FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: Ephesians 4:1-16

Unity is Not Automatic – Continued

Please read Ephesians 4:1-3 for the background to this section.

Unity in the local church depends upon each person in it cultivating certain attitudes. They are “with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.” Lowliness is taking the lowest place with a view to being the servant of all. The Lord Jesus Christ was lowly, and so was Paul, as we saw in Ephesians 3:8. Disunity cannot survive where lowliness reigns.

With lowliness is to go “gentleness,” or “meekness,” as older translations put it. It means being spiritually and morally strong without being self-assertive, pushy or heavy-handed. Its strength is controlled.

An example of “longsuffering” is being hurt and hurt again, but not complaining, while those who are “bearing with one another in love” are refusing to strike back or be bitter. Such people do not consider that their own feelings matter. What counts is the welfare of others. All the qualities mentioned in these verses are found in our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and His church is to be modelled on Him.

Those who are aiming to have such Christlike lives may truly be said to be “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” You have to work to maintain unity, but nobody has to create it. It exists already. All divisive barriers have been removed by the work of Christ. The members of the new nation and family are bound both to God and to each other. The Spirit-forged bonds exist. But they have to be preserved.

Sadly, many believers make no effort in this area, and I have witnessed it first hand in ministries I have worked at in the past and this is why Paul is writing about it here. It is sadly still a problem today. War is waged where Christ has already made peace. The God-given bonds are forgotten. Ungodly attitudes, words and actions raise the old divisions again. Many such people believe Ephesians chapters 1-3 in theory, but sadly, openly contradict it in practice. God’s sanctifying call is forgotten and the redeemed church disgraces itself by resembling the perishing world.

Paul therefore, pleads for different behavior. He calls for the execution of self and all else that smacks of “me first.” So, although unity is not automatic, steps must be taken to preserve it. Work is needed. As with all things spiritual, it takes actions for spiritual fruit to be manifested. Who among us will make the necessary effort?

Unity is Logical

Please read Ephesians 4:4-6 for the background to this section.

Do you sometimes look at other Christians and wonder how much you really have in common with them? We are such an assorted and diverse bunch of people! We come from different backgrounds and nations; we vary in intellect, achievement, social status and wealth; we represent a whole spectrum of characters, hang-ups and eccentricities, and express widely contrasting likes and dislikes! There are so many differences between us. What really do we have in common?

All the distinctions we have mentioned however, truly are temporary. But there are seven eternal realities which we possess in common with all believers everywhere. What we share is immeasurably greater than what differentiates us. It is not logical that we should live in any form of disunity.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved

Scripture Reference: Ephesians 4:1-16

The first three chapters of Ephesians were doctrinal: they were mostly about what we are to believe. Feel free to read them for some background. Chapter four begins the practical chapters. Because a Christian believes in a certain way, he or she is to behave in a certain way. Paul is going to build on the foundation he has laid and tell us how to live the Christian life, at church, in the world and at home. In later chapters he reminds us of our spiritual warfare before bringing his letter to a close.

The easiest place to live the Christian life is at church, and this is where Paul starts his practical instruction. His particular theme is the unity of the church. In his mind, of course, is the church at Ephesus, but because of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, his teaching applies to any local assembly of Christians.

We will remember that Paul had been showing us that the old distinctions are now finished in God’s sight. There are no longer Jews and Gentiles and it is a mistake to resurrect these differences. God does not have two peoples, but one. There are no longer two sorts of walls in the building; both are built on the same foundation, meet at the same cornerstone and fit into each other. “The mystery” takes on visible form in the local church. It would therefore be both wrong and tragic for there to be disunity there.

We are reading Ephesians almost two thousand years after it was written, but its teachings are as relevant as ever. Many local churches are riddled with tensions and suspicion. They are troubled with cliques and splinter groups. Some of them split and then split again. Those who think they are immune to such difficulties often prove to be most susceptible to them. With deep pastoral concern, Paul addresses this issue in the first sixteen verses of this chapter. He has four telling points to make. His teaching should be heeded by us all.

Unity is Not Automatic

Please read Ephesians 4:1-3 for the background to this section.

If it were automatic, this paragraph would not have needed to be written! Unity is not something that just happens; it has to be worked for. In verse 1 Paul reminds his readers that he is in prison. He has already told them that he is there for their sake. He doesn’t pull rank on them and say, “Look, I’m the apostle to the Gentiles, so you must do as I say.” Nor does he flatter them. His words are: “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.”

From his prison cell he pleads with the men and women of a local church to remember that they have been called by God and that a certain sort of behavior is therefore expected of them. They are no longer like others, so they can no longer live like others. Called out of the world by God to be His chosen people, they must live in a way which is consistent with this fact.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved

Scripture Reference: Psalm 8

From Last Lesson: David is astonished how God could be mindful of human beings, who in comparison to the cosmos appear so insignificant.

Why would the Creator of the universe be interested in puny humanity? Why does the Lord attentively listen to them when they call out to Him and why does He personally intervene on their behalf?

What is even more astounding is what our God made humans to be. Verses 5-8 indicate God made human beings a “little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.” It’s interesting to note that the word translated to “angels” is the Hebrew word, Elohim, which in some versions is translated, “heavenly beings,” and even in some, as “God.” This phrase refers back to the time when God first created human beings. First, God created them in His image, or better yet, “His likeness.” Second, God gave human beings the royal stewardship of ruling over His creation (Genesis 1:26-27). God’s having put “all things under his feet” means God has given humanity dominion over all His creation (Genesis 1:28). The Lord elevated human beings and commissioned them to rule His creation under submission to God’s rule. Hebrews 2:8 is a reminder that human sin has relinquished the fullness of this reality, but at the end of the age it will come to pass when all of creation submits to humanity’s dominion over it as followers of Christ share in His rule (2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 5:13).

When David reflects on all that God has done for humanity, he returns to the refrain he utters at the beginning of the psalm. Human beings may enjoy a lofty position in creation, but it is the Creator, Jehovah, God Almighty, our sovereign Lord, Who alone deserves all honor and glory. The high value human beings enjoy is based only on the truth that God values us and has undeservedly blessed us beyond measure. Consequently, the only right and appropriate response is to praise His name throughout the earth!

We should yearn to consider the heavens like David did with this knowledge available to us. With present-day technology, we understand there are about 10 billion galaxies in the observable universe containing about 1 billion trillion stars. That number is beyond normal comprehension and understanding. Nevertheless, as impressive and amazing as the universe God created is, nothing is more impressive than the kindness He has shown and continues to show toward all humanity. He is mindful and attentive to our needs, taking delight in protecting and helping the weak. God created us in His image and likeness and gave us a position just below Himself and the heavenly beings, crowning us with honor and glory, enabling us to eventually share in His rule over creation. He created us with the ability to be like Him. For this reason it is essential for us to look to Jesus Christ. He, alone, personifies what we were created to be and in Him and through Him, will ultimately be. The day is coming when we will see Jesus face to face and be made like Him. Considering these truths, wouldn’t it be reasonable to join in David’s song of praise to our sovereign Lord and King?

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved

Scripture Reference: Psalm 8

Unlike so many of the other Psalms, this specific psalm doesn’t seem to refer to a particular situation in David’s, the writer’s life. This psalm, instead, seems to be the outpouring of David’s thoughts as he gazed into the night sky. As a shepherd, he surely had many occasions when he witnessed, with awe, the majesty and glory of God in the heavens. The placement of this psalm is undoubtedly no accident as the Holy Spirit inspired its inclusion following the outpourings of anguish we have seen in the psalms directly proceeding this one. This psalm most certainly conveys the truth that no matter how difficult our circumstances may be and how awesome God is, the majestic Creator of the universe is attentively mindful of us. Such truth calls us to praise and worship the magnificent God.

Psalm 8 begins with the writer directly praising the Lord. It is the only psalm to address God alone in its entirety, and it begins and ends with the same refrain praising the Lord. David asserts that Jehovah, Israel’s personal, promise-keeping God, is “our Lord,” and not just the Lord of Israel, but indeed, the Lord over all humanity. Jehovah, the self-existing One, is our sovereign master and king, and His supremacy and dignity manifests itself throughout the entire earth. Enveloped between this refrain are two wondrous observations of Jehovah’s dominion over all creation and His consideration of humanity above the rest of all creation.

In the last line of verse 1 and into verse 2, David proclaims Jehovah’s dominion over all creation. The word glory at the end of verse 1 refers to Jehovah’s regal majesty, His royal splendor. It extols Jehovah’s complete sovereignty and breathtaking omnipotence above and over all His creation. It recognizes who the Lord is and what He has done on a scale grander than we can comprehend. But in particular, what is just as amazing is how God uses the weak, “the mouth of babes and nursing infants,” to demonstrate His strength and to silence His enemies (1 Corinthians 1:26-29). In fact, in Matthew 21:15-16, Jesus quoted this phrase to rebuke His naysayers. The Lord Jesus Christ said that unless one becomes like a child one will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:4). The Lord Himself is a stronghold for the needy and weak who cry out to Him. God’s display of His majestic splendor on behalf of His children terrifies His children’s enemies (Isaiah 30:30-33). The cries of those who trust in the Lord will be answered by a loving Father, resulting in the demise of the wicked and victory for every one of His children.

Psalm 8 focuses most attention particularly on Jehovah’s consideration of humanity over the rest of His creation. In verses 3 and 4, when David considers the vastness and wonders of the heavens and their starry hosts, and the fact that God beautifully crafted them with His own “fingers” and attentively set each one in its place, David is astonished how God could be mindful of human beings, who in comparison to the cosmos appear so insignificant.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved