In the second chapter of Philippians, Paul turns his attention to the church as a whole, and begins to address the division he sees happening in Philippi.
1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
Fairly simple and straight forward. Christ is to be the uniting factor of the church. By being united we will be comforted in love and fellowship because we share His spirit. We will then act as the church should with tenderness and compassion.
2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
Being like-minded, is followed by 2 qualifiers. The first “having the same love”, and I think that it goes a lot to what I wrote about in my post the other day. That we must approach everything in regards to the love of Christ. He did nothing without love. Healed, cast out demons, turned over tables, taught, prayed and died all for Love. Becoming like minded starts with everyone loving as Christ loved.
3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Don’t think this can be said any different or added two. Christ said it the best though:
Matthew 19:29-30 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother[a] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Luke 13:30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”
4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Verse 4 though shows that Paul reverses a bit in saying “not only to your own interest”. He is saying that we must take care of our own faith as we minister to others as well. If we don’t grow our faith with Christ and keep our discipline in check we can’t effectively minister to others.
Over all the spirit of the Church of Christ must be united in a humility that provided for the needs of others.
We are human and we have no power to resist the tempation of the world. So What does it mean that Christ became human?
Continuing to go verse by verse through Philippians.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Brother Ambe over in the forum discussion said the following:
Remember in the Garden of Eden that GOD made man in His Image? Well while man fell into original sin we lost the image of GOD and are now we are in the image of Adam. Now all those that are in the Image of Adam are dead, but all those that are in the Image of Christ live. It’s the Holy Spirit that does the work of putting us in the Image of Christ, all we do is place our Faith in what Jesus did at Calvary. Trust me we have the easy part. But be sure that God will complete what He started in us.
God intends to restore us to the perfection we were meant for in the beginning.
II Cor 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Remember that righteousness is the very nature of who God is, and what meant for us.
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
This one throws me every time, and leads to the debate over the next verse. It just goes to show that Jesus understood where his authority came from and that God set him on the path of Death and Resurrection with a command.
John 10:17-19 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” 19 At these words the Jews were again divided.
Rev 2:27-28 He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery’[— just as I have received authority from my Father. 28 I will also give him the morning star.
Knowing he has that authority though,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
A very debated verse as to what it means that Christ took on the Nature and being made in human likeness.
He “Made himself nothing taking on the very nature of a servant” ? Does that mean he set aside some of His power to become human? or Does it mean that he allowed himself to just experience what it was like to be human? That is the debate, and one we may not know the answer to until we get to ask him ourselves.
In all of the debate though the important part is the we believe God became human. He came to this earth in this way so he could experience our temptations, suffering, hurts and joys. This because he wanted us to know that he understood us, and that when we turn to him and rely on him we know he has experienced everything as we did. He just did not fall to the temptation, and sin.
In our humanness and propensity to choose sin, it is only through Christ that we have the power to overcome sin and become the very nature of what God intended us to be. Righteousness.
Christ became human for a plan that we as humans have a hard time comprehending. It is through that plan that everyone will know that Jesus Christ is Lord.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Christ became man so he could experience all the same joys and sufferings we do. So that when we turn to him for comfort or guidance, we turn to a Savior that knows what we are going through.
He also became human so that he could die to fulfill God’s plan of salvation.
The other day I was talking to a co-worker about Christ and his death. When I said, God came down from heaven in the form of His Son to die for us; my co-worker looked at me in disbelief. “What do you mean God came down?” As I explained this too him, that question made me realize that the mystery of the trinity and how God works through it will not be fully understood tell we get to see Him in heaven. To know that God came down making himself human, made himself equal to us in his human appearance without forsaking his knowledge or power…Then knowingly stretched out his arms on the cross. Just amazing the God of Heaven loves us this much.
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
Then in 9 we get a picture of the love and reward the Father has bestowed on His son, and allows Christ to take his rightful place back on the throne of heaven, so that at the right time.
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father
EVERY Knee…EVERY Tongue… This is a point of recognition of the fulfillment of God’s plan as revealed in his word. This will be the time of truth for many, on this earth who have not seen or believed the Truth of Christ. For some this will be the first time confessing this, but not all will be saved by this profession of Christ being Lord. This ends all debates on who is Lord of all.
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This is the 14th week of the Blogged Bible Study. We are going chapter by chapter through Paul’s letter to the Church of Philippi. To read the other posts on chapter 1 of Phillipi check out the Blogged Bible Study page.
Choosing to Love is the most important thing we can do. Paul thanks God for the followers of Christ in Philippi, and there willingness to love and carry out the good work of Christ. We have the same Choice to make.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Paul in chains, knows he needs to work to preserve what has been built in Philippi. He knows that even though the church is strong in God’s love they need encouragement and to be built up in the Lord. “that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
There was still work to be done, and the church had to carry on with the work Christ commanded.
His will, His command is for us to Love Him and Love others. Loving deeply, we must learn when, how and why we must love. To look at a situation and figure out why we must love when we don’t want to.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
We are commanded to love in all situations by Christ. Paul is praying that as we learn more about the command of Christ that the love we show grows deeper. We must be quick to recognize when love is needed, which is all the time. We must be quick to recognize when we are not loving others.
We must try to understand a love so big that Christ would willingly die on the Cross.
Eph 3:18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
As a followers of Christ we are called to go deeper… We must consciously make the choice to love and dive deeper. So deep we will take risks to love someone.
Christ not only risked his life for us, he died for us. He loves us from that Cross no matter where we are at in our lives. We must learn to love like that.
10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,
Discerning then what is best. Not Good or just Ok… Best. We must be able to be able to look at a situation and discern how God wants you to react, but not only how we will react but when and why.
Like in… Romans 12:1-2 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We will be able to test and approve God’s will only if we give our bodies and mind over to God completely, and in worship of him. Holy and Pleasing not to people of this world.. Holy and Pleasing to God. Our mind must be renewed with Scripture, God’s truth, and no other truth.
His truth is love, and discerning how to love in all circumstances is against the patterns and lies of the world. When we break the pattern of the world we will be able to Discern God’s will and how to best love through God’s will in our lives without all the clutter. Our view of His will for us to Love will be pure.
We the church today have the duty to continue the work of Christ. As we learn more and more about Christ, we learn more and more how to love. Our knowledge of him is manifested in how we choose to Love others. The church in Philippi chose to love on Paul while he was in prison and not turn their back on him. They had learned from Christ’s example, and used this as a chance to glorify God. They made the choice. They chose to make a difference. They chose to carry on the good work until Christ comes back.
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This is the 13th week of the Blogged Bible Study. We are going chapter by chapter through Paul’s letter to the Church of Phillipi. To read the other posts on chapter 1 of Phillipi check out the Blogged Bible Study page.
Do we know enough about love? How do we really learn to love?
These question came to me as I went through my morning routine with my wife and kids. As the door closed the last words out of my mouth was “I love you”. Yes I meant it, and I do love my wife, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I had shown my wife that I loved her. Do I understand enough about love to recognize when I am not loving another person. Sure I love, but am I loving? Am I acting out that love in action. Sometimes I realize I still need to practice.
The thing about love, it is more than words. It is action. Have you every wondered why doctors practice medicine. You would think that the word perform would be better. Doctors spend a tremendous amount of time gaining knowledge in med school, but it is not until they get to their internships that they put their knowledge into action and practice what they know. It is then that they start to gain the true knowledge from their practice, that their actions have an affect on the health of those they treat.
We do the same think with love. We claim to know a lot about it and express it in so many different ways. We use it as a passing expression, “I love _________! (New York is a common fill in for the blank) We may even send a card or flowers to say it. We spend a lot of time trying to learn about love. From Venus to Mars, Dr. Phil to Dr. Laura. We want to know all we can about the best feel good feeling in the world. Unlike doctors though, we may be good about gain knowledge abut love, but we are not good about putting it into action. Until we learn to truly love, our affect on someone’s life or our affect on Christ’s church will be minimal.
We know we have to love others, but we put conditions on it. We don’t just love them regardless…we don’t love the others with our actions.
Acting in love means sacrifice, and giving something up.
The most famous verse of the bible (hang on while I put on my rainbow wig):
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (Emphasis mine)
Notice God didn’t say “yeah I love you”, and that was all. No God loved us enough that he gave. Gave us his Son. God put is love into action.
1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (Emphasis Mine)
Jesus most of the time expressed his love through actions not words. He would talk about being love, and what love was suppose to be. And then in one self sacrificing act he lived out the ultimate love for us.
Christ being the foundation of the Church built it on His love. Christ commanded us to love God and Others. To truly learn how to love as He did, we must practice the act of loving together as a Christ’s church. We must hold each other accountable to love, and extend that love to everyone. How else will we know what love truly is?
This world is built on it , we are created for it. yet we miss it cause we are to busy looking for it in the wrong places.
Something is happening, can you feel it? More and more people I run into are talking about it. Something is missing in this world and people are starting to wonder if we can get back what we have lost. With all the craziness in the, the distractions, and the apathy… Can we get back what we are truly meant to be a part of?
Everyone seems to agree there is an innate need in every person to believe in something. I believe in and follow Christ, son of the one true God and the one and only way to the Father.
There is also an innate need to learn/understand. We are seekers of knowledge. Lets face it we have to learn to do everything in life at some level, and we do that by gaining knowledge through experience and study.
Ok so belief in something and learning/understanding are fairly well held universal needs every human has. There is still this other need.
We are meant for community just as He (Elohim) is himself a community.
We are made in God’s image and in Genesis 1 when God says: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,” there is a reason to believe that He had this need in mind. The “our” in this Gen 1 is Elohim, a plural to reference the triune God. This implies that we are to be in the image of God the Father the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Triune God is Himself a community. God is: The Father our authority, who judges our actions, gave us Jesus our example of what our actions should be, who left us his Spirit our guide, so we can live under the authority, by transforming us into the example. The three being one are in Community working with each other. One can not work without the other, and to deny one is to deny all.
We also read in Genesis 2, right after God creates man, he says: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Did you catch that? It is not good for us to be alone. (I know God says man here and many use this as a connection to marriage between a man and woman. It very much is, it also shows that we are meant for relationship with another, an in the case of Community, others.)
Being made in God’s image, he recognizes we are not meant to work through this life alone. So if God in His very nature is community, it would stand to reason that we(being created in their image Gen 1:26) are to be in community with not only God but other believers of His Son. Other wise we will break:
Ecclesiastes 4:12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
When Paul says God will provide you a way out of temptation, so you may stand up under it… WOW… That way to stand up is community, not in isolation.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
We have to have the right people in our lives to lean on so we can resist temptation in the first place, but also to be called into account when we step out of line.
God wants his children to be connected, to a community who will prop each other up, support, encourage, pray, and hold each other accountable. Whatever that group looks like, as long as the focus is on Christ, Him as the model, and everyone is working to be more like Him.
I haven’t written in this fashion in awhile. Broken, and free flowing…. Breaking many rules of grammar, and proper word use… There is a certain amount of freedom without the rules of man to hold you back.
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A man walks slowly on a road, a life of so called freedom yet all alone. Darkness rises and darkness blazes, the road is long the man is lost to a world in darkness not shown. The man walks slower until he sees a path a glow. Narrow is the path he sees, a path of light to live a life for eternity. Darkness shivers as light shines on a life reborn.
We Live before we die, We live as death passes by.
Light reveals a pain long gone, that dwells within a soul reborn. Light of love, of hope, of life and free.
We live to love and die to live as Thee.
Light lived to love and die for eternity.
A rose placed in my heart, a rose of beauty, and scent so sweet. We love we laugh, we cry and shout. We love together day in and out. A Rose that fills this life tell death. A Rose eternal when we met.
Two stars shine bright, growing in the Light. Innocence of a babes new born. Two stars entrusted to my care. Live they will to die someday, but pray the Light leads the way to the throne of heaven beyond life’s doors.
We live too death, Light’s death for us was heavens key. We cry and hope in faith and trust, that God’s first love will not break trust. Not until we live then die do we know the Hope of Light to thine.
God you are the one who loved, your Light’s death brought forth life reborn.
Father God, I thank thee for this life of eternity, for the rose of my life, for the stars within my care.
We Live before we die, We live as death passes by.
We live to love and die to live as Thee.
Light lived to love and die for eternity.
We live and love to die some day, to live and love in Your eternity.
Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
When first reading through chapter 5 a person might think that this verse seems out of place. But backup to 17 and we read about the Sword of the Spirit being the word of God.
The sword is our only offensive weapon, and part of our offense against evil it to continuously pray for guidance from God’s word. Often this is referred to as praying with out ceasing. The idea that if we truly live with the Spirit inside us then our every thought and word becomes prayer to God.
But there is also the types of things we are to pray for, and 18 says all kinds of Prayer. God doesn’t care what we pray for, because he knows better than us what we need. God wants his people to communicate with Him, soak in His Word, and then ask Him to help apply it to our lives. This application is not fully understood until we experience it with other believers.
The Church as a whole should be in constant prayer for each other. This is where the true power of prayer can be felt and experienced. Personal prayer and communication with God will only be enhanced and gain power if the prayers are on the lips of other believers also. It is part of carrying the burden.
Pray together, pray all the time. Pray for anything. God knows our requests even before they are a thought in our own head. But pray, pray for me, you and the thems in your life. Pray for the Church that as it armors up to do battle against evil, we will stand firm in the Truth of the Lord.
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This is the 12th week of the Blogged Bible Study. We are going chapter by chapter through Paul’s letter to the Church of Ephasis. To read the other posts on chapter 6 of Ephesians check out the Blogged Bible Study page.
When you walk into the local coffee shop what is the first thing you notice? If you are like me it is the aroma of the fresh brewed coffee. For me (and I would say for most coffee drinkers) the aroma of coffee is just as important as the taste. There is something about getting a good smell of the coffee that just wakes up the taste buds so they are more receptive to the flavor of the coffee. When not on the move or in the car the first thing I do is take the lid off my coffee cup, I want the full experience.
However what we tend to do is be on the move so much that we put a lid on the coffee cup, and drinking coffee becomes more gulping down as fast as we can while move from here to there. The aroma gets lost behind the barrier of the cup’s lid. The liquid in the cup is the same, but the full experience of aroma and flavor is gone. It is not until we slow down and take the lid off that the full experience can be had.
Often we treat our faith like coffee. We get busy with the world, and get distracted so we quickly slap on a lid on our faith. We don’t allow it to grow and we don’t allow it to be lived in action. We tend to think it is for ourselves and we allow it to in many ways to become flavorless. Our faith is really meant to be lived with no barriers to hold it back and its aroma is to be experienced by everyone that surrounds us.
Hebrews (Great name for a coffee shop…HMMMM) 11:1 Starts a chapter that tells us about faith, and how it
is to be lived. The saints talked about in Hebrews 11 don’t just sit around and talk about their faith. They don’t package up their faith in in flavorless bible studies and worship.
By faith Abel, By Faith Enoch, By Faith Noah, By Faith Abraham, By Faith .. Issaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses… By Faith in action they followed the One true God to fulfill his plan. By their own faith in action they affected the lives and faith of many. Their faith doesn’t become covered by a lid of the world, and entangled in all the stuff that distracts us from our faith. No, They lived there faith for others.
Hebrews 12: 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Emphasis Mine on the action)
By the faith, and using the saints as examples, the Church is to be in action. Are we apprehensive and unsure sometimes? Sure, but if we trust in God and we take the lid off our faith, our actions in faith should be the aroma that attracts those around us to want to experience what we have.
1 Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (Emphasis on the action)
How about “Hebrews Joppa Java” for the name of a coffee shop?
This was a comment I posted in response to Part 1 on Ephesians.
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“Husbands are responsible to lead their wife’s growing faith, and her relationship with God will become stronger based on the his example.”
Not sure if that makes more since or not. One of those ones I understand what I want to say in my head but the words don’t fit right.
Basically I look at Adam, and his inaction as Eve is talking to the serpent, and think if Adam had just taken responsibility, would Eve have bit the apple? And it is clear that God called Adam into account first “9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” ” … So our wives are put under our responsibility.
That does not mean however, that women can’t find Christ without husbands, just that once the marriage covenant under Christ is made the men become the spiritual leader of the home.
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This made me think of the following post I wrote directly to men. Christ is our expample of leadership, and men we have the responsibility to lead our family and our Marriage.
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Read the following. You have heard it or read it before I am sure:
Eph 5:25-33 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[c] 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Eph 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
So men how are you doing?
How have you lead your wife to Christ today? Have you served her needs today? Does she know Christ better today than she did yesterday?
How have you done leading the kids today? Did you ignore there calls of Daddy… Daddy…. Daddy… Only to watch them sulk away?
Men whether you like it or not you are leading. Whether your married or not you are leading. The eyes of the world are on the men. The failings of this world are on men.
Gen 3 8-9 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
You see that men… Right there in the garden it all hinged on us. Yes Eve took the apple and ate it first, but where were you to take the apple from her hand and tell her no? God wants to know why you are passive and why you won’t step up to the plate. God is looking to men to step up and lead.
Here is where I am going with this. The other day I was asked a questions. (Warning these are tough quesions turn back now if you want):
Can anything break your faith? Tied to a chair, Gun to your wife’s/daughter’s head, you are asked to deny Christ, what do you do?
Yeah that’s right put up or shut up time huh. Every natural instinct in me in that situation would want to wrestle from the bonds and throw myself at the person with the gun. Every natural instinct would be to yell “I deny him I deny him”
But then I reflected for a second. How am I leading? Has my wife and daughter seen enough of Christ in me to follow me to him, to be assured of their salvation, to know that they are justified by Christ, and in the process of being sanctified by God’s spirit, and lead to the Glorification with God in heaven. Leading my family and not failing means, I am confident I have shown them enough of Christ in me. That if the trigger is pulled, yes my heart would be crushed and the pain unimaginable, I would be assured to see them again in heaven with my God. Have I lead/done enough that they are living in eternity now, where death (no matter how it happens) is just a step in the path of eternity.
Men you may never be put in the literal situation of a gun to your wife or child’s head, BUT: Every day your family must face the barrel of a fully cocked and loaded world. A world that will via for their every attention. A world that will tear them away from the life of eternity. Materialism, greed, sex, drugs… bullies in the school yard, magazines and tv shows telling them how to look or what their self worth should be. Al of it lies that lead to “Do what ever feels good” “It is all in what YOU can do” “You control you”…. All of this waiting to take their life. Satan wants them for his one, he is ready to pull the trigger.
What do you do men?
Only because Jesus Christ stood the gap for us can we claim the righteousness that God created us for. Christ died for the gap that we allowed to happen between man and God. It is time to trust in the Righteousness of Christ in you, to trust Him and stand the gap for your family and anyone who is following you.
It is time to lead as God intended, it is time to lead for Eternity.
Again I ask you to read Ephesians. Not in condemnation but instruction.
Eph 5:25-33 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[c] 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Eph 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
The Lord God would like to request the Honor of His Church’s presence in the union of matrimony between Jesus Christ his Son, and the whole body of His Children the Church.
I grew up the youngest of eight children. 7 older sisters, all of whom are married. So to say I know what it takes to prepare for a wedding is a bit of an understatement. My sisters would spend countless hours with my mom picking the Dress to picking the flowers. The reception would also be prepared. What food to serve, what should the cake look like…All these things were done so the day would be glorious and unforgettable for the bridegroom and his bride.
As followers of Christ we are being prepared for a great wedding also. From the beginning of time when Man was created to walk in the light, God has wanted his followers for his own. Yet we rebelled, we screwed it up, we became unclean. God(El Qana) despises this rebellion of Sin, in His righteousness He can not even look on it. He still loves us though, so he set forth a plan to expose the sin by the Light of his Son.
Christ is the head of the Church and make no mistake, it is His Church, because without Him there would be no Church. God can not look on the Sin with in the Church, and demands a sacrifice. Our Savior becomes Our bridegroom at the Cross. Christ willingly laid himself on the cross for His Church, so that we could be washed and prepared for a great feast. We are being prepared for a great union, of the Body of Christ with it’s head Christ. A marriage ceremony to end all ceremonies.
Paul in the duality of Ephesians 5: 21-32 writes about this great mystery.
22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing[b] her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. (Emphasis Mine)
In Revelation John writes of what he saw, the resounding conclusion to this mystery of Christ and His Bride.
Revelation 19: 6-10
Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)9Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
The truth, we have very little to do on our own to prepare the bride of Christ. Christ will work through his whole body, through all His followers to prepare the Church for this glorious wedding and banquet feast.
------------------------------------- This is the 11th week of the Blogged Bible Study. We are going chapter by chapter through Paul’s letter to the Church of Ephasis. To read the other posts on chapter 5 of Ephesians check out the Blogged Bible Study page.
The first thing God created was light. God knows that through His Son that light would become very important to his followers. And when we accept Christ we accept his light, and no longer live in the darkness.
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
In Ephesians 5 Paul tells us what it means for the Church of Christ to live in this light.
Eph 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord.
Our choices and the things we fill our life with can ether glorify God or not. We choose darkness or light. We please the Lord with our actions or we don’t
11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
Chapter 5 :3-7 and 15-20 we get a picture of some of the fruitless deeds Paul is talking about. Sexual immorality, Impurity, Obscenity or foolish talk, Debauchery, and Drunkenness to name a few. By exposing them, God wants us to step up and repent of the sin that separates the Church from him.
12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
John Gill Says about 12:
that if it is a shame to speak of those sins which are done of them in secret,it is much more shameful to commit them;
13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible
This is part of the preparation of Christ’s bride. As we live our lives as part of Christ’s church we expose our lives more and more to Christ, and our lives become transparent. We no longer live in fear of what is hidden in the dark shadows which we don’t speak of.
God created us to walk in His Light, Jesus Christ. By following Christ’s example, we will reflect the Light on others, and become imitators of God. His dearly loved children.
Eph 5:1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children
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This is the 11th week of the Blogged Bible Study. We are going chapter by chapter through Paul’s letter to the Church of Ephasis. To read the other posts on chapter 5 of Ephesians check out the Blogged Bible Study page.
