This past week Shelly, Maggie, and I enjoyed, along with eight of our young people, a week at Sardis Lake Christian Camp in Mississippi.  This was one of the best weeks of camp that I can remember having been associated with, and I know that all involved were strengthened by the experience.  Everything about the week was great, except the food of course, as new friendships were made and old ones were strengthened.
    As usual the Bible was emphasized.  There were classes each morning in addition to numerous devotions throughout the day.  The theme for the week came from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians.  It was “The Church of Christ:  The Manifold Wisdom of God.”  The classes each day reflected the theme as did some of the nightly lessons.  In studying for the class that I taught I was able to add some important material to my own notes and gained a much greater appreciation for the book.
    While there are numerous lessons that could be extracted from the book, for just a few moments I would like to look specifically at “the Christian walk” as seen between Ephesians 4:1 and 5:15.  There the Christian life is compared to walking, the Bible being the guide on how to walk.  Let us look at each of the ways that the Christian is to walk.
    Ephesians 4:1 shows the first way the Ephesian Christians were to walk.  “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”  They were to walk worthy; that is worthily, in a worthy manner, or fitting.  Worthy of what?  Worthy of their vocation.  What is a vocation?  It is a job.  Many treat their Christianity like an avocation (a hobby), but Paul is saying that it is more than just a hobby.  Christianity is a job.  We can not simply clothe ourselves in our Christianity on Sunday Morning.  We must wear that garment at all times in all places.  We must live Christianity and to do so walk worthy of that vocation.
    The Ephesians were not just to walk in a certain way they were told not to walk in the way the Gentiles walked.  Ephesians 4:17 reads, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.”  They were to walk not in their own conceit but rather humbly apart from the philosophy of men.  Ephesians 2:10 shows what men should rather walk in, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”  Ever there is a contrast between God’s way and man’s way it is up to the Christian to follow God’s despite what those around him are doing.
    The Ephesians were to walk in love as Ephesians 5:2 reads, “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”  Just as Christ had loved the church and given Himself for it (Ephesians 5:25) so these Christians were to walk.  When fellow Christians do not love each other what do those who are outside of Christ see?  What must they think?  When they know that certain Christians bicker how eager are they to become Christians themselves?  Paul emphasized that they were to walk in love!  Perhaps it is appropriate the our children sing at camp, “. . . and they’ll know we are Christians by our love . . .”
    The next time that the Ephesians were told how to walk actually served as a contrast between dark and light; evil and good.  Ephesians 5:8 reads, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.”  They had been called out of darkness “into his marvellous light” (I Peter 2:9).  They then were to walk as children of light, that is in righteousness as opposed to sin.  If they walked not in light then their influence would be nil (Matthew 5:16).
    Finally Paul told them in Ephesians 5:15, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.”  They were to walk literally looking (spectly) around (circum).  The fool does not take note of his steps he simply walks unaware of his surroundings and at the mercy of any obstacles that may be in his way.  The wise man on the other hand carefully plans his steps.  Proverbs 28:26 reads, “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.”
    The Ephesians were taught to walk worthy of their vocation, not as the other Gentiles, but in love, in light, and circumspectly not as the foolish but rather the wise.  May we strive to walk in the same way.