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Sermon preached on Ephesians 4:1-3 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 03/08/2026 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
We come now to the second half of the epistle to the Ephesians. We see Paul’s words of exhortation there in verse 1, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” I remind you of how Paul loves to write his letters in an indicative-imperative structure. Chapters 1-3 contain the gospel-indicatives telling us who we are in Christ. Chapters 4-6 contain the imperatives, the commands to godly living that flow out of our Christian identity. Verse 1 signals the transition with the word “therefore”, looking back to the indicatives. Paul’s urging them to action in verse 1 then introduces these imperatives. Paul’s first imperative here urges that our Christian walk should eagerly look to maintain Christian unity in the church.
So then, our first point today will be to consider the general imperative here to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. Our second point will then consider how that walk should be in humility and meekness. Third, we’ll consider how that walk should also be with patience, bearing with one another in love. These points will help us see our role in seeking unity and peace in the church, and are ripe for lots of practical application.
Let us begin in our first point with how Paul calls us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Paul preached this calling in the first three chapters. We have been called to a new life in Christ Jesus, through faith in his name. That new life includes our redemption through the cross, the forgiveness of sins by Christ’s shed blood. As 1:18 describes, this calling includes our adoption as son which gives us the hope of a coming glorious inheritance. That hope is connected again with our calling in verse 4. Paul has explained that our calling is not only something personal, but it is also something corporate or collective. Each Christian is personally called into union with Christ. But Paul has especially explained how our calling has united us together with all other believers. We are together one redeemed people, the body of Christ with Jesus as its head. We are together a spiritual temple, founded on Jesus, where the fulness of God is dwelling in us all by the Holy Spirit. So then, this glorious calling, with both individual and corporate elements, with both present and future ramifications, is what Paul has in mind when he urges us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.
Now when Paul says we should walk “worthy” of our calling, let us not misunderstand him. His language of “worthy” does not in any way imply a works-based salvation. Ephesians has been so clear that salvation is not by personal works but by grace through faith in Christ. Ephesians 2 especially highlighted this contrast, explaining that before we became believers, we were spiritually dead and our works followed the sinful ways of the rest of the world. Ephesians 2 said it was grace that made us alive in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2 went on to say that we should now seek to walk in good works since that is what God has planned for us and what he is creating in us. There is thus no room to boast in our salvation, as if we were “worthy” of it. Let me further clarify that Paul is not saying we were unworthy to start but need to become worthy to stay in. The gospel does not say we get in by grace but stay in by works. Rather, what Paul has in mind is that we should strive to walk in manner in keeping with our high calling. We should look to live in a manner consistent with our faith and salvation and new identity. If we understand anything of worthiness here, let us think of Christ’s worthiness. Christ’s work to save us and the calling he brings to us is of such value, we should strive everyday to live up to it. Imagine if someone sacrificed their life to save yours, you could never repay them, but you could then live the rest of your life striving to be worthy of that sacrifice in appreciation of it. The alternative would be to squander your life, taking their sacrifice for granted. The same is here with our salvation. We couldn’t earn our salvation before we were saved, and we certainly won’t ever earn it afterwards. We won’t in ourselves ever do so much service to Jesus that we would measure up to it. And so, since the idea of being worthy of our salvation can’t mean that we earn it, it must speak more to a motivation of our gratitude. Knowing we will never be worthy of it, let us strive to serve Jesus as if we were worthy of it. This says to Jesus that we are grateful for what he’s done for us. It also says to Jesus that we know why he did this for us. Jesus didn’t die for us to just continue in sin and rebellion. He died for us so that we would be transformed, washed and cleaned, that we the church will ultimately be made into a beautiful spotless, perfected bride for him. And so, to walk worthy of this calling recognizes the direction and the destination where Jesus is taking us.
Now we can recognize how this call to walk in a manner worthy of our calling is a fitting preface for all the commands that Paul will give in this second half of Ephesians. But Paul then begins with this specific command toward unity, and it is very fitting in light of what he’s just preached. Verse 3, he says that our manner of walking should be one that is eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Paul just proclaimed how Gentile Christians have become united together with Jewish Christians by the Holy Spirit in the bond of peace which is Christ. So then, in keeping with the calling to one and the same body, and one Lord, and one Spirit, with all the saints, we are to live in a manner in keeping with that unity. This is what all Christians have already become together in Christ, so we should strive to guard this unity and peace. This means Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians should strive to maintain peace and unity with each other. But it also means that every Christian, should strive to maintain peace and unity with each other despite their differences.
For all Christians, the fleshly or worldly factors that distinguish them should not be cause for hostility or separation. Whatever race you are, culture you are from, male or female, rich or poor, CEO or intern, famous or not, white-collar or blue-collar, or whatever other worldly distinctions, these must not be allowed to get in the way of the unity that we have in Christ Jesus. But it is not just external distinctions that we must be on guard against. This chapter goes on to speak about how all in church needs to grow together into spiritual maturity, verse 13. This second half of Ephesians gives various examples of what such spiritual growth will look like. But that implies that the church will also be full of Christians at various stages of spiritual development. Some of us will be more mature than others. Some of us may be more spiritually mature in certain areas, but more immature in other areas. We are all under construction. As history testifies, a church full of Christians in various stages of spiritual development can become fractured due to the weaknesses, conflicts, and failures of the church members. In the face of both physical distinctions and differences in our spiritual maturity, we should walk in keeping with the unity and peace God has created between us. That walk should be eager to keep and protect that unity. Our next two points will describe what that should look like.
So then, our second point will be to look at how our walk should be in humility and meekness. Now, in general, it is good to be humble and meek, but the context shows Paul is here talking about walking this way toward our fellow Christians. It will help to maintain unity and peace in the church if we live humbly and meekly towards one another in the church. This implies that some of those differences between church members could become a temptation for you to act in pride or harshness towards others. Paul urges you to instead act in humility and meekness. Let’s discuss both.
Humility, in contrast to pride and arrogance, is to have a lowly mindset and a modest appraisal of yourself. You don’t look to exalt or honor yourself before either God or others. Before God, 1 Pet. 5:6 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.” Before others, Philippians 2:3 says, “In humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Romans 12:3 warns against thinking more highly of yourself that you ought. For both earthly distinctions and matters of spiritual maturity, we could be tempted to pride. Knowledge can puff up. Riches can puff up. Titles and positions can puff up. Think of how can tempt you in matters of spiritual maturity. Our salvation including our sanctification can puff us up. Our spiritual knowledge and spiritual riches and spiritual titles and positions can puff us up. Our growth in godly living can puff us up. Yet, think of why you should be humble in those circumstances. No matter how much you’ve grown in knowledge of the Lord, you have yet more to learn, and whatever knowledge you do have, it took time for you to get there. No matter how much you’ve grown in your obedience to God, you still fall short of God’s glory. You haven’t known everything perfectly in how to obey God in all circumstances. Even when you have known, you’ve not always done it perfectly. Whatever growth in godly living has taken time for you to get there. You still have more to learn and grow in godliness. In any areas where you’ve grown in spiritual maturity, it’s been God’s grace to get your this far. These applications are to remind us that there is never a time to not have humility before God, let alone before other Christians despite whatever weaknesses or frailties they may have.
Meekness, in contrast to harshness, is about the manner of how you interact with others. This is especially in matters of disagreement, but it can shown in other ways too. To be meek is to be mild, gentle, considerate, kind, not brash, haughty, arrogant, or boastful. It would include proper control of your emotions so that, for example, you don’t just vent anger in a loud or scary or uncontrolled or intimidating way. If you try to just demand or force someone into your position, you are probably not being meek. If you speak in bold declarations, “this is the way it is,” or “my way or the highway” type of talk, you are probably not being meek. Meekness and humility is often mentioned together in Scripture because there is a close connection. It is hard to be meek if you are not humble. You essentially are faking your meekness if you aren’t truly humble. But Jesus said that he was meek and lowly of heart in Matt 11:29, so we know these are commendable traits. Yet, even if you are humble in your heart, this reminds us that we have to give consideration to the manner of how we communicate with others. Proverbs commends the wisdom of meekness in Proverbs 15:1 when it says that a gentle answer turns away wrath. Likewise, later in this chapter in Ephesians, verse 32 will call us to be kind and tenderhearted toward others. Let us give thought to how Jesus has shown meekness to us in how he brings the gospel to us. Let us look to be meek toward our brothers and sisters in Christ in whatever weakness or frailties or failures we might think we find in them.
Let’s turn now to our third point to look at how our walk should also be with patience, bearing with one another in love. This wonderfully complements the humility and meekness. And just as humility and meekness are closely connected, so is patience and bearing with one another in love. The verb here is “bearing with” so that is the main action being commended here. It can also be translated as “putting up with”, or “endure” or “tolerate” or “being long-suffering”, or “showing forbearance”. When interacting with someone in their weakness or frailty or failure, we need to recognize that growth takes time. Our actions need to reflect that, and there may be a lot of putting up with their failings in some capacity or another. That might come at a cost or sacrifice to you in some way.
Now closely related to this, Paul adds that this bearing with the person should be done “with patience”. This complements in a way similar that meekness and humility complement each other. If bearing with someone looks to your interaction with the person, “patience” speaks to the state of your heart. Paul doesn’t want you to just grit your teeth and force yourself to put up with the person. He wants your heart to truly be patient. The word for patience has in mind that you remain emotionally calm when provoked, that you exercise restraint in your spirit. Some of the Proverbs we recently looked at in Sunday School spoke to this, that instead of being quick to anger in our hearts, we need patience that governs our hearts. Prov. 29:11 says, “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” So then, Paul urges that your long-suffering toward someone else flows from a heart that truly is patient.
This call to be patiently long-suffering with others, really helps give some context to this passage. There will be people in the church that are not where you think they should be. Now, we are not strictly talking about apostates or the excommunicated, as those are people who are no longer in the visible church. Putting aside those extraordinary cases, there will be various people in various places that will require us to be long-suffering towards them. Their weaknesses, frailties, failures, or differences might directly affect you, or you might just observe them. Our heart and attitude toward such people should be one of patience and humility. Our interactions with them should be characterized as meek and long-suffering. Who are those people God has in your life that you need to put this exhortation into practice with?
Why should you be so patiently long-suffering with your fellow saints? One important reason verse 2 gives us is love. It says that all this should be shown and done “in love.” If you love someone, you will be patient with them. If you love someone, you will put up with much. Indeed, Jesus has called us to love one another. He particularly has in mind our fellow Christians in the church. Jesus has already shown us this love he spoke of when he died on the cross for our sins. As Philippians 2 describes, Jesus humbled himself for our salvation when he died on the cross for our sins. As 2 Peter 3:9 says, Jesus hasn’t yet returned because he is patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish. Think of Jesus’ long-suffering for us even now in heaven, while he continually intercedes for us, because he knows our weaknesses. Jesus so loves you, but he also so loves every Christian. He calls us to love whom he loves. If we so love one another, then we ought to be meek toward them in humility and we ought to be long-suffering toward them in patience.
Today’s passage has called to seek the peace and unity of the church. You might wonder, well, where does the purity of the church come in? As we’ve heard all this today, you might wonder if this is just telling us to ignore problems and leave people in their weakness, frailties, and failings. No, the context will not let us come to that conclusion. For example, the next section in verses 7-16 will describe that God gives spiritual gifts to the church to help one another grow up into spiritual maturity. As church members grow spiritually, the church grows in purity. So, that teaching on spiritual gifts is informed by today’s passage. God gives us each gifts to use to help each other grow, but we must use those gifts in humility and patience, showing meekness and being long-suffering. Growth takes time, and we are all still growing. May our church be a safe environment for such growth and a place where we lovingly help build each other up in Christ. When we take all this together, we see Christ’s concern is not only for peace and unity but also purity in the church. Jesus wants us to pursue them all together.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, let me close today by returning to two important words that speaks to how we should be diligent to put this message into practice. In verse 1, Paul “urged” us to this. In verse 3, Paul says we should be “eager” in this. Paul thought it was an urgent concern that demanded an eager response. How true this is yet today. There are many things that threaten to divide the church that God has already united. May earthly and external differences not divide Christians. May our own weaknesses and failings not divide Christians. The existence of so many denominations and different kinds of churches shows that this is yet an urgent concern demanding an eager response. Christians have struggled to solve these, and I suspect we will continue to do so until Christ returns. But Christ would have us indeed strive for it, and today’s passage describes something of where our heart should be and what our struggles should look like.
As we hear this exhortation, let us avoid trying to implement this by our own strength. I’ve made the case that the core of this exhortation today looks to where each of our hearts are at. The Scripture is clear that we need the Spirit to bear His fruit in our hearts. If we are to be humble, gentle, kind, patient, and charitable towards each other, it will be a work of God’s Spirit in us. So, while I hope you will take today’s message and attempt to put these things into practice, may you hear that the bigger application is to search your hearts for where they need to grow, and bring that to God in prayer. May the Holy Spirit be pleased to continue to form Christ in our hearts. May this be to God’s glory and for the growth of the church in peace, purity, and unity.
Amen.
Copyright © 2025 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
