SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/10/2019
9:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Authentic
Loving Testimony
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
4:13-15a
Message of the verses: “13 until we all
attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the
measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result,
we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried
about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in
deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the
truth in love,”
“13
until the time comes when, in the unity of common faith and common knowledge of
the Son of God, we arrive at real maturity—that measure of development which is
meant by "the fullness of Christ". 14 We are not meant to remain as
children at the mercy of every chance wind of teaching, and of the jockeying of
men who are expert in the crafty presentation of lies. 15 But we are meant to
speak the truth in love,” (Phillips).
Today
we begin looking at the fifth and “final feature that is primarily a
requirement and yet also a result of following God’s pattern for His church
will be in direct opposition to being tossed, carried away, tricked, and
deceived by the schemes of Satan—namely, ‘speaking the truth in love, a
principle that applies to every aspect of Christian life and ministry” (MacArthur). MacArthur goes on to explain “The verb
translated ‘speaking the truth’ is aletheuo,
which means to speak, deal, or act truthfully.”
“The verb refers to being true in the widest sense and is hard to
translate into English. Yet in Galatians
4:16 it seems to especially emphasize preaching the gospel truth (within the
context of a truthful and authentic Christian life).” Authentic believers who are living the
Christian life are marked by love, and so they will not be deceived by someone
who is teaching falsehoods concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ or other
falsehoods that Satan tries to use others to believe. They will be living authentically and they
will be proclaiming the true gospel to a deceived and a deceiving world,
something that is certainly very much needed in the 21st century.
The
wonderful things that God has equipped the church with, that is the people who
are a part of the church who receive gifts from the Spirit of God will have a
desire to use those gifts in their church, and to also reach out in love around
them to be able to share Christ with a dying and lost world. MacArthur adds “We are not gifted and edified
in order to be complacent and self-satisfied but in order to do the Lord’s work
of service in building up and expanding the Body of Christ. In love is the attitude in which we
evangelize (cf. 3:17-19; 4:2; 5:1-2.”
We
will conclude this SD by looking at a series of verses which show us that Paul
was an example for such love:
“But we proved to be gentle
among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having thus a fond affection for you, we were
well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own
lives, because you had become very dear to us.
For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and
day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of
God. You are witnesses, and so is God,
how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers;
just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one
of you as a father would his own children, so that you may walk in a manner
worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. (1 Thess.
2:7-12; cf. 2 Cor 12:15; Phil. 2:17; Col. 1:24-29).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today:
One of the things that I dislike very much is seeing the Pharisees
actions as seen in the four gospels, how they are so proud of what they think
they have, and how much better they think they are because of being sons of
Abraham. Jesus told them that they were
not spiritually sons of Abraham. I never
want to act proudly about what I really had nothing to do with receiving from the
Lord, that is my salvation. Paul writes “8
For it is by grace that you are saved, through faith. This does not depend on anything you have
achieved, it is the free gift of God; 9 and because it is not earned no man can boast about it
(Eph. 2:8-9 Phillips). I always want to
remember this truth.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Humility has much to do with the truth found
in Ephesians 2:8-9, as I continue trusting the Lord to work in my heart to be a
humble man.
Today’s quotation, and this one is from
Gordon Lindsay “Never dig up in unbelief what you have sown in Faith.”
4/10/2019 9:53 AM
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