Category: Bible Bite

​Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children.  
Ephesians 5:1 [ESV]

I feel like my write up on this passage is going to sound like a broken record. I think I have had no less than 4 previous quiet times just in the past year that talks about what I am about to say. However, God speaks to me this way a lot…through repetition.

In order to imitate God, we have to know Him. How do we know Him? We deepen our relationship with Him in prayer and through His Holy Spirit. We also dive into His Word and stay there, day after day. I like how Paul references children. One thing you can depend on when it comes to little ones, is that they are like little ‘repeaters’ of their parents. I think this is what Paul is referring to here. Like little kiddos of our dad, the Father God, we should look after Him and His character and be like Him in every way that we can. Like Father, like son or daughter.

This follows Paul’s own example to imitate God and he asks us to look at what he does in following Christ, and replicate it.

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:1 [ESV]

What I love about God’s Word is that it is supportive front to back. In Leviticus 19:2, it says, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”. So, we have support for this idea of imitating God all through the Bible. I could reference about 4 other places where imitating God is call out.

Our adoption as God’s kids happens as we embrace his work and receive the Spirit.

Application:

As it seems that the Lord continues to bring this before me in my quiet times, I must heed and think through whether I am truly applying this to my life. If I am being honest, imitating God seems like such a huge challenge…I mean He is God, the perfectly just God who created everything we know and see. What I like about these translations is that the word “imitate” is appropriate. No imitation is perfectly the copy of the source. In fact, it takes practice to get better and better at mimicking what I see in God’s Word as representation of His character and actions.

Today’s Psalm:

There is no soundness in my flesh
because of your indignation;
there is no health in my bones
because of my sin.
For my iniquities have gone over my head;
like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

Psalms 38:3-4 [ESV]

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32 [ESV]

Here we are at the final verse of chapter 4. What an awesome conclusion it is. So simple and straightforward after having ‘put away’ all of the other things yesterday.

Be Kind: Just do it. Kindness is not just a fruit of the spirit, it is a command here in Ephesians in the context of church unity.

Be Tenderhearted: We are to be compassionate and empathetic to one another in terms of struggle, patience, perseverance, and trials. We walk alongside one another in life and our Life Groups at Canyon Hills is where we see this put into action the most.

…and now the big one -> Be Forgiving: Paul adds in the reinforcement of “as God in Christ forgave you”. Here again we have the aspect of being in Christ and it is because of what He has done that we have forgiveness of our sins. The cross is the great equalizer; we have no excuse and no status in where we are because we are all deserving of the wrath from God for our sin. But God, in His great mercy rescued us from eternal punishment. We should be *very* quick to forgive others.

Application:

All of these things are indicative of a life surrendered to Jesus. When I am in this place where Jesus envelops all that I am, I will tend to be more and more like Him. Kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. What is embarrassing is that I am sitting here thinking about how I aspire to be a light and witness at work, and I have more wins than I have losses….but thinking about home, I am at best 50/50 and at worst more losses than wins. That is pitiful. My application today is to immediately put verse 32 into practice every moment of the day, most importantly when I am at home…quick to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving.

Today’s Psalm:

The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
The LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

Psalms 37:39-40

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Ephesians 4:31 [ESV]

This chapter has taken me so much time…and I love it! I can’t get through more than one verse a day! So much here!

All of the exhortations about what to ‘put away from us’ are all the things that create factions, divisions, and dissention, which all eat away at our pursuit of unity in the church. There are 3 different words used for ‘anger’ between verse 26 and 31.

• orgizō ; to make angry
• parorgismos ; irritation or provocation of
• orgē ; impulse, wrath

It dawned on me that the bible as translated into English, needs to be studied. It took me doing the word study to see these different Greek words for ‘anger’ help me understand the difference in the ‘sometimes righteous’ anger, and anger that must be ‘put away’. Refer back to my post on that topic. The word for ‘anger’ in this verse (31) is orgē which means the impulsive outburst or uncontrolled anger. These distinctions are so important.

Malice refers to ‘all wickedness’. ‘Put away’ is a personal action that Paul is calling us to; a direct command to set these things in a permanent (other) place, not to return.

Application:

I think there is so much here that is tied to ‘speaking the gospel to myself’, ‘crucifying my sin’, and ‘walking in a manner…’ that we are called to daily. I must have an active putting away of all wickedness and be sure that my heart is full of the love of Christ so it is not prone to bitterness, wrath, anger, slander, and clamor. The Psalm for today below is supportive of the point of putting to death these wicked and ungodly things. Let them be no more.

Today’s Psalm:

I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
But he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
though I sought him, he could not be found.

Psalms 37:35-36

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Ephesians 4:30 [ESV]

Today we start the last 3 capstone verses of Chapter 4. This verse is one of the most heartfelt verses in the bible regarding our behavior and conduct as Christians. Grieving the Holy Spirit is a serious thing to consider. This note by Paul is harkening back to Ephesians chapter 1.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14[ESV]

When we think of this in context of our salvation, we see that grieving the Holy Spirit is a disrespect of the price Christ paid for our sin; saving us from a death and eternity in hell we deserve. BUT GOD in His grace, mercy, and love has saved us and sealed our destiny in Heaven by His Holy Spirit. I have used this before, so I apologize if it is repetitive, but it fits well here. Imagine your daily life, the things you do when you are in normal execution mode in this world. Are there things that you do that if the trumpet blew, and Jesus came through the clouds to receive us for the rapture, that you would be embarrassed by what you were doing as your eyes catch His?…It is you that He went to the cross for. It is you that He has interceded for in the throne room of heaven. This thought haunts me. I would never want my Savior to return only to find me doing something He has so clearly instructed me not to do in His word.

Application:

I never want to be doing something in my redeemed life that would dishonor or be found unbecoming of a follower of Jesus Christ. Lord help me by the work of the Holy Spirit to see when I am on the precipice of making a decision like this so I can, in all clarity of heart and mind, chose You and Your glory to honor, rather than my pride or fleshly desires.

Today’s Psalm:

Wait for the LORD and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

Psalms 37:34 [ESV]

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Ephesians 4:29 [ESV]

Speech can tear people down and it can build people up. Paul is saying that not only can it build people up but it can also be beneficial. The term sapros (unwholesome, corrupting) means putrid, rancid, or rotten, decaying. There are references to this same word in Matthew 12:33 and 13:48. The “Let no…” of this verse is a present imperative that points to stopping and not allowing to continue. This is what might be referred to as speech that has a seriously foul smell (a stench). It is that kind of speech that when you hear it said by someone toward another person, makes you cringe, and it may even induce laughter in the sheer audacity of the words. We are all capable of this kind of speech and I think that Paul is very close to saying that it is EVIL.

This kind of speech is the heartless tearing down of a person by belittling or shoving in the cutting dagger of words and then twisting and pulling up to induce the most pain and damage possible. A worldly example of this is ‘roasting’. This is something Paul is exhorting us not to participate in… conversely, he is saying to use the gift of speech we have been given to build people up and encourage them.

This verse and the one before it (do not steal but give in generosity) kind of go hand in hand. They are both geared towards the edification and strengthening of others in our biblical community.

Application:

I am literally pausing here on the couch tonight reflecting on the most recent memories of whether I have done this or not. What I am arriving at is ‘maybe’. With my closest friends and family, I known for a dry humor style. I am trying to come up with an example, but I am just not pulling one from my brain at the moment. However, its not really the point. I need to be careful — that dry style can lead to joking around that is not necessarily demeaning, but also not uplifting. I need to be more careful with risking a tearing down potential in the pursuit of laughter and ‘making a funny’. I do try and offer encouragement every chance I get but even here I could do better. I pray that the Holy Spirit would give me a heart of discernment in seeing people and situations where my brothers and sisters in Christ need a good building up word that inspires them to do more.

Today’s Psalm:

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in his heart;
his steps do not slip.

Psalms 37:30-31 [ESV]

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
Ephesians 4:28 [ESV]

This was a shorter quiet time but still important and the Lord had some alignment to show me in regard to verse 25 and that quiet time.

This verse feels like it is ‘no duh’ as it is one of the 10 commandments. But we need to remember the context in which Paul is writing -> support for the unity of the church in biblical community. No life of falsehoods. don’t let your anger linger, and now ‘don’t steal’, yet work for wages and have open hands with what you earn.

I was reading this and thinking about why Paul was talking about thievery to the church in Ephesus. The only real thing I could come up with is that it is possible that the Christians in Ephesus were stealing from the Romans. The Jewish people in the days of Jesus Christ had issues with the Roman government, and they thought that the evil Roman empire was unjustly stealing from them by overtaxing, and so some of the Jews tried to get away with not paying taxes – others—like the Jewish Zealots—sometimes tried to steal back from the Romans. This might be the kind of activity Paul was referring to.

Paul just got done talking about not giving satan a foothold, where right here satan is not to be blamed because the hearts of the Ephesians had been hardened to not see that even stealing from evil Roman empire is….still stealing and is sin that is not aligned to a pure and holy God. Paul did not want anything to come in between the Ephesians having both an amazing fruitful relationship with God and in turn, with each other. Conversely, Paul was saying, make an honest living and then be generous with what you earn. There were many in the church that poor and this was almost killing two birds with one stone – Stop sinning and support the biblical community.

Application:

Lord God in Heaven, please convict my spirit if there is anything I am doing in my daily life that could be considered “Robinhood Stealing” (taking something I believe I have earned, deserve, or believe I am taking back because it was first taken from me…like taxes). Help me to see the places that I can be open handed with what you have given me through wages, that I would live a life and model generosity for my children.

Today’s Psalm:

Turn away from evil and do good;
so shall you dwell forever.
For the LORD loves justice;
he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land
and dwell upon it forever.

Psalms 37:27-29 [ESV]

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.
Ephesians 4:26-27 [ESV]

in these two verses we take a short departure from the ‘do not do this but do that’ pattern of the section. Instead, we have a ‘do it this way’ exhortation. Paul is telling us that there is an anger that is not sinful but to let it simmer is. There are some that say that this covers a lot of types of sin but I don’t think so. When you look at the Greek words used for ‘anger’ and ‘angry’ in this text, you get orgizō (enraged) and parorgismos (provocation) respectively. When Paul is saying ‘Be angry’, he is referring to being enraged, but the provocation word makes this the kind of anger where you are provoked to an angry response. Like when the bible says that “God is angered by sin”. However, anger for anger’s sake is never right, but a righteous anger might be justified.

Simmering anger, even when justified, hurts us and even marginalizes our health. When anger simmers the devil gets an opportunity to divide and conquer. In Matthew 5, Jesus urges that if someone has something against a brother, it is to be dealt with before bringing an offering to worship God. Part of the check on justified anger is to not let it linger. The explanation is seen in the next command to not allow the sun to go down on one’s anger, which is a metaphor for not letting that reaction hang around. The present tense tied to the exhortation ‘do not let the sun set’ means that this is to always be our response. Anger may come, even for good cause, but it is not to hang around like a cloud over relationships.

When anger hangs around, opportunity comes to the devil. This has to be avoided. No place is to be given to him; the devil should not be allowed to stir the pot. The devil should be given no place at the table of relationships in the community. This whole line of thinking points to the larger context of the drive toward unity in biblical community.

Application:

First and foremost, I should not be looking for opportunities of righteous anger. That is not the point of the passage. Paul is saying that as humans made in God’s image there will points in my life where the initial response of anger is not sinful, but if I stew and ponder, it will become resentment and bitterness which is a key foothold for satan to have chink in my armor in which to insert a fiery dart. Additionally, I must have a heart like the Lord’s which is slow to anger (James 1:20). I must be careful in the justification of my anger as I have a tendency to lean in the feeling of ‘rights driven’ frustration and anger which when the provocation is something that incites anger that is birthed from pride, this is when there is a REAL danger.

Today’s Psalm:

The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
but the righteous is generous and gives;
for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land,
but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

Psalms 37:21-22 [ESV]

Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another.
Ephesians 4:25 [AMP]

Paul now goes into a set of “no longer do that, but now do this” exhortations for the Ephesian church. There are some interesting hermeneutical approaches to this verse. In looking at the whole of the book of Ephesians, a lot of the direction of Paul’s message is to the Gentile converts, to appreciate the dignity of their calling, the implication of that calling realizing their heavenly origin and destiny, and also for their present conduct on earth as believers. What is cool is that the wording in verse 25 matches that of Zechariah 8:16 which is appropriate because under the pressure of exile, the call was to be faithful to each other.

These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor; render the truth and pronounce the judgment or verdict that makes for peace in [the courts at] your gates.

Zechariah 8:16 [AMP]

The connection to each other as fellow body members is the rationale here. That rationale is deeply relational. So how do we think about ‘falsity’ and ‘expressing the truth’? In the context of oneness and members of a body of believers, it is an ‘above reproach’-ness in interpersonal relationships and interactions. It is the removal of cunningness and workarounds. No longer seeing how you can get the best outcome. It is similar to paying correct taxes and not looking for every way to bend the rules to suit your benefit. Paul is saying that within our biblical community relationships, this is paramount in growing a strong and thriving community. Most important of all, it is God honoring to be of a truthful spirit even in situations where that truthfulness does not benefit the individual or their situation.

Application:

This takes me back to quite a few quite times back where I was talking about ‘Civilized Unrighteousness’. There are certain worldly acceptable fibs or truth stretching that are accepted as ‘Just getting what I deserve’ or ‘not allowing someone else benefit when they are undeserving’. These kinds of fleshly thinking can run rampant in our minds; fueled by a conniving and driven heart for worldly acceptance and ‘getting ahead’. This has no place in God’s Kingdom and Christ’s church here on earth. I have caught myself doing this when I am strategizing how to ‘do right by my family’ or ‘get the best for my team at work’. Lord God, please help me through the leading of your Holy Spirit to see when I am doing this so that I can confess and repent (turn a 180) from that way of thinking and walk upright in Straight Talk and Deed with Genuineness and Veracity.

Today’s Psalm:

Better is the little that the righteous has
than the abundance of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.

Psalms 37:16-17 [AMP]

...put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:24

And yep, you knew it…now we need to put on the ‘New Man’. The goal is walk in Christ, like we would put on clothes, staying focused on what He has done, what He represents, and what He provided for us. We need to live with others with a realization and recognition that bearing Christ’s name means living in a certain way. This alignment and allegiance with Christ as well as a right view of ourselves, causes us to respond in ways pleasing to Him.

Paul is calling us to live in a way that is authentic and honors God. It is founded in all God has provided in Christ. Whatever we lacked to be able to honor God before coming into Christ is now resolved in what God has provided through him. Romans 13:14, with its call to put on Christ, makes a similar point.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Romans 13:14 [ESV]

Application:

This is daily decision…actually, every moment. Many people in our society today are passionate about fashion. There is a reason for this. What you wear impacts how you carry yourself and can even influence your confidence; it can even put you in the posture the clothes inspire to do, like exercising. This is what wearing Christ (the New Man in me and I in Him) should do to my daily walk. Everything I do should be approached with a reminder of the clothes I chosen to wear. The Ephesians 6 talks about the clothes and what each means piece means.

Today’s Psalm:

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.

Psalms 37:10-11 [ESV]

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Ephesians 4:11-12 [ESV]

Shorter post today – Paul here is now talking about the ‘gifts’ Jesus has given teaching, prophesying, shepherding, and other gifts to equip believers for the building of the Kingdom. The gifting involves leaders & teachers who guide the church as a catalyst to its internal growth and maturity. The list is clearly specific and selective, given other lists that include gifts of service, not just teaching and guiding (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12).

In verse 12, the key comes in three phrases: for equipping, for ministry, and for edification. The saints as a whole are equipped for ministry, and the edification of the church is the outcome.

Application:

As an elder at Canyon Hills, we take this role seriously. Our by line for CHCC is “Make more and better disciples”. We strive to be vessels used by God to bring more people into the knowledge of Jesus and then equip them for ministry in their lives, family, workplaces, and communities. I pray that the Lord continues to give us wisdom and boldness to do this in today’s crazy society and culture.

Today’s Psalm:

Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
He plots trouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in a way that is not good;
he does not reject evil.

Psalms 36:1-4