Christ's Instructions

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160) Gal 6:7a . . Don't be deceived into thinking God is a silly old fool.

A silly old fool is a senior citizen that people know they can mistreat and/or
take advantage of without fear of complaint, resistance, or reprisal.

People in our day and age are easily persuaded that God is harmless and
that the Old Testament's version of God is obsolete, i.e. no longer someone
to fear since Jesus came along. But as God was capable of withholding
blessing for conduct unbecoming back then; He still is.
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161) Gal 6:10 . . So then, whenever we have opportunity, let us do good to
all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

Good can take any number of forms but I think a useful description we could
apply here is "beneficial".

Jesus did good (Acts 10:30) i.e. he was very definitely beneficial; not just on
the cross or by his teachings, but in practical ways too.

Those who are of the "household of the faith" are actually kin; viz: siblings;
and like they say: charity begins at home.

Some churches have what they call a deacon's fund; to assist members who
are down and out and/or in dire straits.

And don't overlook your church's senior citizens. Some may be getting up in
years and finding it difficult to even maintain their own homes and yards
anymore. Chores may not seem all that spiritual; but pitch in anyway if for
no other reason than your assistance is beneficial.
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162) Eph 2:11-22 . .Therefore, remember that formerly you who are
Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the
circumcision-- that done in the body by the hands of men --remember that
at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in
Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and
without God in the world.

. . . But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought
near through the blood of Christ. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners
and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's
household

Gentiles are prone to forget; and one of the things they forget is that their
religion didn't begin with the Roman Catholic Church; no, it began with
Abraham; and the purpose of Gentiles hearing the gospel is not so they can
replace the Jews as God's chosen people, but rather, so they can join them
and share in their blessings.

● Rom 11:17-18 . . If some of the branches have been broken off, and you,
though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now
share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, don't boast over those
branches. If you do, consider this: You don't support the root, but the root
supports you.

● Isa 49:5-6 . . And now says The Lord, who formed me from the womb to
be his servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, in order that Israel might be
gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of The Lord, and my God is
my strength). He says: It is too small a thing that you should be My servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I
will also make you a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to
the end of the earth."

● John 4:22 . . Salvation is of the Jews.
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163) Eph 4:1 . . As a prisoner for The Lord, then, I urge you to live a life
worthy of the calling you have received.

Some time long ago, a pastor in Arizona utilized a highway billboard to poll
people's opinion not of Christianity, rather; what people think of Christians.
Here's the gist of his message:

DESCRIBE CHRISTIANS WITH ONE WORD
Text Me @ xxxxxx-1152 (full number withheld for privacy considerations)

The results of the poll were open to view at iamlandonmacdonald on
Instagram.

Some responses:

Hateful
Gullible
Ignorant
Satanist
Judgmental
Hypocritical

Not everybody despises Christians, but for sure everybody despises a phony.
i.e. Christians don't have to live the life of a saint to become a saint, but
they do have to life the life of a saint in order to merit the respect their
association with Christ deserves.
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164) Eph 4:2 . . Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, putting up
with another in love.

The Greek word translated "love" in that passage is agápee which is
fortunate in some ways because it doesn't necessarily speak of affection like
the Greek word phileo. It mostly pertains to personal conduct, e.g. civility,
courtesy, sympathy, thoughtfulness, tolerance, charity, kindness, lenience,
understanding, diplomacy, tact, etc. which are common social skills that
even the most insensitive clod on earth can practice if they put their mind to
it.

Humility is relative to humbleness of mind, viz: modesty; defined by
Webster's as free from conceit and/or vanity. Humility is one of those virtues
that people love to talk about; but rarely ever seem to exemplify.

Conceit is defined as excessive appreciation of one's own worth or virtue,
viz: arrogance, i.e. a superiority complex and/or a master-race mentality. (A
conceited supervisor was a very key factor in the Chernobyl disaster. Had he
been more reasonable, and less arrogant, the disaster might've been easily
averted.)

Vanity is defined as inflated pride in oneself, viz: narcissism and/or self
adoration. Cosmetics and figure-shaping undergarments don't really qualify
as the kind of vanity that Paul is talking about; which goes way beyond just
trying to look your best.

Vanity is an ugly creature. It's self aggrandizing and it isn't gentle either, on
the contrary; vanity can be quite cruel and competitive, caring only what's
best for itself. Vanity abhors associating with people whose station in life is
decidedly below its own; and God forbid someone below themselves should
have the nerve to correct either their conduct or their knowledge.

Patience"is defined as the power, or capacity, to endure without complaint
something and/or someone difficult or disagreeable; especially when it
comes to certain folk who seem to have a natural aptitude for getting on
people's nerves.
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165) Eph 4:3 . . Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the
bond of peace.

The Spirit is the one thing that all born-again Christians have in common
regardless of their denominational affiliation. The Spirit keeps them
combined in a fraternity held together with stronger force than a labor
union.

* Unity isn't necessarily achieved by conformity. Folks can still be unified
even when in disagreement. For example the USA at one time nurtured
differences of opinion; yet we remained a cohesive nation. Dictators,
despots, and tyrants achieve cohesion by means of edicts, violence, fear,
suppression, injustice, and abuse of human rights; but here we at one time
achieved unity by working toward resolutions via democratic processes
before folks in high places began favoring a big brother world where 2+2=5
and dissent is illegal.

Peace can be roughly defined as the absence of strife, e.g. hostility,
grudging, quarrelling, and rivalry, etc.

The Spirit has much to say in regard to Christian social skills; and if each
and every believer would listen to Him, the natural result is going to be
harmony wherever and whenever they associate with one another.
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166) Eph 4:17-19 . . So I tell you this, and insist on it in The Lord, that you
must no longer live as the pagans do, in the futility of their thinking. They
are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their
hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to
sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for
more.

The Greek word translated "sensitivity" basically pertains to apathy; defined
by Webster's as a lack of feeling or emotion and/or a lack of interest or
concern, i.e. indifference. This is the only place in the entire New Testament
where the word appears so we can't compare its use in other contexts.

There are immoral people out there who wish they could stop themselves
but can't. I wouldn't call them indifferent: apathy, in this instance, applies to
hard-core immoral folk who view themselves as perfectly normal and
satisfied with themselves just as they are; having neither wish nor interest
in any other way of life.

The Ephesian church had a number of those hard-cores in their midst that
needed to wake up and realize that their attitude was maybe acceptable as
citizens in the Ephesian culture of that day, but thoroughly unacceptable as
Christians in any day. One of the very things they cherished, and that made
their lives worth the living, had to be let go.
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167) Eph 4:20-24 . .Surely you heard of Christ and were taught in him in
accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to
your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by
its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to
put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness.

When God completed the six days of creation, He went on sabbatical (Gen
2:1-3). The six days were all bounded by an evening and a morning. The
seventh wasn't bounded; i.e. it hasn't ended, indicating that God has yet to
resume creating things for the current cosmos. So then, the new self spoken
of in the passage above isn't for the current cosmos, rather, it's a self
that's created for a cosmos yet to come. (Isa 65:17, 2Pet 3:13, Rev 21:1)

The Greek word translated "desire" basically means: a longing.

A longing by itself doesn't always indicate sinful desires. The very same word
describes The Lord's personal desire to dine in the company of his apostles
just prior to being crucified. (Luke 22:15)

The kind of longings in view here are "deceitful" which is from a Greek word
that basically pertains to delusion, which Webster's defines as: a persistent
false psychotic belief regarding the self, or persons or objects outside the
self, that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary-- in
other words: deceitful longings are delusional, a.k.a. pipe dreams.

For example: the old saying "The grass is greener on the other side" which
of course is an unreasonable expectation. Some people sincerely believe that
they would be happier if only they had more money. Well; sad to say,
money can be guaranteed to buy you neither love nor happiness.

Delusional longings get people to chasing after pots of gold at the end of
rainbows that may or may not satisfy; viz: sometimes the dream is better
than the reality. Meanwhile, their life clock is winding down while they're in
pursuit of those pots and they are steadily becoming more and more secular
and unspiritual. Paul "insists" that Christ's followers be practical, i.e. avoid
squandering their time and energy chasing after pipe dreams; viz: keep their
feet on the ground and their heads out of the clouds.
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168) Eph 4:25 . . Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to
his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

One's neighbor is not the same as one's brother; i.e. the former is an
acquaintance, the latter is kin.

Jews are required to be honest because dishonesty is prohibited by their law
(Lev 19:11) whereas dishonesty is wrong for Christ's followers because the
dishonesty of one Christian causes outsiders to question the integrity of the
whole.

Although dishonesty isn't curse-worthy for a Christian like it is for a Jew,
still; the behavior is unbecoming.

NOTE: Eph 4:25 is a bit of a challenge for transgendered Christians due to
many of them undergoing embarrassing forms of therapy, and experiencing
side effects, complications, negative public opinion, doubts, regrets, and
mood swings that they would rather not talk about. So be extra careful when
dialoguing with transgendered Christians so as not to squeeze them into a
corner where they'll be forced to maintain their dignity with fibs. A little
empathy, and a whole lot of tact and courtesy in this area, can be very useful
in helping someone get thru the day.

● Matt 7:12 . . So in everything, do to others what you would have them do
to you.
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[gordon7]

What would many Christians do or say to others, if they acknowledge they are part of many which are called, but few are chosen ?

They would stop all they do, and speak nothing. ( all that is done is done against their own self, and all spoken is against their own self, to answer for on judgement day.)


Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.


Romans 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

 

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169) Eph 4:26a . . In your anger do not sin.

Anger isn't eo ipso evil. It's how one manages their anger that matters.
Indignation can be a very useful tool when it's applied by somebody who
knows what they're doing. For example:

● Mark 3:5 . . And when Jesus had looked round about on them with anger,
being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man:
Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored
whole as the other.

Everybody gets angry from time to time; just don't let it drive you to doing
something contrary to your better judgment, e.g. violence, profanity, malice,
cruelty, uncivil behavior, spite, ugly remarks, emotional outbursts,
demeaning comments, grudging, hysteria, shouting, shrieking, spraying
spittle, slamming doors, and/or throwing things, etc.
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