PT-3 "From Natural Vices to Supernatural Virtues" (Eph. 4:31-32)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/17/2019 11:55 AM

 

My Worship Time                              Focus:  PT-3 “From Natural Vices to Supernatural Virtues”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 4:31-32

 

            Message of the verses:  “31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

 

            We began studying this fourth chapter of the book of Ephesians on the 18^th of February and it is my desire to complete this section this morning or soon to be afternoon.  I have to say that this is one of the most difficult chapters of what is probably the most difficult book that I have ever studied, and I suppose that is why I have taken such a long time in this fourth chapter.  At any rate as we look at these last two verses, and in today’s SD it will be mostly the last verse we will be looking at the “Supernatural Virtues” which is something that we perhaps are all very interested in.

 

            Now in place of these vices that we probably all struggle with we want to move on to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven” us.  We see here graces that God has given to us, not that any of us deserve them but because God is gracious as seen in Romans 5:8-10 which verses 8 and 10 are what we really want to look at here:  “8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”  MacArthur adds “If God is so gracious to us, how much more, then, should we ‘be kind,…tender-hearted,’ and forgiving to fellow sinners, especially ‘to one another.’”

 

            If we are unconditionally kind it will characterize the Lord as seen in Luke 6:35b “for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”  In Romans 2:4 Paul speaks of “the riches of His kindness…that leads you to repentance.”  It should be our desire to be like our heavenly Father  as Jesus says in the first part of Luke 6:35 “"But love your [our] enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.” 

 

            John MacArthur writes that “Tender-hearted’ has the idea of being compassionate, and reflects a feeling deep in the bowels, or stomach, a gnawing psychosomatic pain due to empathy for someone’s need.  ‘Forgiven each other’ is so basic to reflecting Christlike character that it needs little comment.   The most graphic illustration of forgiveness is in the parable of Matthew 18:21-35.  When Peter asked about the limits of forgiveness, the Lord told him a story of a man with an unpayable debt who was forgiven by his creditor, the king.  This was a picture of salvation—God forgiving a sinner unpayable debt of unrighteous rebellion against Him.

 

            “The forgiven man then went to someone who owed him a small amount and had him imprisoned for nonpayment.  He who eagerly accepted a massive comprehensive forgiveness would not forgive a small, easily-payable debt of another person.  The incongruity of his action shows the heinousness of a believer’s unforgiving heart, and the man was severely chastened by the Lord for his wicked attitude.

 

            “Paul has this same relationship in mind as he calls for believers to forgive ‘just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.’  Can we who have been forgiven so much not forgive the relatively small things done against us?  We, of all people, should always be eager to forgive.”

 

            I don’t know if I have mentioned this before but Ephesians and Colossians are similar to each other and there is a parallel text to this passage that is found in Colossians 3:1-17 which forms a fitting summation to what Paul has taught here: 

 

  1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

    5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him- 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

    12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my prayer that the things that we have been talking about in this fourth chapter of Ephesians will be something that I will use in my walk with the Lord as there are some difficult things that are going on in my walk with the Lord which I believe has to do with what I am trying to do a better job of learning and that is about humility.  It is my thought that ever since the beginning of this year that God is teaching me more about humility and that is what I am having this difficult time in my life at this time.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will bring me out of this difficult time spiritually and shine His light on me more brightly when He has finished this lesson that He seems to want me to learn.

 

Today’s quotation is from Winston Churchill:  “Success is never final; failure is never fatal; it is courage that counts.”

 

5/17/2019 12:40 PM

PT-2 "From Natural Vices to Supernatural Virtues" (Eph. 4:31-32)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/16/2019 9:57 AM

 

My Worship Time                              Focus:  PT-2 “From Natural Vices to Supernatural Virtues”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 4:31-32

 

            Message of the verses:  “31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

 

            As promised I want to begin with a short story from Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on this section, and then move to the meanings of different words in this section.

 

“A handsome elderly man stopped by my study one day and asked me if I would perform a wedding for him.  I suggested that he bring the bride in so that we might chat together and get better acquainted, since I hesitate to marry strangers.  ‘Before she comes in,’ he said, ‘let me explain this wedding to you.  Both of us have been married before—to each other!  Over thirty years ago, we separated.  Then we did a stupid thing and got a divorce.  I guess we were both too proud to apologize.  Well, all these years we’ve lived alone, and now we see how foolish we’ve been.  Our bitterness has robbed us of the joys of life, and now we want to remarry and see if the Lord won’t give us a few years of happiness before we die.’  Bitterness and anger, usually over trivial things, make havoc of homes, churches, and friendships.”

 

            John MacArthur writes:

 

“Bitterness (pikria) reflects a smoldering resentment, a brooking grudge-filled attitude.  (See Acts 8:23; Heb. 12:15).  It is the spirit of irritability that keeps a person in perpetual animosity, making him sour and venemous.  Wrath (thumos) has to do with wild rage, the passion of the moment.  Anger (orge) is a more internal smoldering, a subtle and deep feeling.  Clamor (kraduge), is the shout or outcry of strife, and reflects the public outburst that reveals loss of control.  Slander (blasphemia, from which we get blasphemy) is the ongoing defamation of someone that rises from a bitter heart.  Paul then adds malice (kakia), the general term for evil that is the root of all vices.  All of these, he says must ‘be put away from you.’”

 

            I have mentioned from time to time that one of my prayer requests is that our church, especially church leadership will be in unity and as one looks at these different words that Paul writes in verse 31 it can be seen that if these kind of things happen between believers then disunity could happen.  These kind of things weaken relationships between unbelievers with unbelievers, and worst of all between believer and believer, so the words that Paul writes at the end of verse thirty-one must be followed as we must be put away from you, in other words if and when this happens believers must swallow their pride, and confess their sins to the Lord and to the offended person so that things can then move forward for the glory of the Lord. 

 

            Now in our next SD we will begin to look at the other side of these sins, and see what we are to do as seen in verse “32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”  This is a very important verse for it tells us that Jesus Christ has forgiven you, so you are to forgive others.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I must depend on the Lord in order to accomplish the things that He desires me to accomplish including having my heart searched each day in order to keep a short list with the Lord, especially concerning these types of conflict sins that we have been looking at.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I believe that humility, and learning humility is a key way for me to stay away from any of these conflict sins.

 

Verse to go along with yesterday’s quote:  “He guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His saints” (Proverbs 2:8).

 

5/16/2019 10:33 AM

PT-1 "From Natural Vices to Supernatural Virtues" (Eph. 4:31-32)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/15/2019 11:35 AM

 

My Worship Time                              Focus:  PT-1 “From Natural Vices to Supernatural Virtues”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 4:31-32

 

            Message of the verses:  “31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

 

            As I look at these two verses and then begin to read over some of the commentaries that uses to help me to understand them my thoughts are that this is “toe stomping time.”  This is the final charge that Paul gives to those he is writing to and it seems that is kind of a summary of the other changes that we have looked at. 

 

          As we look back when man first sinned we see that because of man’s disobedient to God that man died spiritually at the time when sin occurred in the hearts of Adam and Eve and then later on they died physically too, something that would be seen in the life of Adam and Eve when Cain killed Able.  So what we have with all people born from the loins of Adam is that they are all sinners, and thus we sin because we are sinners.  When a person is born from above through what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross they are forgiven of all sins, past present and future, however as we have been mentioning we have three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil who all try to cause believers to continue to sin, and so in this section from Ephesians chapter four we have been learning that we are not to follow the old way of life in things like lying, unrighteous anger, stealing, unwholesome words, and natural vices.  Paul desires for believers to stop following these old vices and to follow the new life that God has given to us because of what Christ has done for us.  MacArthur writes “Mans natural tendency is to sin, and the natural tendency of sin is to grow into greater sin.  And a Christian’s sin will grow just like that of an unbeliever.  If not checked, our inner sins of ‘bitterness and wrath and anger’ will inevitably lead to the outward sins of ‘clamor, slander,’ and other such manifestation of ‘malice.’”

 

            As I look at the commentary of Dr. Warren Wiersbe he writes “These verses (30-32) warn us against several sins of the attitude and amplify what Paul wrote about anger.  Bitterness refers to a settled hostility that poisons the whole inner man.  Somebody does something we do not like, so we harbor ill will against him.  ‘Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them’ (Col. 3:19).  Bitterness leads to wrath, which is the explosion on the outside of the feelings on the inside.  Wrath and anger often lead to brawling (clamor) or blasphemy (evil speaking).  The first is fighting with fists, the second is fighting words.  It is difficult to believe that Christians would act this way, but they do, and this is why Paul warned us, ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity’ (Ps. 133:1).”

 

            In our next SD I want to look more closely at some of these words like bitterness, anger and wrath as John MacArthur is good at helping us understand the Greek, and the definition of these words.  I also want to quote a heart moving story from the pen of Warren Wiersbe about how bitterness helped to ruin the life of a married couple.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Bitterness is like a cancer that can cause much pain if not dealt with, and so I desire for the Lord to search my heart to see if there is any bitterness I need to confess to the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  When I think of humility I think about how learning it will help me to overcome any bitterness that I could be holding on to.  Humility will help me to trust the Lord in situations where bitterness could happen.

 

Quotation for today is from David Jeremiah who states “God’s part is to protect us by giving us wisdom.  Our part is to want to be protected by seeking it.”

 

5/15/2019 12:09 PM

PT-3 "From Unwholesome Words to Wholesome Words" (Eph. 4:29-30)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/14/2019 11:50 AM

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  PT-3 “From Unwholesome Words to Wholesome Words”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 4:29-30

 

            Message of the verses:  “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, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

 

            Paul speaks about speech in Colossians 4:6 when he writes “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”  Although it is not used as a preservative in today’s world like it was in times past that is what salt is as it helps retard spoilage.  So we can see from this verse that the gracious words of Christians help retard the moral and spiritual spoilage in the world around all of us.  Another thing that they provide is strength and comfort to those who are in need.  Our graciousness reflects the grace of Christ, who uses our graciousness to draw others to His grace.

 

            As we now begin to look at verse 30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” we can see that by not wanting to grieve the Holy Spirit is a powerful motivation for putting off unwholesome talk, as this grieves the Holy Spirit of God.  John MacArthur writes “When His children refuse to change the ways of the old life for the ways of the new, God grieves.  The Holy Spirit of God weeps, as it were, when he sees Christians lying instead of speaking the truth, becoming unrighteously rather than righteously angry, stealing instead of sharing and speaking corrupts instead of uplifting and gracious words.

 

            “Whatever violates the will of God and the holiness of the heart will grieve the third Person of the Trinity.  Grieving can lead to quenching (1 Thess. 5:19) and to a forfeiture of power and blessing.  It should be noted also that such responses by the Holy Spirit indicates His personhood, which is seen in the use of personal pronouns referring to Him (cf. John 14:17; 16:13; etc.).  His identity as Comforter, or Helper (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7), indicates that He is like Christ, who is a person.  The Holy Spirit has intellect (1 Cor. 2:11), feelings (Rom. 8:27; 15:30), and will (1 Cor. 12:11).  He works (1 Cor. 2:11), searches (1 Cor. 2:10), speaks (Acts 13:2), testifies (John 15:26), teaches (John 14:26), convicts (John 16:8-11), regenerates (John 3:5), intercedes (Acts 8:26), guides (John 16:13), glorifies Christ (John 16:14), and directs service to God (Acts 16:6-7).

 

            “Specifically in light of this text in Ephesians, the personhood of the Holy Spirit is seen in the fact that He can be treated as a person.  He can be tested (Acts 5:9), lied to (Acts 5:3), resisted (Acts 7:51), insulted (Heb. 10:29), and blasphemed (Matt. 12:31-32).

 

            “Paul asks, in effect, ‘How can we do that which is so displeasing to the One by whom [we] have been sealed for the day of redemption?’ (see 1:13-14).  The Holy Spirit is God’s personal mark of authenticity on us, His stamp of divine approval.  How can we grieve the One who is our Helper, Comforter, Teacher, Advocate, Divine Resident of our hearts, and guarantor of our eternal redemption?  How can we ungraciously grieve God’s infinitely gracious Holy Spirit?  He has done so much for us, that out of gratitude, we ought not grieve Him.

 

            “The command not to show ingratitude to the Divine Spirit is based on the fact that He has secured our salvation.  Paul is not saying we should avoid sin in order to keep our salvation, but rather that we should be eternally grateful to the Holy Spirit for His making it impossible for us to lose it.”

 

            It was not my plan to quote this much from MacArthur’s commentary, but because of the importance of this section which speaks of the Holy Spirit I though once I got started that it was the best way to handle these verses about the Holy Spirit.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is important to remember that when I sin that I am grieving the Person of the Trinity who gave me the call to become a believer and then sealed me as God’s own down payment to assure that I will one day be in heaven with my Lord Jesus Christ.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To serve the Lord by becoming more humble as He teaches me humility.

 

Scripture verse that goes along with yesterday’s quotation:  “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-13).

 

We began looking at these different quotations on the 12^th of March, and then one day I knocked them off of my desk and they got all mixed up and so even though we may not looked at all of them I want to start over and use them again for the next 94 days.  I shuffled the cards with the quotes on them and so they will be in a different order as we go through them once again.

 

5/14/2019 12:35 PM

 

PT-2 "From Unwholesome Words to Whoesome Words" (Eph. 4:29-30)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/13/2019 9:39 AM

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  PT-2 “From Unwholesome Words to Wholesome Words”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 4:29-30

 

            Message of the verses:  “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, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

 

            The first thing that the words of a Christian are that they should be “good for edification,” as we are to try and build up those we come in contact with by being helpful, constructive, encouraging, instructive, and also uplifting.  I know that this is a tall order, and it seems to me that some believers just have a gift for this kind of speaking, and others have to do a lot of work in order to fulfill this kind of speech.  There are times when our words have to be corrective but that does not mean that they are to be hurtful in doing this in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Proverbs 25:12 gives us an example of this “Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold Is a wise reprover to a listening ear.”  Let us look at Ecc. 12:10-11 “10 The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. 11 The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.”  Just so you know that there are only two more verses in the book of Ecclesiastes after these as Solomon finally gets around to talking about what is really important at the end of this book as he writes “13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. 14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

 

            The second thing that the words of a Christian are. everything we say should be appropriate, “according to the need of the moment.”  MacArthur writes “It is not that every word we speak is to be freighted [conveyed] with great significance, but that what we say should always be fitting for the situation, so that it constructively contributes to all.”  Let us look at Proverbs 25:11 for an example of how we are to use our words:  “Like apples of gold in settings of silver Is a word spoken in right circumstances.”  We are to choose our words wisely when we are in a difficult circumstance.  I remember when a friend of mine died and after his death at the viewing the pastor kept quoting different Scripture verses to his late wife, which she told me did not really bring any comfort to her at that time.  Perhaps a gentle hug with the words of “I will be in prayer for you and be there to help you get through this difficult situation would have been better for that situation, as an example for this kind of situation can be found in Proverbs 24:26 “He kisses the lips Who gives a right answer.”

 

            Third thing that what we say should be gracious, “that it may give grace to those who hear.”  Think about the fact that all believers have been saved by grace; therefore we are to live and speak in grace as there are times when the raw truth can do more harm than good, so we are to be gracious when even speaking the truth.

            In prophesying about our Lord Isaiah spoke of His graciousness “The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word” (Isa. 50:4a).  This as I said was prophesied and then Luke gives us an example in Luke 4:22 “And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, "Is this not Joseph’s son?"  I suppose that it can be said that people can change their minds in a hurry for after these thing were said of the Lord those same people tried to kill him by pushing Him off the cliff, yet He walked right through them and no one touched Him.  They go from saying kind things about Him to not being able to understand the truth that He was giving them through the reading of the prophet Isaiah.  If they would have accepted the truth then things could have been different.  By speaking the truth to them about who He was, this was gracious speech, but as noted they did not understand or believe it.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for this section of Ephesians as speaking at times is something that I need to work on.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Humility along with graciousness is something I need to continue to work on when it comes to speaking.

 

Today’s quotation is from President Calvin Coolidge who says “Press on: Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not…Genius will not…education will not…persistence and determination alone are overwhelmingly powerful.”

 

5/13/2019 10:24 AM

PT-1 "From Unwholesome Words to Wholesome Words" (Eph. 4:29-30)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/12/2019 10:11 PM

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  PT-1 “From Unwholesome Words to Wholesome Words”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Eph. 4:29-30

 

            Message of the verses:  “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.”

 

            The speaking of wholesome words is the fourth change in the Christian’s life as they mature in the Lord, and desire to do His will.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Sapros (unwholesome) refers to that which is corrupt or foul and was used of rotten fruit, vegetables, and other spoiled food.  Foul language should never proceed from the mouth of a Christian, because it is totally out of character with his newness of life.”  Just as the fruit spoken of earlier, when it is rotten and repulsive so the same should be true of unwholesome words, and should not be spoken by a believer.  Paul writes in Col 3:8 “But now you also put them all aside:  anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.” 

 

            James talks a lot about the tongue, and the fact that no one can tame it.  Let’s look at James 3:5-12 “5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. 7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. 8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. 11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.”

 

            Only the Lord has sufficient power to control our lips and guard them from every ‘”unwholesome word.”  The tongue only speaks what the heart tells it to speak as seen in Matt. 12:34 The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.  I can understand this probably as well as anyone because of how I use to talk before I became a believer, but Jesus Christ cleaned up my mouth for which I am very thankful.

 

            Now as anyone who reads these SD’s very much they realize that my Spiritual Diaries are shorter on Sunday evening, and that is because of my teaching Sunday school in the morning which kind of wears me out for the day.  In this section we looked at what believers are not to speak, and then, Lord willing, we will look more at what they are to speak in our next SD.

 

Scripture verse that goes along with yesterday’s quote from Winston Churchill:  “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed…but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles” (2 Chronicles 32:7a-8b)

 

5/12/2019 10:35 PM

From Stealing to Sharing (Eph. 4:28)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/11/2019 11:56 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  “From Stealing to Sharing”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:28

 

            Message of the verse:  “28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs.”

 

            I find this section very interesting to look at along with what we looked at in yesterday’s SD concerning anger as some things have happened in my family (extended family) that make me thankful that God has chosen for me to study this subject at this time.  I will start this section with what John MacArthur writes in his commentary on stealing to sharing.

 

            “The third command Paul sets forth demands a change from stealing to sharing.  No one is completely free from the temptation to steal.  Many children go through a phase of thinking it is fun to steal, sometimes simply for the sake of stealing.  There is a certain fleshly attraction in taking that which does not belong to us and trying to get away with it.  The old self had a built-in-inclination to steal, and that is one of the many characteristics of the old self that ‘the new self, which [is] in the likeness of God’ (v. 24) puts away.  The Christian is to ‘steal’ [klepto, from which comes kleptomaniac] ‘no longer.’”

 

            Needles to say that stealing is a large problem, not just in our country, but we now have countries stealing technology from other countries showing us that the old nature is alive and well throughout the world.  Really looking forward to the rapture when all of this will be behind all who are believers, as we will then be with our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

             The rest of the verse speaks of not stealing, but doing things that will help others because we have earned enough money to help others who are in need.

 

            I will close this SD with what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15.  The problem was not exactly the same as what Paul is writing about here in Ephesians 4:28, but some things do fit in.  The problem with the Thessalonians were that they did not so much have a problem with stealing, but some of them thought that the rapture was coming really soon, and so they did not need to do any work.

 

            “6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; 9 not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. 10 For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. 11 For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. 13 But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. 15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”

           

Quotation for today is from Winston Churchill who said “Success in never final; failure is never fatal; it is courage that counts.”

 

5/11/2019 12:46 PM