EPHESIANS 4:17\u201328<\/b><\/p>\n
Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body<\/i><\/p>\n
(Ephesians 4:25).<\/i><\/p>\n
Moralism is the heresy that reduces the principles of God\u2019s law to mere dos and don\u2019ts. \u201cDo this and don\u2019t do that,\u201d says the moralist. Why? \u201cBecause this is right and that is wrong.\u201d The moralist takes God and the kingdom out of the picture and encourages people to think that they can be good on their own terms.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s law is never given in such a moralistic context. God always gives His law in a context of redemption and grace. Even in the beginning we read concerning Adam and Eve that \u201cGod blessed them\u201d before He told them what He wanted them to do (Genesis 1:28). God redeemed Israel from Egypt and told them that He wanted them to obey Him out of gratitude and out of a concern for their neighbors. \u201cYou know what it is like to be a slave,\u201d He said repeatedly in the Law, \u201cso your heart should go out to the oppressed and you should defend the poor and punish the wicked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul, in Ephesians 4:25 and following, gives moral exhortations to the church, but his exhortations are all based on what it means to live in community with other people in union with Christ. We want to see God\u2019s palace-temple built on earth, and in order for that to happen, we must live righteously with each other.<\/p>\n
The first thing Paul says (Ephesians 4:25) is that we should never lie or deceive one another, precisely because we are members of one body. Perhaps we would never willingly trick a fellow believer, but we might be tempted to tell a \u201cwhite lie\u201d to protect him from some unpleasant truth. But if we are one body in Christ, how can we hide the truth from him? It is as if we were deceiving our own selves and letting ourselves continue on foolishly believing something that is not true. Better to help him face the truth, just as we ourselves need to face unpleasant truths.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Paul says that it is all right to be angry, for God is angry with sin, and many things in this life call for anger. But, he says, don\u2019t let the sun go down on your anger. In your evening devotions, turn the situation over to God and let Him be angry for you. The reason for this is that human anger too easily turns to sin and gives the devil a foothold in our lives (Ephesians 4:26\u201327).<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
Psalms 34\u201335<\/p>\n
Acts 21:17\u201340<\/p>\n
It is because of God\u2019s grace that He so often gives a reason for His commands. While we should seek to do likewise, trust that God\u2019s commands work for His glory and our good whether we understand them or not. Do not wait for understanding before you obey.<\/p>\n
For further study: Proverbs 16:8\u201313 \u2022 Isaiah 42:1\u20139 \u2022 John 3:16\u201321<\/i><\/p>\n
wednesday<\/p>\n
july<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EPHESIANS 4:17\u201328 Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body (Ephesians 4:25). Moralism is the heresy that reduces the principles of God\u2019s law to mere dos and don\u2019ts. \u201cDo this and don\u2019t do that,\u201d says the moralist. Why? \u201cBecause this is right … Continue reading “LIFE IN COMMUNITY”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11767\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}