SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/6/2019 10:02 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to
Eph. 4:25-32
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph. 4:25-32
Message of the verses: “25 Therefore, laying aside
falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are
members of one another. 26 BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the
sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28 He
who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his
own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one
who has need. 29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such
a word as is good for edification according to the need of the
moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of
God, by whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has
forgiven you.”
I
want to begin with a quote that I put onto the last SD to help us set the stage
of where we are going as we begin to look at these last eight verses in the 4th
chapter of Ephesians. ““The remaining
portions of the epistle contain exhortations to the believer to bring his body
into obedience to the will of God.” He
also mentioned some things about the words “therefore” and “wherefore” two
similar words that are used in different translations of the Bible but mean
similar things. I have mentioned that
the word “therefore” is used 904 times in the NASB95 version of the Bible,
which is the one that I use most of the time when studying the Bible. “The many therefore and wherefores in the New
Testament usually introduce appeals for believers to live like the new
creatures that are in Christ. Because of
our new life, our new Lord, our new nature, and our new power, we are therefore called to live a
correspondingly new life-style.” Now as
we look at the first word in our section of verses today we can see that it is
“therefore,” so I hope this explanation will help us better understand where we
are going as we study these verses.
What
evidence is there of a person being truly saved? Well the only reliable evidence of a person’s
salvation is really not a past
experience of receiving Christ but it is a present life that continues to reflect
Christ. 1 John 2:4 states “The one who
says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments,
is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
We have been talking about the new nature that we get when Christ comes
into our lives, and so when someone receives Christ that person will act like a
new creature. This salvation that we
receive from Christ is not a progressive salvation, but it happens all at once,
and then the progressive growth begins.
2 Cor. 5:17 tells us “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” I was kind of concerned about what that word
“creature” means as I sometimes think that it means some kind of monster, but
not the case here as the Greek word is sometimes translated as “creation” when
used in the KJV. 17 This means that
anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a
new life has begun!” (This is from the NLT)
MacArthur
writes “Paul has just demonstrated (vv. 17-24) that believers know salvation to
be laying aside ‘the old self’ and putting on ‘the new self’ (Eph. 4:22,
24). Christians are not robots who
simply react automatically to divine impulses.
Although God’s sovereignly makes us new creatures, He also commands us
in the strength of the Spirit to subdue our unredeemed humanness (1 Cor. 9:27),
which still resides in us, and to live as new creatures in submission to Christ
our new Master.” (“But I discipline my
body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself
will not be disqualified.”) “The paradox of the Christian
life is that both God’s sovereignty and man’s will are at work. The faithful believer responds positively to
God’s sovereign declaration and commands.”
“After
showing what believers are and have positionally in Christ (chaps. 1-3), Paul
first gives general basic instructions for the practically of living the new
life (4:1-24) and then continues throughout the rest of the letter to give
specific commands for the conduct of that life.
In 4:25-32 he gives commands reflecting several contrasts between the
old life and the new. Based on their
newness of life, believers are to change from lying to speaking the truth, from
unrighteous anger to righteous anger, from stealing to sharing, from
unwholesome words to edifying words, and from natural vices to supernatural
virtues.” These are what we will be
looking at as we look at these eight verses and consider how they can be a
great help in our lives as we continue to grow in Christ.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: To learn the things that are in this section of
verses can be a wonderful help to me and something that can be used in my life
in order to better serve the Lord and to better grow in my walk with the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I believe a big part of growing up in the
Lord has to do with humility, something I continue to work on this year.
Today’s quotation is from Thomas A.
Kempis who writes “Glory not in wealth if you have it, nor in friends because
they are powerful, but in God who gives all things, and above all desires to
give you Himself.”
5/6/2019 10:47 AM
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