SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/5/2019
9:45 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Humility”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians 4:3
Message of the verse: “3 Make every
effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
I
have mentioned that we will eventually get to the Spiritual gifts in this
fourth chapter of Ephesians, and also mentioned that they are found in 1
Corinthians chapter 12 and in that chapter we read the following in verses 13
and then 20 “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews
or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” “But now there are many members, but one
body.” These verses show us that
spiritual unity is not and cannot be created by the church as it is already
created by the Holy Spirit. Jesus prayed
for this very unity found in John 17:11, and 21-23 “"I am no longer in the
world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy
Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that
they may be one even as We are.” “21 that they may all be one; even as You,
Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the
world may believe that You sent Me. 22 "The glory which You have given Me
I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that
they may be perfected in
unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even
as You have loved Me.”
So
then what is the Churches responsibility?
MacArthur writes “The church’s responsibility, through the lives of
individual believers, is to ‘preserve the unity’ by faithfully walking in a
manner worthy of God’s calling (v. 1), manifesting Christ to the world by
oneness in Him (cf. Rom. 15:1-6; 1 Cor. 1:10-13; 3:1-3; Phil. 1:27). The world is always seeking but never finding
unity. All the laws, conferences,
treaties, accords, and agreements fail to bring unity or peace. Someone has reported that throughout recorded
history every treaty made has been broken.
There is not, and cannot be, any peace for the wicked (Isa. 48:22). As long as self is at the center; as long as
our feelings, prestige, and rights are our chief concern, there will never by
unity.”
Once
again I want to remind you that all of this process began with humility and
that gave birth to gentleness, gentleness gives birth to patience, and patience
gives birth to forbearing love, and all four of those characteristics “preserve
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
MacArthur goes on to write “These
virtues and the supernatural unity to which they testify are probably the most
powerful testimony the church can have, because they are in such contrast to
the attitudes and the disunity of the world.
No program or method, no matter how carefully planned and executed, can
open the door to the gospel in the way individual believers can do when they
are genuinely humble, meek, patient, forbearing in love, and demonstrate
peaceful unity in the Holy Spirit.”
Do
not forget that the bond that preserves unity in peace, the spiritual belt that
surrounds and binds God’s holy people together is the bond that Paul described
in Philippians as “being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in
spirit, intent on one purpose (Phi. 2:2). Behind this bond of peace is love,
which Colossians 3:14 calls “the perfect bond of unity.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I read this verse and the one before it which we have been studying I come to at least one conclusion and that is that people, including me, do not have a clear understanding of these different characteristics and how they all work together in order to bring about unity in the church, or should I say promote unity for we have learned that the Holy Spirit has given us unity.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Humility is the first characteristic that is to be understood and that is what is my desire to do as this year goes on as seen in Romans 12:3 and then also in Ephesians 4:2-3.
Today’s quotation “God’s part is to protect us by giving us wisdom. Our part is to want to be protected by seeking it” (David Jeremiah).
3/5/2019 10:20 AM
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