created anew in Him. It means speaking and acting truthfully, keeping clean and worthy conduct, refusing even the least sinful proposal or practice that leads toward evil, and revealing Christ's character. It is living as a child of God with the mind of Christ, adorning the doctrine of Christ the Saviour by a positive influence for right, obeying the living Word as truly converted and transformed, and performing the highest service as a free, heaven-born spirit. This rests on the Lord's claim upon every human being, since no one is his own proprietor because every power and every moment has been bought with the precious blood of the only begotten Son, and appreciation of that sacrifice refuses to mock religious profession by conformity to the world's standard. Those who believe in Christ as personal Saviour receive every grace and spiritual endowment needed for perfecting Christian character, and the cross honors every Christian who honors it.
It means putting on the new man, which is peace, grace and righteousness, becoming new men and women in Christ Jesus. It means turning from self-indulgence and from the world's pride, fashions and customs, being cleansed from sin and living in right relation to God with the hope of the immortal inheritance shaping choices. Christ's merits bring forgiveness and peace, His grace heals and cleanses so the person may be presented without spot or wrinkle, while God's converting power works together with human effort to purify character and change conduct. It is lived by fighting the battle between two spirits striving for mastery, guarding against evil thoughts and a suspicious heart, refusing evil words and evil seed, praying alone, and yielding reason and conscience to the Holy Spirit for kindly, uplifting, encouraging thoughts under holiness and charity.
The walk begins with a right spiritual condition expressed in loyalty to God's law, whose obedience is associated with life and blessing. Even a splendid temple or house of worship is worthless if the heart is not right, so the greatest anxiety must be about spiritual condition. This requires reverence in entering God's house into the presence of God and angels, knowing God meets with His people and that believers themselves are the temple of the living God, and educating children to look heavenward.
It requires examining self, humbling the heart before God in contrition, keeping the way of the Lord, and purifying the heart by obedience to the truth. It means repenting of an uncourteous and self-sufficient spirit, cleansing the soul temple, and ceasing to manufacture trials, with promise that humbling oneself and accepting God's mercy, love and kindness brings pardon, righting of wrongs, and revelation of the Lord. It is practiced in words, spirit and action by laying aside self-sufficiency and refusing to choose only one's own society or separate from brethren unless they accept one's own ideas and plans. Instead it links with brethren in love, cultivates esteem and confidence, makes room for them to supply deficiencies, keeps unity, and yokes with Jesus in agreement so that two can walk together in cooperation with Him.
It means conforming life to obedience to God's commandments and law, being united in the faith of the Scriptures and bound together as one in Christ with life hid with Christ in God. It means practicing the golden rule, doing to others as one would have them do, and loving one another as Christ loves, thereby bearing a living testimony that the Father loves believers even as He loves His Son. Such lives show Christ's death has not been in vain, use heaven's infinite-cost provision to draw souls to obedience, cooperate with the Master Worker as laborers together with God, and become partakers of the divine nature escaped from worldly corruption through lust. In courtesy and unwavering fidelity, in justice and mercy, they magnify God's law and make it honorable before a gainsaying world, demonstrating that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
In the last days it requires circumspect words and acts, with careful obedience and Christlike words making the calling visible and reproving others by example. It means guarding against irreverence in God's work and sacred things, preserving honor, integrity and truth at any cost, bringing every thought, word and action under Christ's will, and remembering Jesus is in the midst to impart wisdom, grace and righteousness. It avoids levity, glee, reckless talking, jesting and joking where God's solemn work and word are under consideration, while keeping right Christian cheerfulness, hiding self in Jesus for dispassionate and righteous judgment, and practicing lowliness, meekness, long-suffering and forbearance in love. It carries solemn influence rich in good works and burden for souls, faithfully representing Jesus to win souls, remaining instant in prayer, praying without ceasing and watching unto prayer, with every movement toward God met by His response and the Spirit's inward change guarding against temptation from self-confidence, pride, combativeness and evil thoughts. For the Christian walk is warfare with Satan and his host that allows no release and no laying aside of armor, calling for constant watchfulness and faithful conduct.
Humility, Forbearance, and Unity
To walk worthy is to live with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, and endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That worthy life shows in conduct the power of the truth and the blessings of salvation, reflecting Christ's character through humility, gentleness, patience and love, and it is the work to be done in every church. The calling joins believers as one body under one Lord in one shared hope, yet Christ gives different gifts and roles so all may serve and build up the church, and no one person is to be treated as the whole. Love is the law of Christ's kingdom, calling God's people to a higher standard where their lives reveal love, meekness and longsuffering.
Long-suffering means bearing much, yea many things, without seeking to be avenged by word or act. This love comes from Christ, not from human impulses, and is lived by making room for one another and laboring in harmony. The desire to exalt self causes discord among believers, while honoring and preferring one another supports the peace of Christ. Worthiness is expressed in lowliness of mind and in being a blessing to one another.
The walk requires fighting the battle between two spirits striving for mastery by guarding against evil thoughts and a suspicious evil heart, refusing to speak evil words and dropping no evil seed in words. It is kept by going alone to pray and by yielding reason and conscience to the Holy Spirit, so that commendation and love are expressed under holiness and charity with kindly, uplifting, encouraging thoughts. Those called to advance God's work and save perishing souls must refuse jealousy, evil surmising, suspicion, faultfinding, evil-speaking, destroying confidence in fellow workers, and magnifying self. Such genuine love and unity allow the Spirit to work and show the world God's goodness, and seeking the Lord with a soul to save and persevering to make thorough work for eternity creates an atmosphere that brings the angels who keep and guard the soul.
Complete unity holds together diversity, for those called are not molded alike in character, just as no two leaves in nature are alike, no two human minds are precisely alike, and heavenly angels differ in qualifications and ministry. Truth speaks its own language through a diversity of gifts, and the divine work is carried on by and through a diversity of gifts, all essential and all working to one end, the expression of the mind and will of God through the perfection of the saints. God joins together people of different minds to counsel with and assist one another, so that deficiency in the experience and abilities of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another, and every emergency in every kind of labor may be met. This unity comes by uniting human weakness to Christ's strength, dying to self and living to Christ after Him who descended from heaven from the throne of God and clothed His divinity with humanity, so that strong unchristlike traits are softened, subdued and purified and believers unite one with another and in that union are one with Christ in God.
There is to be no half-way work in establishing unity among professing Christians, but a positive and decided exhortation and warning to read and study and receive and put into practice light and grace for unity, actively laboring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Those called as ministers of Christ must live worthily under all and every circumstance by seeking harmony and union, being willing and anxious to talk matters over and come to a better understanding rather than preferring disunion. This means sacrificing personal feelings and ideas to come as closely as possible into harmony, softening a stiff unfeeling spirit instead of standing stiffly and repulsing, making effort to harmonize, viewing brethren in the right light and acting toward them in letter and conversation as befits a Christian, and keeping spirituality and devotion alive rather than letting them wane while outward missionary work prospers. When workers focus on saving souls in Christlike love and mercy, jealousy, fault-finding, envy, dissension and struggles for supremacy give way, and shared concern for salvation helps them overlook minor differences.
Walking worthy forbids seeking to rule fellow workers, setting power over them, or restricting their freedom in service, since God never placed man as ruler over His heritage. True Bible religion leads to self-control, not control of one another. Those called must give others room to act under the Holy Spirit's direction rather than treating their own judgment as the only one God guides, remaining free from jealousy and resentment when others are not appreciated or given room to serve, and cooperating willingly so the church can be fitted together in unity. It is lived by humbling the heart before God, seeking the Lord by fasting and prayer and inquiring daily to know His will and way, following Christ's earthly example, appreciating His flock, receiving a larger measure of the Holy Spirit to bear God's solemn message without exaltation, keeping words of censure for self, teaching the flock to look to Christ and not to erring man, and bearing the fruit of holiness while praising God in daily conversation as well as in prayers and holding forth the Word of life with a living example.
One Body and Gifts
The calling to walk worthily rests on one body and one Spirit, one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all, with grace given to each one according to the measure of the gift of Christ. As members of Christ's body believers are animated by the same Spirit and the same hope, manifesting the power of truth and exemplifying Christ's character and the blessings of salvation. The shared calling joins them as one body under one Lord, while Christ gives different gifts and roles so that all may serve and build up the church, and no one person is to be treated as the whole. These teachings must shape daily life, for living by the Bible makes believers strong while relying on personal opinions misleads.
Christ who descended into the lower parts of the earth and ascended far above all heavens to fill all things, and who ascended up on high leading captivity captive, gave gifts to men. He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ. This continues till all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. So believers are no more children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine and cunning deceit, but speaking the truth in love grow up into Christ the head in all things, with the whole body joined and compacted by every joint and increasing and edifying itself in love through the working of every part.
This is the Lord's manner of working, requiring a variety of gifts and broadminded, experienced workers of quick perception, where every gift is to be acknowledged as essential to success. God's work is to be managed as a whole, with the variety of gifts blending together, and its instruction rules out separation between different lines of missionary work. God appoints different people to different work, so no one person should try to manage everything or carry so many responsibilities that mind and body are worn out, nor become the sole head of an institution. Each is to serve in the work appointed under God's direction and in cooperation with others, with will held in abeyance, ready as minutemen to understand the ways and will of the Leader when His time comes.
No one bears the burden of the work alone, but God joins together men of different minds to counsel with and assist one another, so that deficiency in the experience and abilities of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another. This unity comes by uniting human weakness to Christ's strength, dying to self and living to Christ, following Him who descended from heaven from the throne of God and clothed His divinity with humanity to show what human beings may become. Then strong unchristlike traits of character are softened, subdued and purified, believers unite one with another, and in that union are one with Christ in God. Walking worthily means helping one another, making no territorial lines, and willingly letting the Lord's money be used where need is greatest, since usefulness and success depend on Christ, who reads hearts and knows motives and purposes.
The worthy walk includes unselfish service, respect for fellow workers' distinct responsibilities, and cooperation in God's work. It means making room for one another and laboring in harmony in Christ's love, which comes from Christ and not from human impulses. Believers must not treat human teachers as infallible or rely on their own abilities, but need God's keeping power and counsel. It means growing beyond spiritual childhood to remain steadfast rather than being swayed by false teaching and deceit, speaking truth in love and growing in every way into Christ the head, while belonging to and contributing to His body where each part works as it should. Applied to the church this is disciplined, orderly and united action in which ministers discipline themselves and teach harmonious work, since order and union of action support cooperation with angels while disorder weakens it.
Witness to the World
To walk worthy is to show in conduct the power of truth and the blessings of salvation, reflecting Christ's character in humility, meekness, patience and love that preserves unity in peace. As members of one body animated by one Spirit and one hope, believers are to manifest that power, exemplify Christ and live from the same Spirit and hope grounded in one body and one Spirit, one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father over all and through all and in all. Harmony and union among people of varied dispositions is the strongest witness that God sent His Son to save sinners, and it requires characters molded in harmony with His character and wills surrendered to His will.
God's plan is stated so plainly that all can grasp it, declaring the appointed means to keep unity so that members reveal to the world a healthy religious experience. Walking worthy means conforming life to obedience to God's commandments and law, being united in the faith of the Scriptures and bound together as one in Christ with life hid with Christ in God, practicing the golden rule and loving one another as Christ loves. Such lives bear a living, abiding testimony that the Father loves them even as He loves His Son, with powerful influence on the unbelieving world, showing that Christ's death has not been in vain. They appreciate the great gift and use heaven's provision made at infinite cost to draw souls to obedience, cooperating with the great Master Worker as laborers together with God and becoming partakers of the divine nature escaped from worldly corruption through lust. In courtesy and unwavering fidelity, in justice and mercy, such consistent lives magnify God's law and make it honorable before a gainsaying world, demonstrating that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
Divisions in the church dishonor Christ's religion before the world and give enemies of truth occasion to justify their course, so the call to preserve unity in the bond of peace reaches from Paul's day down to the present. By contrast a converted, consistent life lived with humility, meekness, patience and loving forbearance honors God and can win people to Christ. Worthiness is not long sermons or prayers or mere words but being doers of the word, doing Christ's works and letting truth become a living principle that shapes soul, daily life and character. Then light shines in good works that glorify the Father, giving power with God and men to win souls, causing others to know they have been with Jesus and learned of Him, making their very presence an influence for good and restraining them from sin lest others follow their folly.
Those called, and especially teachers of truth, are to look to Christ and follow Him, showing holiness in life and seeking God's will, way and unerring counsel daily with sincere heart by fasting and prayer. They are to praise God in speech and conversation as well as in prayer, holding forth the word of life by living example as learners, and to walk in prayer, faith and obedience so the Holy Spirit works through them and people become willing to respond. This includes helping set the churches in order and closing the door of unbelief, making straight paths for the feet so the weak are not turned aside, standing firm against Satan's increasing seducing power that would deceive even the elect, and heeding warning to rescue imperiled souls who do not see their danger.
Duties in Church Life
Those called to gospel work walk worthy of the calling by laboring together in concert under one supreme Leader, blending as a perfect whole where one supplies what another lacks, and no one can be a good soldier of the cross by working independently of fellow workers or regarding his own judgment as best. The worthy walk is lived with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, and endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, because there is one body and one Spirit with one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all. It is lived humbly yoked with Christ and walking humbly with God so that blessing attends the work and makes it as enduring as eternity, and it is never separated from the church nor exalted above the ministry. Those laboring in ministry and medical missionary work wear Christ's yoke and walk in humility of mind, using varied gifts to bless humanity as God's helping hand, with all parts of the work controlled and guided in harmony in every action. They draw in even cords without friction, giving room to fellow laborers instead of measuring brethren by personal ideas, refusing to quarrel when Christ abides in the heart, standing together under Christ's standard united by desire to strengthen His work in every line, with no jealousy of Paul or Apollos or Cephas, following Christ as Leader sent by the Father to redeem the fallen race and restore God's moral image in humanity, acting in His name for God's glory rather than following human devising or fastening the soul to a human leader.
The vocation to ministry, especially for leaders who have long studied the prophetic Word, means being Christ's representatives on earth and representatives of the truth as it is in Jesus, carrying on every branch of the work in the manner Christ carried on His work. This requires the mind wrought by the Holy Spirit and full consecration to the Lord, without which the work has no eternal result, and those who know most about this vocation and teach others must in every respect walk most circumspectly with every temperament subdued so they present every feature of faith in the spirit and grace Christ gives. God helps ministers live worthily of the work to which He has called them as evangelists and ministers of the Word, faithfully representing Jesus everywhere rather than measuring how much is done on right hand or left, and strengthening one another in the most holy faith. Their minds turn from earthly things toward heaven, closing the windows of the soul earthward and opening them heavenward so heaven's light fills the soul and the light flooding heaven's threshold shines into the mind, giving power to reach the hearts of others.
This is practical instruction to be brought into daily life by every institution established in the interests of Seventh-day Adventist work, and it applies to believers associated together in God's work and ought to be read and studied by all working together in the office. Each believer lives worthily of God's calling by strengthening others and helping them live faithfully, maintaining unity with Christ and fellow believers through mutual support rather than standing apart to judge or criticize. Those who would have part in the work in the South hide self in Christ, walking humbly and circumspectly before God.
The solemn instruction in Ephesians 4 means much for believers and calls for great reformation in lives, words, works, and spiritual understanding. It confronts hard-spiritedness that comes from being a stranger to the working of the Holy Spirit, and urges daily breathing the atmosphere of heaven and catching the inspiration of the angels in the heavenly courts. Each believer receives grace according to Christ's gift, and these teachings must shape daily life, for living by the Bible makes believers strong in the Lord while relying on personal opinions can mislead others.
Worthy walking is practiced in words, in spirit, and in action with a contrite, humble spirit that God can dwell with and revive, laying aside self-sufficiency, refusing to choose only one's own society and separate from brethren unless they accept one's own ideas and plans, and instead linking up with brethren in love and making room for them to supply deficiencies. It puts away faultfinding, jealousy, suspicion, and evil-speaking and expresses genuine love and unity with fellow believers, and such unity allows the Spirit to work and shows the world God's goodness.
Paul pleads as one held in bonds for Christ, speaking by the Spirit so that his appeal carries greater weight than his personal presence could. The calling to which believers are summoned is high and holy and sacred, purchased at infinite cost so that life and powers are no longer one's own. To walk worthily is to make that calling practical in individual life, being doers of truth in every part rather than hearers only, following Christ's example in obedience, purity and love. That walk is lived in all lowliness and meekness, bearing long without revenge, forbearing one another in love and keeping the unity of the Spirit in peace. It rests on one body and one Spirit under one Lord and one Father, with varied gifts given to perfect the saints and build up the body, so that harmony among differing members becomes the strongest proof to the world that God sent His Son.
Prisoner and Holy Calling
Paul writes as the prisoner of the Lord, imprisoned for Christ and speaking by the Spirit, and words written under bonds therefore command greater attention and respect than when he was present in person with the churches. His imprisonment did not silence him or prevent him from guiding the churches, for his courage, faith and meekness under bonds gave his counsel greater weight and encouraged believers to greater fidelity and zeal in Christ's cause. He used his bonds faithfully, as when brought before Felix and Drusilla he sought to awaken them to the danger of rejecting truth rather than flattering them or protecting his own interests. His warnings, counsel, instruction and example under bonds strengthened believers and called them to responsibility, fidelity, zeal and faithful Christian service.
The vocation wherewith believers are called is high, holy, elevated and sacred, and it must not be treated lightly. Every power of being and every moment of time has been bought with the precious blood of the only begotten Son of God, so that no one is his own proprietor. Even one who feels unworthy of the calling must try to live worthily of God's cause, so that words and conduct do not harm the cause.
Walking worthy means coming fully to the Lord's side, coming out to Jesus by coming out of the world and being separate from the world. Although in the world, the believer is not of it but is a living representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, ever remaining a people distinct and peculiar and not coming down from that position. It means turning from the world's pride, fashions and customs and seeking to glorify God, with hope of the immortal inheritance shaping choices. True faith, if appreciated, keeps believers separate and keeps them from coming down to political strife. The mind is kept from being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, walking in Christ Jesus even as He was received, rooted and grounded and built up in Him and established in the faith.
The plea belonged to the peculiar privileges and dangers of the Ephesian church, showing its warnings and its call to believe and practice the truth of the gospel, sacrifice everything for the Master, not live to self, cooperate with Christ, and follow the Saviour's example as one created anew in Him. Yet it was designed to come down to the present as a call to heed God, bear light, and act in readiness for the Lord's return, with the worthy walk described in humility, meekness, patience, loving forbearance and keeping the Spirit's unity in peace. It is among the chapters to consult when the foundations of faith are under attack, calling believers to live in a way worthy of the calling they have received.
Meaning of Worthy Walk
The worthy walk is a life that matches the calling, something practical to do and not merely to profess. It is an individual responsibility carried out before the church and the world, to be met by relying on the Lord, for Christ and His righteousness are the only hope, faith in His name brings salvation, and His strength alone enables walking worthily rather than weakness and inefficiency. It means being doers of the word and doing the works of Christ, letting truth become a living principle in the soul that shapes daily life and character, not resting in long sermons or prayers or mere words. It is practicing truth in every part of life through a faith working by love that purifies the soul and makes it alive in Christ. Such a walk lets light shine before men in good works that glorify the Father, gives power with God and men to win souls, causes others to know the life has been with Jesus, makes its very presence an influence for good, and restrains from sin lest others follow folly.
It means believing and practicing the gospel, sacrificing everything for the Master, not living to self, cooperating with Christ, and following the Saviour's example as one created anew in Him. It means speaking and acting truthfully, keeping clean and worthy conduct, refusing even the least sinful proposal or practice that leads toward evil, and revealing Christ's character. It is living as a child of God with the mind of Christ, adorning the doctrine of Christ the Saviour by a positive influence for right, obeying the living Word as truly converted and transformed, and performing the highest service as a free, heaven-born spirit. This rests on the Lord's claim upon every human being, since no one is his own proprietor because every power and every moment has been bought with the precious blood of the only begotten Son, and appreciation of that sacrifice refuses to mock religious profession by conformity to the world's standard. Those who believe in Christ as personal Saviour receive every grace and spiritual endowment needed for perfecting Christian character, and the cross honors every Christian who honors it.
It means putting on the new man, which is peace, grace and righteousness, becoming new men and women in Christ Jesus. It means turning from self-indulgence and from the world's pride, fashions and customs, being cleansed from sin and living in right relation to God with the hope of the immortal inheritance shaping choices. Christ's merits bring forgiveness and peace, His grace heals and cleanses so the person may be presented without spot or wrinkle, while God's converting power works together with human effort to purify character and change conduct. It is lived by fighting the battle between two spirits striving for mastery, guarding against evil thoughts and a suspicious heart, refusing evil words and evil seed, praying alone, and yielding reason and conscience to the Holy Spirit for kindly, uplifting, encouraging thoughts under holiness and charity.
The walk begins with a right spiritual condition expressed in loyalty to God's law, whose obedience is associated with life and blessing. Even a splendid temple or house of worship is worthless if the heart is not right, so the greatest anxiety must be about spiritual condition. This requires reverence in entering God's house into the presence of God and angels, knowing God meets with His people and that believers themselves are the temple of the living God, and educating children to look heavenward.
It requires examining self, humbling the heart before God in contrition, keeping the way of the Lord, and purifying the heart by obedience to the truth. It means repenting of an uncourteous and self-sufficient spirit, cleansing the soul temple, and ceasing to manufacture trials, with promise that humbling oneself and accepting God's mercy, love and kindness brings pardon, righting of wrongs, and revelation of the Lord. It is practiced in words, spirit and action by laying aside self-sufficiency and refusing to choose only one's own society or separate from brethren unless they accept one's own ideas and plans. Instead it links with brethren in love, cultivates esteem and confidence, makes room for them to supply deficiencies, keeps unity, and yokes with Jesus in agreement so that two can walk together in cooperation with Him.
It means conforming life to obedience to God's commandments and law, being united in the faith of the Scriptures and bound together as one in Christ with life hid with Christ in God. It means practicing the golden rule, doing to others as one would have them do, and loving one another as Christ loves, thereby bearing a living testimony that the Father loves believers even as He loves His Son. Such lives show Christ's death has not been in vain, use heaven's infinite-cost provision to draw souls to obedience, cooperate with the Master Worker as laborers together with God, and become partakers of the divine nature escaped from worldly corruption through lust. In courtesy and unwavering fidelity, in justice and mercy, they magnify God's law and make it honorable before a gainsaying world, demonstrating that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
In the last days it requires circumspect words and acts, with careful obedience and Christlike words making the calling visible and reproving others by example. It means guarding against irreverence in God's work and sacred things, preserving honor, integrity and truth at any cost, bringing every thought, word and action under Christ's will, and remembering Jesus is in the midst to impart wisdom, grace and righteousness. It avoids levity, glee, reckless talking, jesting and joking where God's solemn work and word are under consideration, while keeping right Christian cheerfulness, hiding self in Jesus for dispassionate and righteous judgment, and practicing lowliness, meekness, long-suffering and forbearance in love. It carries solemn influence rich in good works and burden for souls, faithfully representing Jesus to win souls, remaining instant in prayer, praying without ceasing and watching unto prayer, with every movement toward God met by His response and the Spirit's inward change guarding against temptation from self-confidence, pride, combativeness and evil thoughts. For the Christian walk is warfare with Satan and his host that allows no release and no laying aside of armor, calling for constant watchfulness and faithful conduct.
Humility, Forbearance, and Unity
To walk worthy is to live with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, and endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That worthy life shows in conduct the power of the truth and the blessings of salvation, reflecting Christ's character through humility, gentleness, patience and love, and it is the work to be done in every church. The calling joins believers as one body under one Lord in one shared hope, yet Christ gives different gifts and roles so all may serve and build up the church, and no one person is to be treated as the whole. Love is the law of Christ's kingdom, calling God's people to a higher standard where their lives reveal love, meekness and longsuffering.
Long-suffering means bearing much, yea many things, without seeking to be avenged by word or act. This love comes from Christ, not from human impulses, and is lived by making room for one another and laboring in harmony. The desire to exalt self causes discord among believers, while honoring and preferring one another supports the peace of Christ. Worthiness is expressed in lowliness of mind and in being a blessing to one another.
The walk requires fighting the battle between two spirits striving for mastery by guarding against evil thoughts and a suspicious evil heart, refusing to speak evil words and dropping no evil seed in words. It is kept by going alone to pray and by yielding reason and conscience to the Holy Spirit, so that commendation and love are expressed under holiness and charity with kindly, uplifting, encouraging thoughts. Those called to advance God's work and save perishing souls must refuse jealousy, evil surmising, suspicion, faultfinding, evil-speaking, destroying confidence in fellow workers, and magnifying self. Such genuine love and unity allow the Spirit to work and show the world God's goodness, and seeking the Lord with a soul to save and persevering to make thorough work for eternity creates an atmosphere that brings the angels who keep and guard the soul.
Complete unity holds together diversity, for those called are not molded alike in character, just as no two leaves in nature are alike, no two human minds are precisely alike, and heavenly angels differ in qualifications and ministry. Truth speaks its own language through a diversity of gifts, and the divine work is carried on by and through a diversity of gifts, all essential and all working to one end, the expression of the mind and will of God through the perfection of the saints. God joins together people of different minds to counsel with and assist one another, so that deficiency in the experience and abilities of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another, and every emergency in every kind of labor may be met. This unity comes by uniting human weakness to Christ's strength, dying to self and living to Christ after Him who descended from heaven from the throne of God and clothed His divinity with humanity, so that strong unchristlike traits are softened, subdued and purified and believers unite one with another and in that union are one with Christ in God.
There is to be no half-way work in establishing unity among professing Christians, but a positive and decided exhortation and warning to read and study and receive and put into practice light and grace for unity, actively laboring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Those called as ministers of Christ must live worthily under all and every circumstance by seeking harmony and union, being willing and anxious to talk matters over and come to a better understanding rather than preferring disunion. This means sacrificing personal feelings and ideas to come as closely as possible into harmony, softening a stiff unfeeling spirit instead of standing stiffly and repulsing, making effort to harmonize, viewing brethren in the right light and acting toward them in letter and conversation as befits a Christian, and keeping spirituality and devotion alive rather than letting them wane while outward missionary work prospers. When workers focus on saving souls in Christlike love and mercy, jealousy, fault-finding, envy, dissension and struggles for supremacy give way, and shared concern for salvation helps them overlook minor differences.
Walking worthy forbids seeking to rule fellow workers, setting power over them, or restricting their freedom in service, since God never placed man as ruler over His heritage. True Bible religion leads to self-control, not control of one another. Those called must give others room to act under the Holy Spirit's direction rather than treating their own judgment as the only one God guides, remaining free from jealousy and resentment when others are not appreciated or given room to serve, and cooperating willingly so the church can be fitted together in unity. It is lived by humbling the heart before God, seeking the Lord by fasting and prayer and inquiring daily to know His will and way, following Christ's earthly example, appreciating His flock, receiving a larger measure of the Holy Spirit to bear God's solemn message without exaltation, keeping words of censure for self, teaching the flock to look to Christ and not to erring man, and bearing the fruit of holiness while praising God in daily conversation as well as in prayers and holding forth the Word of life with a living example.
One Body and Gifts
The calling to walk worthily rests on one body and one Spirit, one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all, with grace given to each one according to the measure of the gift of Christ. As members of Christ's body believers are animated by the same Spirit and the same hope, manifesting the power of truth and exemplifying Christ's character and the blessings of salvation. The shared calling joins them as one body under one Lord, while Christ gives different gifts and roles so that all may serve and build up the church, and no one person is to be treated as the whole. These teachings must shape daily life, for living by the Bible makes believers strong while relying on personal opinions misleads.
Christ who descended into the lower parts of the earth and ascended far above all heavens to fill all things, and who ascended up on high leading captivity captive, gave gifts to men. He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ. This continues till all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. So believers are no more children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine and cunning deceit, but speaking the truth in love grow up into Christ the head in all things, with the whole body joined and compacted by every joint and increasing and edifying itself in love through the working of every part.
This is the Lord's manner of working, requiring a variety of gifts and broadminded, experienced workers of quick perception, where every gift is to be acknowledged as essential to success. God's work is to be managed as a whole, with the variety of gifts blending together, and its instruction rules out separation between different lines of missionary work. God appoints different people to different work, so no one person should try to manage everything or carry so many responsibilities that mind and body are worn out, nor become the sole head of an institution. Each is to serve in the work appointed under God's direction and in cooperation with others, with will held in abeyance, ready as minutemen to understand the ways and will of the Leader when His time comes.
No one bears the burden of the work alone, but God joins together men of different minds to counsel with and assist one another, so that deficiency in the experience and abilities of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another. This unity comes by uniting human weakness to Christ's strength, dying to self and living to Christ, following Him who descended from heaven from the throne of God and clothed His divinity with humanity to show what human beings may become. Then strong unchristlike traits of character are softened, subdued and purified, believers unite one with another, and in that union are one with Christ in God. Walking worthily means helping one another, making no territorial lines, and willingly letting the Lord's money be used where need is greatest, since usefulness and success depend on Christ, who reads hearts and knows motives and purposes.
The worthy walk includes unselfish service, respect for fellow workers' distinct responsibilities, and cooperation in God's work. It means making room for one another and laboring in harmony in Christ's love, which comes from Christ and not from human impulses. Believers must not treat human teachers as infallible or rely on their own abilities, but need God's keeping power and counsel. It means growing beyond spiritual childhood to remain steadfast rather than being swayed by false teaching and deceit, speaking truth in love and growing in every way into Christ the head, while belonging to and contributing to His body where each part works as it should. Applied to the church this is disciplined, orderly and united action in which ministers discipline themselves and teach harmonious work, since order and union of action support cooperation with angels while disorder weakens it.
Witness to the World
To walk worthy is to show in conduct the power of truth and the blessings of salvation, reflecting Christ's character in humility, meekness, patience and love that preserves unity in peace. As members of one body animated by one Spirit and one hope, believers are to manifest that power, exemplify Christ and live from the same Spirit and hope grounded in one body and one Spirit, one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father over all and through all and in all. Harmony and union among people of varied dispositions is the strongest witness that God sent His Son to save sinners, and it requires characters molded in harmony with His character and wills surrendered to His will.
God's plan is stated so plainly that all can grasp it, declaring the appointed means to keep unity so that members reveal to the world a healthy religious experience. Walking worthy means conforming life to obedience to God's commandments and law, being united in the faith of the Scriptures and bound together as one in Christ with life hid with Christ in God, practicing the golden rule and loving one another as Christ loves. Such lives bear a living, abiding testimony that the Father loves them even as He loves His Son, with powerful influence on the unbelieving world, showing that Christ's death has not been in vain. They appreciate the great gift and use heaven's provision made at infinite cost to draw souls to obedience, cooperating with the great Master Worker as laborers together with God and becoming partakers of the divine nature escaped from worldly corruption through lust. In courtesy and unwavering fidelity, in justice and mercy, such consistent lives magnify God's law and make it honorable before a gainsaying world, demonstrating that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
Divisions in the church dishonor Christ's religion before the world and give enemies of truth occasion to justify their course, so the call to preserve unity in the bond of peace reaches from Paul's day down to the present. By contrast a converted, consistent life lived with humility, meekness, patience and loving forbearance honors God and can win people to Christ. Worthiness is not long sermons or prayers or mere words but being doers of the word, doing Christ's works and letting truth become a living principle that shapes soul, daily life and character. Then light shines in good works that glorify the Father, giving power with God and men to win souls, causing others to know they have been with Jesus and learned of Him, making their very presence an influence for good and restraining them from sin lest others follow their folly.
Those called, and especially teachers of truth, are to look to Christ and follow Him, showing holiness in life and seeking God's will, way and unerring counsel daily with sincere heart by fasting and prayer. They are to praise God in speech and conversation as well as in prayer, holding forth the word of life by living example as learners, and to walk in prayer, faith and obedience so the Holy Spirit works through them and people become willing to respond. This includes helping set the churches in order and closing the door of unbelief, making straight paths for the feet so the weak are not turned aside, standing firm against Satan's increasing seducing power that would deceive even the elect, and heeding warning to rescue imperiled souls who do not see their danger.
Duties in Church Life
Those called to gospel work walk worthy of the calling by laboring together in concert under one supreme Leader, blending as a perfect whole where one supplies what another lacks, and no one can be a good soldier of the cross by working independently of fellow workers or regarding his own judgment as best. The worthy walk is lived with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, and endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, because there is one body and one Spirit with one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all. It is lived humbly yoked with Christ and walking humbly with God so that blessing attends the work and makes it as enduring as eternity, and it is never separated from the church nor exalted above the ministry. Those laboring in ministry and medical missionary work wear Christ's yoke and walk in humility of mind, using varied gifts to bless humanity as God's helping hand, with all parts of the work controlled and guided in harmony in every action. They draw in even cords without friction, giving room to fellow laborers instead of measuring brethren by personal ideas, refusing to quarrel when Christ abides in the heart, standing together under Christ's standard united by desire to strengthen His work in every line, with no jealousy of Paul or Apollos or Cephas, following Christ as Leader sent by the Father to redeem the fallen race and restore God's moral image in humanity, acting in His name for God's glory rather than following human devising or fastening the soul to a human leader.
The vocation to ministry, especially for leaders who have long studied the prophetic Word, means being Christ's representatives on earth and representatives of the truth as it is in Jesus, carrying on every branch of the work in the manner Christ carried on His work. This requires the mind wrought by the Holy Spirit and full consecration to the Lord, without which the work has no eternal result, and those who know most about this vocation and teach others must in every respect walk most circumspectly with every temperament subdued so they present every feature of faith in the spirit and grace Christ gives. God helps ministers live worthily of the work to which He has called them as evangelists and ministers of the Word, faithfully representing Jesus everywhere rather than measuring how much is done on right hand or left, and strengthening one another in the most holy faith. Their minds turn from earthly things toward heaven, closing the windows of the soul earthward and opening them heavenward so heaven's light fills the soul and the light flooding heaven's threshold shines into the mind, giving power to reach the hearts of others.
This is practical instruction to be brought into daily life by every institution established in the interests of Seventh-day Adventist work, and it applies to believers associated together in God's work and ought to be read and studied by all working together in the office. Each believer lives worthily of God's calling by strengthening others and helping them live faithfully, maintaining unity with Christ and fellow believers through mutual support rather than standing apart to judge or criticize. Those who would have part in the work in the South hide self in Christ, walking humbly and circumspectly before God.
The solemn instruction in Ephesians 4 means much for believers and calls for great reformation in lives, words, works, and spiritual understanding. It confronts hard-spiritedness that comes from being a stranger to the working of the Holy Spirit, and urges daily breathing the atmosphere of heaven and catching the inspiration of the angels in the heavenly courts. Each believer receives grace according to Christ's gift, and these teachings must shape daily life, for living by the Bible makes believers strong in the Lord while relying on personal opinions can mislead others.
Worthy walking is practiced in words, in spirit, and in action with a contrite, humble spirit that God can dwell with and revive, laying aside self-sufficiency, refusing to choose only one's own society and separate from brethren unless they accept one's own ideas and plans, and instead linking up with brethren in love and making room for them to supply deficiencies. It puts away faultfinding, jealousy, suspicion, and evil-speaking and expresses genuine love and unity with fellow believers, and such unity allows the Spirit to work and shows the world God's goodness.