Mind Your Walk! (Part 1: Ephesians 4) from South Woods Baptist Church on Vimeo.

A number of years ago, Karen and I traveled to London and began the journey of traversing the city through its maze of underground tunnels that housed the subway system known as the “Tube.” We studied diagrams to make sure that we didn’t end up in the wrong Square or Circle, always listening carefully to the prerecorded announcements as we neared a station. But one thing that seemed to be always part of rushing off of the crowded cars and onto the platform was the rather blandly stated, “Mind the gap!” That warning intended to keep us from stepping into the space between car and platform—the gap. It proved to be a regular exhortation to watch our step.

So today, I want to offer an even more pertinent exhortation, mind your walk. Pay close attention to the way that you conduct your life in Christ.

Now, we know that the reason for paying attention is never to gain merit with God; it’s never to find acceptance with Him; it’s never to earn salvation from Him. Quite simply, that cannot be the case because, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8–9). Yet having said that, He does not save us to put us on a shelf and collect dust like a trophy. “For we are His workmanship,” Paul adds, “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (2:10). So God’s saving work in Christ sets us to walking the walk He has prepared for us.

And that’s just where Paul takes us in chapter 4, giving explanation of what he means by this walk as Christians. “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,” he starts his exhortation (4:1). Then he goes further. “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk” (4:17). In other words, your “walk” or the way that you live, the way that you conduct your life, is not to be like the rest of the unbelieving world. You’re different because of Christ. You’ve learned Christ, you’ve “heard Him and been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus” (4:20–21). I can’t overemphasize what we see at this point in chapter 4. If we think that Paul is just trotting out a list of things for us to do so that we’ll act nicer and be a bit more moral in our behavior than our worldly counterparts, then we miss the point entirely. Being in Christ affects everything in life until the day that we stand before Him. God has given you the Jesus-life so that you might live in Him and through Him. But He doesn’t put you on autopilot once He saves you. He involves you in the process of your certain and sure sanctification through Christ. That’s what your walk is all about.

Look how Paul describes the process of our walks. We lay aside the old self—the old patterns, habits, and predictable actions of our life without Christ (4:22). We keep having the spirit of our minds renewed by the means of grace God has given to us (4:23). And we consciously put on the new self that looks like God (4:24). Now, in our text, Paul gives us examples of precisely what he means and how this process works. He does it through a specific pattern: (1) what to put off; (2) what to put on; and (3) what to motivate you to do so. Are you walking with Jesus? How do you do it? Let’s consider five examples.

1. Put off lying and put on truth-telling because we’re members of one another

“Therefore” is a strong knot being tied in Paul’s argument [Gk. dio]. So he’s saying, I’ve told you to walk differently than you did as an unbeliever, and that your walk is affected by learning, hearing, and being taught in Christ, so that you can engage in the pattern of putting off, being renewed, and putting on the new self. Here’s what it looks like. “Therefore, laying aside falsehood [what you put off], speak truth each one of you with his neighbor [what [...]