Walking With God

1 Thessalonians 2:12, “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His Kingdom and glory.”

What is it to walk worthy of the God who hath called us unto His Kingdom and glory? We are to examine ourselves to find whether or not we have been walking, or living, worthy of our glorious God who has called us unto Himself, His kingdom and his glory. This is also a cause for giving praise and thanksgiving as we remember that our God has stooped down to us and has shown us grace and mercy allowing us to be partakers of His kingdom and glory.

What great love the Father has for His children, for those He has redeemed by the precious blood of His dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. What a great price He paid for us unworthy sinners, a price so great that He Himself had to pay for it by offering up His Son to take away OUR sins, our guilt and our filth; a price we could not pay by any amount of works or obedience. If it weren’t for this gift, this payment for sins, this sacrifice to save us from everlasting hell, there would be no hope for us, for there is no other way to the Father but by His Son Jesus Christ. He was blameless, we are worthy of blame; He was sinless, we are laden with sins; He never spoke a word out of place, I can’t put two words together without saying something I regret sometimes; He had perfect obedience to the Father, we cannot obey perfectly for one day. Yes, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, as St. John the Baptist says. He did what we could not do, and He took away the sins we could not cast off, that is if you are re-born, a child of the Father.

If you are aware of the price that God the Father paid by sending His only begotten son to this earth, to die a violent and torturous death, all for our sakes, out of love for lost sinners, and then to rise again to prove that He was and is God in the flesh and that His promise of eternal life is true, what sort of life should we live?

1. Day-to-day we battle with living in this sinful world, with being human beings, stained with the stain of sin and a damaged, nature inclined to do evil. We are continually faced with trials and temptations, and, unfortunately, many of us give in to them. So many of us become complacent to the World of God, relying completely on God’s mercy (or rather, His inability to see us, or His quickness to forget what we have done). God is not like us. God is NOT like us! He is always able to see us and He never forgets, until sin is washed away by Christ. He is a perfect and Holy God, and He requires much from His people, for those who have claimed the kingdom of His Son. For such a large gift, and a free gift at that, we must walk worthy of our God who has indeed called us, for we would not seek after and call Him.

Psalm 1 reads, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly...” There are two choices presented; to walk worthy of God or walk in the council of the ungodly. God always shows us that there are two ways; the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous. The man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly is one who is walking with God, walking worthy of our God who called us. To be walking in the council of the ungodly means to be living by the advice of the unsaved, the un-redeemed. This is the man who lives for his own desires, who seeks after material wealth, who is looking out for number one (himself). In order to further his pursuit of glorifying himself, he consults those who have done the same and have succeeded in their pursuits. Maybe he reads periodicals written for the man (or woman) who wants to get it all, attain everything, be super sexy, have the perfect body; to summarize-to live a self-centered and sin-filled life. In order to live a sin-filled and self-centered life, he or she turns to the advice of those who have been walking in the council of the ungodly. Why should he seek the advice of a mature Christian or a minister? Righteousness is not what he seeks, but unrighteousness. We read from verse 2 of Psalm 1 what the righteous desire, what they seek after, what their delight is; “But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” This is pleasing to the Lord. The man who desires to know and learn God’s law, His holy word, is a man who has submitted to the Lord, who has found the truth and has loved what he has found. The man who desires God’s law is one who is walking worthy of the Lord. He is framing his life according to God’s word. He may not be perfect, and sin may still cling to his flesh with voracity, but he despises it and works diligently to shape his life according to the word. God blesses this man; “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Why will he flourish like a tree planted by water? Because he has been planted by the living water, the water of life, flowing from the wisdom of the eternal Father. The fruit he brings forth is the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of righteousness. His leaf will not wither; he will not shrink back or become dried up in his quest for righteousness because the Lord will continually restore him, no matter what the world, the flesh and the devil may toss at him. He is able to withstand the stormy sea, the dry desert, and the temptations of the devil. He will prosper, spiritually and materially, obtaining the things necessary for life, because he has been walking worthy of the Lord who called us, who has ordained good works for us. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. That is a promise from Jesus Christ Himself. The Lord gives to those who seek after Him all they need to live, and more. God’s promise is sure for those who walk worthy of Him. Colossians 1:10 reads, “that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” This verse points out that walking worthy of the Lord is pleasing to Him. This pleases our heavenly Father, to see His children doing what they ought to do. This is not a matter of gathering up enough good works to climb to heaven on. This is a matter of children obeying their Father. When children disobey their Father they are disciplined. Those whom the Lord chastens He loves. Those whom He loves He chastens. He does this for our own good. This proves that we are His children and that we can be pleasing to Him. Those who do not please Him are not His children. This verse also points out that we are to be fruitful in every good work. Those grateful to their Father for saving them will increase in the works of their Father, doing the works He has appointed for them to do. Those who do not the good works appointed by God are not His children and are not pleasing to God. Now, it is true that there are many sincere believers who have repented and placed their trust in Christ who do not do the works they are suppose to do, but they know what they ought to do and it bothers them when they do not do them. This will continue to bother them until they become fruitful in good works. At last they will find peace because they will be doing the will of the Father. Another characteristic of those walking worthy of the Father is that they are increasing in the knowledge of the Lord. I can tell you that after I became a Christian I could not learn enough about the Lord. I received an insatiable appetite for the Word of God. It was the only book in my whole life that I couldn’t get enough of. I’m sure this is because it tells of the works of God to and through His people. It was a living book to me, not a dead historical work that was nice to read but irrelevant to our day. If you don’t have an appetite for the written word of God, I would encourage you to get into the word daily and read it until you attain this hunger for the knowledge of God. Pray for wisdom and God will give it. Pray for a desire to read the Scriptures and you will receive it. Read Psalm 119. The entire Psalm is dedicated to the word of God and His law, and illustrates how much the writer wants to know the word of God.

I want you to ask yourself if you have been walking worthy of the Lord our God who has called us into His kingdom and glory. Have you been self-seeking? Are you more worried about how you look to the opposite sex than you are about how you look in the eyes of our Lord, or do you seek after His kingdom and righteousness? Have you been seeking the advice of the ungodly or do you seek after the council of the Lord, His people and His ministers? Do you delight in the law of the Lord? Do you meditate on it as mentioned in the 1st Psalm? Have you been fruitful in every good work, or have you been slothful in works? Have you sought to increase in the knowledge of the Lord by attending Church, Bible study, reading the Scripture on your own, praying for wisdom?

Dear people, know that all good things are impossible unless the Lord, by the Holy Spirit, empowers us to do good works and the other good things we should do. Pray earnestly that the Spirit would be magnified within you and that God would give you the grace, wisdom and knowledge to do His will and to live as we ought to live. Remember also what is said in Luke 17:10, “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” This is very pleasing to the Lord. Amen.