Ephesians 4:1-24
"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body."
(EPHESIANS 4:25)
"I want to change my plea from 'not guilty' to 'guilty,'" I told my attorney five days after I became a Christian while in the Monterey County Jail in 1989. She advised against it. I was facing a life sentence plus 14 years for my crimes; I'd serve a minimum of 30 years at best.
This was a rubber-meets-the-road time for me: do I admit my guilt, tell the truth and go to prison for much of my life? Or do I keep lying and hope to beat the case? I chose the guilty plea, trusting the Lord would honor my obedience.
Each of us confronts a similar reality: do we admit our guilt from sin or do we put it out of our minds and try to overcome it on our own? The "one body" Paul speaks of is that of Jesus Christ, and it is He who took every punishment for our guilt. The "rubber met the road" when He gave His life for us at Calvary.
In an amazing act of grace, the prosecutor dropped three of my charges, sparing me the 14 additional years. What an unexpected blessing! Isn't that just what God's grace is for us?
INSIGHT
REMEMBER YOU'RE A PART OF THE BODY OF CHRIST AS YOU DECIDE DAY IN AND DAY OUT HOW TO RESPOND TO LIFE'S CHALLENGES.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Exodus 15-16
Psalm 33
Mark 13
Ephesians 4:1-24
New International Version (NIV)
Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ
4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 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.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it[a] says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”[b]
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions[c]? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Instructions for Christian Living
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self,created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Footnotes:
a. Ephesians 4:8 Or God
b. Ephesians 4:8 Psalm 68:18
c. Ephesians 4:9 Or the depths of the earth
"CHRISTIAN" MYTHS ABOUT MONEY
with Dr. Ben Witherington
How are your finances? Does your heart swell with pride or sink with fear at the topic? No matter who you are, Jesus has something vitally important to say to you about money.
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