Deeply Rooted (When I Read Your Word)

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 6:10-12 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms . WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? These verses use a lot of words and phrases that have to do with war (strong, armor, stand against, schemes, struggle, powers, and more). If Christians are called to be peacemakers, what are we doing talking about going to war? An important part about being a believer is that we really are involved in a war, but it doesn’t get talked about very often by Christians. So who are we at war with? Sometimes it feels like we are at war with people who don’t like us, people who are mean to us, or people who disagree with us. It may feel like we are at war with our bosses, our par...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 6:9 9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? That first sentence is CRAZY! When Paul tells masters to treat their slaves "in the same way," he's referring to what he just told the slaves to do, which was: 5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. So...Paul just told masters to obey their slaves with respect and fear...?! At heart, what this shows is that, in Jesus, there is no such thing as slave or ...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 6:7-8 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? Whether we're Alexander Hamilton, we manage our own company, we've never worked a day in our lives, or we're the lowest on the totem poll at a Bahama Bucks somewhere, we get the choice on who we serve. Are we going to serve ourselves? Our manager? What if, instead of making it our goal to serve some person, we made it our goal to serve God?! Working for God changes everything. You know in school when your teacher leaves the room and everyone kind of looks at each other and then immediately starts to cheat on the assignment? That's called working for your teacher. If you were working at your schoolwork for God, then you know that there's never a moment that He leaves the room, so you try to be excellent/wholehearted all the time! Wh...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 6:5-6 5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? When we read God's Word, it's always very important that we understand the context of the passages we read. Sadly, many people have used passages like these without context to say that the Bible supports things like slavery, but that simply isn't true! Slavery looked very different in the times of the Bible than it did in the world many years later. Slaves often offered themselves up to work for others, and while they worked, many masters would treat them as if they were a part of their own family. It's not a coincidence that this passage immediately follows Paul's words about how parents should treat their own children! So, now that we have context, what is Paul s...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 6:1-4 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” 4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? So, you probably thought you were off the hook if you're a student who has been reading the last chapter with us, but JOKES, Paul just came at you, too! Each of y'all has a parent figure at home, whether it's a mom, a dad, both, a grandparent, etc. In the Old Testament, the first commandment that is about the way humans relate to other humans is about children honoring their parents, and that commandment is also the first that has a promise attached to it. In the OT, it is written that children should honor/obey/respect their parents so that things can go well for them for their whole ...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 5:31-33 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? The quote we see here in verse 31 actually comes from Genesis 2:24... so let's get some context on what's happening here. In Genesis 2, God sees that Adam desperately needs a helper. God provides Adam with everything in His creation, including every animal, but none of them makes a suitable helper for him. So God creates Eve, a woman, from Adam. Like, literally from Adam! When Adam is asleep, God takes a rib from him and creates Eve out of it. So Adam and Eve really are "one flesh," or one body! Over the last few days, we have been talking about marriage. When a man and woman choose to marry one another,...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 5:25-30 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church — 30 for we are members of his body.  WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? Yesterday, we talked about the role of the wife in relation to Jesus and the church. In verse 25, Paul shares the example of Jesus giving his life for the Church because of how strong His love for her is. Verses 26 and 27 dive deeper into the duties a husband has for his wife. What Paul is saying is that husbands are supposed to love and fully commit themselves ...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 5:19b-24 19b Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? While we praise and thank the Lord for all the good, we must go to Him during tough decisions. He has the answer we need to hear, but we need to trust that He will provide in the good AND bad times. However, we are called to more than JUST trust Him. We have to SUBMIT to Him...to yield to Him. In verse 22, we read that wives should submit to their husbands like they would to the Lord. This means the wife should trust their husband...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 5:15-19a 15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19a speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? We just talked yesterday about getting to be a light. If we are supposed to be people who light up the rooms we walk into, then we have to be pretty careful how we act. You ever think about that word "careful?" It literally means "full of care." The times I have made my biggest mistakes and didn't do a great job of being the light/the good in the room were the times I did not act carefully. Those were the times I was kind of foolish and just did something because I wanted to do it, not thinking about other people, and certainly not th...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 5:8-14 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? Have you ever noticed that there just can't be darkness where there is light? The only way an area around a flashlight doesn't light up is if the flashlight itself isn't lit. The same goes for us! We're like flashlights with Jesus as our J-battery. We don't light up unless we're filled with Jesus, but once we are, everything around us changes....

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 5:3-7 3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? Ever been to the airport? Before you can enter in, airports have people go through these special machines called detectors. They check people who come in to make sure no one brings anything dangerous into the building. They also have TSA workers that check peoples' bags for anything that goes against their rules and regulations.  If someon...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 5:1-2 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? We talked yesterday about replacing the sinful way with the Godly way (and high-key we talked about this  earlier  with replacing old clothes with new ones), and now Paul gives us the ultimate example. God! God's example is doing exactly  that. He replaces US! He looks at what isn't so good, and He replaces it with something beautiful. The clearest example is through Jesus. God looked at humans, said we weren't really cutting it, and then He sent Jesus as a baby. That baby turned into the perfect guy, and He lived the God-life that we weren't. The life of love! Everything He did was done for love of God. Then, He died out of love for God's people, so that now when God looks at Christians, He doesn't see us...He sees Jesus!...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 4:28-32 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.  29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? Paul's words have been sticking to a theme these last few days: replacing the way we used to live with the way God wants us to live! In this section, Paul decides to get very clear on specific things we can let go of and specific things we can start doing. Here are some of the ones ...

R EAD THIS:  Ephesians 4:26-27 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? Verse 26 is in quotes because it is referencing Psalm 4:4! And this whole little section kind of starts to mean something a bit different than what it seems like when you know that Psalm. It's only 8 verses, so click here to read it! The psalm is from David, and he is SO angry at all the sin that is happening that he yells out to God, asking Him how long He's going to let people do messed up stuff to him. But, in the midst of it, David kind of hears from God (at least that's the way I read it, fact check me), and God says that it's okay to be angry, but think about it, see where your heart is right with God or not, and pursue the right things of God.  Anger is a foothold...it's like in rock climbing where the only way to the top of the rock is through different footholds and handhold...