Ephesians 4:14-16
14We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.
My son, daughter-in-law and now grandson, come to CTK occasionally and it is always a great joy for me when they do. My daughter in law is Roman Catholic, her Dad attends mass every day. For as long as I can remember, she has stayed seated when my son and others in the row come forward for communion.
Last Sunday, she came to the communion rail. I do not know if she took communion, and I really should not or need to know. What I sensed, was that my daughter in law has seen that CTK practices open communion, and felt comfortable enough in our church environment, to come forward. For me, that was an example of Christ's ministry in our midst.
Karen Olmsted
For reflection:
When have you seen the love of Christ break down barriers?
In what ways are you growing in Christ this Lenten season?
What demands does the passage of Ephesians place on you…and in what ways does it reassure you?
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ReplyDeleteThis message to the Ephesians is akin to Paul’s reprimands in I Cor. 3 and Hebrews 5. In those passages he tells the people that he cannot speak to them about spiritual matters because they have not prepared themselves to accept what he has to say. They are still babes in need of milk and cannot be given strong meat.
ReplyDeleteWhat about us? Are we prepared to hear the full messages of God’s Word or do we need to learn more elementary concepts in order to go on? For that matter, how do we prepare ourselves?
For one thing, we need to read with understanding both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. We need to read each book, each chapter, each verse in its entirety before moving on to the next book. Also, we need to actually study from the Word itself, not just be content to study ABOUT the Word.
A good place to start is with a couple of tools:
1. The Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
2. The King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
The Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance is keyed to the KJV and lists each word of the Bible and the cross-references or other passages in the Bible in which the word is found. It also lists the Hebrew, Chaldee, or Greek word(s) from which the English translation is derived. In addition, the Strong’s Exhaustive contains the Hebrew/Chaldee and Greek dictionaries so that you can complete the research to view the meaning of each English word in as close to its original form as possible. You will be able to find other concordances; but beware, because some of them are incomplete or do not contain all the parts in the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance.
One really good King James Bible is the Companion Bible, which is complete with extensive notes from Dr. E.W. Bullinger. Another good Bible is the Green’s Interlinear.
Once you begin to study the Bible using these tools, you will be surprised at how much your understanding of the Word is increased! You will notice that no matter how many times you read passages, there is always more information there to be gleaned. No longer will you be content to quickly read over summaries or read translations that change the true meaning or leave out verses or parts of verses. Sorry, but the New International Version (NIV) is in this last category. It requires other references or supplemental information to be complete.
So, in this passage from Ephesians, Paul tells us that much is demanded of us if we are to carry forward the Truth of God's Word. After all, we cannot be leaders or teachers if we do not know what we are to convey. We are not allowed to be slothful. We are required to be energetic and press on. Jesus set the example, and we must always keep Him in sight!