In our text for this week, the Apostle Paul continues his theme of mutual submission. In the last part of chapter 5, he instructs the church to reflect their submission to Christ first by being submissive to each other in their walk with the Lord. Paul then shares how this submission should be lived out within marriage with “wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord” (v. 22). He then instructs husbands to “love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (v. 25).  

Our faith and submission in Christ are shown and proven in how we relate to those who know us best. In 6:1-4, Paul expands the teaching in sharing children and parents have a responsibility to each other. He instructs children to respond to their parents by “obeying” and “honoring” them.

There is a difference in these actions. To obey means to do as one is told. The child must learn early to obey the parents, not only because they are his parents, but because God has commanded it. However, they are not commanded to disobey God when they obey their parents. Also, adult children are not asked to be subservient to domineering parents. Children are to obey while under their parents’ care, but the responsibility to honor them is for life.  

To honor our parents means to respect and love them. Paul quotes from Moses in this admonition. To the first century Christian who was exposed to the Law of Moses, it was understood that honoring one’s parents meant the children would do so in at least two ways. First, they were to care for their parents as long as they were needed. Second, the children were to bring honor upon the parents by the way they lived their lives.

Christian parents and Christian children will relate to each other with thoughtfulness and love. This will happen when the parents and children put the others’ interests above their own. When we show respect, we show submission.

In 6:4, fathers are instructed to be sensitive in the disciplining of their children. They are told not to “exasperate” them but to “bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (v. 4). Christian parents need the fullness of the Spirit of God so they can be sensitive to the needs and problems of their children.

Parenting is not easy. It takes patience to rear children in a loving, Christ-honoring manner. When discipline is necessary, Paul instructs parents not to provoke their children through anger and frustration, but to act in love—the type Jesus would show in the disciplining of the people he loves. This will help children to grow in understanding of what they did wrong and help them to understand what Jesus is like.

In the churches of the New Testament, a number of slaves were part of the fellowship. Although they were slaves to their masters, the gospel had freed them from their spiritual enslavement to sin.

At the same time there were slave masters who were also part of the fellowship. In 6:5-9, Paul shares how the Christian slaves and their Christian masters should submit to one another. It is worth noting that Paul’s instruction neither condemns nor condones slavery. He is addressing a real issue and way of life in the society and church of the first century.

To the slave, Paul demanded actions that were quite radical. He called for them to obey their masters, to do good work whether or not they were being watched, and to serve as if they were doing it for Christ.  

Paul’s admonition to the slaves of his day certainly can apply to the Christian employee of today. It is God’s will for any Christian employee to do a good job. The Christian’s life and testimony should not distinguish between the sacred and secular. A Christian can perform any good work as a ministry of Christ to the glory of God.

For this reason an employee must do his job “wholeheartedly” (v. 7). As used here, “employers” is a broad term and includes immediate supervisors, those above them and company owners. As Christian employees, we submit to and show respect for those who employ us by getting along with them, by doing good work all the time and by keeping in mind our relationship with the Lord.

Paul completes this passage, by encouraging the Christian masters to treat their slaves in the same way the slaves were instructed to treat them. He urged these Christian slave owners to motivate their slave not by threatening them but by showing attitudes and taking actions that reflect the relationship they both have with Jesus Christ.

As application for today, if we have any employees who look to us for guidance, we should show respect for them with compassionate, fair and impartial treatment that reflects our relationship with the Lord.  

Therefore, Paul encourages us to show respect for our parents, our children, our employers and our employees. If we do this in submission to Christ, we will give the testimony that will honor God and honor those with whom we have the closest relationships.

Remember the bumper sticker several years back that said, “He who dies with the most toys wins”? Not long after that, a Christian-based company came out with one that said, “He who dies with the most toys, still dies.”

They’re funny, and the banter between bumper stickers and t-shirts can be downright comical. The sad thing, in the midst of the humor, is how many people actually take to heart and live out the goal of having the most stuff or the newest stuff.

We see it every day, the pressures of having to have more stuff that we can own, possess and control. Many of us understand this even within our Christian family, because we struggle with it as well. We see what someone else has and begin to imagine what it would be like to have it, and before we know it, we’re consumed with it. We can relate all too well with the rich man in Luke 12:16-20.

Here’s an important point for us today: It’s all God’s anyway. All of it. It’s all his, every penny in your bank account and all the stuff you think you own, which actually was paid for with God’s money. We are called to be managers of it all for God. He wants us to use the things he has blessed us with to draw people to himself. What in the world does God need with jet skis and four wheelers?

How’s this for a bit of a kicker, by God’s perfect design, the only thing you and I are able to have or call our very own is Jesus. Now he certainly is not a possession or thing we can manipulate, but we are allowed to embrace him and say: “He is my Jesus. And I am his.” Doesn’t that really put all the other material things in our lives into perspective?

What do you want? What do you need? You see, want and need are not synonymous, not even close.

My two sons, when they were younger, would see a toy and say, “Daddy, I need that.” In time, we had the discussion about want and need. You and I used to do the same thing when we were younger and our parents had the discussion with us. Perhaps our heavenly Father needs to have the same discussion with us as adults.

So the rich man in the parable found in Luke 12:16-21 says, “I’ve got so much stuff I don’t have enough room to put it all away, so I’ll tear down what I have and build bigger barns.”

Well, okay, as long as you’ve got the time and money, I guess it’s okay. Wait, no it’s not. Think about how much time and money he’s already spent on it, and now he wants to go even further. Do you see the trap? It’s never going to be enough for him. After he fills these barns up, don’t you just imagine he’s going to say, “I’ve got so much stuff I need more room.”

Except God steps in and requires his life of him that very night. God very much saved him from himself. Do you and I see the futility of this in our own lives? What are the things we are spending way too much time and energy on that could be better used elsewhere?

There’s a key point in verse 19 we don’t need to overlook. It’s when the rich man says, “I’ll say to myself, … .” Anything after this is probably not a good thing. Any conversation you are having with yourself and not including others in on, especially God, is not a good conversation.

How many times do we get ourselves into trouble when we have a conversation with the most important person in our lives (ourselves) and then get convinced of something we just have to do? God wants to be in the conversation, his presence and voice should not be negotiable. And our obedience to what he says should be non-negotiable.

Look what happens to the rich man, he loses it all. All that time, energy and resources spent for nothing. God certainly isn’t impressed with it; remember, it’s all his to begin with.

God is so wonderful; he has worked out the plan of salvation and its reward in our lives so that we always are in win-win situations. Paul got it and says as much in Philippians 1:21. Either way or whatever God chooses to do with Paul, they both win. It’s one of the many perks of being God, you win. And as long as you are with God, he makes sure that you win as well.

Of course the challenge for us now is how do we see our current struggle or situation as being a win situation? But that’s for you to walk through with God, trusting and knowing that he is dedicated to your success because it makes him look good to others.  Having hope and trust in God as you walk through your circumstance will allow you to see the win on the other side of it. If you don’t, you will feel like you have lost and been abandoned by God. So, how are you feeling? Like a winner?

Our faith hinges on one fact. “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). Jesus, as the Son of God, is divine. As the son of Mary, he also was human.

In this week’s lesson, John teaches if we are truly saved, we must believe Jesus is everything he says he is. We must have no doubt he is both God and man.

Why we need Jesus to be divine and human

According to the Christian faith, our problem is sin. We sinners worship a God so perfect, sin can’t enter his presence.

In other words, we can’t enter his presence.

Sin creates a giant gap between us and our Creator, so we need to be reconciled to God by the removal of our sins. Yet no ordinary man could accomplish this feat. Only a God-man, both divine and human, could span that gap, wash away our sins and reconcile us to God. This God-man must become the sacrifice for our sins and, at the same time, the high priest who offers the sacrifice.

John the Baptist said of Jesus: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). The offering must be perfect. It must be a man who has actually overcome sin. As the only man who never sinned, Jesus is the unblemished lamb, the one sacrifice worthy of God.

But having the perfect sacrifice isn’t enough. The offering must be made by someone who is able to enter the presence of God. “… He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of creation” (Hebrews 9:11).

It must be made through the Spirit of God. “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14).

And it must remove the sins of all mankind for all time. “Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:23-25). Only a priest who lives forever, as Jesus does, can offer the one true sacrifice.

Why the sacrifice was necessary

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life” (Leviticus 17:11).

Before Jesus’ death on the cross, the blood of animals offered temporary removal of sins. For true cleansing, we needed a God-man, unblemished by sin, to offer himself as a blood sacrifice. Because Jesus’ blood isn’t contaminated by sin, it provides eternal life. His blood offers real atonement and puts us in right relationship with God. But it can only do this if we believe he is who he says he is.

Who do you believe he is?

We live in a world that isn’t comfortable with absolutes. We don’t want to believe a good person may not deserve heaven just because he didn’t believe Jesus was the Son of God. It seems too narrow-minded to say there’s only one way to get to heaven. And it seems gruesome that the one way is through someone’s blood—even the blood of Jesus.

John calls this the spirit of antichrist. Here’s why: Salvation can only be achieved through faith in Jesus. If you don’t understand the truth of who Jesus is, you are anti-Christ. What is the truth? “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).

The enemy’s goal is to confuse the issue. If he can cause us to believe there are many paths to God, he can take our focus off Jesus and weaken our faith. So he spreads messages that are anti-Jesus. He makes us think good works will earn us points with God or that anything spiritual is from God.

Nothing could be further from the truth. John tells us not to “believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

All truth comes from God, and it can only be understood through God. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Only those who are pro-Christ will confess that Jesus is from God. Anyone else will reject the truth.

So what do you believe? In order for your faith to be authentic, you must believe Jesus is who he says he is. You must believe he is fully human and fully God.

Food for thought

Throughout the book of John, Jesus uses seven “I Am” statements. How is each one of these statements true? Have you experienced him in one of these ways?
•    The Living Bread (John 6:51)
•    The Light of the world (John 8:12)
•    The Gate (John 10:9)
•    The Good Shepherd (John 10:11)
•    The Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)
•    The Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
•    The True Vine ( John 15:1)

In our last lesson, the Apostle Paul encourages his readers to be careful in how they conduct themselves. His burden came from the simple realization that Christians are the only Bibles many nonbelievers ever observe and read.

As a Christian obediently lives his life for the glory of Jesus, unbelievers are drawn to the Savior.  In Ephesians 5:21, Paul encourages all believers, out of the reverence for Jesus, to “submit to one another.” Through this mutual submission of believers to each other, unbelievers see something different from what they experience. These observations of contrast allow Christians the opportunity to share the source of this conduct—Jesus Christ.

Paul now brings mutual submission of Christians into the marriage relationship. In 5:22-33, he speaks of an ideal marriage relationship where both partners are believers and mutually submit to one another. When Christians submit to the Lord they become more willing to submit to other Christians.  

There are two reasons Paul gives for this command of submission for the wives—the lordship of Jesus and the headship of the man in Christ. In 5:22, he instructs the wives to submit to their husbands “as to the Lord.” Paul encourages wives to willingly follow their husbands’ leadership in Christ.

Throughout the Bible, we are taught a spiritual man is to be the spiritual head of his family, and his wife should acknowledge this leadership. A man is not to force his wife to submit. Submission has to be a voluntarily act. The husband “earns” this submission by sacrificing for his family as Christ did for his church. The wife is led to sumbit as the result of this sacrificial leadership of the husband (v. 24).

Submission rarely is a problem in homes where both partners have a strong relationship with Jesus and each is concerned with the happiness of the other. This kind of submission keeps order and harmony in the family, while it increases love and respect among members of the family.  

Paul takes twice as many words to give husbands instruction in how they are to relate to their wives in 5:25-30, as he did in his instructions to the wives in the previous paragraph. In these verses, Paul demonstrates a high view of marriage.

Here marriage is not a practical necessity as he states in 1 Corinthians 7:32-38, but a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. To Paul, marriage is a holy union, a living symbol and a loving relationship that needs to be cultivated through tender and sacrificial care.  

In 5:26-27, he describes what it took for Jesus to make the church holy and clean—his sacrifice of his life on the cross. Christ cleanses his disciples, who make up the church, from the old ways of sin and sets them apart for his special sacred service.  

In his lifting married love to the highest possible level, Paul instructs the husbands how they should love their wives. First, as Christ sacrificed everything for the church, the husbands should be willing to sacrifice everything for their wives (v. 25). Second, husbands should make their wives’ well-being their priority (v. 28). Last of all, they are to care for their wives as they care of their on bodies (vv. 29-30). When husbands demonstrate this type of love for their wives, they live out the example Jesus Christ set in how he demonstrated his love for the church.

Paul goes back to creation to remind his readers of God’s plan for husband and wife to be one in verse 31. The union of husband and wife merges two individuals in such a way that little can affect one without also affecting the other. Oneness in marriage does not mean one person loses his or her personality in the personality of the other. It means each person cares enough for the other as though caring for him or herself. This gives freedom to both to anticipate the other’s needs and help the other to reach his or her potential. They complement one another.

Therefore, in 5:31-33, Paul called for husbands and wives to relate to one another in ways that show the picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. Where husbands and wives love and respect each other, they have both healthy marriages and a healthy family life in which to rear children.

If Christian homes are to be a heaven on earth, then the family members have to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. How can we know if we are filled with the Spirit? In 5:15-31, Paul gives us three evidences of the fullness of the Spirit in the lives of believers. They are joyful (v. 19), thankful (v. 20), and submissive (vv. 21-33). God give us Christian homes.

Even though Jesus tells his disciples—and us today—that we will have trouble in our lives, we can take great comfort in knowing that regardless of the situation or circumstance, God will never abandon us. What comfort and peace that should bring you.

And yet when we are in those times of despair and anxiety, we many times forget to call upon him and allow ourselves to be aware of his presence in our lives. Verse 17 of John 14 goes even further as Jesus states God not only will be “with” you in but he takes up residence “in” you as his Holy Spirit. As he does this he is able to speak to the deepest parts of your being and touch your very spirit.

The world around you can be crumbling down and the noise of it can be deafening, but because of God’s position within you, his still small voice can provide you the calming reassuring voice that unmistakably is his.

People talk all the time and speculate about what Jesus would do if he were here walking the earth again. Would he go to your church? What would he say to the people you come into contact with each day? How would he encourage and correct you and your friends? What would he say about how you are spending his money?

The reality is Jesus most certainly is walking the same earth you’re walking and going to the very places you are going to because he is living again in you. Christians can “hear” his Spirit within themselves, urging them to move and speak at different times. When has there been a time that you, without any real foreseeable reason, moved or spoke to someone and it had a profound result?

Peace is something we hear about many times each week and usually it is pertaining to a part of the world that is in conflict and looking for ways to have it resolved under the banner of “peace.”

We need to take note that this isn’t the kind of peace Jesus is talking about in John 14:27. The world’s idea of peace is when the conflict and fighting stops, but there still is known animosity and bad feelings between the two parties. We know this is true because one day two countries can be at “peace” and then one small incident can erupt and throw the two countries into war again.

When Jesus tells his disciples he is giving them his peace, what is he saying? Jesus is speaking specifically about the peace between himself and God the Father. It’s what the Jewish nation had been desiring for thousands of years but never could attain.

Jesus now extends that to his disciples back then and to his followers today. To be at peace is more than simply choosing not to fight. You see that’s not really peace at all, because there still is strife that remains inside. The peace of Christ has the power to truly allow someone to be at peace.

The world has its own ideas of peace; it is ready to offer quick fixes and material things for you to spend your money on because it wants you to buy the lie that it will make you feel better about yourself or a situation. Funny thing is after a while you find yourself “needing” to buy something else in order to have that feeling again. I don’t know about you but that doesn’t sound like peace to me, especially when the bills come due, and those things have to be paid for.

Ultimately, isn’t that what people are searching for today? Peace. Rest. Comfort with no strings attached. As Christians, the world needs to see us living in this peace. Watch how God will draw others to you when you do this. Be ready to share the peace that you enjoy.

Happy is temporary; joy is eternal. Happiness is an emotion; joy is a state of being. A person can’t be happy and sad at the same time. However, a person can be sad and joyful at the same time. Aren’t we amazed by people who, even though the world seems to be falling down around them with things like cancer or death in their lives, still seem upbeat and full of joy? Who do you know like this?

I’m convinced that we have a lot to learn from them about joy. Sure, their emotions may have their ups and downs during these times, but their states of being remain true.

I believe we sometimes can misread John 15:13. We immediately think the verse is talking about sacrificing your life for a friend’s life. You die so that they can live, and this would certainly be a correct interpretation of the verse. We know this is true because Jesus is about to do this very thing as the ultimate show of love.

But what if it’s not just a call to physically die but to die to ourselves in having our own way, or making sure our opinion is heard over everyone else’s. Sure, you will physically die once, but the call of the Christian is to die daily for your friends. And it never says how many times.

What’s the definition of love?

Perhaps the best definition is recorded in John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Love is, in fact, the theme of much of John’s writing. In this week’s lesson, John delves deep into the topic to make sure we don’t underestimate the importance of love among God’s children.

If you know God’s love…

John begins with an admonition to love as we are loved. Since Jesus gave his life for us, “we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers (1 John 3:16), sharing from the abundance God has given us. God’s love is so unconditional, undeserved and unending, there should be no end to the love we share with others.

As we talk about love, however, we need to be clear about what love is—as well as what it isn’t. Love isn’t a gushy feeling like the first stages of puppy love. Nor is it concerned with equality or fairness.

Love isn’t limited to those who love us back either. We are taught to love our enemies and friends equally. “Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him” (Proverbs 24:17-18).

Pure love is selflessly motivated, being more concerned with the needs of those around us than our own needs. As Paul teaches: “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves … . Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:10, 14-15).

The command is to love freely and unconditionally, just as God loves us.

The act of love

Notice that love almost always is spoken about in terms of action. “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

In Romans 12, Paul talks about sharing, practicing hospitality, feeding and giving something to drink. Jesus ate with publicans and sinners, fed his followers, and healed the sick and lame. This is the example we should follow.

Can this kind of love be mustered? Of course not. When we operate in our own strength, love is impossible. Without Christ, Paul says we walk in the way of the world and the spirit that works in the disobedient. “All of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). So while we know we ought to love, our nature makes it difficult.

As was discussed last week, we can only love when we are plugged into Jesus. John says “love comes from God” (1 John 4:7). He alone can infuse us with perfect love. “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:5).

Loving others, then, is merely an overflow of the love God gives us through faith in Christ Jesus. The trick is to “remain in his love” (John 15:10), because we can only receive love to the degree we allow him access to our hearts.

Love is the measuring rod of our faith

That being the case, we can know how well we’re plugged into Jesus by honestly measuring the degree of love that flows from us. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:19).

How do we root ourselves in God’s love while dealing with the challenges of life? Sadly, there’s no easy answer. This world isn’t committed to relationship with God, so to pursue righteousness, you must be willing to walk the “wrong” way, against the flow of popular opinion.

The trick is to remember love can’t be manufactured. It’s a gift. Our work is simply to “remain.” We must focus on getting to know God better. We must treat every day as a new opportunity to learn more about his infinite grace and mercy. Every word of Scripture must be seen as another piece of the puzzle of who he is, and prayer as access to the one who gives us everything we need to obey him.

It’s true. Love, the way God commands, is impossible in our own strength. But we can do it in His power. Let’s ask for the gift and then plug into Jesus, who always delivers what He promises.

Food for thought

Read 1 Corinthians 13. This is a good break-down of the way God loves us. Now consider a relationship that’s important to you. How pure is your love for this person? Ask God to purify your love so He can love this person through you.

Now consider a difficult relationship, or someone who is hard to love. Is it possible for you to love this person with 1 Corinthians 13 love? Ask God to help you love him or her as He does.

In this lesson of seven verses, the Apostle Paul urges his fellow believers to “be careful” in how they live. This is done by practicing the Christian principles he is enumerating in the final three chapters of Ephesians.

Paul knew what we now know. Nonbelievers form their opinions about Jesus Christ, the church and Christianity from their observations of believers more than they ever do from the Bible. They do not read the Bible, attend church, listen to sermons or watch Christian television. What they know of Jesus and the Scriptures, they see and hear in us. Paul is proclaiming the truth Jesus gave his disciples when he said, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).

In 5:15-16, Paul urges us to make wise use of our time.  Since it is the believers’ responsibility to live as children of light, their lives must please God by conducting themselves before a lost world in a way that draws those observing us to Jesus. He says they are to live “not as unwise but as wise” (v. 15). They are to take their knowledge of Christ and apply it to their everyday lives and be very aware of how their actions are perceived by unbelievers.  

This instruction is not only for individual believers, but for the church as a whole. When a church is not redeeming its time to show and share Jesus, the cause of Christ is hindered and a lost world observes a perverted gospel. Individually and collectively, Christians use their time carefully, not allowing circumstances to take away the opportunity to make a difference for Christ.

In 5:17, Paul warns his readers “do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” This is more than an intellectual knowledge found in God’s word accepted and applied once. This understanding of the Lord’s will is a continual process.

When Scripture is read, the Holy Spirit uses its application to give the reader knowledge, understanding and direction in the individual’s walk with Jesus. In this process, the believer continues on to grow in his spiritual walk of discipleship with Jesus by redeeming his time through holy living.

In 5:18, Paul contrasts getting drunk with wine, which produces a temporary high along with “debauchery,” to being filled with the Spirit which produces a lasting joy. Most likely, his readers already understood that drunkenness, which had been part of their lives before their conversion experience, should not be part of their new Christian lives.

His purpose was to give two options in whom or what was going to control their lives. Either it would be their appetite for the pleasures of their former life or the Holy Spirit. Being filled with their former pleasures would make them lose control and do stupid things. Being filled with the Holy Spirit gave them self-control (Galatians 5:23) and helped them worship God and serve others.

The words translated “be filled” are in the present tense, indicating constant replenishment with the Spirit. Believers are not “once-and-for-all” filled but are continually being filled with the Holy Spirit as they continue to walk with God.

When believers are continually filled with the Holy Spirit, there will be evidence of the infilling in their worship and witnessing lives. Paul shares how the Spirit-filled life will be manifested in the lives of believers as they worship and witness. They are singing, giving thanks and submitting to one another.

In verse 19, he directs them to encourage each other through the use of the singing of “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” Believers are to be filled with the Holy Spirit when they sing songs grounded in God’s word and of  sound doctrine. This corporate worship will encourage each other and will be a witness to their world. They are to sing and make music that comes from the heart and offer it to the Lord.

Paul then encourages his readers to live their lives with a heart of gratitude to God for everything. The word rendered “giving thanks” comes from the same root word as “grace.” If we have experienced the grace of God, then we ought to be grateful for what God brings to us.  

In 5:21, Paul gives us the next evidence of a Spirit-filled life, when he writes, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Submitting, as Paul uses this phrase, does not mean one becomes totally passive. He is speaking of mutual submission within the church body.

In the church, believers should be willing to learn from, give to, serve or be corrected by others within the body. This type of submission will allow spiritual growth, individually and corporately, as believers follow Jesus. The reason this is done is out of reverence for Christ. It is the example of his life believers are called to follow.

Remember, most folks don’t read the Bible or go to church. They receive their biblical instruction in their observation of how the disciples of Jesus and his body of believers act and behave before them. Paul shares with us that we are to be careful in our actions and attitudes as we proclaim the love of God to a lost and dying world.

There is a terrible notion in the world today that says as long as you are sincere about your beliefs that will make things right between you and God. The idea is giving those who believe it a sort of moral therapy in that it is making them feel good about themselves without having to change much in their lives.

This philosophy and its seemingly benefits are actually nothing new at all. In fact, as long as mankind has walked the earth, there has been a desperate attempt to work things out for oneself without respect or consideration of what God has said it takes to make things right between God and man.

And yet in past times and today, those who stand out are ones who willingly and obediently listen to God’s plan for righteousness. Abraham was such an individual, as the Apostle Paul points out in Romans 4:1-3 when he makes clear that it wasn’t anything Abraham did that made him right with God, but his faith in God and how he responded to that faith with action.

Abraham and Moses were held in such a high regard by the Jewish people that no one dared to speak a word against them. They were exalted and revered and the people needed to be reminded at times that Abraham and Moses were human. Paul makes clear that even Abraham in all his “righteousness” had to have an object of his faith in order for him to attain righteousness from God.

This word, righteousness, means the condition which makes you acceptable to God. Did you get that? Righteousness is a condition; only God himself can change your condition. Our own humanity and culture continually tries to convince us that things must be earned because that’s just how you get ahead in the world, so that is how one must get ahead with God.

The greatest gift you can give to God is to believe in Jesus and trust him. Look at how many times God repeats himself with the nation of Israel to remember his faithfulness to them in spite of their unfaithfulness to him.

Your faith will only be as strong and trustworthy as what you put your faith in. Read that again. Now think about all the things you put your faith in every day.  And think about the things or people you don’t put your faith in and why. Past experiences probably are what keeps you from trusting certain things or people.

When you put your faith in Christ you are doing so in the one person who is completely and perfectly trustworthy. He’s never broken a promise or let anyone down. Sin is what nailed Jesus to the cross, believing in his resurrection to prove he had power over sin and death is what justifies you before God.

Faith requires action, change. Without a change, there is no faith. You can sit and look at a chair and believe it will hold you up and keep you from falling on the floor but something happens when you actually sit in that same chair. You are trusting that your belief is true to the point of being willing to risk falling on the floor. Taking the action to sit in the chair is a declaration of sorts, a way to let the world know that you’re believing and trusting in this object.

What is your declaration to the world about your faith in Jesus? Paul tells the church at Rome you do that by using your mouth, confessing who Christ is. Another way someone makes the declaration of faith is by being baptized just as Jesus was baptized. In so doing, you are showing the world you are following him and how he lived his life.

Some would argue you can simply believe, as in know. James, the half brother of Jesus, leader of the Jerusalem church, and writer of James, states in James 2:19 that even the demons believe and shudder. Get that, demons believe and know Jesus and yet there is nothing within that brings them into a right relationship with God through Jesus.

James is writing this to his church that has been scattered due to the intense persecution of Christians. He is reminding his people that knowledge does not save anyone in light of all the philosophers and religious leaders who are trying to convince them that enlightenment comes from knowledge.

Sound familiar to our own culture? When you act on your belief it becomes tangible, you can see it; otherwise people would not know what you believe. Doesn’t it make sense for God to be so adamant about living out your faith then?

James even speaks of Abraham in 2:22 when he writes, “You see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did.” James goes further and says, “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone” (v. 24). This isn’t one of those either/or things, rather it’s both/and.

How can we know we’ll stand confident and unashamed before Christ at his coming? John tells us to “continue in him” (1 John 2:28).

But what does this mean exactly? If we already attend church, pray and read our Bibles on a regular basis, aren’t we doing what’s necessary to continue in him? As we consider the answers to these questions, let’s first review John’s thoughts in this week’s passage.

Do what is right

In 1 John 2:29, John says, “If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.” It’s a simple statement of truth. If you’ve been transformed through relationship with Jesus, you’ll do what is right.

Then John inserts a passage of praise. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1). He draws our attention to the miracle of salvation, that sinful man is allowed to have relationship with a God who can’t tolerate the presence of sin.

Purify yourself

What follows is a call to accept the responsibility we bear as children of God. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). Because God’s love for us is so pure, we should strive for purity as well. But notice John acknowledges we haven’t yet achieved perfect likeness to Jesus.

This is an important point to remember as we continue reading since, in verse 6, John seems to call us to nothing less than perfection: “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.”

The truth is, we sin. Paul teaches we’re all sinners. So what does John mean?

The secret of “continuing”

To understand where John is coming from, let’s go back to our earlier question: What does it mean to “continue in him”?

In the original Greek, continue means to stay, especially with regard to a particular relationship or state of expectancy. In the King James version of the Bible, the word is translated abide, or as we’d say today, live. So when John tells us to continue, he isn’t talking about being perfect, but about belonging to the one who is perfect. He isn’t talking about the appearance of our actions, but about the focus of our hearts.

Jesus uses this same thought process when he tells us to remain in him in John 15:5. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

In this passage, it’s clear that all “doing” results from “remaining.” In other words, when we “do what is right,” it isn’t we who act, but Christ through us. We are branches that grow out of the vine Jesus. If we remain in him, we are sustained and strengthen by him. It isn’t we who grow fruit. Any fruit we create results from the nourishment provided by Jesus.

Now look at verses 7 and 8. “He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.” Only the vines that remain in the branch can do what is right. Without the power of Christ within us, we have no righteousness, so we sin.

Our calling, then, is not to do, but to remain. As long as our hearts are 100 percent focused on Jesus and his purpose for our lives, we will do what is right. But if we unplug ourselves for even a moment, we’ll find ourselves doing the things we know we shouldn’t do.

Facing the future with confidence

With that in mind, let’s consider the question raised by today’s lesson: How can we know we’ll stand confident and unashamed before Christ at his coming? A quick reading of the lesson would lead us to believe it’s in performing good deeds and achieving a state of perfection.

In reality, it is in exchanging our sin for Jesus’ righteousness. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). But in order to achieve this exchange, we must remain in him.

Performing the action of a dedicated Christian isn’t enough. Going to church helps us learn the heart of God, but it doesn’t give us a heart like his. Reading the Bible and praying help us know him better, but they don’t automatically plug us into him. If, when we put down our Bible, we also unplug from his power, we can’t continue in him, as John commands.

Let’s ask God to give us the grace to remain in him all day, every day. Let’s ask him to give us his heart and the will to respond to the circumstances of life as he would want.

Food for thought

Read Matthew 5:43-48, focusing particularly on verses 44, 45 and 48. How does today’s lesson relate to these verses?

Is there a particular situation in your own life where you feel you aren’t responding as God would want you to respond? Have you prayed about the situation? What is one thing you could immediately do to bring a more Christ-like spirit into the situation?

In my formative years, I had heroes. In some ways, I still do. In my younger days of playing sports, I worked hard to develop the skills and abilities needed to be as accomplished as my heroes were. I worked hard through diets, practice, weight training and effort. I spent time reading and researching to see what made them what they were. I came to the determination that I was going to copy what they did in order to be as successful as they were. I believed for me to be successful, I had to become like them—I had to imitate them.

In Ephesians 5:1-2, the Apostle Paul challenges us to imitate our Heavenly Father by following his example in Christ. This is done by emulating his attributes in our lives. Our lives should characterize our union with Jesus by following his example. His love should be demonstrated in our attitude and actions by mimicking Christ’s love.

This love goes beyond earthly affection to self-sacrificing service. We reflect God’s nature when we live in ways that express his love to others. This type of sacrifice is an offering God accepts from us as “fragrant” (v. 2) and acceptable.

In the last of chapter 4, Paul delineates individual attitudes and actions that can keep one from having a vital relationship with other believers and the church as a whole. In 5:3-7, he warns about the collective acceptance and encouragement of actions and attitudes unsuitable for the Christian community.

An enormous problem in the early church among Gentiles was sexual immorality. Paul uses “porneia” to describe all kinds of illicit sexual behavior. In verse 3, he says there should not be “even a hint” of such. If the members of the church tolerated this lifestyle of indulgence and greed, it would be opposite of what God desires from his people.

Verse 4 speaks to one of the most prevalent struggles in the church of today—careless speech. Evidently, the early church had difficulty with it also.

However, today with the exponential increase of electronic conversations, we see how words delivered in impersonal and careless ways destroy lives and testimonies. We read of the abuses of e-mail and social networking where things are written which never would be spoken if the individuals were speaking on the telephone or face to face.

The NASB translates this description in 5:4, “there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or course jesting, which is not fitting.” Paul points out such speech will hurt those who hear or read it, weaken the influence of the one who initiates it and cripple the testimony of the believers who allow it.

Jesus said, “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). What builds churches, testimonies and relationships, Paul tells us, is a spirit of “thanksgiving.”

The immorality, impurity and greed mentioned in 5:3 are compared to idolatry. Pointedly, Paul ties these three together. Whenever Christians allow these desires to control their lives, the desires that lead to immorality, impurity and greed become their idols. Thus, they are idolaters. Therefore, they have no inheritance in the kingdom of God (v. 5).

He then addresses the church in verse 6 that they never should allow someone “with empty words,” to be given places of influence. If this happened, Paul insists, they would allow those in sin a platform to preach their idolatry leading believers to accept such behavior as proper. Thus, the church becomes a partner in such ungodliness.  

Paul is not forbidding contact with unbelievers. He is speaking against condoning the lifestyles of people who make excuses for bad behavior and recommend its practice to others. Jesus has called us to be godly influences that change the world and not the opposite.

In verses 8-14, Paul once again contrasts for his readers’ lives before their conversion with their present walk with the Lord. He says they now are “light in the Lord.” As such, should “live as children of light and find out what pleases the Lord” (vv. 8, 10).

Christians should reflect God’s holy nature when we live as people of light. Light reveals God’s truth, produces fruit and exposes the true character of sin.

Paul instructs the church to confront sin when exposed in the lives of other believers to insure the purity of the body’s testimony, but it is to be done in a humble and loving way. In this way, we reflect God’s holy nature when we live in ways that express Christian love for others.

In my adolescence, no matter how hard I tried to become as good an athlete as my hero was, I never was successful because I didn’t have the athletic ability to do so. However, as a follower of Jesus, I can become more like him every day by responding to Paul’s directive to “be imitators of God.”  With Christ living in us, we strive to become more pure every day.

John 3:16 is one of the first verses we learn as Christians, which means it also may be one of the first ones we tend to take for granted. Not forget, because we’ve memorized it for stickers and awards growing up, but take granted, as in not valuing it and appreciating it for all it is.

Read John 3:16 again nice and slow and imagine reading it for the very first time. Mind blowing, isn’t it? Jesus was, and is, God’s plan to rescue the world from itself and from being eternally separated from him.

What other religion or system of belief does that? None of them. Christianity is the only one that relies totally on God’s grace and love through Jesus. All the other belief systems “rest” in the fact that you have to somehow earn your salvation, which really isn’t very “restful” at all.

Jump ahead a few chapters in John to chapter 11 and look at how Jesus again states this amazing love that God has for us through himself. Jesus prays aloud just before he is about to call Lazarus out of the tomb from being dead for four days. In verse 42, he says, “I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Now look again at John 3:16, “For God so love the world that he gave his one and only son … .” Some translations use the word, “sent” instead of “gave.” He wants the people there to know, and for us to know today, that God’s greatest expression of love to us in the form of his son, Jesus. That is why Jesus is such a big deal. And we must know as Christians that there has never been or ever will be an expression of God’s love that is equal to or greater than Jesus himself.   

You have to love God’s attitude. Essentially he says, “Look, it’s my plan to rescue the world, I’m going to do it and since it’s my plan I choose to do it through my son, Jesus.” Wouldn’t we feel the same way if we had the power to rescue the world?

Of course, our plan would be filled with our prejudices, biases and all the other baggage we have in our lives. Can you just imagine God using someone else’s plan for salvation instead of his own? It’s like God would be the power portion of equation and you would be the designer coming up with a solution to this global problem. Thankfully God would have nothing to do with that. Instead, he says, I’m going to honor my son.

So since Jesus is at the center of salvation, and we have a new life because of this salvation, that means everything in our lives should focus on and revolve around Jesus. The logic is actually very simple, don’t you think?  And if we are going to be obedient and intentional about sharing our faith (Jesus), then we must remember to make our conversations focus on him as well.

Notice how, in the life of Christ, he started at one point with people, wherever they were, and brought it back around to God’s love and himself. You must be listening to the promptings and urgings of the Holy Spirit to know when and what to say. Some conversations you’ll be planting seeds, some will be about watering seeds that already have been planted, and finally others will bring about harvest.

In the Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy, he again reminds the young pastor, this time in writing, that God’s desire is for everyone to come to know him through Jesus. In reality, will everyone be saved and have this great salvation? No, but God’s love is unconditional and extended to all. We accept and return it as best we can back to God by believing in Jesus.

In light of all the other ideas and philosophies that were around back in Paul’s day that said you just have to love God the best way you know how and that will be good enough to ultimately get you into heaven (sound familiar to our own culture?), Paul makes it very clear in 1 Timothy 2:5 that there is only one path, through Jesus, that leads back to God, and he also is  our mediator before God. This means he stands in the gap between God and man.

There is no other religion that offers such a just and perfect mediator. Man and society will say, “Well, that’s a good way, but we think there is another way.” It doesn’t matter what man “decides” since God already has made clear the way to being reconciled back to him and that way is in Jesus alone. As Christians, we get the wonderful privilege of sharing this great news with everyone.

Every relationship is built on respect. Can relationship with God be any different?

In today’s lesson, we look at how we can be sure we know God. The answer you typically hear relates to salvation. But John gives us a thermometer by which we can measure relationship with God: obedience, love and belief.

The bottom line: Obedience

John’s teachings in 1 John recall lessons he learned at the feet of Jesus. In verse 3, he says, “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.” Jesus, in John 14, says three times, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Obviously, obedience is key to relationship with Christ.

Knowing Jesus as Lord is more than reciting the sinner’s prayer. It’s accepting his life-changing power in our lives. Paul talks about this in Romans. “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:8-9).

Paul says in Romans 6:16, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” To obey is to submit. If we call Jesus master, we must submit to him and obey his teachings. Otherwise we aren’t submitting to Jesus, and we can’t, with any integrity, call him Lord.

His first commandment: Love

John writes, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness” (1 John 1:9). Jesus says in John 14:12: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

We tend to use the word love loosely. I love ice cream, and I love my children. But obviously, the relationship isn’t the same. I’ve even heard it said, “I love you, but I don’t like you.” Can people who say such things really understand love?

According to John, “God is love” (1 John 4:16). Love demands that we’re as concerned for the well-being of others as we are for our own well-being. Love makes us patient, kind and humble, not rude, selfish or easily upset. True love protects, trusts and perseveres. This is, in fact, a good description of how God treats us.

Now think for a moment about the conversations you’ve had recently. Do they include gossip, judgment or any form of rejection? These behaviors aren’t loving, and according to John, if we participate in them, we don’t know God. At the very least, we haven’t allowed him to transform us.

The real test: Belief

John says, “No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:23). This is the aspect of knowing God that’s easy for us to understand. When we accept that Jesus is God’s son and died as a sacrifice for our sins, we receive eternal life.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). For most of us, this is easy because we’ve grown up hearing the Bible stories about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

So let’s take the focus off believing and place it on earnestly seeking. John says in verse 24, “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.” There is a difference between believing with our head and believing with our heart. I can acknowledge something is true without accepting it as part of my life. But if we don’t allow our belief in Jesus to change us, we aren’t allowing it to “remain in us.”

The bottom line is this: Knowing God should change us. God is light and life. So if, after being saved, we aren’t different, shouldn’t we reconsider our faith? “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Knowing God is more than going to church or reciting a prayer. It’s a process of getting to know him better and allowing him to peel away the layers of our sin until his mercy and love have changes us into his image.

Food for thought

When under stress, what typically comes out? God’s love and mercy, or something else? What does this say about how well we know God?

In Philippians 2:12, Paul tells us “to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” How does this relate to today’s lesson?