Fellowshipmtz

Ephesians 4:31-32 / Forgiveness

Chapter 4 closes with a group of six sins to be put away, and three virtues to be exhibited.  The "Comments & Questions" portion at the end of the teaching was particularly personal in nature, and so it was edited out of the recording reproduced here.

Ephesians 4:29-30

Good Christians can and do disagree over secondary doctrines, practices, applications, (etc.!)  When Christians disagree disagreeably, when they mislabel and misrepresent Christians with whom they disagree, and when they further suggest (or accuse) others of being the equivalent of false teachers (as per Jude 1:4) -- the Holy Spirit is grieved!

Ephesians 4:28

The first 90 seconds (or so) weren't recorded.  The teaching began with three quotes pertaining to the gospel, as follows:

1.  Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but glorious sins.  - Thomas Brooks (1608-1680), English non-comformist Puritan preacher & author

The quotes were taken from: The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations (Alresford, Hampshire: John Hunt Publishers Ltd, 2000), 432.

Ephesians 4:26-27  /  Anger Prevention (Part 3)

The topic of anger in the Bible is not isolated to a remote corner.  It comes up again and again, either by way of an example (good or bad) or in a taught principle.  We leave the topic of anger today after considering what the Bible says about being "slow to anger" and "turning away anger with a soft answer".  The teaching is shorter than usual, because an important Business Meeting followed the main worship gathering.

Ephesians 4:26-27

"He that would be angry and sin not must not be angry with anything but sin."

Ephesians 4:26-27  /  Anger!?

In the larger passage of Ephesians 4:25-32, this instruction is easily Paul's most controversial.  It does not contain an obvious counterpart or balance of the others.  Is Paul commanding anger? "Be angry and do not sin"   

Today we slowly transition from the abbreviated Luke 24 series (Resurrection!) back to our regular series in Ephesians.  Toward the end, we consider Paul's admonition to "put away falsehood" in order to "speak the truth".

Luke 24:13-35

"They forgot the Scriptures; they did not think of that great source of hope.  Their eyes were dimmed with tears, so that they did not see what was plain before them.  How many a precious text have you and I read again and again without perceiving its joyful meaning, because our minds have been clouded with despondency!  We take the telescope, and try to look into heavenly things, and we breathe upon the glass with the hot breath of our anxiety till we cannot see anything; and then we conclude that there is nothing to be seen.  Do you not think, beloved, you that are depressed and sorrowing to-day, that if you thought more of the promises revealed in God’s Word, you would soon see things differently, and would rise out of your downcast condition?  You put your Bibles away, and read nothing but the roll of your troubles."

C. H. Spurgeon, “Folly of Unbelief,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 33 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1887), 483–484.

This is an abbreviated review of the historical development of Church Liturgy -- a subject we considered three and one-half years ago.  There really is a point to all of this: we want to continue our focus on the historical resurrection of Jesus.  Next week we will direct our attention to the two (saddened and confused) disciples traveling on the road to Emmaus.

Luke 24:1-12