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Let’s
review: Prior to hearing about God and Messiah
and the Good News about salvation, the Gentiles
in Ephesus were dead in their trespasses and sins.
They did not remain within proper boundaries.
They crossed moral and spiritual boundaries that
should not have been crossed. Something essential
about them was dead. They were missing something
essential of the Spirit and of life. Their fallen
human nature was satanically allied and diabolically
empowered!
They did
many bad things. They used to live the same way
as the rest of humanity that is in rebellion against
God, opposing the Lord and His good ways. They
also lived according to and in agreement with
the prince of the power of the air, the evil spirit
being who wields power and authority over the
region between Earth and Heaven. They were naturally
inclined toward the Adversary and his ways, values
and priorities.
They were
sons of disobedience disobedient children, consistently
rebelling against the will of the Supreme Monarch.
This disobedience affected the way they indulged
the desires of their flesh and minds. They routinely
gave into those cravings connected to the physical:
overdoing good sensual pleasure, or yielding to
bad sensual desires - things like inappropriate
sexual activity, drinking too much, drugs abuse
and gluttony.
They indulged
the desires of the mind - mental sins like thoughts
of murder, adultery and coveting. They cultivated
false ideologies and philosophies and religions.
They meditated on thoughts that were pleasing
to the mind, but were false and contradict the
Word of God.
All this
made them by nature children of wrath, human beings
who were made in the image of God, but who became
worthy of the extreme displeasure, and the anger
of a perfectly righteous and infinitely holy and
pure God, who loathes sin with an intense hatred.
They were
separate from Israel’s matchless Messiah,
excluded from citizenship in Israel with all it
the great benefits that citizenship provided;
they were foreigners to the covenants of the promise
- the tremendous agreements that God made that
offered so many good things; they were without
hope and without God. They were Christless, Jewless,
covenantless, godless and hopeless.
But all
of this changed when they came to know, believe
in and trust the God of Israel and the Messiah
that He sent. They were wonderfully saved by the
grace of God. They were given the unearned ability
to respond to God’s unmerited goodness with
belief and trust in God and Messiah and the Good
News!
Gentiles
who believe in Messiah are no longer far, but
near God - so near that He is living in them,
and they are living in Him; near to Messiah, so
near that He also is living in them, and they
are living in Him; near to the nation of Israel
and the benefits that connectedness to Israel
brings; near to the wonderful covenant promises
of blessing and salvation; near to a real hope
of salvation and everlasting blessing and rewards
and eternal life!
Instead
of children of wrath, they became God’s
beloved sons and daughters. Instead of being dead
in their trespasses and sins, they were indwelt
by God’s Holy Spirit and were given new
life - God’s life. Instead of being sons
of disobedience, they were being transformed from
within into the likeness of Messiah. Their new
challenge was to learn to live in ways that were
obedient to God, and pleasing to the Righteous
One.
So
this I say (Paul, this great emissary of
the Lord, who knows what he is talking about),
and affirm together with the Lord (Paul
was in perfect agreement with the Lord, here,
as he was in all of his writings). And what did
the Lord and His representative both teach? That
you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk.
To walk means to live. The Lord’s people
must not live like people live who are part of
a godless world.
And, how
did the Gentiles, those nations and peoples other
than Israel, how did they live? They lived in
the futility of their mind. They lived in
ignorance about the one, true, holy and righteous
Creator. Their thinking about truth and God and
the meaning of life was futile, ineffective and
nonproductive. Being darkened in their understanding:
they way they looked at ultimate reality was dark,
wrong, confused and chaotic.
They were
excluded from the life of God because of the
ignorance that is in them. You have heard
the phrase, “ignorance is no excuse.”
Do you think this would work in a court of law?
“But your honor, you don’t understand.
I didn’t know the speed limit on that road
was only 30. That’s why I was doing 65 and
crashed into that other vehicle, hurting its occupants.
I’m innocent, right your honor?” The
judge says, “Wrong! Ignorance is no excuse.
You are responsible to know the rules of the road,
and the speed limit on the streets you are on.
You are guilty.”
Ignorance
is no excuse when it comes to the laws of man,
and ignorance is no excuse when it comes to the
law of God. We are responsible to search after,
find out and come to know the truth about God
and salvation and the right way to live. We can’t
blame our parents, our religious leaders, our
culture or anyone else for our failures. Ultimately
we are individually responsible to seek the truth.
Knowledge
is good. Knowledge is necessary. If a person has
no knowledge about anything, they are helpless
and will die if not constantly cared for. True
knowledge about God is also necessary, is essential
for reestablishing the life of God that we lost
because of the Fall, sin and death. Understanding
about God and truth is necessary for salvation.
The information is here. Knowledge and understanding
are easily available. Truth is accessible!
You Jewish
person who rejects Messiah, you are excluded
from the life of God because of the ignorance
that is in you.
You Moslem,
you are excluded from the life of God because
of the ignorance that is in you.
You Hindu,
you are excluded from the life of God because
of the ignorance that is in you.
You atheist,
agnostic and God-ignorer, you are excluded
from the life of God because of the ignorance
that is in you.
Gentiles
were excluded from the life of God because of
the ignorance in them and the because of confusion
in their minds. Also contributing to this exclusion
from the life of God was the hardness of their
hearts. And they, having become callous, have
given themselves over to sensuality for the practice
of every kind of impurity with greediness.
Like a hard callous that covers a softer area,
and as a result that area loses some of its sensitivity,
the inner most being of the Gentiles were insensitive
to God and to morality. They were not soft hearted,
tender toward the only true God and toward morality.
They had lost sensitivity to the differences between
right behavior. They greedily engaged in every
kind of wrong behavior, and never satisfied, they
wanted those illicit pleasures more and more.
Doesn’t
that remind you of so many in our society today?
Insensitive to the need to keep sexual activity
limited to the husband and wife relationship.
Hard hearted toward the issue of vulnerable little
human beings growing in their mother’s wombs
and being killed. Tough about not taking the name
of the Lord our God in vain.
How about
you? Are you tender toward God Himself? Are you
sensitive to His still small voice speaking to
you, “It is I. Seek My face. Draw closer
to Me so that we can be better friends. Don’t
do that. It’s wrong. It is not part of righteousness.
It displeases Me, the Holy God?” Are you
sensitive to your conscience when it whispers
to you, “you know better than to do that.
That isn’t right?”
The Gentiles
apart from Messiah were ignorant of God and immoral.
But, the new non-Jewish Christians in Ephesus
were a different story. But you did not learn
Messiah in this way, if indeed you have heard
Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth
is in Yeshua.
Before
they heard about Messiah, they were ignorant about
God and full of immorality. But, through the preaching
and teaching of apostles, prophets, pastors teachers
and evangelists they had heard about the Anointed
Ruler that God has sent into this world. The were
taught about the One who is the Truth that He
is the source of ultimate reality. They learned
about the life of Yeshua, and His teachings, and
His righteous life, and His hatred of sin, and
His love for God. They were taught the truths
about God and salvation and the need for godly
living.
Now, as
new creatures of the truth, they must lead transformed
lives, good and righteous and holy and God pleasing
lives. That is what they were being taught by
Paul, the master teacher of Tarsus: That,
in reference to your former manner of life, you
lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted
in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that
you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and
put on the new self, which in the likeness of
God has been created in righteousness and holiness
of the truth.
They needed
a radical change of living. Not the old values,
the old morality - really, the old immorality,
giving into the lusts of the mind and body, being
deceived by their promises of happiness. If you
give into that temptation, you will be happy,
content, be living the good life. But those allures
are deceptive because they really end in unhappiness
and ultimately in death.
The new
Christians needed a new and better morality. They
needed a radical transformation. They needed new
and better values. It’s like they had been
wearing an old, ugly, filthy rags and needed to
put on a beautiful new clean set of clothes.
They needed
to look at things a new way. They needed new thinking.
And they were able to get these new attitudes
by renewing their minds. How? By hearing, reading,
studying, and considering the Word of God. Then,
with the power of the Holy Spirit at work with
them, and supported by the good teaching of their
leaders and supported and encouraged by the rest
of the community, they would embrace and practice
new and godly values, a new and better morality.
God would
be at work with them in this process of transformation
and recreation. The Lord would be recreating them
from within. They would not remain human beings
who were merely created in the image of God, that
image being marred by the Fall, but human beings
who were recreated in the image of God. They would
become men and women who are living the right
way, separate from sin and impurity and evil,
knowing and dedicated to the truth.
Therefore,
laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of
you with his neighbor, for we are members of one
another. It is easy for the old nature to
lie. That comes naturally. But we must be transformed
to be truth-tellers. Instead of telling falsehoods,
we must be committed to knowing the truth, and
telling the truth - especially to other Believers.
We are members of the same community, like parts
of one body. Why would one part of a body lie
to another part? Why would the brain purposely
give a false signal to nervous system? It doesn’t
make sense if it is to function properly.
Be
angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun
go down on your anger, and do not give the devil
an opportunity. It is easy for the old nature
to get angry and stay angry. That comes naturally.
And, those who stay angry will often sin by saying
harsh things while they are angry, and doing things
that will make a situation worse. That gives the
Adversary an opportunity to alienate us from one
another, and break our precious unity. Be angry
- when the situation calls for it. There is such
a things as righteous anger, just cause for anger,
like when you see an injustice, the stronger oppressing
the weak, like the most vulnerable of a society
like the pre-born, getting killed. But we must
be transformed so that we control our anger, and
it doesn’t control us, and we don’t
act inappropriately out of anger.
If you
are angry with a fellow believer, especially someone
very close to you, like a child, or father or
mother, or husband or wife, make a special effort
to resolve that situation as quickly as possible.
When I do premarital counseling, I tell couples
that there will almost certainly be times in their
marriage when they get angry with one another.
They should try to resolve the situation by the
end of the day, before the sun goes down on their
anger, and they get up the next day still angry,
and the cycle continues. Martha and I have tried
to follow this wise advice in our marriage, and
it has been a great help to us.
He
who steals must steal no longer; but rather he
must labor, performing with his own hands what
is good, so that he will have something to share
with one who has need. It is easy for the
old nature to steal. That comes naturally. By
nature humans are selfish. We are takers, not
givers. But we must be morally transformed so
that we do not steal. We must be transformed from
thieves into workers, producers and givers, like
God.
Giving
is part of God's nature. Love and goodness are
two of the God’s attributes that define
His nature, and love and goodness both imply giving.
For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. It is
God’s nature to look outside of Himself
and seek to give. When we become a giver, we become
more like God. Truly it is more blessed to give
than to receive.
Let
no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but
only such a word as is good for edification according
to the need of the moment, so that it will give
grace to those who hear. It is easy for the
old nature to say foolish, insulting and crude
things, things that tear down others, tear down
what is decent and good and right. That comes
naturally. But we must be transformed in the area
of our speech, so that we are saying things that
are good, wholesome, beneficial, things that are
true, things that build other people up.
Do
not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption. It
is easy for the old nature to grieve God’s
Holy Spirit, who is a Person, since He can be
grieved, and one can not grieve an impersonal
force. The Spirit is holy - separate from sin
and One who detests evil. We grieve God’s
Spirit when we think, do, say anything that is
wrong or unholy or not connected to the truth.
That comes naturally to the old nature. But we
must be transformed and please the Holy Spirit,
by thinking, doing and saying things that are
true and right and good.
And, aren’t
we obligated to please Him, and not grieve Him?
Shouldn’t we, out of gratitude for the Holy
Spirit sealing us for the day of redemption, which
means that the Holy Spirit will watch over us,
and guard us and protect us from all harm so that
one glorious day we are finally and fully redeemed
- body, soul and spirit - out of gratitude and
thankfulness and appreciation for His sealing
and saving and protective and redeeming power,
do the things that please Him?
Let
all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
and slander be put away from you, along with all
malice. It is easy for the old nature to
hate, and become angry, bitter, and get into fights
and say untruthful things about others. That comes
naturally. But we must be transformed so that
we are loving and gentle and full of peace and
good will toward others.
Be
kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving
each other, just as God in Messiah also has forgiven
you. It is easy for the old nature to be
mean, unforgiving and hold resentments. That comes
naturally. But we must be transformed so that
our innermost being feels tenderness toward other
people, and act we act toward them with kindness.
We must be transformed so that we are quick to
forgive each other. And, we can do this, knowing
that God the Father, was quick and ready to forgive
us. He was not reluctant to forgive, or unwilling
for forgive sinful humanity. Instead, He took
the initiative to forgive. He sent His Son, the
Messiah, who at great cost to Himself, and with
much pain and suffering, made atonement and forgiveness
possible. We must strive to do the same.
Right
knowledge leads to right living. Good theology
leads to good living. Bad theology and erroneous
ideologies results in bad living.
Do you
know God and Messiah Yeshua?
Are you learning how to rethink your values and
morals based on the Word of God?
Are you undergoing a moral transformation?
Are you learning and increasingly doing the things
that please Him?
Are you part of and supported by a good spiritual
community?
Are you being transformed from within?
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