Introduction to Develop
Have you ever been called to something that you believe is greater than what you are sufficient for? Have you ever been asked to do something that just seemed overwhelming and beyond you? I remember 4 times in my life when I have realized that I am not really up to something I have been called to:
· When Teresa was walking down the aisle on our wedding day.
· When my first child, Jared, was born and I held him the first time.
· When God called me to be a youth pastor at my former church.
· When God called me to plant Sovereign Grace.
In every case, I had this startling realization of my unworthiness, my insufficiency, and my inability to live up to what I was being called to do. Then, I look at a passage like Ephesians 4:1, and I experience that all over again. Ephesians 4:1 says, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”[1]
What is the “calling” we are to walk worthy of? In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul has stated several truths about the church. We have been chosen before the foundation of the world to demonstrate his glory (1:3-14). We have been blessed to receive God as our glorious inheritance (1:18). We are Christ’s body (1:23). We were made alive with Christ and are shown immeasurable grace (2:4-7). We are being made into a holy temple in which God dwells (2:19-22). We are the demonstration of God’s manifold wisdom to the universe, even the spiritual realms (3:10). So, when Paul says, “therefore, walk in a manner worthy of your calling,” he is commanding us to live consistently with something overwhelmingly glorious. We are to reflect the manifold wisdom of God and the glory of God as the body of him who fills all in all.
How do we “walk worthy” of this glorious calling? At Sovereign Grace we use the term “develop” to encapsulate what we believe Paul is calling the church to when he says to “walk worthy.” We believe there are 4 primary commitments to develop in if we are going to “walk worthy.” We plan to cover each of these commitments in the following chapters:
Chapter 6: A Commitment to develop in love for God’s honor in our lives.
Chapter 7: A Commitment to develop in love for God’s voice in his Word.
Chapter 8: A Commitment to develop in love for God’s promises in prayer.
Chapter 9: A Commitment to develop in love for God’s calling for his church.
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