Beyond Feeling

Daily Scripture Reading – Galatians 5

Verse of the Day – Ephesians 4:19
who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Devotional Thoughts
We have been learning from Ephesians 4:17-19 how not to walk. If we are to follow Christ, to answer the gospel call and come after Him, then we cannot and must not (and will not) walk like the “rest of the Gentiles” walk – that is, a saved man will not live like a lost man!

The natural man, who is carnal, lost, and dead in his sin is a man who walks in the futility of his mind, having his understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, ignorant of the truth and blinded by a hard heart.

As if this were not bad enough Paul continues in Ephesians 4 to tell us how the lost man walks. We have already seen the Scriptures establish the total depravity of sinners. We see clearly that there is no hope found for the mind of fallen men as if they had some good in them or some ability to even desire to be right with God on their own. But beyond the futility of the fallen mind Paul says that the lost are past feeling.

The term means literally that the man without Christ is not just hard hearted, he is in his whole being past feeling, beyond sensitivity to spiritual things, he is calloused and rock hard. He is not just lost, he is utterly and hopelessly lost. He is far past any ability to even turn and look to Christ for salvation. He is dead in his sin.

We are told elsewhere in Scripture that these people are suffering from a seared, defiled conscience (1 Tim 4:2; Titus 1:15) that leads them to embrace and encourage sinful behavior. They in their hearts actually do know that God exists and that He is holy. They also know that God disproves of their sin. And yet they are so far past feeling that they gladly embrace and encourage wanton sinfulness (Rom 1:32).

To be seared by a hot iron is just as it appears. If you placed you hand on a hot piece of iron right out of the blacksmiths furnace it would only be a few seconds before there would be no feeling left. The utter and immense pain would soon give way to the absence of all feeling whatsoever. The hot iron would kill the nerve endings and the burn would be so bad that the flesh on our hands could no longer feel anything at all.

This is what the carnal man has done to his conscience. He has so embraced his sin and he so desires to please only himself that he sins to the point that his conscience is past feeling. At this point we are told that God gives him over to his sin – He turns him over to be ruled and dominated completely by his sinful desires.

And in fact, Ephesians 4:19 goes on to say that these “gentiles” give themselves over to sensuality and greed. The term sensual (lewd) means the absence of moral restraint in fulfilling lust (see 1 John 2:15-17). And greed refers to the attitude that declares, “Give me what I want, NOW!”

This is the ultimate idolatry. Men and women who in their hearts know better relish the thought of living for self and denying God. They make a god of self, their flesh rules – it dictates from the throne of self will and the result is absolute self indulgence. What self wants, self gets. Whether it is good or bad, in terms of being beneficial or harmful to their very bodies, they give in to every whim and want. Every craving screams for fulfillment and nothing is spared in spoiling the flesh.

A glaring and obvious example of sensuality and greed is seen in how we spend our money as a nation. Evangelist Leonard Ravenhill stated emphatically that America had two chief false gods – the idols of Sports and Entertainment. Just look at the amounts of money, time, and effort spent on sports and entertainment! This coming weekend how many millions of dollars will be spent for 2 hours of cheap thrills by people staring at a movie screen? How many millions will be spent on football or other sports?

And while sports and entertainment may have their proper place we must not be deceived and lured into this false belief that it is a good thing that we devote so much time, energy, and money to these pursuits for self pleasure and gratification.

Another false god that Ravenhill was aware of and that obviously has joined these other two at the head of false worship by our nation is the false god of pornography. This “industry”, which used to be an illegal business, is now an $8 billion plus annual component of our nations economy. And they are simply giving people what they want!! Lust leads to slavery and idolatry leads to destruction! And yet we are a nation that has learned in these three endeavors to use other human beings for our own selfish gratification and then discard them when we are done.

It is interesting that the mind of the unregenerate man is futile (never succeeding), his understanding is darkened, his feelings seared, and his life controlled by unquenchable sensuality and greed. That means in reality that his life is a living hell! Listen to this, because this may be a new idea to many people. We often think of hell as a place where the damned are tormented by the devil and the demons, but in truth hell was created for the devil and demons, so they do not rule, they are the chief prisoners of this dungeon of God’s wrath.

But what is so tortuous about hell for the lost man who has died? Is it the fire? The worm that never dies (signifying the reality that to be in hell is to be always dying and yet never completely dead!!)?

Let us read Isaiah 29:8:

It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, and look—he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is still empty; or as when a thirsty man dreams, and look—he drinks; but he awakes, and indeed he is faint, and his soul still craves: so the multitude of all the nations shall be, who fight against Mount Zion.

Hell will find this man full of all his evil lust and wicked desire, craving and desiring and yearning and longing for gratification of his fleshly sinful desires – but there will be no fulfillment or gratification – only the unfulfilled, futile desire of his fallen mind. That is hell!

Read that again would you? Hell is a place of horrible torments suffering the justice and wrath of God toward our sin and part of that torment is found in that the sinful man still craves sin and yet cannot fulfill his desire!

What then can we do? Where can we go to be delivered from this horrible fate? There is only one remedy for the hard heart and the seared conscience. There is only one solution to the lewd and sensual greed that drives the carnal mind. There is only one way for the futile darkened mind to be renewed, restored, and be brought to bear good and lasting fruit.

Remember that the Word of God is a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces! (Jer. 23:29). Do you know what it means to be “broken?” What is the importance of brokenness? How is one broken? We will cover these things tomorrow. For now, this verse demonstrates for us vividly the need for conviction by the Holy Spirit in our conversion. In fact, I would be so bold as to proclaim that without conviction there is no conversion.

Let me state that again to be clear. There can be no conversion of sinners without first there being the conviction of sin. These self help new age soft and sissy false prophets and cultic preachers leading seeker sensitive emerging church growth mega religious clubs are peddling a false gospel, a false christ, a false hope, a false salvation, a false church, and a false pathway to conversion. Those who refuse to use the Word of God in such a way that the Spirit brings conviction to bear on sinners driving them to repent or perish are nothing but blind leaders leading the blind and they have already both fallen into the ditch of dead faith, bad doctrine, and self indulgences that pave the broad road to hell.

We, as followers of Christ, cannot walk as the Gentiles walk for they are past feeling, given over to their sin and greed, practicing lewdness and all sorts of wicked self fulfillment. To walk like this is to deny Christ, for in Him we are a new creation. In Him we find the death of self and true satisfaction as we hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Links for Further Study
(links to study each daily topic in more detail if you have the desire and the time)

Of the Anger and Wrath of God by John Gill
Heaven and Hell by Charles Spurgeon

Bible Reading For Further Study
Psalm 9:17; 55:15; Prov 27:20
Habakkuk 2:5; Matt 10:28; 23:25, 33

Recommended Songs for Worship
Awakened by Sinai’s Awful Sound
Jesus, My Advocate Above

For Thanksgiving

Five Keys to a Grateful Heart - Eph 5:4; 1 Thess 5:14-22

Darkened Understanding

Daily Scripture Reading – Romans 1

Verse of the Day – Ephesians 4:18
having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

Devotional Thoughts
We have seen that if we are to walk in truth then we must not walk as the Gentiles walk, that is, as men who are without Christ walk. We were, before Christ, also Gentiles. We were lost, children of wrath (Eph 2:1-3) who walked in the futility of our minds (Eph 4:17).

And we see next in Ephesians 4:18 that these Gentiles, these people who are walking in the futility of their mind, also have a darkened understanding. They cannot discern. As we work through this verse today we will see that a futile mind combined with a darkened understanding leads to continued alienation from God, ignorance of the truth, and a hard heart. It is no wonder then that the natural man cannot receive the things of God.

To say that the lost have a darkened understanding is to refer to their inability to grasp truth because they are void of the light. In fact, it is quite literally a continual condition of spiritual darkness. Beyond even the absence of Christ, who is the light of the world, this is utter and absolute darkness. There is no divine spark, no ray of hope, no burst of sunshine from the innate goodness of human beings. No, left on our own without the intervention of Christ we are not just in the darkness – we are darkness!

Ephesians 5:8 makes it clear:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Men without Christ are the absence of light. They are unholy, depraved, dead in sin, bound to sin, slaves of sin, able only to sin and unable to not sin! They are deep and utter darkness, void of the light of truth.

1 John 1:5-6 tells us, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” God is light. We, before Christ, are darkness. Opposite ends of the light spectrum. We have no light in and of ourselves.

The deeper truth here too is that if we claim to be His, if we claim to be in the light, but live like darkness, then we are at best liars and at worst self-deceived. We cannot claim to be light, or anywhere near the light, if our walk is full or darkness!

Romans 1:21 tells us that “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” There again we see that those who do not glorify God, those who rebel against Him, become futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts (understanding) are darkened.

This darkened understanding then perpetuates being alienated from the life of God. God and His Word and Ways are strange to the lost. His wisdom is counted as foolishness. The command to be righteous and holy is not only impossible but does not even interest the natural man. He is an enemy of righteousness and he is most unholy.

What kind of life is this? It is the life of a tare among the wheat. It is the life of a withered branch, a fruit tree that bears no fruit and is cut down and thrown in to the fire to be burned. It is the life of an enemy of God.

And because their understanding is darkened and they are alienated from the life of God, they continue to be ignorant of the truth. What truth? The truth of the Bible, and even more importantly Christ Himself who is the Truth. Indeed, to know the truth is to be set free! And these remain in bondage and walk without the truth, in ignorance.

This ignorance is not just a lack of knowing the facts from Scripture about God and eternal life. No, it is more than that. This is an ignorance founded in not knowing Christ at all. Remember that we have studied that one can know about Christ and still not know Him. So here to be ignorant of the truth is to not know Christ or His Word.

And how does a person who is ignorant of the truth live? Like a Gentile!! And we are not to live as if we do not know the truth. How ridiculous to think that we would know Christ and then live in such a way that it would appear that we did not know Him. That is a perfect definition of taking the Lord’s name in vain. To claim Him as Lord and Savior and yet to live as if we did not know Him. To live as though we were our own god!

We see then that the lost man walks in such a way that he has a futile mind and a darkened understanding which serve to alienate him from the life of God and keep him bound in ignorance. And all of this produces a hard heart.

The term used here “blinded” means a hardened heart. The lost man has a blind, hard heart. It cannot see the light and is stumbling in the darkness. It is hard to the truth and to reality. It is a heart that is insensitive to truth and the Word of God. And we know from Scripture that God can harden hearts. What some fail to realize is that we can also harden our own hearts too. How? By walking in the futility of our own fallen minds.

Proverbs 3:5-8 explains it this way:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.

When we lean on our own understanding and fail to walk by faith we have begun to walk like the Gentiles walk and we will soon fall into darkness, ignorance, and sin. We must fight against hardening our hearts.

The Word of God asks us, “Why do you harden your hearts?” And when we look at all that has been given to us in Christ we must echo the question, “Why indeed?”

In closing today we learn that this verse demonstrates for us the need for the Holy Spirit to convince us of our sin. He must enlighten our understanding to the truth of our sinfulness and depravity. For without His help we would only ever be bound in darkened, alienating, heart hardening ignorance of the truth.

Links for Further Study
(links to study each daily topic in more detail if you have the desire and the time)

Sinners Bound with the Cords of Sin by Charles Spurgeon
Man’s Utter Inability to Rescue Himself by Thomas Boston

Bible Reading For Further Study
Exodus 10:1; 14:17; Joshua 11:20; 1 Samuel 6:6; Psalm 95:8
Matthew 13:15; 19:8; John 12:40; Acts 28:27; Hebrews 3:8, 15; 4:7

Recommended Songs for Worship
I Lift My Heart to Thee
Light After Darkness

The Futility of Their Mind

Daily Scripture Reading – Romans 8

Verse of the Day – Ephesians 4:17
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

Devotional Thoughts
We are studying Ephesians 4:17-32 as we continue to learn to walk in truth and in this study we have started with the fact that there is a difference between people who are saved and those who are not. The redeemed we are told in Scripture have the mind of Christ. They have the ability to meditate on the Word of God and have the Spirit by that use the Word to transform them and renew their minds. But the lost, those who do not know Jesus Christ, have minds that are futile, darkened, ignorant, and blind.

That is quite a statement to make, isn’t it? But it is true. We have been admonished not to walk as the Gentiles walk. We are different. They do not know Christ, they have not believed, they have not repented, they have not been born again, redeemed, or converted. And the Bible tells us in plain and clear terms what we need to know about the minds of fallen and lost men.

Their minds are full of are darkness (Eph 5:8), enmity against God (Rom 8:7), poisoned (Acts 14:2), debased (Rom 1:28), set on the things of the flesh (Rom 8:5), blinded (2 Cor 3:4; 4:4), vainly puffed up (Col 2:18), corrupt (1 Tim 6:5; 2 Tim 3:8), defiled (Titus 1:15), unstable (James 1:8), and finally as we will study today, futile (Eph 4:17).

We could spend a lot of time on these characteristics of the mind of a lost man, but suffice it to say that we should always be discerning and test what a lost person says against the truth of Scripture. Why do we turn to TV psychologists and talk show divas to learn how to live? What do they know of the Word of God? We often forget just how different we are from the lost.

Because we are saved part of our highest duty to God is to love Him with all our mind (Luke 10:27). This can only be accomplished by a redeemed mind, a mind subject to the Spirit for the Spirit illuminates the Word of God so that we might understand and obey it. On our own, as lost men, we do not have the mental capability to truly understand or apply the Word of God to our lives. The work of the Spirit in illumination is absolutely necessary.

This by the way is one of the fallacies of the idea running amok within certain segments of Christianity that teaches that all we need to do to save our country is to get everyone to live by the Bible. Whether through legislation or other means there are those who honestly believe that if we all just do what the Bible says (regarding morality) then things will be much better than they are. I have heard of businesses and sports teams that have decided that things will be done in their organization based on what the Bible teaches.

But here is what is being missed – if we do not have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, illuminating the Word to our minds, then we cannot understand or obey that very Word! The trouble is not that we need to get people to do what the Bible says – the trouble is that we need to get the lost saved!! Without regeneration there is no Biblical morality for without Christ there is no truly good motive or action. Those who believe that lost men can be blessed by doing what the Bible says – without faith and without repentance and without obedience to the gospel first – must be taken first to Romans 8:7-8 –

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But let us look now at this phrase from Ephesians 4:17:

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

A fallen mind is a futile mind. No matter the wonders it can behold or the “good” it can accomplish for the benefit of mankind, it is all utter futility in light of eternity. Only what is done for eternity will last. And only the things that Christ accomplishes in and through His people will have any lasting eternal value.

The term futility means “failing to produce the desired results, never succeeding.” No matter what seems to happen, it is always futile, meaningless, and unsuccessful.

Those who have a futile mind are described as those who see the things of God as foolishness. According to 1 Corinthians 2:14 the natural man (with his futile mind) cannot know or receive the things of God because in order to partake of those things we must have spiritual discernment. Likewise Colossians 2:18 tells us that the futile mind of fallen men is vainly puffed up, full of falsehood, and deceptive. It is the fallen mind that tries to cheat us out of our eternal reward.

Those who have a futile and defiled mind cannot do any good! Listen to this – this is important. We often think it terms of good and evil but we fail to see that some things that appear to be good are actually not good! What makes the difference?

Titus 1:15 says, “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” If a person is lost, defiled, carnal, natural, dead in their sin then nothing is pure to them or from them. Even their mind and conscience is defiled.

Sadly many lost men think that they have it all figured out. They can explain away the miracles of the Bible, the existence of God, and they can even confuse people into thinking that good is evil and evil good – or worse, that there is no distinction between good and evil at all because truth to them is all relative and situational.

They do think that they have it all figured out, and contrary to the testimony of God Himself as it is recorded in His Word, they think that they are inherently good and pure. Proverbs 16:2 tells us though that when a man thinks he is pure it is ultimately God who weighs the spirit.

A look at Ecclesiastes 1:2 also reveals to us that left on our own the only logical and right conclusion that we can make about life without God is that such a life is nothing but vanity. Futile. Meaningless.

This shows us then the need for illumination in the conversion of sinners! Unless the Holy Spirit illumines our mind with truth, we cannot escape the folly and futility of our depraved minds. There is no figuring the truth out, there is no understanding, there is no wisdom, there is no good without Christ. Without Him, without having the mind of Christ, without being transformed by His Word and renewed by His Spirit, our minds are futile.

This proves for us then that there is nothing truly and really good outside of Christ. For the man without Christ walks in the futility of his mind. And why on earth would we want to walk like that?

Links for Further Study
(links to study each daily topic in more detail if you have the desire and the time)

Human Depravity by RC Sproul
Man’s Natural Blindness in the Things of Religion by Jonathan Edwards

Bible Reading For Further Study
Rom. 1:28, 8:5, 7; 1 Cor. 2:14; Col. 2:18; Titus 1:15
Eph. 5:8; Acts 14:2; 2 Cor. 3:4; 4:4; 1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Tim. 3:8

Recommended Songs for Worship
Mindful of Our Human Frailty
May the Mind of Christ, My Savior

The Truth about Ethnicity

Daily Scripture Reading – 1 Peter 4

Verse of the Day – Ephesians 4:17
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind…

Devotional Thoughts
“This I say, therefore,” – what is the therefore there for? In the context of Eph. 4:1-16 we are to walk worthy of our calling in Christ Jesus and walk in unity. Therefore, as a result of walking as we are expected and empowered to walk, we will not be walking like the rest of the Gentiles, but will walk in a distinct manner! We will walk in truth.

These next few verses this week tell us how not to walk, how not to live, think, act, and speak. We find here insight into how those who hate God live and think. Let us start then with identifying who it is we are not to walk like.

The verse says that we are to “no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles”. The Greek word here is ethnos, which is translated quite obviously as “ethnic.” It is used to compare ethnicity.

Usually when the word is used it compares the Jewish people to the Gentile peoples. At times the word is translated “nations”, referring to those kingdoms and nations that are not part of the nation of Israel. But there is also a usage, determined by context, that reveals the use of this word to differentiate between the saved and the lost. Those who are in Christ are heirs to the promises made to Abraham and as such are the true Israel of God. (see Galatians 3 and especially Romans 9:6-7). In Abraham, all the nations of the world have been blessed as God’s people are called and redeemed from out of every tongue, tribe, and nation of the earth.

In other words, salvation does not belong to one “race” of people. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” (Rom 1:16). The Scriptures in fact are full of evidence that God from before the beginning had determined to save people from many ethnic backgrounds and cultures. The gospel was meant for both Jew and Gentile.

And here it makes it clear that there is an “ethnic” difference between the saved and the lost, the righteous and the unregenerate! Our citizenship is no longer in a Jewish state or a Gentile nation, but in heaven. Our nationality has changed in Christ. And as such, there should be no distinction to us between Jew and Gentile. In Christ we are one Body, one people, one church.

Many church planters are taught first to work up a demographic profile for those that they wish to reach with the gospel message in planting a new church. Well I have news for them – there are only 2 demographics that matter. The saved and the lost. And the saved are to preach the gospel to the lost. What demographic is the church supposed to focus on and reach out to? Those who need the gospel. Sinners. And “all have sinned.”

It is high time that we in the Church of Jesus Christ learned that Jesus has indeed “broken down the middle wall of separation” that existed between Jew and Gentile. Listen to what Paul wrote earlier in Ephesians 2 about this very thing:

11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

We, who were “once Gentiles in the flesh”, not Jewish, but Gentile by birth, we were without Christ, aliens to the Kingdom of God, strangers to God’s working in the Covenants of Scripture, being without hope and without God. We were the world, in the sense that we were not His people.

“But now” it says, now in Christ we were we afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. There is the distinction. Those who have been forgiven through the blood of Christ and those who have not. This is the only classification of ethnicity that we are to ever be concerned with now.

Paul continues:

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

He is our peace. Where once was racial enmity and wars and fighting, now we are one people. He has broken down any walls that separate us. He has made peace between men, reconciling sinners to God, giving us peace with Him and with each other.

We now as one people, as one body, have access to God together through one Spirit – the Holy Spirit who indwells us. Above all nationalistic patriotism, above all commitments to our governments and lands, above all that this world has to offer us we are to understand that we who are members of the Body of Christ are part of a Kingdom, a nation, a people whose citizenship is in heaven. We belong above all else to God first, and then to each other. Our first concern, far above nationalism, should be concern and love for the church around the world wherever we find it.

Paul also tells us:

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

We are fellow citizens in the household of God. He is our Father. And His house is being built upon the foundation of the gospel and the Word of God given by the apostles and prophets, of which Christ is the cornerstone.

And look at the wording here – “being fitted together” and “in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit”. Sound familiar? It is no wonder then when in chapter 4 Paul instructs us concerning church growth, as we have studied, that he uses the same terminology. We are being fitted together, growing in grace, being built up in Christ.

The church, the people of God, the redeemed – we are being fitted together from out of various different nationalities and ethnicities. Though different and at times even enemies to each other before salvation, Christ in His Body has abolished the enmity, He has removed that which separates us, and we are ONE people.

It is indeed time that the church came to see that we are one family, one body, one church. Not at the expense of doctrine or truth, for it is the truth of sound doctrine that gives us our only true foundation for real unity. But we must look beyond our nation, our earthly citizenship, and we must stand up for the church around the world. Of course the best and most effective way to stand up for them is to kneel in prayer for them as we plead with God to protect, embolden, and to grow His people wherever they are.

The bottom line for us today is that there is no place in the church for racism, prejudice, bigotry, national pride, or hatred for those of another ethnic group. For the only ethnicity we are to be concerned with is the difference between the saved and the lost. And in love for the lost we are to live and preach before them the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Evangelism gives us the opportunity to watch Christ break down those walls that so often separate people. To bring from every tribe, tongue, and nation His people, our fellow members of the Body of Christ.

Links for Further Study
(links to study each daily topic in more detail if you have the desire and the time)

Christianity and Culture by J. Gresham Machen
Class, Culture, and Ethnic Identity in Christ by John Piper

Bible Reading For Further Study
Gal 1:15-17; 2:8-9; 3:8, 14
1 Timothy 3:16; 2 Timothy 4:17

Recommended Songs for Worship
One There Is Above All Others
All Creatures of Our God and King

Doing Your Part

Daily Scripture Reading – 1 Timothy 1

Verse of the Day – Ephesians 4:16
…from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Devotional Thoughts
As we have studied through Ephesians 4:1-16 in this series Learning to Walk we have seen that it is Christ who builds His church. We have examined the tools and methods that He has chosen to use to accomplish the building of His House. In fact, we learned that the term “edification” means “to build a house” and we have seen how He edifies His church.

Before we move on then to the next section of text and begin the next part in our series Walking in Truth (Eph 4:17-32) I wanted to look for one more day at Ephesians 4:16. There is so much here in this verse that shows us just how it is that Christ accomplishes the edifiying of His bride. So today let’s take this verse apart phrase by phrase and see what we can learn about God’s program for real church grwoth.

…from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

the whole body

It is the whole body that is growing! The whole body is edified. We often only think about the church on the local level. While it is true that much of what we have studied these last few days applies specifically in the practice of local congregations we cannot forget the rest of the body.

We see the evangelical scene here in the West and we wonder sometimes if the church is dying. We wonder how she can go on so infested with weak doctrine, apathetic practice, and heretical traditions. On a smaller scale we may also wonder how there can be a church on every corner in our town and also at the same time wonder how 90% of them can even call themselves a church and keep a straight face.

But let us remember that the church is bigger than just our own local congregations. And just because a group of people put a sign on a building that identifies them as a church does not mean that they are a part of the body of Christ. And to make the point we see from the text that the true church, the real body of Christ is growing and bearing fruit. If a group of people called a church is not growing and maturing in the faith and is not bearing good fruit then they prove that they are not a church, for Christ is building His whole church.

Let us also never forget those other congregations around the world with whom we share this relationship as adopted children of God. I am pleased to be able to interact with churches of like faith in places in England, Malaysia, Signapore, Australia, India, Canada, and in other nations all around the planet. And let us never forget those members of the body of Christ who live and worship where it is forbidden by the local governments and others hostile toward Christ. Let us pray for the persecuted church as we all together grow in grace.

joined and knit together by what every joint supplies

We, the whole body, and we on the local level, are joined and knit together. This means literally that we in the church are being fitted together. Technically speaking it is being taught and learning together in a way that brings us together in our understanding of truth. We are fitted and united around the truth, around what we believe.

Notice too that this fitting and uniting comes by means of what every joint supplies. The term joint there means “bond”. Every place that we are joined, or bonded, is a further step we have taken in unity. It is a deeper relationship, a closer walk, a more intimate trust between members of the body of Christ.

Our obedience, our love, our fellowship, our service, our sacrifice – these are all “bonding” experiences where we are used to grow the church. If your church is divided, or splitting, or breaking into factions then it is likely that the members of the church are failing to do their part in the work of church growth. Because growth here is referred to as being fitted and united, and this takes time and effort, willingness and teachability.

according to the effective working by which every part does its share

It is reiterated here that every part does its share when it comes to being fitted and united. This reminds me of a few verses. The Bible is clear that we are not to be troublemakers or busybodies, but instead we are to be at peace with others (as much as it depends upon us) and we are to bear one anothers burdens and even put up with each other! We are to be quick to forgive and eager to reconcile.

The phrase here also tells us that each part does its share effectively if we are to grow. Ineffective work is just that, ineffective. But here each part does its share working effectively – accomplishing what we are equipped to accomplish.

A church member cannot work effectively without being properly equipped. And who does the equipping? Remember? Elders and teachers in the church are given by Christ to equip the saints. And equipped saints who actually do what they have been taught to do work effectively when it comes to unity and growth.

The opposite sadly is all too true, where pastors do not equip but instead entertain, and where members do not work effectively but instead just act as spectators the church does not really grow. It dies. The truth is abandoned. And the Spirit leaves! Church growth is not a reference to having more people this week than last week come and sit to see the show!! Church growth is about every member being equipped to do the work of service, the work of ministry to God and to each other, and then effectively doing it.

causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love

And why then does the church grow? So that the church can be built up in love. There is the goal, the aim, the purpose, the meaning of it all. Church growth is about the body of Christ loving Him with all that they are and loving each other as themselves. Church growth is in fact proof that we are His for as we hear and obey His Word the body is matured and united and fitted together for this one ultimate purpose – to love and glorify God.

Paul wrote to Timothy and told him that “the purpose of the command is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5). The law has been given for this purpose – so that as we are empowered and motivated to obey the Word of God we may then love Him and love others with a maturing love – a love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

The end result of true church growth is a church that really and unreservedly loves Jesus Christ. And as the Word is used to equip us and motivate us, as we obey it, then we see that the result is that our love for Christ and each other is a true unconditional and lasting love. It is a love that comes first from a pure heart (forgiven) and is magnified by a good conscience (free from indwelling sin and guilt) and is ultimately expressed in an unfeigned faith (absolute and unfailing trust in Christ).

Let us not ever forget that to love Christ is to obey Him! So a growing church is an obedient church and an obedient church is a church that loves God and each other in word and deed. Are you doing your part?

Links for Further Study
(links to study each daily topic in more detail if you have the desire and the time)

THIS IS A MUST READ —>Preach the Word by John MacArthur as posted on Steve Camp’s blog.

also see: The Ties that Bind by John MacArthur

Bible Reading For Further Study
Matthew 24:34-40; Mark 12:28-33
John 14:15, 21; 1 John 2:3-5; 5:3; 2 John 1

Recommended Songs for Worship
What Wondrous Love Is This?
Whatever My God Ordains Is Right

Do You Know the Difference?

Daily Scripture Reading – John 8

Verse of the Day – Ephesians 4:15-16
…but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Devotional Thoughts
As the church grows the Body is growing up in Christ. This means of course that church growth starts with people coming to know Christ. To “know Christ” – as I look back through the devotions over the last few weeks I keep seeeing this phrase appearing in our studies. And I think that before we move on we need to make a point very clear. It is not enough to know about Christ. We must know Him. This is a personal, intimate relationship based on trust (faith) and love (obedience).

Often people today think that it is enough to know about God or about Christ or about the Bible. But those who only know about do not really know Jesus! Do you know the difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus?

I want us today to read an excerpt from AW Tozer’s book The Pursuit of Man, from chapters 5-6 (pages 55, 66-71, 74). Listen to how he writes about this distinction:

“In religion more than in any other field of human experience a sharp distinction must always be made between knowing about and knowing. The distinction is the same as between knowing about food and actually eating it. A man can die of starvation knowing all about bread, and a man can remain spiritually dead while knowing all the historic facts of Christianity. ‘This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.’ (John 17:3) We have but to introduce one extra word into this verse to see how vast is the difference between knowing about and knowing. ‘This is life eternal, that they might know about thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.’ That one word makes all the difference between life and death,for it goes to the very root of the verse and changes its theology radically and vitally.

“God made man in His own image and placed within him an organ by means of which he could know spiritual things. When man sinned that part of him died. ‘Dead in sin’ is a description not of the body nor yet the intellect, but of the organ of God-knowledge within the human soul. Now men are forced to depend upon another and inferior organ and one furthermore which is wholly inadequate to the purpose. I mean of course, the mind as the seat of his powers of reason and understanding.

“Man by reason cannot know God; he can only know about God. Through the light of reason certain important facts about God may be discovered. ‘Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.’ (Romans 1:19-20).

“Through the light of nature man’s moral reason may be enlightened, but the deeper mysteries of God remain hidden to him until he has received illumination from above. ‘But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.’ (1 Corinthians 2:14).

“When the Spirit illuminates the heart, then a part of the man sees which never saw before; a part of him knows which never knew before, and that with a kind of knowing which the most acute thinker cannot imitate. He knows now in a deep and authoritative way, and what he knows needs no reasoned proof. His experience of knowing is above reason, immediate, perfectly convincing, and inwardly satisfying.

“‘A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven’ (John 3:27). ‘A man can receive nothing.’ That is the burden of the Bible. Whatever men may think of human reason, God takes a low view of it. ‘Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? (1 Corinthians 1:20). Man’s reason is a fine instrument and useful within its field. It is a gift of God and God does not hesitate to appeal to it, as when He cries to Israel, ‘Come now, and let us reason together.’ (Isaiah 1:18). The inability of human reason as an organ of divine knowledge arises not from its own weakness but from its unfittedness for the task by its own nature. It was not given as an organ by which to know God.

“The doctrine of the inability of the human mind and the need for divine illumination is so fully developed in the New Testament that it is nothing short of astonishing that we should have gone so far astray from the whole thing. Fundamentalism has stood aloof from the liberal in self-conscious superiority and has on its own part fallen into error, the error of textualism, which is simply orthodoxy without the Holy Spirit. Everywhere among conservatives we find persons who are Bible taught but not Spirit taught. They conceive truth to be something which they can grasp with the mind. If a man holds to the fundamentals of the Christian faith he is thought to possess divine truth. But it does not follow. There is no truth apart from the Spirit. The most brilliant intellect may be imbecilic when confronted with the mysteries of God. For a man to understand revealed truth requires an act of God equal to the original act which inspired the text.

“‘Except it be given him from heaven.’ Here is the other side of the truth; here is the hope for all, for these words do certainly mean that there is such a thing as a gift of knowledge, a gift that comes from heaven. Christ taught His disciples to expect the coming of the Spirit of Truth who would teach them all things. He explained Peter’s knowledge of His Saviorhood as being a direct revelation from the Father in heaven. And in one of His prayers He Said, ‘I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.’ ( Matthew 11:25).

“By ‘wise and prudent’ our Lord meant not Greek philosophers but Jewish Bible students and teachers of the Law. This basic idea, the inability of human reason as an instrument of God-knowledge, was fully developed in the epistles of Paul. The apostle frankly rules out every natural faculty as instruments for discovering divine truth and throws us back helpless upon the inworking Spirit. ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-12).

“The passage just quoted is taken from Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians and is not lifted out of context nor placed in a setting which would distort its meaning. Indeed it expresses the very essence of Paul’s spiritaul philosophy and fully accords with the rest of the epistle, and I might add, with the rest of Paul’s writings as we have them preserved in the New Testament. That type of theological rationalism which is so popular today would have been wholly foreign to the mind of the great apostle. He had no faith in man’s ability to comprehend truth apart from the direct illumination of the Holy Spirit.

“I have just used the word rationalism. Otherwise stated, rationalism is confidence in the ability of the human mind to do that which the Bible declares that it was never created to do and consequently is wholly incapable of doing. Philosophical rationalism is honest enough to reject the Bible flatly. Theological rationalism rejects the Bible while pretending to accept it, and in so doing puts out both its eyes!

“From this mortal error fundamentalism is slowly dying. We have forgotten that the essence of spiritual truth cannot come to the one who knows the external shell of truth in his mind unless there is first a miraculous operation of the Spirit within the heart. Those overtones of religious delight which accompany truth when the Spirit illuminates it are all but missing from the church today. Consequently we have been forced to look elsewhere for our delights and we have found them in the dubious artistry of converted opera singers or the tinkling melodies of odd and curious musical arrangements. We have tried to secure spiritual pleasures by working upon fleshly emotions and whipping up synthetic feeling by means that are wholly carnal. And the total effect has been evil.

“Conservative Christians in this day are stumbling over this truth. We need to reexamine the whole thing. We need to learn that truth consists not in correct doctrine, but in correct doctrine plus the inward enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. We must declare again the mystery of wisdom from above. A re-preachment of this vital truth could result in a fresh breath from God upon a stale and suffocating orthodoxy.”

I think that is enough food for thought today. What do you think about that?

Links for Further Study
(links to study each daily topic in more detail if you have the desire and the time)

Trusting Jesus by Pastor Way
Do You Know Him? by Charles Spurgeon

Bible Reading For Further Study
Psalm 23; John 10
Hebrews 8

Recommended Songs for Worship
I Know That My Redeemer Lives
I Know Whom I Have Believed