Conduct Becoming a Christian (Part 2)
Ephesians 4:2-3
After describing the Cost and the Calling of Conduct Becoming a Christian, Paul outlines the Characteristics of Conduct Becoming a Christian. There are 5 Characteristics in verses 2-3.
When we look into these verses here we see attributes that are often mentioned by Paul when speaking of the expected character qualities of Christians. In Colossians 3:12-14 for instance, Paul mentions in that list some things we see in our text this morning (turn there and read). You’ll also notice in Galatians 5:22-23 these same traits are listed under the fruit of the Holy Spirit (turn there and read). And we could go on but that is sufficient. The point of showing these other passages is that we would see the consistency with which Paul stressed these same character traits again and again in all his letters.
This is important for us because these things are stressed for us as well. We have in common with these early churches the same obligation to be growing and cultivating these Christ-like virtues. But moreover, the reason any of us, then and now, have these obligations is because of who these character traits find their source in. Paul is listing the character traits of Jesus Christ. He is describing the character of Christ that Christians are to be exemplifying. Our lives ought to be a description of the character of Christ.
The necessity of practicing these as Christians is unity. In verse 3 Paul says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Maintaining unity is priority number one for us as a church. Paul says in verse 12 that God’s people are to be “prepared for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith…” Then in verse 16, “From Christ the whole body, joined and held together…” Unity is what Paul worked for, and, it is what Jesus prayed for in John 17:23, “Father, may they be brought to complete unity…” When these are practiced, there is peace in the fellowship, and through peace there is unity.
We are either a unity maker, or, a unity breaker. Here are 5 Marks of a Unity Maker. These are 5 Characteristics of Conduct Becoming a Christian.
The 1st Characteristic for Conduct Becoming a Christian is Humility.
Humility is one of the chief traits of the Christians life. It is the chief characteristic of Christ in His humiliation. It is the necessary attitude for a sinner to admit his sins and come to the cross of Christ for forgiveness. While Greek culture despised humility, and thought it to be weakness, and didn’t even have a word for it, God prizes humility. Humility necessarily must become one of the defining attributes of every Christian. Anyone who is humble is so only because of their association with Jesus Christ. You can tell the proximity someone has with Christ by their humility, or, lack of it. It is listed first here in Ephesians I would suggest because it is through the humility of each believer that unity is scored.
For this reason it should be a visible mark on each one of us and it should be plainly seen in our relationships with each other. Paul while ministering in Ephesus said in Acts 20:19, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you…I served the Lord with great humility and with tears…”
False humility should be avoided. Titus 3:2 says we are to “show true humility towards all men…” Where one error is to think too highly of ourselves and seek admiration, another error is to think too low of ourselves and seek for affirmation. It is a disguise of humility in an effort to gain praises from others. It can come out in someone who constantly criticizes themselves, or is unable to ever take a sincere compliment. Phillip Brooks made an apt comment when he said, "The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is.”
Humble is a Greek word which means, to think with lowliness. When a person thinks with lowliness about themselves it means they consider themselves to be small in their own eyes. In other words, when you are humble, then you do not make much of you. One person has defined humility as having insight into your own insignificance
Winston Churchill was once asked, "Doesn't it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?" "It's quite flattering," replied Sir Winston. "But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big."
Although George Whitefield disagreed with John Wesley on some theological matters, he was careful not to create problems in public that could be used to hinder the preaching of the gospel. When someone asked Whitefield if he thought he would see Wesley in heaven, Whitefield replied, "I fear not, for he will be so near the eternal throne and we at such a distance, we shall hardly get sight of him."
Pride is the opposite of humility. Pride is when we give to ourselves more credit, more entitlement and more value than what we really deserve. It’s an inflated and exaggerated self-perception. We use phrases like, “He’s full of himself”, or, “She sits on her high horse”, or, “He’s always looking down on others”, or, “He never thinks he’s wrong”, or, “She thinks life revolves around her”. Pride is when we think we are more than what we really are. It is an exaggerated self-image, an over-inflated image of self
Pride is seen in Israel’s king Saul when the Lord said to him in 1 Sam. 15:17, “You were once small in your own eyes”. It is King Nebuchadnezzar praising himself in Daniel 4:30, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” It is the Pharisees who love the most important seats and to be greeted in public and to be admired by everyone everywhere they went (Luke 11:43; 20:46-47).
And pride makes us want to be greater than everyone else. We want others to see how we are superior to them. Pride breeds competition with others. Pride says, “I am greater than you in how I look, how much I make, how good of a person I am, how right I am, in my opinions, and so on. It does not end. The sinful nature creates a sense of superiority to everyone in every way and in everything. “I’m right, I don’t need to apologize.” “It must be done my way.” “I’m right,” “I’m the best,” “I deserve this and that,” “Look at me.” Pride always makes you see yourself as better than the next guy. Pride even has a way of causing us to make ourselves the standard by which we measure everyone else by. Sometimes we are like the Pharisees. We have a disease I call Phariseeitis: It is when I condemn the sin in other people while I am blind to my own sinfulness. Here are some symptoms of Phariseeitis:
• An amazing awareness of the faults and failures of others people.
• An inability to be patient, merciful, or forgiving towards the sins and shortcomings of others.
• A cynical and distrusting attitude. Always expecting the worst in others.
• An eagerness to see others fail, sin, mess up.
• A sense of superiority over someone because they have sinned or because you don’t have the same sin.
And that’s why pride makes unity in the Church impossible. To a prideful person, nothing is of greater importance than themselves – not even the cause of the gospel. They’re concerned about their own agenda, their own interests, their own advancement and their own egos. This was the problem in the Corinthian church. Paul said right away to them, “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be not divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” There is a bumper sticker I see on this truck I pass a lot on the road. It says, “It’s all about me.” That is pride and that attitude has no place in the Church.
We need to know too that God hates pride - because, at the heart, it is competition with God. When a man has a prideful heart his heart says, “I’m greater than you, God. I’m greater in righteousness so I don’t need yours. I’m greater in wisdom – I know best. I’m greater as a judge – I’ll decide what is right and what is wrong. And, I’m greater in strength – I will do it on my own.” Add a prideful heart up and you have a man who thinks in his heart that he is worth more than God – “I deserve the glory that you have”. Listen: pride is taking glory that belongs to God and giving it to our self. Glory that is His; glory that is to be ascribed to Him alone; glory that only He is worthy of receiving; it is that glory that man seeks in his pride to have for himself. Only God is worthy of glory and he will not share it with anyone else. Isaiah 42:9 says, “I am the LORD, that is my name! I will not give my glory to another…”
How does God respond to the pride of man? Proverbs 16:5 says, “The LORD detests all the proud of heart.” In chapter 3:34 it says that “[God] mocks proud mockers.” Psalm 18:27 says, “[God] bring[s] low those who are haughty.” And again in Proverbs Solomon says God will bring disgrace and destruction on all those who are prideful. When we are full of pride we are full of someone other than Christ. We are full of someone who has made themselves the archenemy of God. We are full of Satan. A person governed by their pride is conformed into the image of Satan. But when we are full of humility we are full of Christ and He is being formed in us as we are formed into His image.
But, as much as God hates pride, He loves and favors those who are humble. According to Psalm 25 He guides and teaches the humble in His ways and the ways that are right. In Psalm 18 God saves the humble. In Proverbs 22 He gives honor and life to those who have humility. And in Matthew 23 we read the words of Jesus that God will exalt the humble, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” He loves humility in people so much that He will exalt them, and, He hates pride in people so much that he will shame them.
The 2nd characteristic for Conduct Becoming a Christian is Gentleness.
Gentleness is very much related to Humility. Actually I would say it is born out of humility. It is the outward display of the inward humility. Paul says, “Be completely humble, and gentle…” The word completely applies to gentle as well. Paul was saying “be completely humble and completely gentle…” Gentleness is Christ-like virtue that each of us needs. It is also translated as “meekness”. It has to do with how we receive injuries and insults. Gentleness means that we aren’t easily provoked or offended. It means after someone causes us harm we don’t demand all that we deserve and we don’t demand all we’ve got coming to us. It means we refuse to hold everything against everyone and we refuse to be resentful.
Jesus is gentleness to perfection. In 1 Peter 2:23 it says, “When they hurled their insults at Him He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made not threats. Instead He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.” When Jesus was arrested unjustly He did not defend Himself. He willingly submitted. It was a beautiful picture of gentleness because right then and their He could have destroyed them. Peter wasn’t gentle and in the same scene cut off a soldiers ear with his sword. When Jesus was on trial a soldier punched Him in the face and Jesus did not punch back. Paul however, in Acts 23 was struck in the face and he blew his top. When He was being flogged and mocked, and beaten not once at any time did He call on His Father and have a legion of angels come and wipe out those who were injuring Him. He let them do Him injustice. He is not weak. He restrained His strength. He did not cut loose His power to defend Himself but because of His incredible grace and love towards those very people who were hurting Him.
Lest you think Gentleness is weakness, do not think that. First of all you would be saying Jesus was weak, which He was anything but. Gentleness is not weakness. It is strength under control. It is our strength submitted to God and our strength under His control. Gentleness is actually a greater display of personal strength because of the power at work to keep one’s emotions and actions under control in the face of unjust circumstances.
Weakness is the person with a short fuse who flies off the handle, or the person who holds grudges, who resents, who seeks revenge, who is condescending and critical, who is defensive, who is vindictive, who refuses to forgive or reconcile with others, who demands justice every time they are slighted or provoked. That is weakness. That is not gentleness. Proverbs 29:11 says, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.” Gentleness is the opposite of vindictiveness or vengeance. Proverbs 12:16 distinguishes, “A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.”
When we have gentleness we are self-controlled and mild spirited. We are not out of control, but, under God’s control. A gentle person doesn’t let themselves be provoked. Neither do they pride themselves in provoking others. It is the person who James says is slow to anger, and in those rare occasions when they are angry they get angry at the right things.
A.W. Tozer once wrote, The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto."
Conclusion
True humility and gentleness are found in Christ. And they only develop in us the closer to Christ we get. Let us commit ourselves to humility and gentleness that we might be unity-makers in the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:2-3
After describing the Cost and the Calling of Conduct Becoming a Christian, Paul outlines the Characteristics of Conduct Becoming a Christian. There are 5 Characteristics in verses 2-3.
When we look into these verses here we see attributes that are often mentioned by Paul when speaking of the expected character qualities of Christians. In Colossians 3:12-14 for instance, Paul mentions in that list some things we see in our text this morning (turn there and read). You’ll also notice in Galatians 5:22-23 these same traits are listed under the fruit of the Holy Spirit (turn there and read). And we could go on but that is sufficient. The point of showing these other passages is that we would see the consistency with which Paul stressed these same character traits again and again in all his letters.
This is important for us because these things are stressed for us as well. We have in common with these early churches the same obligation to be growing and cultivating these Christ-like virtues. But moreover, the reason any of us, then and now, have these obligations is because of who these character traits find their source in. Paul is listing the character traits of Jesus Christ. He is describing the character of Christ that Christians are to be exemplifying. Our lives ought to be a description of the character of Christ.
The necessity of practicing these as Christians is unity. In verse 3 Paul says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Maintaining unity is priority number one for us as a church. Paul says in verse 12 that God’s people are to be “prepared for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith…” Then in verse 16, “From Christ the whole body, joined and held together…” Unity is what Paul worked for, and, it is what Jesus prayed for in John 17:23, “Father, may they be brought to complete unity…” When these are practiced, there is peace in the fellowship, and through peace there is unity.
We are either a unity maker, or, a unity breaker. Here are 5 Marks of a Unity Maker. These are 5 Characteristics of Conduct Becoming a Christian.
The 1st Characteristic for Conduct Becoming a Christian is Humility.
Humility is one of the chief traits of the Christians life. It is the chief characteristic of Christ in His humiliation. It is the necessary attitude for a sinner to admit his sins and come to the cross of Christ for forgiveness. While Greek culture despised humility, and thought it to be weakness, and didn’t even have a word for it, God prizes humility. Humility necessarily must become one of the defining attributes of every Christian. Anyone who is humble is so only because of their association with Jesus Christ. You can tell the proximity someone has with Christ by their humility, or, lack of it. It is listed first here in Ephesians I would suggest because it is through the humility of each believer that unity is scored.
For this reason it should be a visible mark on each one of us and it should be plainly seen in our relationships with each other. Paul while ministering in Ephesus said in Acts 20:19, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you…I served the Lord with great humility and with tears…”
False humility should be avoided. Titus 3:2 says we are to “show true humility towards all men…” Where one error is to think too highly of ourselves and seek admiration, another error is to think too low of ourselves and seek for affirmation. It is a disguise of humility in an effort to gain praises from others. It can come out in someone who constantly criticizes themselves, or is unable to ever take a sincere compliment. Phillip Brooks made an apt comment when he said, "The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is.”
Humble is a Greek word which means, to think with lowliness. When a person thinks with lowliness about themselves it means they consider themselves to be small in their own eyes. In other words, when you are humble, then you do not make much of you. One person has defined humility as having insight into your own insignificance
Winston Churchill was once asked, "Doesn't it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?" "It's quite flattering," replied Sir Winston. "But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big."
Although George Whitefield disagreed with John Wesley on some theological matters, he was careful not to create problems in public that could be used to hinder the preaching of the gospel. When someone asked Whitefield if he thought he would see Wesley in heaven, Whitefield replied, "I fear not, for he will be so near the eternal throne and we at such a distance, we shall hardly get sight of him."
Pride is the opposite of humility. Pride is when we give to ourselves more credit, more entitlement and more value than what we really deserve. It’s an inflated and exaggerated self-perception. We use phrases like, “He’s full of himself”, or, “She sits on her high horse”, or, “He’s always looking down on others”, or, “He never thinks he’s wrong”, or, “She thinks life revolves around her”. Pride is when we think we are more than what we really are. It is an exaggerated self-image, an over-inflated image of self
Pride is seen in Israel’s king Saul when the Lord said to him in 1 Sam. 15:17, “You were once small in your own eyes”. It is King Nebuchadnezzar praising himself in Daniel 4:30, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” It is the Pharisees who love the most important seats and to be greeted in public and to be admired by everyone everywhere they went (Luke 11:43; 20:46-47).
And pride makes us want to be greater than everyone else. We want others to see how we are superior to them. Pride breeds competition with others. Pride says, “I am greater than you in how I look, how much I make, how good of a person I am, how right I am, in my opinions, and so on. It does not end. The sinful nature creates a sense of superiority to everyone in every way and in everything. “I’m right, I don’t need to apologize.” “It must be done my way.” “I’m right,” “I’m the best,” “I deserve this and that,” “Look at me.” Pride always makes you see yourself as better than the next guy. Pride even has a way of causing us to make ourselves the standard by which we measure everyone else by. Sometimes we are like the Pharisees. We have a disease I call Phariseeitis: It is when I condemn the sin in other people while I am blind to my own sinfulness. Here are some symptoms of Phariseeitis:
• An amazing awareness of the faults and failures of others people.
• An inability to be patient, merciful, or forgiving towards the sins and shortcomings of others.
• A cynical and distrusting attitude. Always expecting the worst in others.
• An eagerness to see others fail, sin, mess up.
• A sense of superiority over someone because they have sinned or because you don’t have the same sin.
And that’s why pride makes unity in the Church impossible. To a prideful person, nothing is of greater importance than themselves – not even the cause of the gospel. They’re concerned about their own agenda, their own interests, their own advancement and their own egos. This was the problem in the Corinthian church. Paul said right away to them, “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be not divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” There is a bumper sticker I see on this truck I pass a lot on the road. It says, “It’s all about me.” That is pride and that attitude has no place in the Church.
We need to know too that God hates pride - because, at the heart, it is competition with God. When a man has a prideful heart his heart says, “I’m greater than you, God. I’m greater in righteousness so I don’t need yours. I’m greater in wisdom – I know best. I’m greater as a judge – I’ll decide what is right and what is wrong. And, I’m greater in strength – I will do it on my own.” Add a prideful heart up and you have a man who thinks in his heart that he is worth more than God – “I deserve the glory that you have”. Listen: pride is taking glory that belongs to God and giving it to our self. Glory that is His; glory that is to be ascribed to Him alone; glory that only He is worthy of receiving; it is that glory that man seeks in his pride to have for himself. Only God is worthy of glory and he will not share it with anyone else. Isaiah 42:9 says, “I am the LORD, that is my name! I will not give my glory to another…”
How does God respond to the pride of man? Proverbs 16:5 says, “The LORD detests all the proud of heart.” In chapter 3:34 it says that “[God] mocks proud mockers.” Psalm 18:27 says, “[God] bring[s] low those who are haughty.” And again in Proverbs Solomon says God will bring disgrace and destruction on all those who are prideful. When we are full of pride we are full of someone other than Christ. We are full of someone who has made themselves the archenemy of God. We are full of Satan. A person governed by their pride is conformed into the image of Satan. But when we are full of humility we are full of Christ and He is being formed in us as we are formed into His image.
But, as much as God hates pride, He loves and favors those who are humble. According to Psalm 25 He guides and teaches the humble in His ways and the ways that are right. In Psalm 18 God saves the humble. In Proverbs 22 He gives honor and life to those who have humility. And in Matthew 23 we read the words of Jesus that God will exalt the humble, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” He loves humility in people so much that He will exalt them, and, He hates pride in people so much that he will shame them.
The 2nd characteristic for Conduct Becoming a Christian is Gentleness.
Gentleness is very much related to Humility. Actually I would say it is born out of humility. It is the outward display of the inward humility. Paul says, “Be completely humble, and gentle…” The word completely applies to gentle as well. Paul was saying “be completely humble and completely gentle…” Gentleness is Christ-like virtue that each of us needs. It is also translated as “meekness”. It has to do with how we receive injuries and insults. Gentleness means that we aren’t easily provoked or offended. It means after someone causes us harm we don’t demand all that we deserve and we don’t demand all we’ve got coming to us. It means we refuse to hold everything against everyone and we refuse to be resentful.
Jesus is gentleness to perfection. In 1 Peter 2:23 it says, “When they hurled their insults at Him He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made not threats. Instead He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.” When Jesus was arrested unjustly He did not defend Himself. He willingly submitted. It was a beautiful picture of gentleness because right then and their He could have destroyed them. Peter wasn’t gentle and in the same scene cut off a soldiers ear with his sword. When Jesus was on trial a soldier punched Him in the face and Jesus did not punch back. Paul however, in Acts 23 was struck in the face and he blew his top. When He was being flogged and mocked, and beaten not once at any time did He call on His Father and have a legion of angels come and wipe out those who were injuring Him. He let them do Him injustice. He is not weak. He restrained His strength. He did not cut loose His power to defend Himself but because of His incredible grace and love towards those very people who were hurting Him.
Lest you think Gentleness is weakness, do not think that. First of all you would be saying Jesus was weak, which He was anything but. Gentleness is not weakness. It is strength under control. It is our strength submitted to God and our strength under His control. Gentleness is actually a greater display of personal strength because of the power at work to keep one’s emotions and actions under control in the face of unjust circumstances.
Weakness is the person with a short fuse who flies off the handle, or the person who holds grudges, who resents, who seeks revenge, who is condescending and critical, who is defensive, who is vindictive, who refuses to forgive or reconcile with others, who demands justice every time they are slighted or provoked. That is weakness. That is not gentleness. Proverbs 29:11 says, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.” Gentleness is the opposite of vindictiveness or vengeance. Proverbs 12:16 distinguishes, “A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.”
When we have gentleness we are self-controlled and mild spirited. We are not out of control, but, under God’s control. A gentle person doesn’t let themselves be provoked. Neither do they pride themselves in provoking others. It is the person who James says is slow to anger, and in those rare occasions when they are angry they get angry at the right things.
A.W. Tozer once wrote, The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto."
Conclusion
True humility and gentleness are found in Christ. And they only develop in us the closer to Christ we get. Let us commit ourselves to humility and gentleness that we might be unity-makers in the body of Christ.
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