Ephesians 4:1-32

In light of the fact that God has wonderfully saved us from death and sin, Paul now begins to show us how we are expected to live.  Salvation is more than just rescue from hell; it is a release from sin.  God empowers us to live in light of the truths He has revealed to us.  This new way and walk of life is not something that we are going to be able to accomplish on our own but is something that is achieved through the power of the Spirit and participation in the body of Christ.  So here is what is expected of us.
GOD WANTS US TO HAVE HUMBLE HEARTS: Our salvation from sin should never become a source of pride in our lives.  Pride causes us to think that we can make it on our own.  Salvation, by definition, is an admission that we cannot make it on our own.  We need Christ in order to be forgiven, but I think it is significant that Paul starts out his section on Christian living by telling us that we need to be united to one another in order to live the way God would have us to.  Just as we cannot be saved on our own, we must humbly admit that we cannot live obedient lives on our own either.  We need one another to teach, encourage, help, correct and keep each other accountable.  If we insist on trying to live the Christian life on our own, we demonstrate extreme arrogance and we will, in the end, inevitably fail.  God intends that we live in unity with one another so that we can invest in the lives of one another so that together we can become more like Christ.  Humility is the key to this life of dependence upon one another
GOD WANTS US TO USE OUR GODLY GIFTS: One of the greatest obstacles that we face when we are challenged to invest in the lives of others is a feeling of inadequacy.  We simply do not feel like we have that much to offer.  However, we have been empowered by God with a spiritual gift that supernaturally equips us for the purpose of building one another up in the faith.  We are adequate because the Spirit of God has equipped us with all that we need to be useful in the body of Christ.  Our gifts are different from each other but they all have the same purpose: that we might help one another to become more godly.  When we refuse to recognize or use our gifts for that purpose we end up hurting the entire body and ourselves.  Each member is vital so we must not shirk this responsibility.  As we exercise our gifts to make one another more like Christ, the Spirit uses our efforts to edify the church and glorify the Father.
GOD WANTS US TO HAVE A WORTHY WALK: Every family has standards to which the members are expected conform.  God’s family is no exception.  God has called us to stop living the way that we lived prior to Christ transforming our hearts and lives.  Greed, sensuality, lust and deceit are to be steadily eliminated from our hearts and replaced with the gratitude, joy, holiness and purity that only Christ can produce in us.  This is the reality of our walk in Christ.  It will be a constant and consistent battle in our daily walk, but God expects that we will walk in a manner worthy of being members of His family.  We have been adopted into a new family that has amazing opportunities and provides us with the freedom from sin to be able to experience the joys of living life the way that God intended us to live.  The truth is that the worthy walk is also a wonderful walk that allows us to experience the pleasures of being a part of the family of God.
GOD WANTS US TO HAVE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER: There is a strong contrast between what we were and what God desires us to be.  To achieve that end, there is a two step process.  The first step is to put away our old way of life which is marred by lies, theft, anger and bitterness.  The second step is to replace those sinful habits with godly ones like honesty, generosity, gentleness and forgiveness.  Too often we simply try to stop doing the bad things and then wonder why we easily slip back into the sis of the past.  The solution is to start focusing on the Christ like character that the Word of God describes and form new habits.  Doing the positive is easier than simply trying to stop doing the negative.  This is how God desires to transform our character.

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 10, 2011 at 7:48 PM

    these last three were really really good Dad! This one especially, I'm sure I'd heard before that the best way to get rid of bad habits is to replace them with new ones, but for whatever reason that hit home tonight. I needed to read that! thanks.

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