Friday, July 19, 2013,
5:37 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me this morning with the song “My Heart’s Desire” playing in my mind.
Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Ephesians 4:1-24 (NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%204&version=NIV
A Life Worthy
(4:1-3 NIV)
As
a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling
you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with
one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through
the bond of peace.
Paul wrote this letter to the corporate church in Ephesus.
The church is the body of Christ, the family of God, consisting of true
followers (disciples) of Jesus Christ. Yet, as we read through the New
Testament, it becomes clear that in these gatherings of the church there
existed among them false brothers and sisters, pretenders, and/or those who
were misled by false teaching to a false hope in Christ, and/or those who did
the misleading (cf. Mt 7:21-23; Jn 10). And, this is true of the gatherings of
the church today, as well. I see four possible groupings of people within our
local church gatherings: 1) Those who make no claims at all to belief in Jesus
Christ, 2) Those who profess faith in Christ, but who have not truly come to
know him, 3) Those who were once passionate for Christ but have since drifted
away from their pure devotion to Christ and are in great need of revival, and
4) Those who are walking in the Spirit of God in faithful obedience to their
Lord and creator.
Thus, this book of Ephesians, especially this fourth
chapter, challenges us to make sure we truly know Christ and that we are in
true (genuine) relationship with him, and/or that we are walking in the truth
we have been taught, so that we are becoming mature followers of Christ. Paul,
thus, urged these who called themselves followers of Christ to live like they
said they believed. And, this is where the rubber meets the road (the moment of
truth). Yet, this is not works-based salvation, as some would have you believe.
When we believe in Jesus Christ we do not become puppets on
a string. We daily choose to do what is right and to follow the truth we have
been taught or to go our own way (See Lu 9:23-25). So, daily we must make the
choice to yield control of our lives to our Lord and creator Jesus Christ, and
to choose to cooperate with his work of grace in our hearts and minds in
transforming us into the image of Christ. So, it is not us doing this in our
own flesh nor is it us trying to earn God’s grace, but it is us responding in
faith and love to the grace he has already provided for us, by us allowing him
to work his life, will and purpose in and through our lives. Thus, we would be
living a life worthy of the calling we have received, because we would be
living in surrender to the one who gave himself up for us so we could be free
from slavery to sin and free to walk in his righteousness in his power within
us.
Now on the subject of unity and peace, let me say this. Many
church leaders (and government leaders) today are stressing “unity” and “peace,”
but what many of them are teaching is not unity in the Spirit, but unity with
the teachings, thinking and goals and objectives of humans, i.e. with man-made
religion. As well, their calls for peace and unity mostly have to do with not
rocking the boat, not making waves, conforming to the ways of this world so as
to make peace with the world, and the dilution of the gospel of Jesus Christ in
order to make everyone comfortable and the gospel more palatable to the
listener. Yet, we should never sacrifice truth and conviction for conformity
with humans for the sake of unity. Our unity should be in Christ and in
conformity with his will and purpose for us.
Every Wind of
Teaching (4:11-16 NIV)
So
Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors
and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of
Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the
knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure
of the fullness of Christ.
Then
we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown
here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of
people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we
will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head,
that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every
supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its
work.
Christ gave us certain gifts and parts of the body of Christ
to equip us for service to our Lord, for our encouragement, edification and
sanctification, and so that we, as the body of Christ, might be united in our
faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, and so we might become mature followers of
Christ. These gifts and body parts do not exist solely within those who call
themselves pastors or ministers of the gospel, though. These gifts and
functions exist throughout the body of Christ, and exist within males and
females, and within the very young to the very old. So, we should never despise
those messengers of Christ to the body of Christ who are not “official” workers
in a church or who do not have seminary degrees. A seminary or Bible college
degree is not a requirement for spiritual giftedness. In fact, sometimes it is
a deterrent, because too much book knowledge can sometimes block the Spirit’s
voice and can inhibit us from exercising our God-given spiritual gifts. Yet, we
should always exercise discernment, and we should test everything against the
word of God.
There are many false gifts and false teachers, too, which is
why we must exercise spiritual discernment and we must test everything we hear
against God’s word. There are those who teach falsely out of ignorance, but
there are many more who teach what is false by being cunning, deceptive,
manipulative and scheming. So be wise! Don’t believe every wind of teaching
that passes your way. Just because it looks good and smells good or even tastes
good does not mean it is not loaded with arsenic. Much of this false teaching
is emotionally driven and thus many unsuspecting person falls prey to its trap.
So, if something grabs you emotionally, check it out against God’s word,
comparing scripture with scripture, because many false teachers love to pick
scriptures out of context, even excluding other verses in context in order to
get people to believe their false doctrines. So, make sure the “truth” you are
believing is consistent with the teachings of Christ and the word of God, and
that it is consistent with God’s divine nature and character.
So, we need to speak the truth in love to one another so
that our fellow believers in Christ are not led astray by what is false, and
especially so that they don’t just follow whatever wind of teaching happens to
be in vogue at the time. And, this is not the responsibility only of the
evangelists, prophets (those with the spiritual gift of prophecy), pastors and
teachers, either. This scripture makes it plain that we each have a part in the
mutual encouragement and strengthening of one another in the faith in Christ
Jesus our Lord. This is how the body builds itself up in love – as each part
does its work. So, we should never say to a part of the body of Christ “We don’t
need you!” or “Go someplace else where you would be a better “fit” or “We’ll
even help you find a place where you would fit better.” What would be a better
fit than the true body of Christ? It is our culture which divides the body of
Christ into particular people groups, but this is not the way Christ intended
the body to operate.
The Way You Learned
Christ (4:17-24 ESV)
Now
this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the
Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their
understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is
in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have
given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
But that is not the way you learned Christ! — assuming that you have heard
about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old
self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through
deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on
the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and
holiness.
I believe this passage of scripture should be one of the key
gospel passages used in evangelism and in the sharing of the gospel, because it
teaches us how a true follower of Christ comes to know Christ, not just to know
about him, but to have intimate and personal relationship knowledge of him. As
well, it teaches us what is not involved in true genuine faith-knowledge of Jesus
Christ (cf. Lu 9:23-25; Ro 6; Gal 2:20, et al). And, this is very critical that
we understand this teaching.
Many are teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ absent of true
repentance and absent of obedience to Christ. Again, repentance and obedience
to Christ are not works of the flesh, but are gifts of God and are the working
of the Spirit in the life of the believer, but only as the person yields
control of his life to the life of Jesus Christ to live within him, and to live
and work out his life through him. So, when this word teaches us that we must
put off our old self (sinful and selfish), to be made new in the attitude of
our minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of Christ,
this is not works-based salvation, otherwise scripture would be teaching us
what is contrary to scripture. So, if this is what Christ taught us that we
must do (cf. Lu 9:23-25), which he did, then there must be a way in which we do
this in obedience to him without it being works of our own flesh in order to
find merit with God and/or to earn our own salvation. So, the only way this can
be accomplished, I believe, is through us yielding our lives over to Christ for
him to work his will in us, which means we cooperate fully with his work of
regeneration and sanctification in our lives.
What we need to understand here, and this is critical to our
salvation, is that a gospel that does not teach this is not the true gospel.
Jesus said we must die if we want to live, and he said we must do this daily,
and that we must follow him in obedience if we want any part in him. We do not
come to know Christ in a way in which it leaves the option open for us to
continue living the way we lived before we came to know Christ, i.e. in sinful
passion and desire ruling our lives. True faith in Jesus Christ submits to the
Lordship of Christ, follows the ways of Christ and his truth, and hungers after
the things of God, denying the self-life and worldly and sinful lusts, passions
and desires on a daily basis. This does not mean a true follower of Christ will
never sin again or that he or she could never slip back into his or her old ways
or that he or she will now live a life of absolute perfection. This is obvious
by the teachings of scripture which encourage us regularly to keep forsaking
the things of this world and to continue in the faith. Yet, again, we do this
in the power and working of the Holy Spirit of God within us as we daily
surrender to his Lordship and to his plan and purposes for our lives. Then all
the glory belongs to God. Great is HIS GRACE living and working his will and
purposes for our lives within us! Amen!
My Heart’s Desire
/ An Original Work / June 29, 2013
Based off Rm. 10; Lu. 9:23-26; Ep. 4:20-24
Loved Ones, Oh, my
heart’s desire
Is that you might come
to Jesus.
Many appear zealous
for God,
But they do not trust
in Him.
They have not
submitted to the One
Who saved them from
their sins;
Not forsaken their
sins,
Nor have they obeyed
their King.
The word of the Lord
is near you:
The word of faith we’re
proclaiming:
That you must confess
your faith
In Jesus as your Lord
and King:
Believe in Him as your
Lord,
And follow Him
where’er He leads.
Share the gospel; be a
witness,
And meet others’
needs.
Beautiful are the feet
of those
Who bring the good news
of Jesus:
Anyone who would come
to Him
Must deny himself
today;
Die to sin and self,
and
Let the Spirit
transform you in heart;
Put on your new self
in Jesus,
Yielding to the cross.
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