Tuesday – September 27, 2016
Greetings and blessings as you pursue and grow in the knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus. Today we will pick up in the fifteenth verse of Ephesians chapter one. First however let me remind us all to pray for our many levels of government, be sure you are informed on the issues, that you are registered to vote, and that you do in fact vote as led of the Spirit. Look at the Democratic and Republican Platforms, the Democratic Platform is the embodiment of evil promoting abortion, homosexual marriage, and all type of sexual perversion to name a few. The Republican Platform embraces many areas of righteousness including the sanctity of all life in the womb or not, traditional Biblical marriage, and does not normalize or promote the sexual perversion agenda. The party platform is what the party as a whole embraces and promotes, it defines to some degree the legislative priorities. Never forget that righteousness is what will save America not someone who talks a good sounding game devoid of righteousness.
Matthew 6:33 (KJV)
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Back to Ephesians.
Ephesians 1:13-16 (KJV)
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Last week I talked about our being sealed with the Holy Spirit which is the earnest of our inheritance until “the redemption of the purchased possession”. We, you and me, are the purchased possession. We have been redeemed, made alive spiritually but our bodies cry out for the fullness of our redemption.
Romans 8:23 (KJV)
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
The day is coming whether in this life or at the resurrection when we will get a new body, this corruption will put on incorruption, this new body will be just like Jesus’. I don’t know about you but I could sure use an upgrade.
The Apostle Paul now tells the saints and faithful at Ephesus and us that when he heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus, and their love of the other saints, he gave thanks to God for them and prayed for them. A natural child cannot run before it crawls and neither can a spiritual child partake of certain things in the spirit realm short of a certain maturity. In this case they had demonstrated faith, meaning they believed, trusted, and were reliant upon the Lord Jesus and there was evidence that this specific group of saints and faithful ones loved the other saints.
Let me ask a question. What does it mean to love the saints? Remember saints are believers, persons who are born again. That is not to say that we don’t love the peoples of the world just as our Father loves the people of the world, of which we were once a part, and for whom Jesus was and is the price of redemption. The Greek word transliterated to English as ‘agape’ is generally recognized as the special love of God and that which the children of God are to exhibit as well. I have commonly defined this love (agape) as being selfless, being cognizant and observant of The Blood Covenant, and being obedient to the Word of God. So these saints were submitted to one another giving the other person preference, the benefit of the doubt, it does not mean they were or were to be doormats for other saints or the world. These saints were aware of their obligations before God in Christ Jesus relative to The Blood Covenant. Each of us are in this Blood Covenant with the Father through or in Jesus. We are not in Blood Covenant one with another. The Father is to have full access to all of us and in our obedience to Him it may involve other saints. We respond to other saints according to the Word of God and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. The third and core aspect of this Godly love is obedience to the Word of God. The saints and faithful ones at Ephesus although immature were demonstrating unselfishness one toward the other, obedience to the Word. Tomorrow we will pick up on the Apostle Paul’s prayer for them and our Lord’s expectations of us in our progressive maturity.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
