Give Our All

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

GIVE OUR ALL

Eph 6:5-9

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. 9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

NIV

 We do not have slaves and masters in our country, at least in the sense that Paul is using slaves and masters. It was an acceptable concept in the time of Jesus and was practiced throughout the course of history in many countries but has been abolished in most countries, however, it could still exist. Yet to find a truth we can apply to our lives; we see this as employer and employee. Because we are believers, and we are the image of God to the world, that means we must work as if we are working for the Lord. This means we give one hundred and ten percent to the task we are employed to do, whatever that is. However, we should be doing our assigned tasks as an employee not just to receive compensation, but we should be applying our trade, skill, talents, and profession with a sincere heart, in the same way, we obey Christ. But there is the rub. How much do we obey Christ? We do fail, although not intentionally, as it is our heart's desire to live in a manner that pleases the Lord. However, from these instructions, we see that we cannot simply work in a manner that pleases our boss, as we are to work at that one hundred and ten percent even when the boss is not around, as we are working in a manner that pleases the Lord. We work with our whole heart, doing what we are employed to do. There may be times in certain jobs or professions when change can occur in management and we get a new supervisor. On and purely earthly level, we could get one of those personalities that might be either one of those “A” types always pushing, always wanting more out of us for the same compensation. It really does not matter what kind of boss we work for because we work for the Lord. We might receive our weekly monetary compensation, and as long as we do the minimum required, we should be all right. But we cannot do just the minimum required, we must be all in, and give ourselves completely to our job, talent, and profession. On the other side of the coin, some of us have been or are in the position of being the employer. This would mean that we give ourselves one hundred and ten percent to the task of managing those who are under our authority. We could be the owner of a company or in some place in management, which in either case, we have individuals under our supervision. The Christian boss is one who gives complete respect to all those they supervise. Although we have somewhat of a class system for employers and employees in the world, that does not exist in the kingdom of God. We are all the same in the eyes of God, and Jesus died for us all, whether we are employed or we are the employer, and thus we should live in that manner, doing that which is right and good.  Whatever our position in life in this world, let us live at one hundred and ten percent because we live in the kingdom of God and we give God more than just a percentage of ourselves, we give God all of ourselves, and therefore that is how we work. We give our all. 

The Family

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

THE FAMILY

Eph 6:1-4

6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother"-which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."  4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

NIV

This is good instructions, yet it is a little strange that Paul would quote one of the Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy. If Jesus came to fulfill the law, rather than abolish it, does the law the law then still exist. Of course, Jesus expanded on many of the commandments, however, because of grace we no longer live under the law and yet we do seem to have the law of the Ten Commandments influencing our lives. Here the first of those ten is about the relationship between children and their parents. We do not know how this played out over the past centuries, but we know about this relationship in our lifetime and we have witnessed a deterioration of children honoring their father and mother. We cannot be sure why this has happened, but it appears the educational system has been a major influence in giving children the idea they have the right to make life choices without the consent of their parents. What is also interesting is that this command about honoring our father and mother does not have a time limit. That is even as we become adults, and parents ourselves, if our parents are still living, we are to honor them. It is also interesting the Greek word timao translated as honor means to place a value on, or fix a valuation upon. So we should value our parents, after all, they did give us life, which also gave us the opportunity to know Christ. Yes, some of us have had a difficult childhood, with parents who did not seem to value them as their children, and that speaks to the issue of fathers not exasperating or provoking their children to wrath or to anger or rage. When a child is mistreated, we would think that would cause this anger within toward the father. Speaking in the first person, I can testify to this anger within toward my abusive father throughout my youth. I can also testify that when I became a believer in Jesus Christ, I went to my father and forgave him, thus making the determination to place value on him giving him the opportunity to accept forgiveness and know Christ himself. This command, or instructions about fathers also places all the responsibility for the well-being of the children squarely on the shoulders of the father as the head of the household. We have also witnessed, in general, an abdication of the father’s authority over his children, putting their well-being into the hands of the mother. Of course, the children are to honor their mother, placing a high level of value on her as well as the father. Nevertheless, everything boils down to all the responsibility is on the father and his interaction with his children, and again,  it does not appear there is a time frame there either, so that as long as we have breathe in our lungs and our heart beats, we are to care for the well-being of our children even as they are adults and perhaps parents. It would seem right as the father exerts this loving care for his children, they will in turn honor their parents. 

The Authority of Christ

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST

Eph 5:21-33

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."   32 This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

NIV

Now that we have looked at the submissive wife and the loving husband, we need to see this passage as Paul used those two examples to show us Christ and the church. When we leave our father and mother, which are a symbol of this world, or our natural birth into a sinful state and are united with Christ we become one with Jesus. It is Christ Jesus who is our husband as we are His bride and His love for the church was so powerful that He gave himself up even to death to bring us into union with Him. It is through Christ Jesus that our sins are washed by His blood and cleanses us completely making us worthy to be His bride. Christ is also the head of the church which means that Jesus is in authority over us as He has been given all authority. What does that look like in the reality of our daily lives? What does the authority of Jesus consist of us regarding our daily living? Do we just want His authority in spiritual matters and want to make all our own choices regarding all the other areas of our lives? Do we seek His authority as to where we live, what state, city, and even the very neighborhood? Do we seek His authority as to what our career or job is, and where we work? Are all we are looking for is His washing us with water through the word, and being presented to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless? How can we be all that if we continue to make all the other life choices based on our own desires and ambitions? If we leave the ways of the world and are united with Christ then our lives must now be all about submitting to the headship of Jesus for every aspect of our lives, even when He calls us to obey his instructions as to how we are going to serve the rest of the body of Christ. We cannot imagine Jesus would approve of our just coming to church for an hour or two a week to sit and listen to a sermon and then go on our way. Because Jesus sent the Spirit to us with all the gifts at his disposal, He is not going to leave anyone out in the cold. Each one of us has one of His gifts to us for the common good. We all have something to do, as we see in the later portion of this letter when we are told that God prepared in advance for us to do good. We cannot help but think as we give Jesus total authority over every aspect of our lives, we are doing good and we will be doing good. It is all about His authority. 

The Loving Husband

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

THE LOVING HUSBAND

Eph 5:21-33

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."   32 This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

NIV

Ultimately, this all is about Christ and His church, nevertheless, it is also about the relationship within our earthly marriages. It is an interesting thought that Paul assumes that a man and a woman are to be married unless he is just using that example to explain the relationship between the Bride of Christ, the church, and its husband, Christ. However, this example is still instructions we can apply to our human relationships between husband and wife. Having spent some time looking at a wife who submits to her husband in everything, as an example of how the church must submit to Christ in everything, which is going to take some time to explore, we should look into the responsibilities of the husband. We husbands are to love our wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. There is more, but first, let us think about how this love we must have for our wives is played out in real life. How do we give ourselves up for our wives? Are we responsible for making her holy, cleansing her by the washing of water through the word? Surely, we cannot make our wives without stain of wrinkle or any blemish, holy and blameless, yet in a sense, we have this awesome privilege to be self-sacrificing putting the needs of our wives ahead of ourselves. In addition, we have the God-given task to be the head of the family, leading them in the ways of the Lord. We are the priests in our family, we cannot abdicate that position for God has given that place in the family to us. It is our responsibility to lead our wives to the spring of living water, to demonstrate the love of God toward them. God has joined us together to be one flesh, one person, acting as one person, a union that cannot be broken, and yet that union still requires there is a head and that is the man who loves his wife just as Christ loves the church. It does seem in this current culture that the relationship between many marriages is topsy-turvy with the wife making the major decisions in the marriage. Yes, we are partners and that means discussions about what we do, where we live, rearing our children, balancing careers and home life as well as any other major and minor situations. However, the ultimate burden falls on the shoulders of the husband for God holds him accountable for his family. It all comes down to how we husbands must love our wives as Christ loved the church. 

The Submitting Wife

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

THE SUBMITTING WIFE

Eph 5:21-33

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."   32 This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

NIV

Right on the heels of submitting or honoring each other and having mutual respect for each other, come these instructions particularly to the wife and the husband, as an example of us and Christ. However, it does still apply to our earthly marriages. What we need to do is examine the earthy relations between a wife and a husband and then see how that applies to the bride of Christ and the husbandry of Christ. Although this instruction about a wife submitting to her husband as to the Lord was given to the wives in Ephesus, we apply all of the scripture to our lives today. However, this might have been relevant in certain times of history when societies were mostly patriarchal, it seems that our current society has rejected that concept for its bent toward equality, which may have put more strain on marriages than it should, as this concept of equality has invaded the marriage. We do know that God established this relationship at the very beginning of creation creating man from the dust of the ground, and creating woman from man, for the purpose of walking side by side through life. Yes, God made woman to be a help mate to man, but as He took a rib from Adam rather than a bone from his head or his feet, we see this as a sign that woman walks at the side of man, rather than in charge or at the feet of man.

Nevertheless, there is still this instruction regarding the wife submitting to the authority of her husband in the same way she submits to the authority of Christ in her life. As Christ is the head of the Church, so the man has to be the authority in the marriage. What we have witnessed over the years is that many men have abdicated their authority in the marriage leaving their wives unprotected and vulnerable to the influence of the world and having to take control of marital matters in the household. We are seeing a phenomenon in our culture with the statistics that more women die from heart attacks than men do. This may be due to women taking on more worldly responsibilities than God designed for them and thus living with too much stress. If the wife is to submit or honor and respect her husband, it would behoove the husband to live in accordance with the responsibility God gave him. We think it would be difficult, especially in our current culture, for a woman to respect a man if he is not living up to his responsibility, thus we think all the burden lies on the shoulders of the man. Yet, the wives still must respect and honor their husbands as they would the Lord, yielding all authority in the marriage to their husbands. 

Submitting

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

SUBMITTING

Eph 5:21-33

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."   32 This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

NIV

Alright, we are back in the fifth chapter where we left off before we took a detour, back to the second chapter for a few days. We also need to camp out in the section about family relationships and it seems right to include this whole area of instructions, so as to not forget how it all fits together. We should start with this idea of submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. This is about honoring each other and having mutual respect for one another of our reverence of Christ. That is we do not see each other for our professions, social standing, educational level, or position in the body of Christ based on titles, but we see each other in the light of Christ and thus we see the dignity in each person. If we are able to follow this instruction of submitting to one another, it would do away with pridefulness on one hand, and jealousy and envy on the other hand. Because we would be seeing each other as members of the same body of Christ, there would be total equality within the church. However, the fact is, this may well be a pipe dream, for we have not yet seen this mutual honoring of each other, nor this mutual respect, instead, we have witnessed the existence of pridefulness because of a person’s position or title within the body of Christ or their profession and social standing in the world. We also wonder if this particular instruction, is a precursor to the relationship between a husband and a wife, leaving the church out of the equation altogether. With the individual instructions regarding the responsibilities of the wife and the husband, it would also be right for them to honor each other and have mutual respect for each other, thus submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Yet, this still speaks to the church as a whole, and in thinking about how the average church operates we need to be cognizant of the reality of status based on titles and how some might desire to have the most influence in the ways of a local church, forcing their way because of either their position in the church or the amount of their position and wealth in the world. We must see a true sense of equality within the church and in the family, honoring one another with mutual respect. The most interesting about this whole idea of submitting, which the Greek word means is to put ourselves, that is all of us, or see ourselves as subordinate to each other. 

Living At Peace

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

LIVING AT PEACE

Eph 2:14-18

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

NIV

This word, “For” stems from the fact that we who were far away from God have been bought near, therefore, For He Himself is our peace. God is our peace. We cannot find this kind of peace in the world, it is elusive in fact, unavailable. It is interesting as we have researched before this Greek word translated as peace has interesting usage in the New Testament. Eireenee is used as a state of national tranquility or the exemption from the rage and havoc of war. This certainly could be seen as we were once at war with God which meant we had no tranquility within our soul. We were in turmoil and disturbed within even without knowing that we were objects of God’s wrath. However, this Greek word is seen in a more personal relationship with God. When He brought us near through the power of the Spirit at work convicting us of our need to change our thinking, that is repent, accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are at peace with God. This is defined as the tranquil state of our soul assured of our salvation through Christ, and so we fear nothing from God, and we are content with our earthy lot, whatsoever sort that is. The only way to experience peace within is to be in Christ. Paul makes the case that Jews and Gentiles are now one people, there is no difference in any ethnicity or nationality when it comes to being in Christ. We are one new man whom God put to death all hostility for those who are in Christ. It is interesting that God destroyed the barrier between the Jewish people and us Gentiles by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. That is when Jesus went to the cross it took the law with him and therefore the law was crucified with Christ. All the Old Testament law is abolished, gone, no longer in effect, and as unpopular as this sounds, and strange to think and say, that includes the Ten Commandments. We live under a new covenant that God made with us in Christ. We live by this new covenant of grace, for even if we tried to abide by one single command, one of the least of all the laws, we would eventually fail, and we have been told if we try to live by the law, we will be judged by the law. Of course, this does not mean that we should live a lawless life without any limits, however, the law we are to live under is the civil law of our land. God has freed us from the burden of trying to live under that law he gave to Israel for the expressed reason to show them they could not find righteousness within the law and needed His salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. All we want in life is to be at peace with God and it is all about what He has done. God has made peace with us through Jesus and therefore there is no barrier between God and us. The veil has been torn apart, and we have full access to the Father by one Spirit.

 

From Far to Near

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

FROM FAR TO NEAR

Eph 2:11-13

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

NIV

Because we too, those of us who live in the United States of America were Gentiles by birth, unless of course, some who were born here, are of a Jewish bloodline. Nevertheless, we know that we were born as a Gentile, and we were separated from Christ, although that was by choice, as Christ died and shed his blood for us. Paul is going to say more about our relationship with Christ, but for now, we need to focus on the fact that we were once far away from God, and that was our choice. Speaking in the first person for a while, because this is my personal story, I was not only so far from God, but I also actually hated what I thought God stood for by how the church represented him. This organized religion appeared to me to be all about paying to pray. Of course, I did not care about the concept of sin, for that too came from the voices of the church. My own pleasures were paramount in my life, and yet, I lived with a great fear of death. Sure, I was egotistic, thinking only of myself, that when I died, death was the end, and that I would never know that I ever lived. This was life without hope in the truest sense. I was a foreigner to the covenants of the promise, without hope and God in this world. Alright, back to the third person. We do think that all of mankind was at one point as far from God as we were. At some point in each person’s life, whether that was as a young child, a teen, or some time during our adult life, we were awakened to the truth about God and about what Jesus did for us. As we have thought and said before, we lived in a city of darkness and death, and at some point, the Light shone into our lives and we were brought from living far away from God to being near Him through the blood of Jesus. We now live in this new city of Light and life and are so near to God that His Spirit dwells within us. It is almost as if Adam who had been cast out of the garden, out of the paradise of God, forced to live in the world, away from God because of his disobedience, was brought back into the garden, back into the place where God could walk and talk with him in the cool of the day. We were outside that paradise, living without hope, forced to live in exile because of our disobedience, or sin. Still, because of the blood of Jesus, we have been invited back into the paradise of God, living in a place where God walks and talks with us in the cool of the day, which in our case, is the long day. We cannot be any nearer to God than we are now and it is all due to the blood of Jesus. Our nearest has nothing to do with us, or how many good deeds we do. Nothing we can do will bring us nearer to God than what God did for us, even while we were sinners. Our nearness to God is all on God, the only thing we can do is accept on faith, that we are near to God and that God is near to us. Of course, our lives will always be changing as we walk and talk with God. We will gain more and more knowledge of our hope in Christ, and we will always be in a state of being transformed into being more and more like Jesus, but we will never be any closer or nearer to God than we are as we have been washed in the blood of Jesus.

The Good Work

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

THE GOOD WORK

Eph 2:1-10

2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

NIV

There is no question that we have been saved by grace through our faith in Jesus Christ, and we who were once dead are now made alive in Christ. However, there is more for us as God has raised us up with Christ and has seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. We are not sure how that all works as we are still here on this earth, and yet we are told that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, which would be at the right hand of God. Perhaps that is metaphorical for the fact that because we are the image bearer of God, that is because we were made in God’s image, we are already in the place of honor, at his right hand. However, we take it, the fact is we are seated with Christ, at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realms. This should give us a sense of how we should be living while we are still standing on Earth in His presence. Because we have been redeemed and belong to God and have the right to be called children of God, we are already standing in his presence, and have the Spirit dwelling within us as that guarantee of our inheritance in the heavenly realms. All this is because of the gift from God and His incomparable riches of his grace. This simply blows our minds, because of how unworthy we are to accept the incomparable grace that He has expressed in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. The Father sent Jesus to suffer the injustice inflicted by man on the cross, which was His plan all along, even before the time of creation. It is difficult to fully grasp that truth, but we do so in faith believing everything that God has said. There is a reason for our unworthiness because it is by grace we are saved, and not by anything we could ever do. No works whatsoever could qualify us for salvation so we cannot boast for any reason why we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. At times, it seems that we believers are in some kind of competition as to how many “good works” we can do, in an effort to prove how spiritual we are, and what good Christians we are. We think this comes from the misunderstanding of the fact that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. This can be seen that good works are the proof of our salvation, that is because we are saved by the grace of God, He saved us to do works for His kingdom. That sounds like the only reason he saved us is so that we can work for Him, and because we are his children, that seems like He is using us as child labor, which we know cannot be the truth. If this is about our need to do the good works that He prepared in advance for us, we then are back at his competition thing about how many good works we can do and thus look good to others, more than looking good to God, because we already look good to Him, because we are in Christ. But if the good works that God prepared in advance for us to do are connected to the question that was asked of Jesus about what work God requires of us, then that good work God prepared in advance was to believe in the one He sent, since that was the plan before the foundation of the earth. Believing in Jesus is the only good work we could ever truly do that would please God. 

Always For Everything

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

ALWAYS FOR EVERYTHING

Eph 5:15-20

15 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

Being careful how we live includes or we should say, comes down to one single truth, which is always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way to put it than how this is said. Always, means never ceasing, at all times, every moment of our day, there is never a time that always does not include. There are no exceptions, not even the slightest reason or time that is not included in always. It is also clear as to what we are to do always, and that is giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We should also note that within the always there is another inclusive word, everything. However, first, we are to always give thanks to God the Father. This would mean that we should not take credit for anything. If we are always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, then we cannot give thanks or take credit for our own talents, abilities, accomplishments, or anything we do or say. This brings us back to the idea of the word “I” should not be a part of a believer’s vocabulary. Everything in our life, down to the very breath in our lungs and our beating heart is what we are to give thanks to God the Father for. Even when we have pain in our bones, we should give thanks to God the Father. Always giving thanks for everything would eliminate our complaining, or grumbling as well as any form of pride or conceit, along with envy, jealousy, the lust for more, or any other reason for discontentment with our lives. We are so incredibly thankful for the life the Father has given us, and the call he placed on our lives. He has called us to be a member of the body of Christ and has given each of us a place in which we can be useful in the advancement of His Kingdom, being that living stone that He is building into His Holy Temple. However, giving thanks to God the Father for everything also means that when we experience anything in life, that those would do not know Jesus would use as a means of complaining, we give thanks for it. What it comes down to is always giving God the Father thanks for everything, and that means always for everything, and we do this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The other thought that occurs to us is that when Jesus healed people, we have reason to believe that Jesus thanked the Father before he healed someone. Perhaps we may have been going about prayer for the sick the wrong way because we beseech God for healing, or for Him to intervene in a situation, showing our faith in Him. We wonder if we should thank God the Father first for this person’s life, and their infirmity so that God the Father gets all the credit for healing the sick, the lame, the blind, the injured, every pain known to man. Thank you, Father, for the pain in my body, or arthritis in my bones, and for all that you have done in my life, the blessing that you have poured out upon me, so much so, that I do not have all the room to contain all those blessings. Thank you, God, my Father for every beat of my heart which you healed and sustain until the day you decide to call me to yourself. Thank you, my God for everything in my life, you’re working in me, sending me your Holy Spirit to lead and guide me through this life so that I can live to please you. Thank you, Father, for every breath, for it is you who put your breath within me. Thank you, Father for my family, for the woman you gave me to be my life's partner, and for my children and my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren. You have blessed me even though I am unworthy. I have nothing without you, Father, I will always have praise on my lips, because I will always have praise in my heart, for you Father God, and I give you thanks in that name of my Lord Jesus Christ always for everything. 

Filled with the Spirit.

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

Eph 5:15-20

15 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

Being filled with the Spirit has effects on our lives, just as being a drunkard or being drunk on wine has some effects on our lives. However, the Spirit’s effects are very positive with one of those being the fact that when we are filled with the Spirit we will talk with each other with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We need to explore these effects of being filled with the Spirit, but the reason those show up in our speaking with one another is that we are singing and making music in our hearts to the Lord. This is exactly what Jesus said about what comes out of our mouths comes from what is in our hearts. Therefore, we would think as Spirit-fill, believers in Jesus Christ, we would always have music in our hearts aimed directly at the Lord. This would mean that we would have gladness and praise in our hearts, always lifting up the Lord in a song from deep within our inner being. If that is who we are inside, then it would make perfect sense that in our conversations, especially with other members of the body of Christ we would speak about the things of God, speaking scripture into each other’s hearts. However, it is interesting the Greek word, peripateoo has a direct meaning to regulate one’s life, to conduct oneself, and seen as simply to live. Most translations use this word as one another, but the more direct meaning is yourself. Therefore, because we sing and make music in our hearts we are, in fact, speaking to ourselves with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. However, that still would or should mean that music in our hearts would spill out of our mouths and therefore we would speak to each other the same way we speak to ourselves. We would think this singing in our hearts to the Lord would have a dramatic impact on our countenance or the expression of our faces, the way we stand, walk and talk. We have a difficult time understanding how a believer could walk around with a sad face, shoulders slump as if carrying a heavy burden, as though there is no song in their heart, in light of these instructions to be filled with the Spirit and the effects that causes in their heart. We always need to be in the mode of self-examination and make sure we are living in step with the Spirit, and thus filled with music to our Lord from our hearts, and that would bring this gladness to our faces and our steps would be light, and our burden would be easy because we took the yoke of Jesus upon us. That is, we are yoked with Jesus, pulling through life together. What joy that brings to our hearts as He fills us with the Spirit. 

 

Intoxicated in the Spirit

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

INTOXICATED IN THE SPIRIT

Eph 5:15-20

15 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

Because we are living on guard against being unwise and being very careful to live wisely and looking to live according to the will of God, we are to not be foolish. The next statement here has been taken out of context too often or made to sound different than what Paul said. We are told not to get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery, instead be filled with the spirit. If we look into these Greek words we find that we should not be intoxicated by wine because it leads to an excess or a dissolute life. That is a lifestyle of being an alcoholic day in and day out, giving ourselves over to drunkenness, spending all our time and money, and even losing everything for the lust of another drink. This warning is not about taking a drink of wine, in fact, Jesus even used the wine and the wineskin as a parallel for the reborn life, being a new creature filled with new wine, the gospel. This is about an abandoned life because of being addicted to drunkenness. But the idea is not about drinking wine, Paul is making a comparison of either being filled with wine and being filled with the Spirit. If being drunk on wine means the wine controls how we behave, then being filled with the Spirit should also control how we behave. Our lives should reflect being filled with the Spirit showing life in excess of Godly pursuits. Being filled with the Spirit means all His fruit should be overflowing within us, living abundantly full of the fruit and having His influence manifesting whatever gift he desires us to use for the advancement of the kingdom and the benefit of the entire body of Christ. We must remember the fruit and the gifts are not for our help but for the common good. This is the Spirit-filled life as the Lord has shown us time and time again. Let us not just allow the Spirit to dwell within us but let us allow Him to fill us up completely to overflowing. In one sense, let us be drunk or intoxicated in the Spirit. 

Every Opportunity

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

 EVERY OPPORTUNITY

Eph 5:15-20

15 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

Life is not just floating away on the sea of chance, but it requires thoughtful contemplation, with the sails catching just the right breeze and the rubber set to the course that has been laid in for us by the Lord. Our lives were not designed to be lived footloose and fancy-free, although that sounds attractive on some level. However, we are told here to be very careful about how we live. We should be careful to live wisely, which is making the most of every opportunity. We know that if we were to walk into a business and person or salesperson would be on their toes, sharp and attentive to the customer making every opportunity to make a sale. Where I work part-time, we are always prompted to exhibit smart customer service, with the word smart being an acrostic starting with Seek out the customer. We are to be a dynamic sales associate looking to meet the customers’ needs. As a believer in Jesus Christ, living wisely, we live dynamically for Jesus, seeking out those who are in need of His salvation. We cannot afford to live according to our own path, for that would be foolish. Instead, we must walk in step with the Spirit as He calls out the cadence. This is not just about living as a Christian based on rules and regulations, with all the do’s and don’ts that have played such a large part in the life of the church. This is about living within the will of God, which is more than trying to live righteously, but encompasses every aspect of our lives. The Spirit leads us into all truth, and of course, that is only found in the scriptures, but to walk in step with the Spirit must always include His leading us to where we live, what city, neighborhood, and yes even the very street number. Living within the will of God is more than doing good, and avoiding the bad, it is following the path that is lit up by the light of Christ. We are given one example of living unwisely, and examples of living wisely. We will need to get into the details of those examples, but for now, we should be content to understand just what the will of God is for our lives and make the most of every opportunity to live as followers of Jesus. 

Goodness is in the Light

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

GOODNESS IS IN THE LIGHT

Eph 5:8-14

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

NIV

There is no doubt that we once lived in the city of darkness and death, but the Spirit convicted, and we began our search for a truth which we found in Jesus Christ. He bridged that chasm and brought us out of that darkness and led us into the city of light and life and filled us with that very same Spirit to lead us through this new life so that we are now known as a child of the light. Of course, we know that Jesus is the Light of the world, and so we are living in the light of Jesus. Once we were able to hide in the darkness, and hide our disobedience, although we did not know we were being disobedient. We felt that life was the way it was to be, being ignorant there was another life in the light. Praise God, the light shone into our darkness, and showed us the way out in order that we could be alive and well in the light. It is interesting that light has its own fruit, which might be a little different than the fruit the Spirit bestows in with. So, then we are to live in the light which includes living in goodness, righteousness, and truth. This goodness is more than being or acting good, for if that is what goodness is, then all we have to do is nothing bad in order to be doing or being good. However, the Greek word, agathoosunee has a meaning of a righteousness of heart which would mean that goodness is not how we act, but who we are inwardly, and Jesus has told us that what is in our heart comes out our mouths. He used that in a parable about a tree and that people will know us by our fruit. So then because we have good stored up within us, living in the light, having that fruit of goodness, that we will bring forth goodness in our lives, goodness that will be seen. It is just like an orchard of trees, we can know what kind of tree it is but the fruit it bears, and that fruit is just there waiting for someone to pick it off and taste to see how good it is. So, it is with the fruit of goodness within us because we live as children of the light. That goodness, that righteousness of our heart, is for someone to come along and enjoy its taste, or benefit from the goodness stored up within us. We must also note that we do not have any goodness in and of ourselves, but it is a result of living in the light, because it is the light that includes goodness. The light is the source of all goodness. 

Living on Guard

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

LIVING ON GUARD

Eph 5:3-7

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.   6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.

NIV

There is a real danger if we allow any of those behaviors that are improper for God’s holy people. The danger is not being able to have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. The problem is this letter is written to the church in Ephesus and which is applied to the church at large. These behaviors must have been present in that church which would have meant some of the believers who have not overcome these behaviors will not receive their inheritance unless they repent, change the way they think and make those changes in their lives. We have the same admonition to watch that we do not get caught up in that trap. We are also told here that we should be on guard against those silver-tongued purveyors of empty words. Those who speak those empty words do not have to be one of the media darlings with a mega church. This kind of thinking can be right in the local church. We have to be careful to not be deceived by those who do not see this truth about immorality, impurity, foolish talk, obscenity, course joking, and greed are justifiable for any reason. Again, it comes down to living a life of love, first for the Lord and second for all others. The fact is that we are to not engage in any of those behaviors and we are not to become partners with anyone that does any of those behaviors. What bothers us is this idolatry. The way the Greek is stated it looks more like greed is turned into an idol, rather than the rest of those behaviors. We also should be aware that greed is not so easily identified as someone who talks foolishly or jokes coarsely or uses obscenities. We can hide our greed, our desire for more and more, or our coveting something we do not have. However, this greed is right alongside immorality and those verbal wrongs. Let us hold ourselves to a higher standard, not according to the law, but according to love for all the saints. We are going to get to the next step, or how we are to live, but for now let us examine our thoughts and actions to make sure we do not behave in any way described here and not become close friends with those who do. Yes, we are all human and subject to failure in many areas of our lives, but these are enumerated for us to make sure we become aware of and be on guard against them.  

Obscenity foolish talk and course joking

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

OBSCENITY, FOOLISH TALK, AND COARSE JOKING

Eph 5:3-7

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.   6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.

NIV

Because we have looked at the warning about sexual immorality, impurity, and greed, which are all improper for God’s holy people, we now can look at some other behaviors that are improper for us, as God’s holy people. Obscenity, foolish talk, or course joking all fit together as if they are one, yet there is a slight difference between baseness or lack of moral character which is the more direct meaning of the Greek word aischrotees which is translated here as obscenity, which would be said as being obscene, and foolish talking or course joking.  To have no moral compass is certainly improper for us as God’s holy people, as God should be our compass, the light that leads us into the truth, who sets our compass in the right direction. Left to our own devices we would be lost, having no moral compass to guide us along the path of life in Christ. This foolish talk or buffoonery, as the Greek word morologia is more directly translated, is simply sill talk, or ridiculous behavior that may be amusing, but is out of place for a believer. However, in another sense, this can also be seen as talking about useless things, spending our precious time talking about dumb stuff, is meaningless and of no value to the kingdom of God. Of course, we like to talk about various interests, such as sports, hobbies, books, or movies that we find some enjoyment in. That could qualify as foolish talk if we become obsessed with those things and forget about living for the kingdom. Then we have this course joking, which fits right in with foolish talk. Humor is one thing that might bring a smile and light heart in someone, but jesting in an unholy manner, which could be seen as making fun of someone, is not acceptable for God’s holy people. It is interesting the three Greek words in this passage are only found here in this letter to the Ephesians. If we see our moral compass being Christ, with the Holy Spirit helping us to follow the path God has set the direction of our compass, then we would think that any foolish talking and course joking would simply disappear from our path in life. In some sense, we are being admonished to leave behind the things of this world and walk a life of loving others, as Christ loved us. This also could be seen as being or taking our following Jesus seriously, as if our life depends on it, which it does, Let us examine ourselves and see if we need to make more adjustments in order to live with the compass of God, as His holy people. 

Being Greedy

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

BEING GREEDY

Eph 5:3-7

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.   6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.

NIV

Why would greed be right after sexual immorality and impurity as improper for God’s holy people? Is God that concerned about whether we are a little greedy? As we look into the Greek word pleonexia, we see this greed is not limited to money, although money is something that many people have this greedy desire for more, but covetousness can be applied to everything in life, but that desire to have more of some material thing, drives the desire for more money so we can buy that which we want more of. When we use the word greed it does have this negative connotation especially within the church. Before becoming a believer we would have thought nothing about having the desire to always wanting more. But this lust for more, this desire to have more whether in the material sense, or in an positional sense is improper. That is always wanting more out of life, more education, more titles, more and more recognition is a form of greed. But for the most part, it would be applied toward the desire for more things. We have to ask ourselves if there is something that we always covet. On the other hand, we wonder if just living close to the vest, so to speak, that is not giving of our resources to those in need, or at least someone in need, would be a form of greed, wanting to keep all that we have to ourselves for our own benefit or enjoyment. We also wonder if this can not only apply to us personally as believers, but as a whole body, that is within the church. We have witnessed over the past years within several churches who play their finances close to the vest, in fact, always wanting a bigger bank account, storing up money for some project in the future, that may never come to fruition. We have heard statements such as, “we cannot afford to do this, or pay for that, because it could deplete the savings account”. We have heard it said that we have to see how much money we can raise for this project, or that expense, but never ask the question, “What does God want us to do?” Many church and personal decisions are based on the real current money issue rather than hearing from God, then believing He will provide the resources for the expense of whatever He has directed us to do. We cannot allow greed to affect our choices or decisions. Sure, we are to be wise, but that wisdom cannot be driven by human thought, but it must be driven by the wisdom of God, and we are told if we lack any of that wisdom, we simply need to ask God, and He will give us His wisdom liberally, without finding fault. Simply put, let us not allow greed to be a part of our lives, for that is improper for us as God’s holy people. 

Temptations

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

TEMPTATIONS

Eph 5:3-7

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.   6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.

NIV

Having considered that we are to be imitators of God, living a life of love, in the same manner, or as much as Christ loved us, giving himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God, we now come to this list of everything that is completely opposite of living the life of love and what the consequence of this improper life is. We know in the time of the Ephesians there was a great temple to the goddess Artemis that dominated the city and its culture, as we know from the Acts of the Apostles. However, this would not keep the people from living as many Gentiles did, and must have been engaged in this list of improper attitudes and behaviors. This brings us to our time and our culture which for the most part is dominated by Christianity of some form or another. Of course, there is great debate over the Ten Commandments on the Senate building in Washington, but the courts, have struck down any attempts to post them in schools. Yet, here we are in this immoral society, that thinks nothing about God. Still, we would not think that in the New Testament church, there would not be any sexual immorality, and yet we know there has been, even within those in ministry. The Greek word translated as sexual immorality is porneia, which is where we get the word pornography, but this word is used beyond the porn situation that exists in this culture, and even in the church, and includes adultery, or illicit sexual intercourse. Although this might be more common among the Gentiles of this world, that is the non-believers or the unsaved, it has, at times, crept into the church. This goes hand in glove with impurity, which is the different Greek word, akatharsia, which can be seen in a couple of ways. First, this uncleanness of the body, that is acts of uncleanness, degrading of the body, but can also be seen as impure motives. Neither of these should have any place in the body of Christ, as Paul makes that point to the believers in Ephesus. We also think that because of our humanity, and the pressure the old self places on the new man within us, we must be watchful against this type of thinking or behavior. Perhaps those who have been raised in the church since birth would never encounter these types of temptations, such as those of us who came to Christ later in life, and lived among the world, engaging in these activities of immoral behavior, and now must live in the new person, with the memories of the past life, and the battle to keep that life behind, even within our thought life which could take us down a wrong path. This is why it is so important to fill our minds and hearts with what is pure, noble, admirable, lovely, excellent, right, and praiseworthy. Let us always look to Jesus, and keep in step with the Spirit, so that temptations, simply remain temptations without any teeth.

 

Imitator of God

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

IMITATOR OF GOD

Eph 5:1-2

5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

NIV

We are going to be admonished more about certain acts that are completely opposite of being an imitator of God, but we cannot pass over this living a life of love, just as Christ loved us. Could that be the imitation of God, living as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God? We are told to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is our spiritual act of worship. We are also told in conjunction with our offering ourselves, to no longer conform to the pattern of this world, but that we are supposed to be transformed by renewing our minds or changing the way we think about sin and about God. When we stop trying to satisfy the cravings of our humanness, if that is even completely possible, and think about the things of God, or as we are also told to think about what is pure, noble, admirable, excellent, lovely, and praiseworthy. When we look at that list, all those traits describe Jesus. Therefore, we are to always think about Jesus, and because our desire is to be more like Jesus, which is a constant state of changing, becoming more like Him every day of our lives. How can we just remain stagnant in our faith or the way we think? We cannot believe God is stagnant, but ever engaged in loving us and pouring out his blessings on those who love Him. Of course, God does not change, for He is always the same God. But we must change, we must transform from what we were into what we should be. We also know the love of God toward us has never changed, it has never been less than it is now and His love for us cannot become greater, for His love for us may even be more than we can fully comprehend, but we know God’s love for us cannot be duplicated by a mere man, although we are told to love God and our fellow man. So, if we live this life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God, then it would make sense that we are to give ourselves up as a fragrant offering to God. That would require that we are transformed in the way we think. We will come to a list of ways we certainly are not supposed to think, but for now, let us examine our thinking, and see if we are thinking more about ourselves than we should, looking to our own interests too much, and not thinking about God as much as we should. How else are we even going to try to imitate God, unless we live in the same way that Jesus lived, for He is God who came to earth in our form to not only be the sacrifice for our sins but to also show us the way to live a life of love. Then we have to go to the letter to the Corinthians to see God’s definition of love, then we have the mark to reach. Maybe we might get into those traits of love and examine how they play out in our lives before we go past this admonition to be an imitator of God. 

Grieving the Spirit

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

GRIEVING THE SPIRIT

Eph 4:29-32

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

NIV

We have examined all the aspects of those traits, attitudes, and behaviors that would generate unwholesome talk. We have looked into being kind and compassionate along with forgiveness. It is now time to ponder on what exactly grieves the Holy Spirit who God seals us with, marks us as his own, keeping us for the day of redemption. Of course, this is the last day, when we are raised from the dead,  and live in eternity with God, for in the other sense, we have already been redeemed, purchased back from the ravages of sin and death, and brought back into the light and life. Therefore, being sealed as it is put, means the Holy Spirit dwells within us marking us as different than the people of the world, as we left our citizenship in the world behind and became a citizen of the kingdom of God. But this grieving the Holy Spirit needs more examination. First, looking into the Greek word, lupeoo, translated here as grieve gives us more clarity as it carries the meaning, to make sorrowful, to affect with sadness, to cause grief; to throw into sorrow. We know what sorrow is as we have experienced sorrow for various reasons. It is sad to watch a loved one walk a path different than God’s. Various experiences in life can affect us with sadness. However, when it comes to the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, what would we do in order to make Him experience sadness about us? We would think that within the context of all the attitudes and behaviors that we are to rid ourselves of, they are the areas in our life that if we continue with them, we will cause the Spirit to be sad. So then, it would seem in that context that if or when we get angry, given to arguing, either yelling loudly at each other, or just getting upset with each other, or gossip about someone else and then of course, determined not to forgive someone, that we would be causing the Holy Spirit to grieve. The problem is that all sin would then grieve Him, and it is impossible for us to be a sinless person. Just how perfect or near-perfect would we have to be, in order for our lives not to be a cause of sadness to the Spirit? Some have thought that our returning to the old life, walking away from the faith, would be the cause of the Spirit’s grief. However, because we are marked because God has put His seal upon and within, are we always secure and safe from that old life of darkness and death. But this is not about eternal security, as we also know that we can take a hike, reject that seal and go back from whence we came. Indeed, after all, God did, sending His one and only Son to earth to live among us, show us the way, do so much among His people, then go to the cross and shed his blood, giving His life as a ransom for our sins, and then sending the Spirit to us, to reveal our need of repentance and leads us into all truth, as well as bringing us His fruit and His gifts into our lives, if we rejected all that, after tasting the goodness of God, and take that walk, the Spirit would indeed be grieved. However, in the meantime, as we have accepted God’s provision for our lives, Jesus, and we accept the Spirit who dwells within, we make every effort to walk in step with the Spirit, allowing Him to call the cadence of our lives and the direction we should walk. It comes down to whether we listen or ignore the Spirit of God.

 

Forgiving

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

FORGIVING

Eph 4:29-32

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

NIV

If we have indeed left behind all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander as well as all other forms of malice, then we will be able to truly know how to be kind and compassionate to one another, as well as actually forgiving each other, just as in Christ God has forgiven us. We think the keyword that defines kindness and compassion is forgiveness. We think it would be nearly impossible if not completely impossible to show kindness toward someone if we harbored any unforgiveness in our hearts. What we need to examine is how we get into a state of unforgiveness. How can we live in Christ, accepting God’s forgiveness for all our sins, all our offenses against Him, and then turn around and not forgive someone who we think, or feel has offended us. Does unforgiveness stem from our over-exaggerated opinion of our importance, or as the scripture admonishes us not to think more highly of ourselves than we should. We are told in no uncertain terms by Jesus as Matthew records that if we forgive others when they sin against us, our Heavenly Father will forgive us. But if we do not forgive others for their sins, our Father will not forgive us for our sins.  That is about as cut and dried as it can get, for there is no plainer language than what Jesus told us about forgiveness. In addition, our acts of kindness and compassion, or rather our attitude of kindness and compassion are driven by never holding any offense against anyone. We cannot afford to harbor any ill feelings about someone who we think has offended us. That is another issue we need to consider. We might think someone offended us, but in reality, they did not do anything of the sort. The offense is in our minds and hearts and not in the actual actions or words of that other person. Why would someone purposefully try to offend us? Why would someone say to themselves, “Today, I am going to offend so and so”, or “They just think too much of themselves, so I better bring them down a peg or two by sinning against them and see if they forgive me”? Jesus is our example regarding humility, and if we want to be like Jesus then our humility will not allow any supposed offense against us to stick or prick our minds and hearts. Our humility we simply allow any type of offense that might occur to just pass on by, letting it slide right off, like water off a duck’s back. One more thought is still lingering within and that is that because God has forgiven us, and He is the “Most Righteous One”, then who are we, mere humans, who have no righteousness outside of Christ, alright with not forgiving. 

Yelling and Gossip

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

YELLING AND GOSSIP 

Eph 4:29-32

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

NIV

As we are still looking into some of the unwholesome talk in regard to this list of attitudes and behaviors we are to rid ourselves of, which generate unwholesome language. We need to take a closer look at brawling and slander along with every form of malice. It is interesting how the two Greek words translated as brawling or clamor, and slander bring us more clarity. Kraugee is used here for brawling, which means to cry out, or an outcry, which would show up as angry shouting. This is in contrast to blasfeemia, translated here as slander, but is more directly reproachful speech injurious to another’s good name. Of course, we get the word blasphemy here as well,  which is this injurious speech against the divine majesty, the Lord Almighty. However, what this shows up in the Ephesian Church, and perhaps still exists in the modern church is a loud overheated discussion over whatever, along with this detraction of another’s character, which usually shows up as gossip. Both erupt into a shouting match over an issue, which could be anything in society in general or within the church. We have seen this play out within the leadership of denominations over the years. It shows up as accusations and rebuttals spoken not so much in a yelling match but through the use of both the written word and various forms of social media. They are yelling and brawling without raising their voices. However, at least this brawling is out in the open as this injurious speech shows up as secret communications, such as gossip. This is spoken in a hush, hush manner, in secret, trying to reveal or share some supposed flaw in someone’s character or actions, so that others will see them as despicable as we do, even if none of it is true. The greatest evil about gossip is that nothing has to be true or verifiable, it just has to be spread in a malicious manner. Neither of these evil traits does anything to build up the body of Christ but instead acts to tear down the body of Christ. Let us truly put forth an effort to cleanse our minds and hearts of these traits, looking to see how we can build up each other, putting others before ourselves, and living in humility and love. 

Rage and Anger

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

RAGE AND ANGER

Eph 4:29-32

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

NIV

Knowing that this unwholesome talk is referring to the attitudes and behaviors listed as things we are to rid ourselves of, and we looked into this bitterness, which could result in the rest of those attitudes, we still need to look at the rest of the list. It would seem right to put rage and anger together. With the Greek word, thumos, seen as wrath, or passion angry heat, and orgee, as seen as the natural disposition, temper, character, or agitation of the soul, that defines anger, these go hand in hand. But the question is what provoked these Ephesians into that kind of attitude that became trouble in the church. These were believers, unless all these destructive attitudes and behaviors were from their past lives as pagans, and they have already come full circle and now love each other as they love themselves, as a result of loving God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. However, that is how we the body of Christ are supposed to love each other, and yet we cannot help but have noticed over the years that a certain level of rage and anger have existed within the church from time to time. Still, the point of all scripture is for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness, so that we will be equipped for every good work. Therefore, it would behoove us to look within ourselves, doing that self-examination thing, as we examine the word of God. Have we completely rid ourselves of any and all rage and anger? Again, why would we ever become filled, if just a little bit, with a level of wrath? And for God’s sake, how could we ever allow our temper to rule our hearts and minds to become angry? We should know better because we have read and heard the word of God over and over so His word should be what fills our hearts and minds, which would override any of those self-centered feelings which are the generators of wrath and anger. If we spend our thinking regarding kindness and compassion toward others, there would be no room left to feel any rage or anger, especially with the forgiveness of others. The sad thing is that we can harbor this rage and anger within, without anyone knowing.  However, if we are always in a state of mind and spirit of forgiveness, we would never ever find a reason for any amount of rage and anger. Forgiveness not only covers rage and anger, it eliminates them completely. If we are trying at all to be like Jesus, we would have rid ourselves of rage and anger years ago and left those feelings in the dumpster of the past, which has already been picked up and taken away. Therefore, we must ensure we do not try any dumpster diving to see if we can reuse them. 

Unwholesomeness

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

UNWHOLESOMENESS

Eph 4:29-32

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

NIV

We do not need to look far to understand what is meant by unwholesome talk, for we are given a fairly comprehension list of what consists of unwholesome talk. If we were to look at the opposite of these words, we might be able to find words that are helpful for building others up according to their needs. We are going to move past this admonition of not grieving the Holy Spirit until we deal with the list of unwholesome talk, then we can sum up this grieving. We should note the Greek word sapros, translated here as unwholesome has this direct meaning of corrupt or rotten and worthless. This could imply either foal language, dirty words, what we might think as cursing or using the Lord’s name in vain. But if we take the first word on this list of attitudes and behaviors that we are to rid ourselves of, we could see this word rotten or worthless can be seen as bitterness. When we harbor any bitterness within it is surely going to show up in our speech at some point, then it becomes toxic and poisonous. What would or could cause someone to be bitter and speak toxic words? We think this could start with envy or jealousy regarding others receiving things from the Lord that we have not, or that we think we should receive them. It may not even be blessings from God but that others may have advanced themselves through their own labors, but then God is the one doing that work in them. So we see them as better then us, in the wrong way and that envy of jealously takes us into being a little bitter, which starts festering and builds within us until full-blown bitterness has gripped our hearts, and from the heart words precede from the mouth. We also know that bitterness unchecked will lead us into rage and anger, even brawling and slander and even malice, all of which we need to examine individually, to see more clearly what is the result of this bitterness. For now, let us make sure, through this self-examination with the guidance of the Spirit to see if we might have even the slightest hint of envy and jealously that could lead us to becoming even into the minutest amount of bitterness. We know as we rely on the Spirit, He will lead us into all truth, about God, and about ourselves. 

Working and Giving

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

WORKING AND GIVING

 

Eph 4:25-28

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

NIV

We must now deal with the elephant in the room and that is stealing. Of course, no one in the body of Christ is a thief, yet what was the reason that Paul was inspired by the Spirit to make this statement. What we do know is that as sinners, stealing may well be in our veins, that is by our very nature man looks to take from others if he can. We also know  from the history of the Jewish people, the Rabbis would steal in a sense, by taking collections on the pretense of helping the poor, but would keep the largest portion for themselves. We are certainly aware of some of those silver-tongued purveyors of deception corrupting the word of God for their own abundantly lifestyle out of the wallets of others. If that is not stealing, we don’t know what is. We also know from our research that the Ephesians as Gentiles were not the most honest people in that it was not uncommon among them to take what belonged to others, if they could get away with it. But how does this play out, if it even does, in the local church today? Who among us in the local church would even conceive of taking something that does not belong to us? Yet, how do we apply the word of God to our lives in regard to the whole word of God, which includes this statement about not stealing anymore, but we must work doing something useful with our hands, so that we can share with others who are in need. We would think that as we bring our tithes and offerings into the church that there is a portion of that money which is designated to giving to someone in need. We would think we within the church are not at all like Ananias and Sapphira who because of greed, their hypocrisy about their property, basically lying to God, caused their immediate deaths. It is not about how much we give, or tithe, if tithing does, in fact, stand up doctrinally in the New Testament. The word “tithe” only appears in the Old Testament, but we have responded instead to a call to give in proportion to our income. We think, for the most time, many of us still use the ten percent rule in our giving. But the point is that we are able to give whatever amount we are inspired by the Spirit to  give, and that giving is a result of our working with our own hands. It is unlikely that we have pan-handlers in the church seeking to take, rather than give. But at the same time we should be careful that our giving is not used solely for the support of those who are like either those silver-tongued deceivers, or those who profess to work in the church, but have produced no evidence of their call, nor of their supposed ministry, similarly to those Rabbis of Israel, seeking an income from the church, just because they are supposedly called to that task. But again, it is highly unlikely this occurs in most churches. Yet, we must also see this in that personal concept, that we are to work with our hands so that are able to help others who are in need. Of course, we need to keep some for ourselves, to support our own lives, as so we simply give what we can in accordance with what we have, without obligation or guilt, but out of our love for God. 

Anger

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

ANGER

Eph 4:25-28

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

NIV

Because we are living in this new attitude and we have put off all falsehood and speak only the truth, we now need to deal with anger. It is clear that anger can lead to sin, in  fact, unless we have the same righteous anger that Jesus demonstrated regarding the house of God, anger is a sin. It is also interesting the verbiage of this admonition, “In your anger” Paul is implying that they, and us, engage in anger. It is what we do with anger that is the important issue. But why would ever get angry in the first place? The Greek word, orgizoo, can either mean, to provoke, enrage or become exasperated. However, when we are admonished not to let the sun go down while we are still angry, this Greek word is, parorgismos, meaning rage, indignation, exasperation, and sometimes used as wrath. However, the truth is still the same, when we do become angry because of what someone did, or said, or that they did nothing and said nothing when we were expecting them to either say something, do something, or not say anything and not do something, it is all about us. We think we have been either offended or our feelings were hurt, and we become upset that leads us into this anger. But it is still about that fact we think more highly of ourselves than we should and think others either owe us something, or should do what we expect them to do, or to keep their promise. First, we must admit that it happens, but we have the responsibility to get rid of that anger before the sun goes down. For those who are married, and anger gets a grip on us, all of that wrath must be put to bed, so to speak, and it is not a matter of trying to justify why we became angry with our spouse, thus putting the fault of our anger on them. We simply must put it away period, leave it go, seek forgiveness, from the other person, and most of all from God, and return to our non-angry state before we lay our heads down. For the single, it becomes same thing, but a married and a single person who has become angry, must go to God and get it fixed before the setting sun. this issue of anger is between us and God, and no one else. However, it is possible to become angry without sinning, but that anger must be a righteous anger, upset because God is offended, that people have offended our Lord. But when we are enraged because we have been offended, we have sinned, and that must be talked out with God and God alone, and it must be done right away for we should never hold on to any angry for any amount of time. Let us always walk with God, keeping in step with the Spirit so that any anger is dealt with immediately with the Lord, freeing us to live in harmony with each other based on our common love for all the saints.