Be Careful How You Walk

The podcast episode discusses the importance of walking circumspectly as Christians, being aware of our surroundings and the spiritual implications of our actions. It emphasizes the need to walk worthy of our calling, living in a manner that reflects Christ's presence in our lives. The passage in Ephesians highlights the importance of walking in unity and mentions other qualities such as lowliness, gentleness, and patience. It reminds us that we are still a work in progress and need God's grace and patience. The episode encourages us to live in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ. Welcome to CCI Fellowships podcast. Thank you for joining us. At CCI Fellowship, we are reaching God, reaching each other, and reaching our community. We pray that this week's message challenges you in your walk with the Lord, causes you to grow in your faith, and encourages you in your love for the Word of God. Open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 5. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you, Lord God, for your goodness and your grace. We thank you, Father, for your instruction, for your direction, for your correction. For, Lord, the revelation that you give us, that we would walk in a manner that pleases you, that we would walk in holiness and in righteousness, Father. Lord, as we come to the end of this year, as we start this last month of 2023, I know that in this time we look back at the year and we can think about things that we had wanted to accomplish and say, Oh, where did the time go? It's already the end of the year. We can get on ourselves for not doing what we had wanted to, or we can look back and we can praise you for all of the things that you have accomplished in the year. Father, this month is a month for reminiscing. Father, may we look back and see how you have been faithful over this year. This year of double faithfulness. Lord God, may we spend this month reminiscing and telling others of how faithful you have been. May we spend this month not just talking about the coming of Christ, which is indeed so important in our lives. But, Father, may we declare the greatness of your works as you continue to work, as you continue to do miracles, as you continue to do the supernatural, as you continue to move on behalf of your people and those that you would draw into your kingdom. God, I pray that as we look in your word tonight, that you would teach us that we would have eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts ready to respond. That you would be glorified in us, Father, that we would draw closer to you, that there would be nothing that would hinder, nothing that would come in the way of our ability to run the races that you have set before us. In Jesus' name. Amen. In Ephesians chapter 5 verse 15 it says, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Last week we talked about be careful how you hear. This week is be careful how you walk. Next week we will, or the week after, we'll see what next week brings. But I also want to do be careful how you speak. Be careful how you speak. Today is be careful how you walk. In the NASB, the New American Standard Bible, it says, So then be careful how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. The word circumspectly comes from two words, circumference, what is around us, and spect, to see. So to walk circumspectly means to be able to see in a 360 degree manner everything that is going around you. It's to take into account what is going on around you so that you can carefully avoid risks. When we talk about walking circumspectly in our lives as Christians, it's talking about being aware, not only of what we see in the natural, but the implications of those things in the spiritual. When you take a safety course, they teach you to be aware of your surroundings, be aware of what is going on. And of course they use the red light, yellow light, green light example that we're not supposed to live in that red light area, which is complete fear and paranoia and just looking for something dangerous around every corner, nor are we supposed to live in the green, which is completely relaxed and oblivious to life and the things that go around us. But to live in that area of yellow where we go about our lives in freedom, we go about our lives in joy and in peace, but we are aware of what is going on. We're aware of potential things. We're aware of what the devil might bring, aware of what God may be doing in our lives, aware of what might be affecting us because we live in a fallen world, and aware of our own actions, our own mentalities, our own way of doing things. I remember one guy in particular that he would always say, I'm the most self-aware person I know. He was not. Not even close. He'd like to think he was, but he wasn't. We have to be aware. We have to be aware of how we are walking. Are we walking in love? Are we walking in unity? Are we walking in peace? Are we walking in forgiveness? There's so much the scripture talks about in this. But for today, I want to look at just this section in Ephesians. And Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1 gives us the first place where it says walk. In fact, 4, 5, and 6 of Ephesians all deal with how we walk. It's interesting that from this first verse of chapter 4 all the way into putting on the full armor of God, going through the relationship between husband and wife, the relationship between slave and master, the relationship between children and their parents, that all of it has to do with walking. And in verse 1 of chapter 4, I'll read the first three verses, it says, I therefore, prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy. So there's four things that we'll bring out today. And the first one is to walk worthy. To walk worthy of the calling with which you are called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Now if we break down these three verses, we can see that Paul adds in to not just walk worthy and leave it at there, but he gives us an idea of what it is to walk worthy with lowliness, with gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity. Now some of your Bibles may have the heading above this section, walk in unity. And certainly we are to do that. But to walk worthy of the calling with which we were called is really the basis of any other thing that comes after walking worthily. We have to understand what it is that Paul is talking about here. He likes to separate his letters between theology and practical application, between doctrine and practice. And so in the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul is dealing a lot with doctrine and belief and faith. And to sum up chapter 2, he talks about, he speaks of our position in Christ through the acceptance of his gift of salvation. So if we take that understanding from chapter 2, that that is what he is referring to, then when it says to walk worthy of the calling, what is the calling that we are to walk worthy of? It's that calling to salvation. It's that calling to let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, as it says in Philippians. It's to walk in a manner that fits the standard of those who are saved. To walk worthy of that calling is to walk in a manner befitting those who have confessed Christ, who are being sanctified and who are seated in heavenly places. Are you walking in that way? Can it be said of you, Ah yes, that is a believer. Ah yes, I recognize that that person is a Christian. Oh yes, that person's behavior, when the one verse about the disciples, it says that the people around them knew that they had been with Jesus, even though they were unlearned people, even though they were ignorant fishermen, is what these people were saying. Even though they were from towns where the intelligent didn't usually come from these towns. They said, but they knew that they had been with Jesus. Why? Because they walked in a manner that lived up to that standard. They walked in a manner that replicated what was shown through the life of Christ. So when we think about walking worthy, are we walking in the manner that displays that Christ is in us and that we have indeed spent time with Christ? In our family growing up, we had some pretty strict standards. We had to live up to them. It was expected of us to live up to them. We have a good name as a family. Proverbs 22 says, A good name is rather to be desired than great riches. And God has given us that. And we were highly expected to live up to that name, whether it was easy or not. And did we fail? Absolutely. Absolutely. But there's grace. There's instruction. There's opportunity to make a course correction, to get it right. And in Christ, it's the same thing. We're not going to always walk in a manner worthy because we're still under construction. We're still in process. It doesn't matter how long you have served God. You are still in process. It doesn't matter how much of the Scripture you know. It doesn't matter how much you can quote. It doesn't matter if you can recite chapter and verse. You are still a work in progress in need of God's grace and patience. And if we are in need of God's grace and patience individually, then we should walk in a manner that expresses that faith, that grace and patience to others. Verse 17 of chapter 4 gives us more of an idea of how it is to walk worthy. Verse 17 says that you no longer walk as the Gentiles. So it makes a distinction between how they walk as believers and how they walk as Gentiles. Paul is, of course, writing to Gentiles, Gentile believers. And he says, don't walk in the manner that you used to walk. Don't walk in the ways that you used to walk, but walk in this way that puts on Christ. Verse 24, that you put on the new man, the new standard, created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Philippians 127 says, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. In the perverted view of grace where grace covers everything and it doesn't matter how you walk, people have gotten this mentality that they can do whatever and it still is a manner that is worthy of that which we have been called to and that is simply not scriptural. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come to see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. This is what Paul wanted to hear of his believers. This is the manner of walking worthy of the calling. The second thing is to walk in love. Ephesians 5 verse 1 and 2 says, Therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. In Ephesians 1 verse 15 he's already spoken of to the Ephesians that their love for other people was recognized. He says, and we read this as our benediction many times, Therefore I also after I heard of your faith, in other words, that you were walking in a manner worthy of your calling, your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all the saints. Your faith, the story of your faith has come to me. They had a reputation of faith, but not only that, they had a reputation for their love for all the saints. So he is not saying anything to them, he's not saying you need to correct this, he's reinforcing in them things that they are already doing to walk worthy and then walk in love. In the New Living Translation in 1 John chapter 3 verse 18 it says, Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other, let us show the truth by our actions. One thing I love about CCI Fellowship is that relatively we are a church that is united, we're a congregation that is united, we're a congregation that we tend to get along. I mean, we had 74, 75 people at our house on Thanksgiving, there weren't any fights, maybe between the kids over toys, maybe between Richard and Isaac over card game, but you know, other than that, there weren't any outbreaks of contention within that time. What I do think that we can improve upon is knowing each other more. Because one thing it is to go to something like that, eat together and fellowship together and tolerate each other for a little bit. It is entirely another thing to do life together, which is what we endeavor to do as a congregation. And so this version in the New Living Translation, let us not merely say that we love each other. One of the comments that we have received multiple times from some of you and from other people that have come to the service or who know the reputation of CCI Fellowship is it's more like a family in your congregation. The love that you have for each other is evident. It's not only us that see it between each other, but it is a testimony to others. So walk in love. Paul goes on to list those who sin in these verses, those who will not inherit the kingdom. These are they who walk in self-centered motivation. And we're instructed not to be partakers with them. It doesn't say that we're not supposed to minister to them, that we're not supposed to witness to them. It says that we're not supposed to be partakers or participants in their sinful activity, that we're not supposed to, you know, I go to the bar so that I can witness to people. What are you drinking at the bar? Well, you know, I want to be like them, so I get a beer and I drink with them so that I can relate with them. And how quickly are you drunk and no longer expressing the truth of the gospel? How's that going for you? How's your discipline in that? There's one thing to reach out to people. There's another thing to participate in their sinful activities. We've been called to come out from among them and be separate, to be righteous, to be holy, but to walk in love where we are not looking at them as you dirty, filthy sinner. I don't want anything to do with you. But look in them in the love that we have received from Christ and say, I have received this and I value it so much that I want you to receive this as well. We must walk in love with each other. Jesus says, they'll know you're my disciples by your love for one another. But we must also walk in love for the ones that are lost because God doesn't want them to be lost. The third thing is walk in light. In verse 8 of chapter 5 it says, For you were once darkness, but now you are light. As I was going over my notes before coming into the building, this stood out to me. It doesn't say for you were once in darkness, but now you are in light. It says you once were darkness. Our very being was darkness. And now our very being is light. Incredible transformation. But now you are light in the Lord, so walk as children of the light. Where there is light, darkness can't remain. You know that darkness is simply the absence of light. Light is not the absence of darkness. Darkness can't drive away light. Light drives away darkness. And therefore we are to walk as children of the light. We are to walk with the light of Christ shining through us. We are to walk in this manner that sheds light on what is going on around us. Verse 11 says, Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. Last night I went out to feed the fish in our pond, and I was walking on the edge of the pond. I did not have a flashlight on from my phone, and I stepped on something. It was squishy. It wasn't a fish. It was a frog. I stepped on a frog, because I didn't have light to dispel the darkness. Then I felt bad for the frog. After I turned my light on, I could see where he was and that I was not in danger of stepping on him again. A frog laying under your sandal feels really weird. But it was because of the lack of light that I almost stumbled. But we are light. Not just the light lives in us. The verse says that we are light. Now, we can't be light without the light living in us. But he lives in us. And his light shining through us will expose the deeds of other people. It will expose our own deeds. It will expose our own motives and the desires of our hearts, because no darkness can hide from light. And so when we are around people whose works are those of the works of darkness, they will respond in a couple ways. Hopefully, they'll respond with, Oh man, just being around you, I feel so convicted. Tell me how to get it right. Or they'll respond with, I don't even want to be around you, because every time I'm around you, I'm so convicted, and I just don't want to be around you anymore. Or they'll just keep silent and try to make the interaction with the light as quick as possible. One scripture says that we are an aroma to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing. I had written a sermon one time that was basically, Be glad that you stink. We should smell. We should all smell. But that fragrance that comes from us should either draw people to Him, or else it will expel people from Him. Oh, shouldn't we be always drawing people to Him? Yeah, but there are some people that they are so dead set on darkness that they will flee every bit of light, and they will run from every bit of sweet-smelling savor that would draw them to freedom and change. You will either draw people to Christ, or you will repel them. And that's just scripture. Your responsibility, my responsibility, is to walk worthy of the calling of salvation, to walk in love so that in my own self, in my own interaction with them, in my own words, in my own way of expressing things to them, I express it to them in love, and they be the ones that make the decision whether they will turn and follow or not. But for me, I have done what is commanded of me. For you, you have done what is commanded of you to walk worthy, to walk in love, to walk in light. How shall darkness be driven out unless light come? Verse 13, But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 1 John 1, 5-7, This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no shadow of turning. There is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. How many people do that today? Oh yeah, I'm a Christian. Oh yeah, I believe in God. Yeah, I believe in Christ. Christ was a good guy. He was a good prophet. I believe that Christ is the Son of God. Yeah, I believe. But their life is still full of darkness. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, this refers to, again, back to verse 11 of chapter 5, the unfruitful works of darkness. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. One scripture says, if the light that is in us really is darkness, how deep that darkness is. If we are confused and led astray, if we are saying, yes, I have fellowship with God, but we're not living a life of holiness, we're not living a life of righteousness, we're not walking worthy of what we have been given, if we're not walking worthy of the standard that has been laid upon us, if we're not walking worthy of the name that has been given to us, if we claim to be enlightened but still are in darkness, how gross, how great that darkness is. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Christ. Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sins. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light. Not only do we have fellowship with Him, but we have fellowship with one another. Why? Because we're not to have fellowship with those unfruitful works of darkness. We're not supposed to partake in those. Oh, well, you know, then I've got to be perfect before I can fellowship with other believers. No, not at all. Grace. We're all in the process. We're all growing. Not one of us has achieved perfection in our behavior. We have been perfected in our spirit. We are perfect spiritually and positionally in Christ. But oh, that soul, till the day we die, is in the process of being made perfect, is in the process of sanctification. When I talked about be careful how you hear, I said if you consider that you have learned everything about a specific topic, you have actually learned nothing. Because there is nothing within God that is not yet one more step deeper than the level of knowledge that we have. There is nothing about God that we can't learn more about. There is not one person on this planet who has learned everything there is to learn about Christ. Hold what you learn with everything that you have and let no one take it away from you except the Holy Spirit. Always allow the Holy Spirit to be able to correct you, to instruct you, to teach you. The fourth thing, walk wisely. Verse 15 and 16, we come back to our opening verse. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Not only are we to walk in wisdom, but we're to walk as good stewards of the time that we have been given. We're to walk in a manner that we use well the time that is available to us. Does that mean that we always have to be doing ministry and we can never take a day off and we always have to be doing something profitable, we can never relax? No, that's called legalism. God said, Hello, it's day seven, I'm taking a break. He said, Hey, on the seventh day, take a break. Renew yourself, spirit, soul, and body. Find out what rejuvenates you spiritually, that's spending time with God and in His Word, spending time with other people that will build you up. Find out what renews you mentally, intellectually. Find out what renews your body so that you can be faithful those six days with the time that you have been given. We get one day to rest and we are commanded to rest. We must rest. We're not all good at resting. Some of us are just, I can sit on the couch for hours, I'm good at doing that. But that doesn't mean that I'm actually resting. It doesn't mean my mind is being rejuvenated. It just means that I'm not moving physically. It doesn't mean that I'm not still working up here. We have to redeem the time. In all of your working up here, is what you're doing fruitful? Is what you're doing having an impact on the kingdom? Is it something that you look around you and say, what is going on, how am I spending my time? Is how I'm spending my time something that is feeding me? Is how I'm spending my time a way that I can be used to feed somebody else? Is how I'm spending my time glorifying God? In everything you say and do, Scripture says, do it all unto the glory of God. There are ways that we can evaluate how we spend our time, and if it is actually befitting of those who are called to inherit salvation. If it's actually befitting those who have been given the name that is above every name, to carry within themselves. Those who have been made light. Are we using our time in a manner that lives up to that? Oh, I can't live up to that standard. No, you can't. That's why the Holy Spirit is inside of us. To help us. To guide us. To instruct us. Verse 17 through 21 basically talks about in chapter 5, no frivolous living. Not giving in to the influence of worldly things. To sum up these verses, it says, understand the will of the Father. It commands us be filled with the Holy Spirit. It says do not be filled with wine. Do not be drunk with wine. The Greek word there is filled. Filled to the point of control. Do not be controlled with wine, but be controlled with the Holy Spirit. It says to edify one another, speaking to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Do we edify each other through our conversation? It says to glorify God in everything we say and do. And verse 21 says, submit to one another in the fear of God. Of course, the next verse goes into wives submit to your husbands, and that's probably the most famous verse out of Ephesians chapter 5 that people like to focus on. But as Paul goes into the instructions for wives to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives, he first says, be filled with the Spirit. Edify one another. Glorify God. And submit to one another. Ooh. What is it to submit to one another? Submission is not a dirty word. Submission should not be an offensive word. Submission is a life-giving word. And submission is a word that is full of freedom when you understand it correctly. Submit to one another. Does that mean you're my boss and I'm your boss? No. It means make yourself available to one another. Don't be so high-minded that you're incorruptible. Is there hierarchy in the body of Christ? Sure. Absolutely. But we're to submit to one another. Isn't that interesting? It reminds us that we're still all on the same road, pursuing the same end, eternity with Christ. It keeps us from being haughty and arrogant. It helps us that we be careful how we walk, especially when somebody wants to come to us and give us correction, and we want to say, who are you to correct me? Are you seriously trying to tell me that I did something wrong? Come on. I've known you for a lot of years. Let's sit down because I've got a long list. Submitting to one another is really submitting to God. It is submitting to the tools that He wants to use to bring you into a closer relationship with Him. And sometimes the tool that He wants to use to bring you into a closer relationship with Him is the person that annoys you the most. You've seen the thing that talks about marriage as basically marriage is the person that you have decided to let annoy you for the rest of your life. God certainly uses spouses to bring us closer to Him. Verse 19. Yeah, I've got time. Verse 19, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, our interaction with each other, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father. If you go back to verse 4, verse 19 is the exact opposite of verse 4. We'll start in verse 3. Fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints. That goes back to verse 1 of chapter 4, walking worthy of your calling. Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. So Paul says later in verse 19, speaking to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs as a confrontation to this verse of not speaking in filthy manner, in foolish talking, in coarse jesting, but in a way that will edify and build up. There was a group of guys in a meeting one time, I had heard about this, that one of the guys was about to tell a joke, and he looked around and he said, okay, I wanted to make sure there weren't any ladies present because I want to tell you a joke. And one of the elder believers in the room basically said to him, if it's not befitting for women to hear, why is it befitting for us men to hear? It should be those things which edify and build up. Not things that are coarse and vulgar, things that are, yeah, that was funny, ha ha ha ha ha, but did it do anything to build you up? Did it do anything to draw you closer to Christ? Did it do anything to glorify Him? No. I don't want to put before you an impossible thing to attain or any legalistic living whatsoever. And because legalism has been preached so heavy, we tend to run from anything that has the appearance of it. And oftentimes we end up running from truth. We end up keeping ourselves from this standard that we're supposed to live because others have so adulterated the standard and have preached things so of what it is not. Well, I don't want to be affiliated with that. But we neglect the truth, and we neglect truth having an impact in us. We were part of a church one time that wouldn't do anything special on Easter because that's what the Catholics did. Got a question? Isn't Easter about Christ? Isn't Easter about Him rising from the dead? Isn't Easter about we have a way to the Father because of Christ's sacrifice? That He not only died, but He lived. That's how He overcame sin. That's how we can be freed from sin. Isn't that what this celebration is about? Oh, but you know the Catholics celebrate Easter, so we don't want to have anything to do with that. We run from the level that we're to live at because others are bad at it. How does that make sense? It doesn't. I'll answer my own question. It doesn't make sense. Run to because it's only through the Holy Spirit's help that we can ever walk worthy. It's only through the love that was given to us first. 1 John says we love because He first loved us. Some versions say we love Him because He first loved us. That's not what is in the original language. We love. We are incapable of God's love in and of ourselves. It's His love in us because He first loved us that we are able to love others. It's because He loved us first that we are able to love ourselves in a healthy and growing manner. There are plenty of people that love themselves, but it's all pride and arrogance. It's only through the direction of the Holy Spirit that we can walk wisely. Because when we walk in the worldly wisdom, we won't get very far. But when we walk in spiritual wisdom, when we walk in the light that is inside of us, that light shines on everything that is around us and helps us to walk wisely, helps us to walk circumspectly. So Paul pleads with them as I plead with you today, be careful how you walk. As the worship team comes, I have one last reference for you. Romans chapter 13, verse 11 to 14. And do this. What is this? Walking. Knowing the time, that's being aware of the times we are in, it's walking circumspectly, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness. Let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's stand together. Father, our desire is that when you speak to us, we would hear. Help us to be careful how we hear. Our desire, Lord God, may it ever grow stronger inside of us, is to walk in a manner that is worthy of you. To walk in a manner, Lord God, whereby our lifestyle, people notice that there's something different about us. By the way that we speak, Lord God, that they would be drawn to the light that is inside of us. May your light shining through us expose the works of darkness, Father, that we may be used by you to draw people to the light, to draw people to your immense forgiveness, the incredibleness of your grace and mercy. May we walk with our eyes open, Lord God, and evaluate how we spend our time, Lord, that we do so in a manner that redeems the time, that takes advantage of the time that we are given in order to be used by you, whatever that looks like. You use some in this manner, some in that manner, some in another manner, and we thank you for the diversity in your body. May we walk in love for each other, so that others may see that we are your disciples, that we are your children. Father, may we put on Christ and not give the devil any foothold in our lives because of our actions, our thoughts, our speech, our behavior, Lord God. May you be all in all in us. May we be filled with the fullness of God. In Jesus' name, amen. We hope to see you or hear from you soon. God bless you.