Thursday, February 21, 2013 - 3:00 pm

Yesterday I read Ephesians 5-6, and I wanted to look at it again today because there's a lot of good stuff in there which my mind needed to digest. First, I recognized the call to holiness that Paul gives in Ephesians 5:3-18. It's laid out with such clarity that it's hard to see my faith as separate from my actions. How foolish that would be, and has been in the past when I tried to act in a way contrary to my faith. I hear many voices around these days, saying that it's not loving to correct someone's behaviour, that it's not what Christ would do, that it's downright wrong and inappropriate and pushes people away from God. I don't know how wise that sounds to others, but to me it's a load of manure. If I'm living in immorality, impurity or greed for instance, I desperately need to be corrected! It's the most loving and Christlike thing someone could do for me. Ephesians 5:5 clearly says, "For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person - such a man is an idolater - has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." Again, in verse 11, "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." (In context with verse 9, these deeds have no goodness, righteousness or truth to them.) Once more, in verse 17, "Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."
Another thing that caught my eye was chapter 5, verse 4. Now I've read enough of the Bible to understand that the command against taking the Lord's name in vain, and the injunction not to swear, aren't talking about using coarse language, in context they mean something else. However, that doesn't make coarse language acceptable - this verse is clearly warning against it: "Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving." That's something that is not always easy to avoid, but it is important. It's harder to keep our thoughts clean when we allow jokes to slip through the guard we have on our thoughts.
I've already been looking at the subject of how husbands and wives are to treat one another over the last couple of weeks, along with Pastor Kip's sermons, so I'll just point to Ephesians 5:22-33 and say a loud "Amen!" The first 9 verses of chapter 6 make similar points that we can apply to our family and workplace.
Another thing which I'll probably want to take a closer look at later involves the armor of God. The one offensive weapon mentioned is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:17) With this in mind, the next verse makes prayer sound like an offensive, and protective, weapon. What I want to look at more closely, as well as that, is the connection with the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, and since the first item on that list is love, comparing as well the description of love in 1 Corinthians 13. Hmm... lots more exciting study to anticipate!