“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; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3

Here in the letter to the believers who lived in Ephesus during the first century, Paul urged the followers of Christ to “walk worthy of the vocation” they were called to. What did he mean by that? More importantly, what did the Spirit of Christ who was speaking through him mean by that?

The answer to that question was essential to living a life that was pleasing to the Lord for those Ephesian believers, and though we are two thousand years and many miles removed from them, it’s also essential to our pleasing the Lord today.

Last week we began to write of the importance of not allowing anything to come before our personal relationship with the Lord. We saw that, according to Luke 21:34-36, the cares of this life can overwhelm us if we allow them to and can distract us from what is most important, especially as time grows short in our lives.

The solution recorded in Luke 21:36 was to “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” In other words, if we pay attention to our spiritual surroundings and keep closely connected to the Lord, we will be “accounted worthy” to evade the wrath that is stored up for the consummation of the ages that will eventually come.

Now, right in the center of the Lord’s discussion of spiritual alertness, prayer and judgment to come, we see that word “worthy” again. It’s a word that some modern Christians would like to tiptoe around or overlook altogether. Why? Because the idea of worthiness speaks to definitive right and wrong. It speaks of absolute. It speaks of black and white, not gray. If one can be worthy, then by extension, one can be unworthy, and the uber-grace, anything-goes crowd doesn’t want to hear that.

While it is true that none of us can be worthy by our own works in the eyes of the Lord, a truth that Paul championed in his day, evidently there is still a standard of morality that is required of us.

So, what does it mean to “walk worthy” of the Lord as we see referenced several times in the New Testament? Let’s break it down. First, what does “walk” mean? Surely it’s not literal here, right? It doesn’t mean that we are using our legs to put our bodies in motion. No, “walk” here is a reference to our lifestyles, how we live, especially our day-to-day actions and attitudes.

Next, what does “worthy” mean? In this sense it doesn’t mean “deserving” as we would normally assume. Instead, it means “appropriate, fittingly or suiting.” In modern words, when Ephesians 4:1 encourages us to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,” it’s telling us to live every day doing, thinking and saying what is appropriate, fitting and suitable of the calling of God on our lives.

Brothers and sisters, can you see how this truth flies in the face of a lot of modern thinking about the Lord’s requirements of us and about his perspective on how we should live? Some imagine being a Christian is just about acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God and asking him to forgive us of our sins. That’s just what gets us in the door. Yes, that grants eternal life, but that’s just a starting point! Being a believer was always meant to be so much more. It’s about a change on the inside that works all the way out and exhibits behavior that honors the name of Jesus.

Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.