Unity in the Son (Eph. 4:5)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/7/2019 10:37 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  Unity in the Son



Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 4:5



            Message of the verse:  “5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;”



            In our last SD we looked at unity in the Holy Spirit, and now in verse five we will be looking at unity in the Son, and then in verse six we will be looking at unity in the Father.



            Paul writes that there is one Lord, and of course he is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.  Acts 4:12 tells us “"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.’”  In writing to the Galatians Paul writes “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” (Gal. 1:8).  Then in Romans 10:12 we read “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;” 



            What is Paul talking about when he writes “one faith?”  Paul is not talking about the faith it takes to become a believer or the faith that it takes to live out the Christian life, but he is talking about the body of doctrine revealed in the New Testament.  In true Christianity there is only one faith as Jude writes of in verse three:  “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.”  MacArthur writes “One faith is the content of the revealed Word of God.  Lack of faithful and careful study of His Word, unexamined tradition, worldly influences, carnal inclinations, and many other things fragment doctrine into many varying and even contradictory forms.  God’s Word contains many truths, but its individual truths are but harmonious facets of His one truth, which is our ‘one faith.’”

            Now we move onto “one baptism.”  Let us look again at verse four “4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called.”  Implied here in verse four is the baptism in which the Holy Spirit places new believers into the body of Christ, while in verse five when Paul writes “one baptism” he is referring to water baptism.  Water Baptism is the common New Testament means of a believer’s publicly confessing Jesus as Savior and Lord, something that should be done shortly after a person confesses Jesus Christ as their Savior.  MacArthur writes of this baptism from verse five “This is preferred because of the way Paul has spoken specifically of each member of the Trinity in succession.  This is the Lord Jesus Christ’s verse, as it were.”

            Baptism was extremely important in the early church, although it was not a means of salvation or even a special blessing, but it was a testimony of identity with the unity of Jesus Christ.  When a person is baptized they are not baptized in the name of a local church, a prominent evangelist, a leading elder, or even an apostle as Paul made clear when writing to the Corinthians where he writes “13  Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?  14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. 16 

Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.  17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.”  Just a side note and that is if baptism was something needed for salvation, that is water baptism, then Paul would have baptized everyone right away that he led to the Lord, but water baptism is a picture of what Jesus Christ did for believers as it pictures His death burial, and His resurrection.  MacArthur adds at the end of his commentary on this section “Those who by one Lord are in one faith testify to that unity in one baptism.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can say that I finally got it right when I was baptized for the third time at the first church I attended as a born again believer in Jesus Christ in April of 1978.  It was there that I was baptized in a local church as a born again believer. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To praise the Lord more for the wonderful things that He has done for me, and to continue to learn humility from Romans 12:3 and Ephesians 4:2.

Today’s Quotation:  “Faith: the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepter, in spite of you changing moods” (C. S. Lewis).

3/7/2019 11:19 AM

The Cause of the Worthy Walk (Eph. 4:4-6)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/6/2019 9:49 AM

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  “The Cause of the Worthy Walk”



Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:4-6

            Message of the verses:  “4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5  one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

            In today’s SD we look at the introduction to the last main point from John MacArthur’s 11^th chapter of his commentary on Ephesians.  This will be the last section before Paul begins to write about Spiritual gifts, and so I suppose you could call it the introduction to the Spiritual gifts.  However there is an introduction to this main point and then there are three sub-points under this last main point.

            Notice the seven highlighted “ones” in these three verses.  Everything that is related to salvation, the church, and the kingdom of God is based on the concept of unity and this can be seen as we look at these seven ones.  John MacArthur writes “The cause, or basis, of outward oneness is inner oneness.  Practical oneness is based on spiritual oneness.  To emphasize the unity of the Spirit, Paul recites the features of oneness that are germane to our doctrine and life.

            “Paul does not develop the particular areas of oneness, but simply lists them:  ‘body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, and God the Father.’  His focus is on the oneness of those and every other aspect of God’s nature, plan, and work as a basis for our commitment to live as one.  It is obvious that verse 4 centers on the Holy Spirit, verse 5 on the Son, and verse 6 on the Father.”

Unity in the Spirit:  “4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope of your calling;”

            Paul, in speaking of one body is speaking of one church, only one church which is made up of every person who has or who will accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Denominations don’t matter, nor geographical, or ethnic, or racial body.  There is no Gentile, Jewish, male, female, slave, or freeman body.  There is only the body of Jesus Christ, and the unity of that body is the heart of the book of Ephesians. 

            We mentioned in the introduction of this main point that verse four speaks of the Holy Spirit, and then five is written about the Son, and verse six is written about the Father, and so we can obviously see that there is but One Spirit, which of course is the Holy Spirit of God.  The Holy Spirit of God is possessed by every believer, and so He is therefore the inner unifying force in the body.  Let us look at 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 to show us the believers are individual temples of the Holy Spirit.  “16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.”  These “temples [believers]) are collectively “being fitted together [and are] growing into a holy temple in the Lord,…being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21-22).  We have also learned in our earlier lessons from Ephesians 1:14 the following that the Holy Spirit “who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”  We could actually say that the Holy Spirit is the divine engagement ring (Pledge), who guarantees that every believer will be at the marriage supper of the Lamb which is spoken of in Revelation 19:9 “Then he *said to me, "Write, ’Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’" And he said to me, "These are true words of God.’”

            John MacArthur writes “If all Christians were walking in obedience to and in the power of the Holy Spirit, first our doctrine and then our relationships would be purified and unified.  The spiritual unity that already exists would be practically manifested in complete harmony among the people of God.” 

            Now as we continue looking in verse four we can see that believers are also unified in the “one hope” of their “calling.”  “Our calling to salvation is ultimately a calling to Christlike eternal perfection and glory.  In Christ we have different gifts, different ministries, different places of service, but only ‘one…calling,’ the calling to ‘be holy and blameless before Him’ (Eph. 1:4) and ‘to become conformed to the image of His Son’ (Rom. 8:29), which will occur when we see the glorified Christ (1 John 3:2).  It is the Spirit who has placed us in the one Body and who guarantees our future.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This book of Ephesians has a lot of things for me to digest, and it is many times very difficult, but at the same time it challenges me to understand these truths.  I am also challenged by the statement that John MacArthur wrote “There is only the body of Jesus Christ, and the unity of that body is the heart of the book of Ephesians.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to try to better understand Romans 12:3 and Ephesians 4:2.

Verse that goes with yesterday’s quotation:  “He guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His saints” (Proverbs 2:8).

3/6/2019 10:40 AM

           

PT-2 "Humility" (Eph. 4:3)

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





           

PT-1 "Humility" (Eph. 4:3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/4/2019 12:04 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                          Focus:  PT-1 “Unity”



Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:3

            Message of the verses:  “3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit

through the bond of peace.”

            Once again I want to remind you about the different characteristic elements that begin with humility and then it goes to gentleness, patience, and forbearance and not comes to unity as seen in verse three.  It all begins with being humble, and then you can get gentleness, patience, love and then this last element will result which is unity.  The Greek word for unity is “Spoudazo” and this means to be diligent.  MacArthur says that it “basically means to make haste, and from that come the meanings of zeal and diligence.  One commentator describes it as a holy zeal that demands full dedication.  Paul used the word in telling Timothy, ‘Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15; cf. Titus 3:12-13).”  “11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14  who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 3:11-14 [12-13 highlighted]).

            What is Paul talking about here?  John MacArthur tells his readers what he is talking about, but before that what he is not talking about, and what he is not talking about is he is not speaking of organizational unity, such as that promoted in many denominations and in the ecumenical movement.  So what is he speaking of?  That would be the inner and universal “unity of the Spirit” by which every true believer is bound to every other true believer.  Paul is making sure that this is the unity of the Spirit working in the lives of believers.  This does not come from the outside, for that would be worthless, but it has to come from the inside, and this is manifested through the inner qualities of humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearing love.  This is what we have been looking at for not just a few days. 

            I believe that I have mentioned that what we fine here in Ephesians chapter four is similar to what we find in Romans chapter 12, and that is that in both books Paul begins to explain how to live out the doctrines that he has been talking about in the first part of the book, in the case of Romans it covered the first eleven chapters, and in the case of Ephesians it covered the first three chapters.  Also in both books we see that Paul begins the next chapter by talking about humility as he will then go on to talk about Spiritual gifts.  Also as mentioned Spiritual gifts are also mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and 1 Peter chapter four, and the purpose, or at least one purpose of the Spiritual gifts is for the building up of the church, to keep the church united as we see in our verse for today.  As mentioned it has to come from the inside through the working of the Holy Spirit, and not from the outside as we try to do it on our own.  We have to depend on the Holy Spirit to do the work that God has called us to do as we have mentioned so many times, as we look at Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  God chose us in eternity past, and then Christ came to earth to die in our place, and then the Holy Spirit of God gave us an effectual call that we cannot say no to, and also He gives us the Holy Spirit to live in us to guide us to do the work that He chose for us to do in eternity past as Eph. 2:10 shows us.  So the end result is that God receives all of the glory, as well He should.  Now going back for a moment to talk more about how we cannot do this work on our own without the Spirit of God I want to talk for a moment about the different churches that are found in the second and third chapters of the book of Revelation.  While studying Revelation a number of times I have learned that there are two churches that Christ writes to that He has nothing bad to say about, and then the one church where He has nothing at all good to say about and for with mixed reviews.  If you take away the two that Christ has nothing bad to say about you will find that in the order that they are in it presents a downward spiral in spirituality.  The point that I want to make comes from the first church which is actually Ephesus the church that Paul is writing to in the letter we are studying.  Paul even told the leaders of Ephesus in Acts chapter 20 that they were going to run into spiritual troubles, and by the time that Jesus, through John writes to them in Revelation some 40 years later the downfall had begun.  What was their problem?  Jesus tells them that “they had left their first love,” and that first love was Jesus Christ.  How did this happen?  They started doing things in their own effort and were not depending on the Holy Spirit to lead them which caused disunity to come about in their church and eventually the church fell apart, and if you look at it today in modern day Turkey there is nothing left but ruins.  This is how important depending on the Holy Spirit to give us the bond of peace, causing churches to depend upon Him to lead and guide us into what He desires us to do.

            I prayed diligently before beginning this SD as not only because of the subject but also because there were times when I have to admit that I did some of these SD’s on my own strength, and I want that to stop.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  All of this begins with humility, for I cannot have unity of the Spirit without first beginning with humility and so through the power of the Spirit I believe that this will come about in my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to teach me humility as seen in Romans 12, and Ephesians 4.

Verse that goes with yesterday’s quotation:  Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

3/4/2019 12:51 PM

Forbearing Love (Eph. 4:2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/3/2019 9:30 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus: Forbearing Love



Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 4:2



            Message of the verses:  “2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,”



            We have been looking for some time at the different characteristic elements of the worthy Christian walk and the forth one is “bearing to one another in love” (NIV).  Let us look at 1 Peter 4:8 for an example of how this kind of love is described:  “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”  What this does is that it throws a blanket over the sins of others, not to actually justify or excuse them but to keep the sins from becoming any more known than necessary.  Proverbs 10:12 tells us “Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.”  John MacArthur states “Forbearing love takes abuse from others while continuing to love them.”  I have to say that this can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit for I don’t believe that it can be done without that power from Him.



            We have mentioned from time to time that in the Greek language there are different words that are translated into love in the English language.  The love that shows us what God has done for us as seen in John 3:16, and also in this verse is what is called “agape” love, because agape love gives continuously and unconditionally.  There is another word for love “Eros” and this kind of love is essentially self-love, because it cares for others only because of what it can get from them.  There is another kind of love “Philia love” and this is primarily reciprocal love, love that gives as long as it receives.  However agape love is unqualified and unselfish love, love that willingly gives whether it receives in return or not, and MacArthur adds “It is unconquerable benevolence, invincible goodness—love that goes out even to enemies and prays for its persecutors (Matt. 5:43-44).  That is why the ‘forbearance’ of which Paul speaks here could only be expressed in agape love.”



Today’s quotation:  “Not until we have become humble and teachable…distrusting or own thoughts, and willing to have our minds turned upside down, can divine wisdom become our” (J. I. Packer.



3/3/2019 9:49 PM

PT-2 "Patience" (Eph. 4:2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/2/2019 10:51 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  PT-2 “Patience”



Bible Reading & Meditation                                                              Reference:  Eph. 4:2



            Message of the verses:  “2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,”



            We continue to look at different passages that speak of patience in today’s SD.  James 5:10 “As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.”  We will now look at early verses from the books of Jeremiah and then Isaiah which show us that when God called them to be prophets to the Southern tribes that He told them that no one would believe their messages, and I would think that this would take a great deal of patience to do what they did.  Jeremiah 1:5-19

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." 6 Then I said, "Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth." 7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, ’I am a youth,’ Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak. 8 “Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you," declares the LORD. 9 Then the LORD stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. 10 “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant."

    11The word of the LORD came to me saying, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "I see a rod of an almond tree." 12  Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it." 13 The word of the LORD came to me a second time saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north." 14 Then the LORD said to me, "Out of the north the evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. 15 “For, behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north," declares the LORD; "and they will come and they will set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about and against all the cities of Judah. 16 “I will pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. 17 “Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them. 18 “Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. 19 “They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you," declares the LORD.”

            Next we look at Isaiah’s calling from Isaiah 6:9-12

9 He said, "Go, and tell this people: ’Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ 10 "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed." 11 Then I said, "Lord, how long?" And He answered, "Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate, 12 “The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.”

            In Paul’s ministry he surely was patient, especially with the church at Corinth and also in other places where he ministered where he was willing to endure any hardship, affliction, ridicule, or even persecution in order to patiently serve his Master.  In the book of Acts we read the following which happened soon before he would be arrested.  “"What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’”

            John MacArthur writes “When H. M. Stanley went to Africa in 1871 to find and report of David Livingstone, he spent several months in the missionary’s company, carefully observing the man and his work.  Livingstone never spoke to Stanly about spiritual matters, but Livingstone’s loving and patient compassion for the African people was beyond Stanley’s comprehension.  He could not understand how the missionary could have such love for and patience with the backward, pagan people among whom he had so long ministered.  Livingstone literally spent himself in untiring service for those whom he had no reason to love except for Christ’s sake.  Stanley wrote in his journal, ‘When I saw the unwearied patience, that unflagging zeal, and those enlightened sons of Africa, I became a Christian at his side, though he never spoke to me one word.’”

            We mentioned in an earlier SD that there was not Greek word for humility, and the writers of the NT had to combine two words in order to give us a Greek word for patience, and the reason for this is seen in a quote from MacArthur’s commentary where he writes “Aristotle said that the greatest Greek virtue was refusal to tolerate any insult and readiness to strike back.  But that is not God’s way for His people.  The patient saint accepts whatever other people do to him.  He is ‘patient with all men’ (1 Thes. 5:14), even those who try his patience to the limit.  He is patient with those who slander him and who question his motives for serving the Lord.

            “The patient saint accepts God’s plan for everything, without questioning or grumbling.  He does not complain when his calling seems less glamorous than someone else’s or when the Lord sends him to a place that is dangerous or difficult.  He remembers that God the Son left His heavenly home of love, holiness, and glory to come to earth and be hated, rejected, spat upon, and crucified—without once returning the evil for evil or complaining to His Father.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The only way that I can do the things that the prophets and apostles did and of course what our Lord did is to be filled with His Spirit, understanding that He is the One who has to work through me in order to accomplish what He wants me to do. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to think about humility as we have been looking at in Ephesians and as I have been looking at in Romans 12:3.

Verse to go along with yesterday’s quote:  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves bread in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).

3/2/2019 11:38 AM

           

           

PT-1 "Patience" (Eph. 4:2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/1/2019 2:34 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Patience



Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:2



            Message of the verses:  “2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,”



            We have looked at humility in earlier SD’s and then we learned that gentleness is the outgrowth of humility, and now patience an outgrowth of humility and gentleness.  You can’t have gentleness without humility and you can’t have patience without humility and gentleness.  John MacArthur writes “Makrothumia) patience literally means long-tempered, and is sometimes translated longsuffering.  The patient person endures negative circumstances and never give in to them.”



            I suppose that one of the OT people that may come to your mind as having patience is Abraham.  When Abraham was 75 years old God called him to go to what we call the Promised Land and told him that he and his wife Sarah would have a child.  The writer of Hebrews tells us, “Thus having patiently waited, he obtained the promise” (Heb. 6:15).  As mentioned God promised that He would build a great nation from this 75 year old man and his 70 year old wife, but this did not happen until Abraham was 100 years old and Sara was 95 years old.  In the human mind and body this was impossible, and yet Abraham patiently waited and God did as He promised.  Romans 4:20 tells us “Yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.”



            Another OT saint we can look at is Noah as God told Noah to build an ark because He was going to destroy the earth, and so it took Noah 120 years to build the ark.  Now what we know is that Noah took 120 years to build a very large ark, and he did it on dry ground, and the other things we know is that it never had rained upon the earth before it rained after Noah had finished the ark. 



            John MacArthur writes “IN the chronicle of faithful Old Testament saints in the book of Hebrews, Moses’ patient endurance is mentioned twice.  He chose rather ‘to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing of pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.  By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen’ (Heb. 11:25-27).”



            There are a few more “saints” we want to look at as we continue our study of patience, but I think we will wait until tomorrow because of the lateness of the hour as I am kind of out of my normal routine due to having something to do this morning.



Quotation for Today:  “Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received –fading symbols of honour, trappings of power, but only what you have given:  A full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage” (Francis of Assisi)

3/1/2019 3:00 PM