The sermon continues an expository series through Ephesians, entering chapter 4, which the preacher identifies as the start of a major new section of the letter. Whereas Ephesians 1-3 lays down doctrinal foundations — who God is, who we are, and what Christ has accomplished for us — chapters 4-6 turn to practical exhortation. The preacher stresses that of the forty-one imperatives Paul gives across the whole letter, forty appear in this latter, practical section, underscoring how deliberately Paul has structured the epistle: indicative before imperative, doctrine before duty. Christianity, the sermon insists, is not fundamentally a religion of rules — a system of do's and don'ts — but a relationship rooted in what God has done in Christ. Practical Christian living that is not grounded in these doctrinal truths collapses into the empty, performative religion of the Pharisees, whom Jesus rebuked as whitewashed tombs, clean on the outside but decayed within because they lacked true knowledge of God.

Paul opens chapter 4 with "I urge you" — a therefore that reaches back to everything taught in chapters 1-3. The first great imperative follows in verse 1: to walk in a manner worthy of the calling one has received. The sermon draws a close parallel with 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, where Paul prays rather than commands — asking God to make believers worthy of his calling and to fulfill by his power every resolve for good and every work of faith. This parallel reveals something crucial about the nature of the Ephesians 4 command: obeying it is not a matter of self-generated moral effort but of divine enabling. We can walk worthy of our calling only because God himself works in us, strengthens us, and upholds us — echoing Paul's earlier prayer in Ephesians 3:16-19 that believers be strengthened with power through the Spirit in their inner being. The call to obedience, then, is inseparable from utter dependence on grace; we strive, but strive while leaning wholly on the Lord, coming to him in prayer, in fellowship, and in humble acknowledgment of our helplessness apart from him.

Because our capacity to walk worthy always originates in grace, the sermon argues that the first and most foundational response the calling produces is humility — Paul's opening exhortation in verse 2, "be completely humble." Six reasons are given for why humility must be this foundational. First, we were called out of a condition of spiritual death and utter hopelessness, as Ephesians 2:11-12 recalls: without Christ, excluded from Israel's covenants, strangers to the promises, without hope and without God in the world. Second, our new life is owed entirely to grace, not merit. Ephesians 2:4-5 declares that God, being rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses, and 2:8-9 drives the point home: salvation is by grace through faith, not our own doing, so that no one may boast. A boastful Christian, the preacher observes, is a contradiction in terms — an oxymoron as impossible as a round triangle — yet pride still creeps into the hearts of believers who forget where they came from. Third, this grace came at an immense cost: Ephesians 1:7 and 2:13 point to redemption and forgiveness through Christ's blood, the price paid by God's only Son so that those who were far off and dead might be brought near and made alive. Fourth, God does not merely save us once but continually sustains us in our weakness, as Ephesians 3:16-17 shows — Paul prays that God would strengthen believers in their inner being so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. Fifth, everything we have — not only salvation but all our gifts and abilities — is received, not earned; 1 Corinthians 4:7 asks pointedly, "What do you have that you did not receive?" Sixth, and finally, humility is fitting because it is the very character of Christ himself, who though sinless and the source of life itself, described himself in Matthew 11:28-29 as gentle and lowly in heart, inviting the weary to find rest by taking his yoke and learning from him.

The sermon closes with a definition of humility drawn from John Piper: the humble person's heart does not regard itself as important, reckons its strengths small and its sins great, esteems others positively, seeks their good above its own, speaks little of its own achievements except to glorify God, does not crave attention or human praise, and is finished with self-promotion. Such humility, born from a true grasp of grace, produces not burdensome, Pharisaic religion but a life of courage, hope, and genuine rest — a life that walks worthy of the calling by continually depending on the God who called it.

Bible Verses Used

• Ephesians 4:1-3: The sermon's central text — Paul's command to walk worthy of the calling received, marked by humility, gentleness, patience, and unity of the Spirit.

• 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12: Parallel passage showing Paul praying rather than commanding, revealing that worthiness of calling is God's work of grace in believers.

• Ephesians 2:11-12: Recalls believers' former state as hopeless and without God, grounding the first reason for humility.

• Ephesians 2:1-2: Describes believers as formerly dead in trespasses and sins, reinforcing total dependence on grace.

• Ephesians 2:4-5: God's mercy made believers alive together with Christ while still dead in sin — grace, not merit.

• Ephesians 2:8-9: Salvation by grace through faith, not works, so that no one may boast — the basis for rejecting spiritual pride.

• Ephesians 1:7: Redemption and forgiveness through Christ's blood, showing the great cost of grace.

• Ephesians 2:13: Those once far off are brought near by the blood of Christ, paralleling 1:7's theme of costly grace.

• Ephesians 3:16-17: Paul's prayer for believers to be strengthened by the Spirit, showing God's ongoing sustaining work in weakness.

• 1 Corinthians 4:7: Asks what we have that we did not receive, undercutting any basis for boasting.

• Matthew 11:28-29: Christ describes himself as gentle and lowly in heart, offering himself as the model and source of rest for the humble.