Saturday 28/9/13

Ephesians 4:23-24 ESV

and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

As Christian, having learn the truth from Christ, we ought to live out the truth. As we learn, the spirit of truth from God will gradually replace our worldly thinking, thus renewing our minds. When our new mind is lived out, we put on a new self. The new self is created according to the teaching of God and the Holy Spirit, so it reflects God's characters which is righteous and holy.

We will not be able to completely put off our old self and put on our new self while in this world and in our weak flesh. Nevertheless, we should strive to align our way to God's teaching, thus live it out. To do so, we need to study the Bible diligently, follow the good models, avoid the pitfalls, and act according to what is taught. The more we live out God's teaching, the more blessed our life become and the more we understand and rejoice in God.

Wednesday 25/9/13

Ephesians 4:20-21 ESV

But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,

As Christian (people of Christ), we are to learn Christ. Men have many speculation about heaven, but most speculation are false. Jesus descended from heaven, so He knows the truth about God and to reveal to men that truth. Therefore,  when we heard about him and were taught in him, we heard the truth and were taught in truth. If we continue to learn from His Word, we will know the truth about God, and it will free us from all false speculation.

Saturday 20/9/13

Ephesians 4:17-19 ESV

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

What is the way of the Gentile who don't know God?
_ Their minds are filled with futile & vain things - e.g. fame & recognition, wealth & money, power & status, showy achivements...
_ Their understanding is darkened by wrong perspective, e.g. the world is created by a random process which the strong destroy the weak.
_ They are alienated from the life of God - the life of peace, hope, love, and faith - because of their ignorance & hardened heart.

With a futile mind, a darkened understanding, an ignorant & hardened heart, they freely follow the desire of their flesh and become callous to their conscience, given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

Tuesday 10/9/13

Ephesians 4:13-14 ESV

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

The goal of God's diverse gifts and diverse roles in the church is to make us united in faith and in knowledge of the Son of God and mature to manhood. Our measuresment is the stature of Christ, our model and the image we ought to conform with.

Wednesday 11/9/13

Ephesians 4:14 ESV

so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

The children do not have the unity and maturity in faith and in knowledge. Therefore, they follow whatever attractive to them, not knowing whether they are sincere truth or cunning deceit. So they are blown to and fro by the winds of doctrine. And we get nowhere in going to and fro.

To avoid this, we need to know the truth, united and matured in faith and knowledge (not by sticking to one way). For that, all of us must do well our roles and use best the gifts God gave us, especially the pastors, teachers and apostles.

Monday 9/9/13

Ephesians 4:11-12 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

As a body has multiple roles, the church - the body of Christ - has different members serving different functionalities. It is God who determines the role that one has, and equips us for service. Therefore, our duty is to find out our gifts and our place to serve in the church. Then we faithfully do it well, just as the eyes, the hands, the feet dutifully do their roles for the body. We also ought to do them quietly, without comparing to others. Serve faithfully and quietly our roles with our gifts like the members of a body as God has designed, that's pleasing to God and fit His ordinance.