Grow Up, Walk

 Grow Up, Walk

August 18, 2025

Ephesians 4:15-16

15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of thebody for the building up of itself in love.

Our pastors have been teaching a series on growing up. One of the first milestones for a child growing up is learning to walk. So this morning, let us look at a little background on walking from Ephesians 4-5.

Ephesians 4:1-2

1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humilityand gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,

Ephesians 4:17-18 - The Christian’s Walk

17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 beingdarkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

Ephesians 5:1-2

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offeringand a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

Here is some information on walking from “Wuest Word Studies in the Greek New Testament”.

“(4:1) "Walk" is peripateo, "to walk about," thus, "to conduct one's self, to order one's behavior." "Worthy" is axios, an adverb, meaning "in a manner worthy of." The adjective form means, "having the weight of (weighing as much as) another thing." Thus, Paul exhorts the Ephesian saints to see to it that their Christian experience, the Christian life they live, should weigh as much as the profession of Christianity which they make. In other words, they are to see to it that they practice what they preach, that their experience measures up to their standing in grace.

“(4:17) "Therefore" resumes the exhortation of 4:1-3. …

"Walk" is peripateo, "to conduct one's self, order one's behavior." "Vanity" is mataios, "that which is in vain, aimless, resultless, futile." The word speaks of want of attainment. "Mind" is nous, not merely the intellectual faculty or understanding, but also the faculty for recognizing moral good and spiritual truth. Expositors says: "It is a description of the walk of the heathen world generally-a walk moving within the limits of intellectual and moral resultlessness, given over to things devoid of worth or reality."

“(5:1, 2) "Be" is ginomai, "to become." "Followers" is mimetai, "imitators." Our word "mimick" comes from this Greek word. Expositors says: "The loftiest and most exalting endeavor that can possibly be set before man, proposed to us by Christ Himself (Matt. 5:45, 48)." …  "Walk in love" is "be constantly ordering your behavior within the sphere of love." This love is the agape love which God is, which God exhibited at the Cross, which Paul analyzes in I Corinthians 13, and which is the fruit of the Spirit in the yielded saint. The saint is to order his behavior or manner of life within the sphere of this divine, supernatural love produced in his heart by the Holy Spirit.”

(“Wuest Word Studies in the Greek New Testament”, From Ephesians 4 and 5)