Ephesians 4 Part 13
Bible Study Time 1-1-06
Church links:
Bible Study Time 1-1-06
On New Year’s Day many people turn their thoughts to New Year’s resolutions and to possibly turning over a new leaf. With the start of a new year, it’s a great opportunity to do some introspection. But self evaluation is not an easy task for us because we tend to view ourselves through tainted lenses. At times we are more optimistic than we should be, but sometimes our pessimism is unjustified.
We really need some good honest time in the word of God to help us overcome our biases. The book of Hebrews says that when we read the Bible it’s like looking in a mirror because it reveals the whole truth about who we really are. The good news for those of us who have been saved by God’s grace is that it also tells us the whole truth about who God really is. Namely, that in spite of our sinful condition, He loved us enough to send His Son to die on the cross for our sins.
When it comes to living a life that is worthy of Jesus Christ, Ephesians, Chapter 4, is a great place to start. We have been studying this chapter for several weeks now, and we have seen that we should be humble and gentle. We should be patient with one another. We should find our unity in the Spirit of God and be bound together with the bond of peace.
We should learn all we can from those men whom God has gifted as teachers of the word so that we might be able to do our part in the work of the ministry, and so that we, as members of the Body of Christ, might be strengthened and built up into the full stature of Christ.
These are among the kind of things that we should think about as we contemplate New Year’s resolutions for they represent the broad goals of Christian living, the principles that govern a walk that is worthy of Jesus Christ.
Beginning with verse 17, however, Paul gets into some of the specifics of the worthy walk. Verse 17 says:
Ephesians 4:17-5:1 (NKJ)
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
The Roman world had pretty much adopted the Greek culture which was the legacy of Alexander the Great. When Alexander went conquering his neighbors and spreading the Greek culture, he was startled when he encountered the Jewish culture. It was so different from anything he had ever seen. The Jews believed in only one God who was the creator of all things and who actually cared about His creation.
One Jewish writer pointed out that the Greeks considered all things beautiful to be holy while the Jews considered all things holy to be beautiful. Obviously, the Gentiles of Paul’s day had no concept of or appreciation for the true righteousness of God.
The Jews on the other hand had been exposed to the righteousness of God through the Law of Moses. They had been taught that the Law of the Lord was perfect, but unfortunately they could not live by such a perfect standard. They failed to live up to its standard because they did not have the power of the Holy Spirit within them.
In the book of Romans Paul gave the Jews some bad news when he informed them that God does not judge people on the basis of who knows about God’s Law, but He judges on the basis of who lives by the Law. The Old Testament gives a detailed record of Israel’s failure to keep the Law. God complained of Israel’s hypocrisy in Isaiah 58 and said:
Isaiah 58:1-10 (NLT)
1 " . . . Tell my people Israel of their sins!
2 . . . they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to hear my laws. You would almost think this was a righteous nation that would never abandon its God. They love to make a show of coming to me and asking me to take action on their behalf.
3 'We have fasted before you!' they say. 'Why aren't you impressed? We have done much penance, and you don't even notice it!' "I will tell you why! It's because you are living for yourselves even while you are fasting. You keep right on oppressing your workers.
4 What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.
5 You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like a blade of grass in the wind. You dress in sackcloth and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the LORD?
6 "No, the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop oppressing those who work for you. Treat them fairly and give them what they earn.
7 I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8 "If you do these things, your salvation will come like the dawn. Yes, your healing will come quickly. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.
9 Then when you call, the LORD will answer. 'Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply. "Stop oppressing the helpless and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors!
10 Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as day.
Isaiah went on in Chapter 59 to speak of the day when God will make a new covenant with Israel which will be established in the power of the Holy Spirit. At that time, Israel will serve as the priests of a glorious earthly kingdom. Verse 20 says:
Isaiah 59:20-21 (NLT)
20 “The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem,” says the LORD{D}, “to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins.
21 And this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children's children forever. I, the LORD, have spoken!
As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, Israel had rejected Jesus Christ as her Messiah, and Israel’s hope of the earthly kingdom has been temporarily set aside. Paul was writing to the Ephesians as members of the Church which is the Body of Christ. This is the Church to which believers of our present age belong. We today do not look for Christ to return to the earth and set up and earthy kingdom in which all of the hungry will be fed and all of the homeless will be given shelter. We look for the appearing of Jesus Christ in the glory of heaven, who will at the time of His appearing will catch all believers up to be with Him in heaven. As Paul told the Colossian believers:
Colossians 3:4 (NKJ)
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
After the catching up of the Church, however, God will make a New Covenant with the nation of Israel, and the power of this New Covenant will be the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. The Jews rejected the Holy Spirit during the Acts period, but during the tribulation period which will follow our present age of the Church God will not allow the Jews to reject the Holy Spirit. God will cleanse and purify the nation of Israel by casting off all who refuse to belief. It will be as John the Baptist predicted when he warned the nation of Israel saying:
Luke 3:7-9 (NKJ)
7 . . . "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
9 "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
When Israel’s program was set aside, God called the Apostle Paul to reveal the mystery concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ and to reveal to the Church what it means to walk worthy of Christ. He encourages us not to walk as the unsaved Gentiles who:
Ephesians 4:18 (NKJ)
18 (have) their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;
When we walk according to our own human imagination, we always go in the wrong direction. The human compass is faulty by nature and consistently points us in the wrong direction. The really sad part about this is that the longer we go in the wrong direction the harder it is for us to sense the error of our ways.
Our hearts become hardened to God and to His word. The devil convinces us of our own superior intelligence, and we refuse to heed God’s offer of deliverance. God pleaded with Israel through Isaiah and said:
Isaiah 59:1-3 (NLT)
1 Listen! The LORD is not too weak to save you, and he is not becoming deaf. He can hear you when you call.
2 But there is a problem — your sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.
3 Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin. Your mouth is full of lies, and your lips are tainted with corruption.
The word of God reveals our sin and warns us that sin separates us from God and causes us to be like the Gentiles of Ephesians 4
Ephesians 4:19 (NKJ)
19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Here Paul indicates that most sins are a result of either lewdness and greediness. The dictionary defines lewdness as sexual impurity. It defines greed as an excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gain. The flesh is never satisfied with that which God supplies. It always wants more and more. God is gracious enough to supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory, and if we are wise we will learn to be satisfied with that which God supplies.
The flesh has a continual lust for more but Paul says:
Ephesians 4:20-23 (NKJ)
20 . . . you have not so learned Christ,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 you should put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
Paul says, don’t listen to the lies of the devil. He only wants to destroy you. Instead:
Ephesians 4:24-32 (NKJ)
24 . . . put on the new man which (is) created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another.
26 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
27 nor give place to the devil.
28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.
These are the things that please God. These are the things that we should allow the Holy Spirit to cultivate in our hearts and in our lives. May the Lord bless each one of you in this coming year with this kind of righteousness and purity as well as with peace and prosperity.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
We really need some good honest time in the word of God to help us overcome our biases. The book of Hebrews says that when we read the Bible it’s like looking in a mirror because it reveals the whole truth about who we really are. The good news for those of us who have been saved by God’s grace is that it also tells us the whole truth about who God really is. Namely, that in spite of our sinful condition, He loved us enough to send His Son to die on the cross for our sins.
When it comes to living a life that is worthy of Jesus Christ, Ephesians, Chapter 4, is a great place to start. We have been studying this chapter for several weeks now, and we have seen that we should be humble and gentle. We should be patient with one another. We should find our unity in the Spirit of God and be bound together with the bond of peace.
We should learn all we can from those men whom God has gifted as teachers of the word so that we might be able to do our part in the work of the ministry, and so that we, as members of the Body of Christ, might be strengthened and built up into the full stature of Christ.
These are among the kind of things that we should think about as we contemplate New Year’s resolutions for they represent the broad goals of Christian living, the principles that govern a walk that is worthy of Jesus Christ.
Beginning with verse 17, however, Paul gets into some of the specifics of the worthy walk. Verse 17 says:
Ephesians 4:17-5:1 (NKJ)
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
The Roman world had pretty much adopted the Greek culture which was the legacy of Alexander the Great. When Alexander went conquering his neighbors and spreading the Greek culture, he was startled when he encountered the Jewish culture. It was so different from anything he had ever seen. The Jews believed in only one God who was the creator of all things and who actually cared about His creation.
One Jewish writer pointed out that the Greeks considered all things beautiful to be holy while the Jews considered all things holy to be beautiful. Obviously, the Gentiles of Paul’s day had no concept of or appreciation for the true righteousness of God.
The Jews on the other hand had been exposed to the righteousness of God through the Law of Moses. They had been taught that the Law of the Lord was perfect, but unfortunately they could not live by such a perfect standard. They failed to live up to its standard because they did not have the power of the Holy Spirit within them.
In the book of Romans Paul gave the Jews some bad news when he informed them that God does not judge people on the basis of who knows about God’s Law, but He judges on the basis of who lives by the Law. The Old Testament gives a detailed record of Israel’s failure to keep the Law. God complained of Israel’s hypocrisy in Isaiah 58 and said:
Isaiah 58:1-10 (NLT)
1 " . . . Tell my people Israel of their sins!
2 . . . they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to hear my laws. You would almost think this was a righteous nation that would never abandon its God. They love to make a show of coming to me and asking me to take action on their behalf.
3 'We have fasted before you!' they say. 'Why aren't you impressed? We have done much penance, and you don't even notice it!' "I will tell you why! It's because you are living for yourselves even while you are fasting. You keep right on oppressing your workers.
4 What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.
5 You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like a blade of grass in the wind. You dress in sackcloth and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the LORD?
6 "No, the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop oppressing those who work for you. Treat them fairly and give them what they earn.
7 I want you to share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8 "If you do these things, your salvation will come like the dawn. Yes, your healing will come quickly. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.
9 Then when you call, the LORD will answer. 'Yes, I am here,' he will quickly reply. "Stop oppressing the helpless and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors!
10 Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as day.
Isaiah went on in Chapter 59 to speak of the day when God will make a new covenant with Israel which will be established in the power of the Holy Spirit. At that time, Israel will serve as the priests of a glorious earthly kingdom. Verse 20 says:
Isaiah 59:20-21 (NLT)
20 “The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem,” says the LORD{D}, “to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins.
21 And this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children's children forever. I, the LORD, have spoken!
As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, Israel had rejected Jesus Christ as her Messiah, and Israel’s hope of the earthly kingdom has been temporarily set aside. Paul was writing to the Ephesians as members of the Church which is the Body of Christ. This is the Church to which believers of our present age belong. We today do not look for Christ to return to the earth and set up and earthy kingdom in which all of the hungry will be fed and all of the homeless will be given shelter. We look for the appearing of Jesus Christ in the glory of heaven, who will at the time of His appearing will catch all believers up to be with Him in heaven. As Paul told the Colossian believers:
Colossians 3:4 (NKJ)
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
After the catching up of the Church, however, God will make a New Covenant with the nation of Israel, and the power of this New Covenant will be the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. The Jews rejected the Holy Spirit during the Acts period, but during the tribulation period which will follow our present age of the Church God will not allow the Jews to reject the Holy Spirit. God will cleanse and purify the nation of Israel by casting off all who refuse to belief. It will be as John the Baptist predicted when he warned the nation of Israel saying:
Luke 3:7-9 (NKJ)
7 . . . "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
9 "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
When Israel’s program was set aside, God called the Apostle Paul to reveal the mystery concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ and to reveal to the Church what it means to walk worthy of Christ. He encourages us not to walk as the unsaved Gentiles who:
Ephesians 4:18 (NKJ)
18 (have) their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;
When we walk according to our own human imagination, we always go in the wrong direction. The human compass is faulty by nature and consistently points us in the wrong direction. The really sad part about this is that the longer we go in the wrong direction the harder it is for us to sense the error of our ways.
Our hearts become hardened to God and to His word. The devil convinces us of our own superior intelligence, and we refuse to heed God’s offer of deliverance. God pleaded with Israel through Isaiah and said:
Isaiah 59:1-3 (NLT)
1 Listen! The LORD is not too weak to save you, and he is not becoming deaf. He can hear you when you call.
2 But there is a problem — your sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.
3 Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin. Your mouth is full of lies, and your lips are tainted with corruption.
The word of God reveals our sin and warns us that sin separates us from God and causes us to be like the Gentiles of Ephesians 4
Ephesians 4:19 (NKJ)
19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Here Paul indicates that most sins are a result of either lewdness and greediness. The dictionary defines lewdness as sexual impurity. It defines greed as an excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gain. The flesh is never satisfied with that which God supplies. It always wants more and more. God is gracious enough to supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory, and if we are wise we will learn to be satisfied with that which God supplies.
The flesh has a continual lust for more but Paul says:
Ephesians 4:20-23 (NKJ)
20 . . . you have not so learned Christ,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 you should put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
Paul says, don’t listen to the lies of the devil. He only wants to destroy you. Instead:
Ephesians 4:24-32 (NKJ)
24 . . . put on the new man which (is) created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another.
26 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
27 nor give place to the devil.
28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.
These are the things that please God. These are the things that we should allow the Holy Spirit to cultivate in our hearts and in our lives. May the Lord bless each one of you in this coming year with this kind of righteousness and purity as well as with peace and prosperity.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Church links:
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