Live the Life

I am the prisoner of a Middle Eastern Jew. He was born into a peasant family. His never spoke English during his 33 years. He wore a robe instead of blue jeans. He ate hard flat bread and whole dried fish. He lived in poverty and died a pauper. His friends paid for his burial.

We are only talking about him today because three days after they buried him his tomb was vacated. He appeared to his friends telling them that he was alive. They remembered that he had predicted this very thing.

God broke into this world through Jesus of Nazareth. He changed everything for those who followed him in that strange time 2,000 years ago. And he continues to change everything for those who believe in him.

Last week we talked about strengthening the inner you. I asked you to identify one behavior in your life that weakened the inner you, to confess it and forsake it.

Today we are going to talk about substitute behaviors that the Spirit produces in us. These are attitudes and actions that we practice instead of the destructive behaviors. They bringing healing and strength to us and those we love.

Be Completely Humble and Gentle:

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." — Ephesians 4:2 

These are the very first virtues mentioned by the Apostle as he turns to the practical matter of living our faith.

Humility is an understanding about myself. It is built on two simple but certain truths.

• First, everything I have and am is a gift of God’s grace.  
  • This includes my existence in the world. 
• I was endowed from the very first with a genetic code over which I can claim not a single contribution. 
• I was born into a family and a nation, purely by God’s grace, that gave me opportunities far beyond those of the vast majority of people born into this world. 
• I asked Drayton McLane, a longtime friend of mine, how he achieved such amazing success in the grocery business. He is the man who designed the groceries in Walmart stores. He is worth $2.5 billion. He said to me, “I was at the right place at the right time.”
  • My position as a child of God is also a gift of God’s grace. I am saved by grace through faith, not by works.
• Second, I am a sinner. I understand and accept my low moral position in the world. I am under the judgment of God for my sin, my wicked behavior. I have fallen short of all that God intended for me. I have violated the boundaries that I knew I should not cross. I have twisted into evil the good gifts that God has given me.
• The word for humility here is sometimes translated “lowliness.” It is the affirmation of God’s grandeur and my own relative insignificance, God’s holiness and my own moral lowliness, and God’s initiative and my own simple response.

Gentleness translates the word for “meek” or “mild.” It describes a behavior that is focused upon the other. A person who is gentle does what needs done but does so with kindness and love—like a mother caring for her baby.

• Jesus described himself and his heart: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matt. 11:29). The prophet predicted that the Messiah would be gentle, riding on a donkey.
• I Peter 3:4 describes our inner self. Our adornment should not be exterior. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 

Jesus modeled these two virtues for us. I am calling them virtues because I believe that Jesus is right despite what the world says. I believe that humility and gentleness are qualities in the character of God. I believe that I flourish as I follow the example of Jesus.

Humility and gentleness are linked. Humility is the mindset, the self-understanding, and gentleness is the behavior, your actions in the world.

Completely translates the usual word for “all.” It is a big word is this little letter, used frequently by Paul. 

• God wants you “all humble and gentle.”
• If these words truly describe you, then you are making good progress on the inner you.

Be Patient, Bearing with One Another in Love:

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." — Ephesians 4:2 

Patience is that wonderful word macro-thumia. It was translated “longsuffering” in the KJV. Macro means long. Thumos means passion, usually anger or wrath, that boils over suddenly. The idea behind macrothumia is that the person takes a long time to display anger, to boil over. He doesn’t snap. He doesn’t explode. He doesn’t strike out against someone. 

• Paul wrote in I Timothy 1:16, But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
• God is patient. Sometimes we take advantage: do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4). Here patience and kindness are in tandem, in parallel.

“Bearing with one another in love”

• This is another way of saying, Be Patient.
• Love is patient (macrothumia)—1 Cor. 13:4.
• “Bearing with” is to stand erect and strong. It is to bend but not break. It is to endure hardship. You will never face greater hardship than bearing with one another. It is so hard to put up with each other. We just don’t want to do it.

All of these virtues are linked together, as you would expect. They describe a way to live that focuses on the other person rather than myself. It is the laying down of your life on behalf of the other person.

Keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace:

"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." — Ephesians 4:3

This is about the church primarily. This is the “unity of the Spirit.”

• Deacons and staff, we must work to keep unity within the body of believers. We do this by obeying the Spirit ourselves, living these qualities that we are rehearsing. And we do it by encouraging others to do follow the Spirit.
• This unity is also about your family, your work environment, and your social network. You are to be a peacemaker, as Jesus said. Your obedience and submission to the Spirit of God will help bring peace in every venue in your life.

“Make every effort” means this will not be easy.

• Unity is difficult to maintain among humans. We are easily offended. We are very proud. We don’t want anyone disrespecting us. We are quick to lash out if we believe our rights have been violated.
• Violating the rights of another person is wrong, wrong, wrong. And it is exactly what they did to Jesus. Yet he endured it for the sake of the gospel.
• We will have to learn to bear up under these injuries to our pride and the violation of our rights.

“Make every effort” means that we will expend emotional and physical energy keeping the unity of the Spirit. Unity is the work of the Spirit because humans do not have the wisdom or the power to keep the peace, as we demonstrate every day.

“The bond of peace” is the bond the Christ builds at the Prince of Peace among his followers.

Remember Your Calling:

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called." — Ephesians 4:4

You have been called.

You have been called to one hope.