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“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3 ESV)
The apostle Paul was a prisoner for the Lord, for he was arrested and held in prison many times, and over many years, for preaching the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of his letters to the churches were written by him while he was in prison or under house arrest, from what I understand. And many of these letters became part of the Scriptures, the God-breathed words of God to us, his people. And because of that, the gospel message spread far and wide. And many people came to faith in Jesus Christ.
For, God is sovereign over all that he has made, and so he allows things to come into our lives which, by the outward appearance, seem bad, for they are bad. But God allows them, for he intends to work them for good, like he did with Joseph whose brothers sold him into slavery, but God then used Joseph to help save his people from starvation during a time of famine. So what had all the appearance of being something bad turned out for good, for the salvation of human lives. And so it was something good, in reality.
Now, I have never been in prison, but I have been largely rejected and cast aside by what is regarded as “the church” here in America, and over many years, and because I was following Jesus with my life, in earnest, in walks of obedience to his commands, in truth and in righteousness. And so I was sharing the truth that I was learning from God’s word which did not work with today’s modern business and marketing goals and schemes of the institutional church. So they got rid of me, for I didn’t fit, they said.
But because of that, the Lord then sent me to the internet, and he instructed me to write down what he was teaching me each day from my times with him in his word and then to put these writings on the internet, and I have been doing that for about 20 years. And these writings are going to people of many different countries in the world. Thus, the message of the gospel is going out to people in many nations, instead of me just teaching a small group of women in a Bible study or in a Sunday School Class.
And I believe, too, that the Lord allowed my life to go the way that it did so that he could use me the way in which he is using me today. And it is indeed for the salvation of human lives from hell and from eternal punishment so that they can spend eternity with God in heaven. But the truth of the gospel teaches us that we must die with Christ to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands in holy living for us to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For that is what it means to believe in Jesus Christ.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
And when you are someone who has given it all up to follow Jesus with your life, and so your life is surrendered to the Lord to do his will, regardless of how you get treated by other humans, then you are going to take God’s call upon your life seriously, and it will be critically important to you that you get the message of the gospel to the people. And you will, as well, want to urge others who profess faith in Jesus Christ to walk (in conduct) in a manner worthy of (fitting to) the calling of God to which you have been called.
And this is not anything that we do in the flesh, of our own accord, in our own power and strength. This has to be of the Spirit, for it is the Spirit of God who convicts human hearts of sin. And we can only come to faith in Jesus Christ if God the Father draws us to Christ, i.e. if he persuades us as to his holiness and righteousness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to repent of (turn from) our sins to now follow our Lord in obedience to his commands (Heb 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44).
And when we walk (in conduct, in practice) in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called, we will die daily to sin, deny self, and follow our Lord in obedience to his commands, in practice, but not necessarily in absolute perfection. But sin will no longer be our habit, but obedience to our Lord and to his commands will now be what we do, in practice. Now we will want to serve the Lord and to do his will, and to go where he sends us, and to say whatever he commands, because we love him.
And we are to serve the Lord and others while exercising genuine humility (not prideful; not taking credit for what God does in our lives), and with gentleness (meekness, controlled strength), which is not weakness, and so it does not involve compromise of truth in order to not offend people. And we are to be patient, and to bear with one another in love, not in tolerating or pacifying deliberate sin in professing Christians, but speaking the truth to one another, in love, while waiting on the Lord to move in their lives.
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
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