Pastor Shannon Bond, Cherokee Baptist Church
In Ephesians 4:1, Paul exhorts us with these words: “… walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” In the first half of the letter, he proclaims the glories of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now he shifts his focus to the practical application of the gospel. Pulling no punches, Paul plainly states, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.”
The word translated “worthy” is the Greek word “axios.” The common usage of “axios” helps us see with our mind’s eye what Paul means. Imagine a set of scales: two plates or bowls suspended at equal distances from a fulcrum. On one side, a grain merchant would place, for example, a five-pound weight. The weight would cause that plate or bowl to descend until it hit the surface on which the scales rest. Then, the grain merchant would begin to pour grain in the empty side, not stopping until the scales were balanced— until they were “axios.”
Now we see what Paul has been doing in the first half of his letter. He’s poured the weight of the gospel of Jesus onto one side of the scale. Picturing this, we now read, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” In other words, pour your life—lived for the glory of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit—into the other side of the scale. Paul gives specific instruction to us for walking “axios”: strive for unity in the body of Christ; walk in love within the church; husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church; wives, respect your husbands; children, obey your parents; fathers, don’t anger your children, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord; slaves, obey your masters as unto the Lord; and, dress for battle and the spiritual warfare that comes with being a Christian.
I know what some of you are already thinking…. “I can never pour enough into my side of the scale to make it ‘axios.’ I will never measure up.” It would grieve Paul to know you think this way because that was not his intent at all. Instead, he wants us to look at the “gospel” side of the scales and see God pouring out salvation so lavishly in Christ that we will respond with amazement at his grace and will gladly and lavishly pour our lives into the other side of the scales.
God, gladly and from his heart of love, poured immeasurable gospel wonders on one side of the scale. He withheld nothing.
In response, gladly and from a heart of love for God, we pour out our lives on the other side of the scale, walking in line with God’s precepts. We withhold no obedience or service.
This, loved ones, is “axios.” Strive to walk in the unending joy of “axios” living. Though we can never measure up, God calls it “worthy.” Hallelujah!