40 Days Blog - Day 9
Ephesians 4:17-32 - Instructions for Christian Living
It has been said that all sin is some kind of robbery: theft is obviously robbery; murder is robbing someone of their life; lying is robbing someone of the truth; failure to honour parents robs them of due respect; adultery is having someone who doesn’t belong to us; and idolatry robs God of His glory, as of course, does all sin. Then we come to the Fourth Commandment, sabbath rest. By breaking this Commandment, and requiring others to do so, we rob ourselves and others of something given for our own wellbeing. The Sabbath day (a day without beginning and without end, unlike the other six days in the creation story,
Genesis 1:3-2:3) is a pointer to heaven and eternal rest. Ultimately, all sin robs us of our eternal rest, because it alienates us from God.
Drawing from Genesis again, it is helpful to think of Noah’s Ark as an analogy for the church: every creature in the Ark is saved from the judgement of God, all outwith it are lost. Of course, the cramped living conditions caused difficulties, particularly when it is considered that in the Ark were both clean and unclean beasts. In the church at Ephesus there were those who saw themselves as ritually clean (the Jews), and those who were seen as ritually unclean (Gentiles). Paul is adamant (the reason he’s in prison) that it is not necessary for Gentile Christians to become Jews and be beholden to the rituals commanded by Moses.
However, he clearly expects them to keep the Ten Commandments, which are universal; written into creation itself (
Exodus 24:12).
However, as every Christian knows, the war against sin is long and hard. None of us would consider going out in the morning without washing and dressing, taking off our night clothes and putting on our day clothes. Paul instructs Christians to ‘put off’ the old man with his works of darkness, and ‘put on’ the new man with his works of light. This is not just a once in a lifetime act, it needs to be part of our daily routine. And if we stop at putting off the old man without putting on the new man, we leave ourselves very vulnerable (
Luke 11:24-26). We need to get active with ‘works of light.’
At the time of writing the temperature outside is well below freezing; to venture outside requires putting on many underlayers. The underlayers for the Christian include humility, kindness, gentleness and a readiness to forgive. Without these the heart is in danger of growing cold, bitterness and malice can take hold, and in their embrace the spiritual life can be squeezed out of us.
In the previous podcast, attention was drawn to the Lord’s Prayer and the words, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. These words apply to us as individuals and not just to the world around us. Christ’s kingdom extends only as far as we subject ourselves to His reign in our hearts.
A Prayer
Dear Father in heaven, You are pure light, in You there are no shades of darkness. I want to be a child of the light; help me to cast off bitterness, anger and slander, and teach me how to clothe myself in humility, gentleness and kindness; and how to forgive as I have been forgiven.
Amen.
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