Brooklands Gospel Centre
Dundonald, Northern Ireland
Worthy is the LAMB that was slain
Revelation 5:12
Sit, Walk and Stand
“And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus” -
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are called” -
“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil” -
These three verses amplify the title of a little book by the late Watchman Nee, a Chinese brother who suffered much for the Lord. He called it SIT, WALK and STAND. When you come to think about it, these three words and the truth they contain describe the NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE (the title of another much read book by the same author).
SITTING with Christ.
Raised from death to life, transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love, enthroned with Him in the ‘heavenlies’. The Apostle does not want us to think of heaven as a PLACE, so much an EXPERIENCE!
We have an everyday expression ‘over the moon’. Where is that? but a kind of heaven! But what does it all mean practically, in the here and now?
Put simply, it means that I view all that goes on in life from my Heavenly Father’s
vantage point! I can see things differently from an aeroplane than from my garden,
and so it is in the spiritual realm. If, by faith, I can rise to my grace-
It is within our own power of understanding as to how fully we appreciate this. It means living in the daily consciousness of His presence, and rejoicing in the free grace bestowed upon us through faith.
Some years ago I met a brother in our local town, I greeted him with “Well George, are you looking up?” Immediately he responded, “No, I’m looking down!” He saw my puzzled expression, so, smilingly he said “I see you from the heavenlies in Christ!”
THERE WAS NO ANSWER TO THAT!
WALKING with Christ.
When we reach Ephesians 4, we have reached a major point in Paul’s letter. The first three chapters are occupied with the doctrine of our position IN and THROUGH Christ. Now the writer is concerned primarily with exhortation about our behaviour, or our WALK. A walk is a repeated step that leads to a given direction. We need to pick up our steps as we walk through a polluted world. It is so easy for us to get overcome with its affairs, and become contaminated with its impurities.
The Apostle unapologetically says, in the light of who, what, and where we are now
in Christ, “walk worthy of the calling wherewith you were called” -
The word WALK means to walk about, or walk around. The Apostle is saying: As you go about your daily duties, and in your leisure, see that the amount of dedication you put into those activities corresponds to the value you place on your position in Christ!
In developing his argument about our walk, the Apostle relates ‘walking’ to time “redeeming the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16), that is, buying up and investing the time. It may not appear to be a popular investment now, but it will prove to be so in the day of true evaluation.
“Ills that God blesses are our good,
And unblest good is ill…”
When talking about time in this context it is not so much ‘clock’ time but ‘opportunity’ time. Not wasting our opportunities, which includes the misuse of time.
He also relates our WALK to light. “Walk as children of light” -
STANDING for Christ
We now come to the last of the three messages from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus.
We have appreciated our position in Christ, raised and seated. We have been exhorted to walk worthy of our calling. Now we are told we must STAND, clothed with the whole armour of God. Our fight is not against physical forces, but against unseen principalities and powers, and with the rulers of this world’s darkness.
Here on earth we do not get immunity from spiritual warfare, by being in the heavenlies
with Christ. If we are unaware of a spiritual conflict, somewhere along the line
we must be closing our minds to the implications of SITTING and WALKING. Perhaps
this would be a good time to re-
The Apostle clearly points out the form and methods of our formidable foe. Kenneth Wuest comments “When we consider that the loser in a Greek wrestling contest had his eyes gouged out, we can form some conception of the Ephesian Greek believers reaction to the illustration”.
It is no wonder, therefore, that Paul tells us we need the FULL set of armour, supplied by our risen Lord, to face the enemy, head to head! The Apostle is describing the armour of a heavenly soldier, and he tells us that the spiritual pieces we put on are truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the Holy Spirit. What infernal foe could penetrate such armour? Note that there is no protection for the back. This is because we stand on resurrection ground, won by the Saviour in His death and resurrection. From this sure foundation there can be no thought of retreat.
Redemption ground has been fought and won for us at infinite cost.
It is unassailable, provided we wear the armour!
DREW CRAIG