Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Tag: Ephesians 4

Even As God

Even As God

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And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave You.  

Ephesians 4:32 

How does God forgive us? Our text falls in what we may term the practical portion of Ephesians. Typically, Paul in writing his epistles, begins with the doctrinal discussion of his subject and proceeds later to the more practical application for which the doctrinal portion has laid the groundwork. Our text exhorts us to forgive one another ‘even as God in Christ forgave you.’ The implications of this statement are more far-reaching than we may immediately realize. We understand that the process of sanctification involves the work of God’s free grace wherein He renews us in the whole person after the image of Christ. Thus Christ is first, Our Redeemer, and afterward the Great Example for us to follow. We become imitators of Christ. Therefore, if we are to forgive each other as God has forgiven us, we need a clear understanding of how God forgives. This becomes the model for our own forgiveness of one another. We want to examine this carefully, that we do not assert that God does things He does not do and somehow lay upon ourselves, and others practices which are not an accurate reflection of how we should forgive.  

Our Good and Wise God, 
we rejoice that You have given us Christ 
to show us how to do. 
We praise You, that as we follow Him, 
we grow to be like Him.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Even As God

Even As God

By |

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave You.  

Ephesians 4:32 

How does God forgive us? Our text falls in what we may term the practical portion of Ephesians. Typically, Paul in writing his epistles, begins with the doctrinal discussion of his subject and proceeds later to the more practical application for which the doctrinal portion has laid the groundwork. Our text exhorts us to forgive one another ‘even as God in Christ forgave you.’ The implications of this statement are more far-reaching than we may immediately realize. We understand that the process of sanctification involves the work of God’s free grace wherein He renews us in the whole person after the image of Christ. Thus Christ is first, Our Redeemer, and afterward the Great Example for us to follow. We become imitators of Christ. Therefore, if we are to forgive each other as God has forgiven us, we need a clear understanding of how God forgives. This becomes the model for our own forgiveness of one another. We want to examine this carefully, that we do not assert that God does things He does not do and somehow lay upon ourselves, and others practices which are not an accurate reflection of how we should forgive.  

Our Good and Wise God, 
we rejoice that You have given us Christ 
to show us how to do. 
We praise You, that as we follow Him, 
we grow to be like Him.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Preparing for Worship

Preparing for Worship

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9:30 am Worship Service
10900 Huron Street
Northglenn, CO

Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-13

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended” what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.

Sermon: One God And Father – Tomm Tice

  1. Who is this one God?
  2. How is this one God the Father of all?
  3. How is this one God above, through, and in us all?

Catechism: Westminster Shorter Catechism Question #98

What is prayer?

Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.

Psalm 10:17; Psalm 62:8; Matthew 7:7-8; 1 John 5:14; John 16:23-24; Psalm 32:5-6;Daniel 9:4-19;Psalm 103:1-5; Philippians 4:6

Worship

Away in a Manger
Infant Holy, Infant Holy
Joy to the World
And In You All

And In You All

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One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Ephesians 4: 5, 6

In what sense is God the Father, ‘in you all’ as Paul terms it?  In order to understand this, we may consider Christ’s statement to the woman at the well when He said, ‘God is Spirit.’  Therefore, we cannot properly think of God in a corporal or physical way except in the instance of Christ Who is both God and human.  Christ is all there is for us to see of God in a physical form.  Because He is, we can go back to the discussion of how God the Father can be ‘in you all.’  The Father can be ‘in’ all those whom Paul is describing in the passage.  It is a spiritual presence which the Holy Spirit practically effects in the believer.  It does not mean that we become God, but that God the Father is ‘in’ us as a living spiritual reality.  This means that we have a vital relationship with every member of the Trinity although that relationship looks somewhat different depending upon which Member of the Trinity we are discussing at a given point.  For God the Father to be in us all, means that we have a vital relationship with the One Who rules as Sovereign over all the universe.  This relationship comes to us by the Holy Spirit, through the Person and work of Christ.

Our Wise and Sovereign God,
we rejoice that You move in us
in vital and powerful ways.
We praise You that day-by-day
You Holy Spirit works within us
that we may know you, the only True God
and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Through All

Through All

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One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Ephesians 4: 5, 6

How is God the Father, ‘through all?’  We may consider this in the way that Paul sets it forth by referring first to God as being ‘above all,’ that is transcendent; then ‘through all,’ that is immanent; and ‘in you all,’ that is, actively present.  This underscores our vital union with God in multiple ways.  That He is ‘above all’ is of great encouragement to us because, as the Sovereign God, He oversees all things, including all who believe.  That He is ‘through all’ is of great encouragement because He is the God Who is near, and not far removed from us.  That He is ‘in you all’ is encouraging, because He is not just with us, but in us in a vital way.  We understand that the Holy Spirit is the Agent of this Divine Presence, and that as He is, He reveals the Father to us by showing us Christ.  Hence, Christ could make the statement to His disciples, ‘he that has seen me, has seen the Father.’ Because Christ is the same in essence as the Father, the Father has set Him forth as all there is to see of the Trinity.  We are content then with this relationship with the Father Who is ‘above all and through all and in you all.’  He is the transcendent and immanent God.

Our Father and Our God,
we rejoice that You are above all and through all
and in us all.
We praise You that what You have shown us of Yourself
we see clearly in Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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