That Ye Would Walk Worthy of God

Driving home: We have been cursed for several decades in the evangelical church with an anemic, bloodless kind of femininity that even falls...

Martin uses the metaphor of 'gloppy ooze' to describe a sentimental, unprincipled view of love that lacks guidelines and clear direction, contrasting it with Paul's fatherly direction.

sentimentally, well, whatever you want to call it. I just call it the spirit of the general ooze, where love is considered as just some kind of a gloppy ooze that just goes out and covers everybody and makes them smell nice and feel good, but has no principle, has no guidelines. Well, the apostle would keep us from this, for we saw last week that he exercised this fatherly direction, which had three aspects. Number one, there was individualism.

3:07 - 3:37 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin highlights that the goal of a godly walk is attained through instruction addressed to the mind (exhorting, comforting, charging). He emphasizes the 'primacy of the mind' in…

He uses the analogy of a Geiger counter and radioactive materials to explain that the Word of God does not sanctify magically by proximity, but by actively coming to the mind and instructing it.

Well how does the truth sanctify us? Not magically. You don't put your Bible under your mattress and go to sleep at night and wake up a little more sanctified the next morning because somehow some rays of sanctifying power have been oozing out of your Bible. Like, uh...

13:27 - 13:45 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains 'worthy' in a relative sense, meaning to walk like a people who belong to God, expressing His virtue, and living suitably to the great mercies received. This…

This extended story illustrates what it means to 'walk worthy' by picturing a young man taken from squalor and adopted by a king, becoming an heir. His challenge is to learn to act in a way commensurate with his new princely position, bringing honor to his father and appreciating the mercy received.

is that your walk should be one that is worthy of God that is you will walk like a people who belong to such a God and therefore express his virtue in your lives first Peter 2 9 that you should show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness or he could mean and I think the second aspect is the thing he's driving at to walk worthy of God means to walk suitably to the great mercies you've received from God walk worthy of God walk worthy walk in a way that is commensurate with the great mercies you've received from him let me illustrate try to picture a young man say in his early tw...

18:51 - 20:17 Read in full sermon

The point: As a parent, have clearly defined goals for your children, aiming to produce mature, intelligent, responsible creatures in the kingdom of God and society.

Martin shares a personal anecdote about his mother's clearly defined goal in parenting: rearing future fathers, mothers, and servants of Christ, which shaped her discipline and instruction.

strategy had a strategy i had an end in view and no matter how busy i became in comforting a saint here in charging a saint here in teaching a saint here in all of this i never lost sight of my goal my goal was this i want to see the people of god walking worthy of the god who's called them to his glory everlasting to his kingdom now now let me ask you a very simple question do you have any clearly defined goal in your ministry as a parent remember now this is the whole parental image he says as a father does all his ministry to his children with an end in view so i as a spiritual father minis...

31:50 - 33:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that the test of a true minister and ministry is that its goal will be the glory of God in the holy walk of His people.

This story of an old saint and a young monk illustrates that a holy walk itself is a powerful form of preaching, commending the gospel to the community without needing explicit words.

That God might be glorified in the worthy walk of his people. That's the goal of a true minister and of a true ministry. The goal is not to have a full church. The goal is not to have a going church. The goal is not to have a financially lucrative church. And the goal is not even to have a busy church. But the goal is to have a people walking worthy of God. That's the goal, according to Paul, a people walking worthily of God, by a holy light. One of the old saints caught this because he realized that it's only this that will commend the gospel to a community. It is said of one of the old saint...

37:34 - 38:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not use fleshly or worldly motives (like threats or entertainment) to entice people to gospel duties; rely on the privilege of serving God.

Martin cites the example of churches offering green stamps for attendance to highlight the use of carnal, external motives to draw people, contrasting it with gospel motives.

Now the church, you see, is using all kinds of motives in our day to try to get people to do something. There are some churches, I know, that actually offer green stamps for church attendance now. Seen it advertised? Yes, they do.

41:57 - 42:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not use fleshly or worldly motives (like threats or entertainment) to entice people to gospel duties; rely on the privilege of serving God.

He uses the analogy of enticing people to a table with a juicy steak versus three-week-old leftovers to suggest that if the spiritual 'diet' is poor, external enticements become necessary.

I never saw anybody have to be enticed to the table when there was a juicy steak. Sometimes you might have to entice them to the table if you had the leftovers of three weeks just thrown together in a pot. So maybe that's, it works both ways, I'm sure, but the principle is there that you don't motivate the people of God by natural motives. This is why I have refused to bring the circus into the church and to run this, even some well-known churches in our area, a religious circus, as it were, to get a Sunday night audience and all the time be offering some scintillating program, some dashing, o...

42:31 - 43:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not use fleshly or worldly motives (like threats or entertainment) to entice people to gospel duties; rely on the privilege of serving God.

Martin describes a 'religious circus' in some churches, with scintillating programs and unusual speakers, as an example of using fleshly motives that appeal to carnal desires rather than gospel truth.

I never saw anybody have to be enticed to the table when there was a juicy steak. Sometimes you might have to entice them to the table if you had the leftovers of three weeks just thrown together in a pot. So maybe that's, it works both ways, I'm sure, but the principle is there that you don't motivate the people of God by natural motives. This is why I have refused to bring the circus into the church and to run this, even some well-known churches in our area, a religious circus, as it were, to get a Sunday night audience and all the time be offering some scintillating program, some dashing, o...

42:31 - 43:31 Read in full sermon