Post by Shepherd on Mar 7, 2009 20:44:53 GMT -6
EPH-5-I WALK IN LOVE
EPHESIANS 5:1-2...BE YE THEREFORE FOLLOWERS OF GOD AS DEAR CHILDREN; AND WALK IN LOVE, AS CHRIST ALSO HATH LOVED US, AND HATH GIVEN HIMSELF FOR US AND OFFERING AND A SACRIFICE TO GOD FOR A SWEETSMELLING SAVOUR.
In actual performance the Christian would be guided by love, by obedience to God, by light and by wisdom. Such qualities of conduct are not natural but spiritual and would require the operation of the indwelling Spirit of God.
Did you know that the Christian is called to live his life according to the pattern of Jesus Christ.
Paul continues to urge his hearers to live their lives as Christians. He urge the Christian in just a few words to be followers of God as dear children. Paul does not take much time in this letter to illustrate the application of Christian living, but he does give us a very simple formula for Christians to follow. Put off the old way of doing things; put on the new way of he Lord.
The Christian began in this world as a natural being. He had his own ideas, habits and values. It was a life of self and sin. Then he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Almighty God offered to forgive him, to cleanse him. He put his faith in Christ and was forgiven; he was delivered from his sin. He was set free. Since he would go on living there would still be the old man in the flesh, as well as the new man who was now in the Spirit. Thus the Christian’s problem is how to live, when he has in him the disposition to do as he wishes, as well as the inward guidance to do what God wants him to do. So Paul is writing to help these people. He states it simply in Ephesians 4:22-24 “Put off that which is old and evil, and put on the a which is new and good.” Read Ephesians 4:22-24.
When a person is born again, one of he things that God does for him is to pjt love into his heart. Now the Christian is led to do thing the way God in Christ would have him to do.
When he receives the Holy Ghost it cries out to God, ABBA FATHER. That is the language of a child. It is the way a child would speak to his father when he calls him daddy. Thus with a child’s faith and confidence the Christian is moved to seek the face of God.
We rejoice in the salvation that is in Him. We look up into the presence of God. we know that He loves us and we love Him because He first loved us. We find a joy in following Him. The Christian yearns to please God and searches the Scriptures to find what God would have him do. When Paul writes; BE YE THEREFORE FOLLOWERS OF GOD, he can be understood as saying, “Be little toddlers, toddling after God as dear children”; look up into His face and calle Him, ABBA, FATHER.
Paul urges them to “WALK IN LOVE. this can be done because they are living in love. They will worship and reverence God. Their hearts bow down before Almighty God. They will respect those in authority. They will give elbow room to those around them, being considerate of them. When the deal with the poor, they will be charitable. This is walking in love.
On one occasion when the Lord Jesus was teaching, He declared that according to the law a man was supposed to love God, and to love his neighbor as himself. Jesus of Nazareth told the parable of the Good Samaritan. As this certain Samaritan was journeying he saw a man in the ditch who had been wounded and forsaken. When he looked upon that victim, he has compassion on him. Even so Christ, when He saw us, had compassion of us. This same idea is revealed in Matthew 9:36. BUT WHEN HE SAW THE MULTITUDES, HE WAS MOVED WITH COMPASSION ON THEM, BECAUSE THEY FAINTED, AND WERE SCATT ERED ABROAD, AS SHEEP HAVING NO SHEPHERD.
This is how Christ sees us. This is how He loves us. He sees us and loves us when we are bewildered, and He has compassion on us. This is what WALKING IN LOVE looks like.
Also we can think of the occasion when the leper came to Him and said, LORD, IF THOU WILT, THOU CANST MAKE ME CLEAN. The record it that the Lord looking on him had compassion on him and touched him saying, I WILL; BE THOU CLEAN..LUKE 5:12-13. On another occasion when He was on a hilltop overlooking Jerusalem, He was weeping when He said O JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM...HOW OFTEN WOULD I HAVE GATHER THY CHILDREN TOGETHER , EVEN AS A HEN GATHERETH HER CHICKENS UNDER HER WINGS, AND YE WOULD NOT..MATT.23:37.
Our Lord Jesus Christ looking out upon mankind is moved with compassion upon lost souls. We are deeply moved to remember “As Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us.”
Love in the Bible seldom implies feeling. The word compassion does, and the word pity does, but not the word love. The word love refers to the direction that ones goes and does. If we are doing things in the direction of self there is no love; but if we are doing things for others, that is what love would be to say GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, does not mean He looked it; it does not mean He approved it. But it does say He so loved it. He so cared for it that He gave His only begotten son. He hath loved us and hath given himself for us.
If Christians are moved by the love of Christ, they will be moved to give themselves an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor; that is, a pleasant sacrifice.
The Apostle Paul points out that in the living of His life on earth, Jesus of Nazareth gave Himself as an offering. He offered Himself up to His Father when He said, A BODY HAST THOU PREPARED ME...LO, I COME....TO DO THY WILL. O GOD. HEB. 10:5-7.
He yielded Himself up to God and His doing that was in God’s sight a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor. This is what the Christian is led to do. Following Him, walking along with Christ, following God, the Christian will be led right down the road of self-denial, to yield him self, offering himself to God for the sake of other people. Such obedience will please the Father in heaven.
EPHESIANS 5:1-2...BE YE THEREFORE FOLLOWERS OF GOD AS DEAR CHILDREN; AND WALK IN LOVE, AS CHRIST ALSO HATH LOVED US, AND HATH GIVEN HIMSELF FOR US AND OFFERING AND A SACRIFICE TO GOD FOR A SWEETSMELLING SAVOUR.
In actual performance the Christian would be guided by love, by obedience to God, by light and by wisdom. Such qualities of conduct are not natural but spiritual and would require the operation of the indwelling Spirit of God.
Did you know that the Christian is called to live his life according to the pattern of Jesus Christ.
Paul continues to urge his hearers to live their lives as Christians. He urge the Christian in just a few words to be followers of God as dear children. Paul does not take much time in this letter to illustrate the application of Christian living, but he does give us a very simple formula for Christians to follow. Put off the old way of doing things; put on the new way of he Lord.
The Christian began in this world as a natural being. He had his own ideas, habits and values. It was a life of self and sin. Then he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Almighty God offered to forgive him, to cleanse him. He put his faith in Christ and was forgiven; he was delivered from his sin. He was set free. Since he would go on living there would still be the old man in the flesh, as well as the new man who was now in the Spirit. Thus the Christian’s problem is how to live, when he has in him the disposition to do as he wishes, as well as the inward guidance to do what God wants him to do. So Paul is writing to help these people. He states it simply in Ephesians 4:22-24 “Put off that which is old and evil, and put on the a which is new and good.” Read Ephesians 4:22-24.
When a person is born again, one of he things that God does for him is to pjt love into his heart. Now the Christian is led to do thing the way God in Christ would have him to do.
When he receives the Holy Ghost it cries out to God, ABBA FATHER. That is the language of a child. It is the way a child would speak to his father when he calls him daddy. Thus with a child’s faith and confidence the Christian is moved to seek the face of God.
We rejoice in the salvation that is in Him. We look up into the presence of God. we know that He loves us and we love Him because He first loved us. We find a joy in following Him. The Christian yearns to please God and searches the Scriptures to find what God would have him do. When Paul writes; BE YE THEREFORE FOLLOWERS OF GOD, he can be understood as saying, “Be little toddlers, toddling after God as dear children”; look up into His face and calle Him, ABBA, FATHER.
Paul urges them to “WALK IN LOVE. this can be done because they are living in love. They will worship and reverence God. Their hearts bow down before Almighty God. They will respect those in authority. They will give elbow room to those around them, being considerate of them. When the deal with the poor, they will be charitable. This is walking in love.
On one occasion when the Lord Jesus was teaching, He declared that according to the law a man was supposed to love God, and to love his neighbor as himself. Jesus of Nazareth told the parable of the Good Samaritan. As this certain Samaritan was journeying he saw a man in the ditch who had been wounded and forsaken. When he looked upon that victim, he has compassion on him. Even so Christ, when He saw us, had compassion of us. This same idea is revealed in Matthew 9:36. BUT WHEN HE SAW THE MULTITUDES, HE WAS MOVED WITH COMPASSION ON THEM, BECAUSE THEY FAINTED, AND WERE SCATT ERED ABROAD, AS SHEEP HAVING NO SHEPHERD.
This is how Christ sees us. This is how He loves us. He sees us and loves us when we are bewildered, and He has compassion on us. This is what WALKING IN LOVE looks like.
Also we can think of the occasion when the leper came to Him and said, LORD, IF THOU WILT, THOU CANST MAKE ME CLEAN. The record it that the Lord looking on him had compassion on him and touched him saying, I WILL; BE THOU CLEAN..LUKE 5:12-13. On another occasion when He was on a hilltop overlooking Jerusalem, He was weeping when He said O JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM...HOW OFTEN WOULD I HAVE GATHER THY CHILDREN TOGETHER , EVEN AS A HEN GATHERETH HER CHICKENS UNDER HER WINGS, AND YE WOULD NOT..MATT.23:37.
Our Lord Jesus Christ looking out upon mankind is moved with compassion upon lost souls. We are deeply moved to remember “As Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us.”
Love in the Bible seldom implies feeling. The word compassion does, and the word pity does, but not the word love. The word love refers to the direction that ones goes and does. If we are doing things in the direction of self there is no love; but if we are doing things for others, that is what love would be to say GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, does not mean He looked it; it does not mean He approved it. But it does say He so loved it. He so cared for it that He gave His only begotten son. He hath loved us and hath given himself for us.
If Christians are moved by the love of Christ, they will be moved to give themselves an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor; that is, a pleasant sacrifice.
The Apostle Paul points out that in the living of His life on earth, Jesus of Nazareth gave Himself as an offering. He offered Himself up to His Father when He said, A BODY HAST THOU PREPARED ME...LO, I COME....TO DO THY WILL. O GOD. HEB. 10:5-7.
He yielded Himself up to God and His doing that was in God’s sight a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor. This is what the Christian is led to do. Following Him, walking along with Christ, following God, the Christian will be led right down the road of self-denial, to yield him self, offering himself to God for the sake of other people. Such obedience will please the Father in heaven.
