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

Tag: Ephesians 4
Was It Worth It?

Was It Worth It?

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I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called….

Ephesians 4:1

If we take a serious look at the conclusion of Paul’s life, we have to ask the question, was it worth it?  Apparently, Paul was convinced that it was. The conversion and subsequent life’s work of the Apostle is one of the most outstanding testimonies to the truth of Christ-following.  In the last two days we have considered his personal history and where it led him.  Paul’s life ended by execution during the widespread persecution of believers.  This makes sense when we consider how Christ died.  Paul was an imitator of Christ and the end of his life was similar to Christ’s.  While Paul did not pursue such an end, he understood that it was the logical consequence of following Christ.  To Paul, it was worthwhile to preach Christ and to accept the consequences whatever they were.  According to accounts, it was the same for the rest of the disciples.  We should be as clear-eyed about these consequences as they were.  ‘All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.’  According to our spiritual forbearers it is worthwhile to follow Christ.  We believe them, therefore we desire to imitate Christ as they did, wherever that may take us.

Our Good and Wise God,
we rejoice that You lead us aright along the pathway of life.
We praise You that You will accomplish in our life,
all that will bring You glory for Jesus’ sake.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
A Personal History

A Personal History

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I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called….

Ephesians 4:1

Paul did not become ‘the prisoner of the Lord’ overnight.  There was a chain of events which led to this conclusion.  If we survey his personal history, we can seek to understand how this spiritual, intellectual, practical giant came to be ‘the prisoner of the Lord.’  According to him, he was, ‘circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.’  We know from Acts 7, that he was a member of the group who stoned Stephen to death as the first martyr of the New Testament era of the church.  Acts 9 shows us that he was actively engaged in persecuting believers.  In that same chapter, we have the account of Christ confronting him in person on the road to Damascus.  From that day forward, Saul of Tarsus began to grow into Paul the Apostle.  He would become the foremost theologian and missionary of the New Testament era.  He went everywhere proclaiming the Person and work of Christ.  This would bring him into conflict with the religious and the secular authorities.  If he had been willing to cease his proclamation of Christ, he would not have become ‘the prisoner of the Lord.’  His conviction overcame all cowardice.  This is the personal journey of Paul to become who he was and to be where he was.  Actions have consequences.  Paul’s following of Christ, and proclamation of Him, brought him to imprisonment and finally, martyrdom.  Our personal history will be different than Paul’s, yet, we are also followers of Christ.  We have a commission to proclaim Christ and continue to make Him known.

Our Gracious Master and our God.
We rejoice that You have led us by Your own example.
We praise You that You will continue to show us,
how to imitate You until we see You face-to-Face.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
The Lord’s Prisoner

The Lord’s Prisoner

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I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called….

Ephesians 4:1

Paul was a single-purposed individual.  His statement of this was, ‘For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.’  He was prepared to pursue this purpose to its’ logical conclusion, whatever that was and wherever it took him.  As the result of that mindset, he was in prison as he wrote to the Ephesians.  He would not have been in prison had he been willing to cease his teaching and preaching of Jesus Christ.  He accepted the commission of preaching Christ, was not ashamed of his conduct, nor the consequences of it.  Therefore, in our text for today, Paul addressed the Ephesians as, ‘the prisoner of the Lord.’  There is a cost for following Christ.  According to Paul, in another place, ‘All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.’ In Paul’s case this persecution took the form of imprisonment and finally, martyrdom.  We should be clear in our own understanding of the logical consequences of following Christ.  Knowing that we will suffer at some level gives us opportunity to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually for whatever comes.  We are part of a great company of those who have accepted the consequences of following Christ.  Christ upheld them, and will uphold us.  Jesus never fails.

Our Holy and Wise God,
we rejoice that You have appointed our path for us.
We praise You that You will uphold us,
all along the way, as we seek to make Christ known.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Imitators Of God

Imitators Of God

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Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:  Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.  And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, will all malice:  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.  Be ye therefore imitators of God, as dear children…..

Ephesians 4:25-5:1

As Paul practically applies the theology which he began to expound back when he spoke of our being chosen in Christ ‘before the foundation of the world,’ he becomes very specific regarding how our behavior will look because we are ‘in Christ.’  We have quoted a long passage today, which brings us to our text, a summary statement of what has gone before.  If we are ‘imitators of God, as dear children,’ then we, as children, will copy the behavior of our father.  We see that He does not lie; does not add sin to His anger; does not give Satan opportunity; does not steal, or speak in a corrupt fashion.  He does not grieve the Holy Spirit; nor is He bitter, wrathful, angry, quarrelsome, slanderous or malicious.  Rather, He is kind and forgiving, as He demonstrates by forgiving us ‘in Christ.’  If we become ‘imitators of God’ as new creations in Christ, we will find ourselves demonstrating behavior which patterns itself after what we know of God our Father and of Christ His Son.  As children, we will fail often in our imitation of Christ, but that merely demonstrates that we are, indeed, children.  God has not finished in His development of us.  He will patiently continue to work in us and with us until, by His Spirit, He brings us to become fully ‘imitators of God.’

Our High and Holy God,
we rejoice that You have shown us,
by Your own Character,
what You intend for us to be.
We praise You, that by the workings of Your Holy Spirit,
You will bring us to become imitators of You.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
The Truth In Jesus

The Truth In Jesus

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If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus.…’

Ephesians 4:21

‘The truth is in Jesus.’  This is a simple, but broad statement with massive implications.  Christ went so far as to speak of Himself as ‘the truth.’  Pilate asked, ‘What is truth?’ as the living embodiment of truth stood before him.  The truth ‘in Jesus,’ as we learn Him and receive it, has very practical implications for us personally.  Because Paul is moving from the theological groundwork he has laid to the practical application, he is beginning to show what the practical outgrowth of learning Christ is.  He points to the fact that the Christless person walks daily in an utterly selfish manner ‘in the futility of their mind…having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God,’ and who ‘work all uncleanness with greediness.’  By contrast, if we have ‘learned Christ and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus’ we will ‘put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.’  This testifies of a wholesale change of life, which is inextricably associated with ‘the truth’ which ‘is in Jesus.’  As we ‘learn Christ’ and are ‘taught by Him’ we become full of the truth that is ‘in Jesus.’  This will make us different from how we used to be and also make us different from many others.  Our touchstone of truth is Christ.

Our Gracious God and our Heavenly Father,
we rejoice that the truth is in Christ.
We praise You that You have given unto us
the privilege of seeing Christ
and of embracing the truth that is in Him.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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