Ephesians 4:31-32 /31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Last week, I was spending time with family for the holiday season – my apologies for not posting this message last week. I want to continue where we left off two weeks ago, on the word “kind”. We previously studied in depth verse 31 – before we can really understand God’s definition of kind, it is advisable to take a good look at those things which are contrary to it. We discussed the meanings of “bitterness”, “wrath”, “anger”, “clamour”, “evil speaking” and “malice”.
This week, we will continue into verse 32, focusing on the words “kind”, “tenderhearted” and “forgiving”. We may take a look at some alternate scriptures that work with these scriptures. One important thing to ALWAYS remember is that it is not spiritually healthy to only major on one scripture. If we do this, we are not able to “rightfully divide the word of truth”, as Paul taught Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15. Some churches will go so far as to say to not study the Old Testament, seeing that we are no longer under the law. My argument is that the early apostles who wrote the New Testament only had the Old Testament and the words of Jesus to work with, and they often cited the Old Testament in their works. God gave us all word, from Genesis 1:1 until Revelation 22:21, and even today He still provides new prophetic words that act in conjunction with the Word that He has already established for His people.
Let’s begin with the word “kind” – this comes from the Greek word “chrēstos” – look at how similar that is to the Greek word for Christ, “Christos”! This word, in the Greek, means “fit, fit for use, useful, mild, pleasant (as opp. to harsh, hard sharp, bitter)”. The words that we typically associate with “kind” are the latter two – “mild” and pleasant”. But take a look at the first words – “fit for use, useful” – how peculiar that those words are also under the definition for the word “kind”. The thing is that God cannot use a Christian who is unkind – let’s backtrack for a second to verse 31 – a Christian who is full of “bitterness”, “wrath”, “anger”, “clamour”, “evil speaking” and “malice”.
Don’t get me wrong – God does want us to be able to make a stand for what is right. However, that doesn’t mean we have to be filled with unholy zeal to accomplish what we feel is right. People have went so far as to kill in the name of Christ, believing that they were doing God’s work. Christ taught us to pray for our enemies, and to love them. We do have to make a stand for that which is holy, in a HOLY fashion. Peter stood up to those who told him to keep silence in Acts 4, and Stephen spoke the truth in Acts 7. Granted, it cost Stephen his life, but God never promised us that we would always be able to keep our lives while living a godly life. He did promise that He would preserve our soul. But many holy men of God gave their lives while serving the Lord – they were martyrs for the truth.
Is there a difference between holy boldness in God and unholy zeal? Can we accomplish that which is holy in an unholy manner? God never commanded us to twist people’s arms to serve Him – each person gets an opportunity to hear the message of truth, and to either embrace it and turn from their wickedness, or to turn away from it and continue embracing a life of damnation. God never commanded us to strike back at those who mock the gospel – Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:39 to “turn the other cheek”. We cannot turn the other cheek while we are running our mouths at those who hate the gospel of truth.
Many of those who once mocked the gospel have turned to the truth – a perfect example in the Bible is Saul, who later became known as Paul. He was consenting to the death of Stephen – BUT he thought he was doing God’s perfect work. It wasn’t until He had a personal meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus that he changed. And even further – he never really changed! All along, his desire was simply to obey the LORD – in the beginning, he was actually in disobedience! However, his heart was always turned toward the LORD. He even stated in Philippians 3:4-6 how that he was extremely obedient to the Old Testament law from birth until the moment of his conversion:
4Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
5Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
6Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Thinking in this regard, we see that Paul never really was trying to be disobedient – according to 1 Timothy 1:13, everything he did was done “ignorantly in unbelief”. Once he saw the truth, he fully embraced it, and he changed the path he was walking.
How many times does this happen today? One day a person is speaking against God, and finally they have a “wake-up call” and realize that He is real! From that moment, their life is changed, and they proceed to live for Christ. Now think of all the Christians that spoke against them, saying they would never amount to anything – how they have to forgive every one of those people. What a testimony of the flesh!
Have we lashed back at others who spoke against the word of God? Was there ever a time in our lives when we did not agree with God on anything? Remember – disagreeing with God on ANYTHING puts us on the wrong side of the fence! However, God is always faithful to try to lead us the right way. Often, He has to “turn the other cheek” time and time again while we fumble through life, mixing a walk of denial with our fleshly pride and stubbornness. We must first crucify the flesh before we can truly walk in the Spirit! If God lashed out at us every time we accused His word of being wrong, every one of us would be dead! Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:2 – “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again”. God has full permission to destroy any one of us for our sins of rebellion – YET he refrains BECAUSE His love is so strong for us. God is KIND to us!
Continuing on with the scripture, we come to the word “tenderhearted”, which comes from the Greek word “eusplagchnos”, which means “having strong bowels, compassionate, tender hearted”. We can understand “compassionate” being used as a descriptive word for “tenderhearted”, but “having strong bowels”? We have to take a look at the use of the word “bowels” in the Hebrew to get a good idea of why this word is used. Even the Greek word “eusplagchnos” comes from compound word literally meaning “prosper” and “bowels”, or “healthy bowels”. If you mentioned this in a medical conversation, it would likely have a totally different meaning! All jokes aside, in the Hebrew, they used the word “me`ah” which not only meant “internal organs, inward parts, bowels, intestines, belly”, but also “organs of procreation, womb”, and finally (and most befitting for this part of the discussion) “place of emotions or distress or love”.
God is interested in how tender-hearted we are – do we have compassion on others in their weakness? We see others who are spiritually lost – do we speak about them behind their backs? Do we seek to reach out to them and demonstrate the love of Christ? Remember the words spoken in Romans 5:8 – “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God reached out to us BECAUSE His love is SO STRONG! Remember in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit they were commanded not to eat of? They hid “amongst the trees of the garden” (Gen. 3:8) and God “called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” (Gen 3:9). God sought out the lost! It has never changed – God has been doing this since Adam and Eve, seeking after those who are lost. Remember Jesus’ words in Luke 19:10 – “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Jesus was “moved with compassion” in Mark 1:41 and healed a leper, and in Matthew 20:34 he had “compassion” on the blind and healed them. Remember – compassionate is one of the meanings of the word “tenderhearted” – Jesus was “tenderhearted”!
The last word we are discussing in Ephesians 4:32, “forgiving”, comes from the Greek word “charizomai”, which means “to do something pleasant or agreeable (to one), to do a favour to, gratify, to show one's self gracious, kind, benevolent, to grant forgiveness, to pardon, to give graciously, give freely, bestow, to forgive, graciously to restore one to another, to preserve for one a person in peril”. These are a lot of different definitions for the word, but it shows the complex illustration that the word “forgiving” presents. It simply means “to wipe clean the slate” – to erase any debt owed to you. Consider all the debt that we owed God – He erased our slate by applying it to Christ as He gave His life for us! He “preserved us in peril” – He “restored us to another (Himself)” – He “showed one’s self (Himself) gracious”…how many times can I go back to this definition and apply it to God? Remember – if we are His children, then we are to obey His commands! His command is that we forgive others their sins – otherwise we will not be forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15)!
One additional way to look at forgiveness is that if you refuse forgiveness, you will constantly be in bondage trying to establish judgment upon that person, place or thing. This unforgiveness will birth the fruits of the flesh mentioned in verse 31, and we will not be free in Christ – we will be in slavery to our own selfishness!
I hope that every one of us can walk away from this message with a more clear understanding of what God expects from us, and even more – that we can see that God’s way will truly birth many great spiritual blessings and freedoms in our lives. God is not seeking to lead us along a path of hard bondage, but rather a path of freedom from the deceptively harsh bondage of sin.
One last thing – the freedom only comes through Christ! This world promises many paths that lead to God, but Jesus clearly spoke in John 14:6 – “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The truth is, we cannot get to God any other way. There is no other path to heaven – no other path to the true blessings of God. God established a clear path through His son, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth to die for our sins. He fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah 53:5, written about 700 years before Christ was ever born – “But hewaswounded for our transgressions,he wasbruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peacewasupon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” As a matter of fact, Isaiah 53 as a whole paints a very descriptive picture of EXACTLY what Christ would suffer for our sins. It was even written as if it has already happened or as if it was currently happening. God CLEARLY wanted us to understand what He had planned for us – a TOTAL PLAN OF SALVATION FOR ALL MANKIND!It can come from no one else, but through Christ.
If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you want to do so, salvation is free! It comes from humbly coming to God and admitting that you have sin, and that you are in need of redemption. God gives this gift freely through the gift of His son – we read in John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
It takes a simple prayer, spoken from your heart:
“Dear Jesus, please forgive me of my sins. Please come into my heart, and be my Lord and Saviour. I believe that you are the Son of God, and that you died for my sins. I believe that you rose from the dead, and that you are seated at the right hand of God.”
If you have prayed this prayer earnestly for the first time, you are saved! However, it does not end here – this is only the beginning of your journey with God. The next step is to go to a church and find a good pastor – one who will teach you the truth. It is important to attend church with other believers – people who you can connect with who are also on the path of righteousness.
If you ever have any questions, please feel free to send me a private message – God bless you!
12-04-11 / “Kind” Part 2
Ephesians 4:31-32 / 31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Last week, I was spending time with family for the holiday season – my apologies for not posting this message last week. I want to continue where we left off two weeks ago, on the word “kind”. We previously studied in depth verse 31 – before we can really understand God’s definition of kind, it is advisable to take a good look at those things which are contrary to it. We discussed the meanings of “bitterness”, “wrath”, “anger”, “clamour”, “evil speaking” and “malice”.
This week, we will continue into verse 32, focusing on the words “kind”, “tenderhearted” and “forgiving”. We may take a look at some alternate scriptures that work with these scriptures. One important thing to ALWAYS remember is that it is not spiritually healthy to only major on one scripture. If we do this, we are not able to “rightfully divide the word of truth”, as Paul taught Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15. Some churches will go so far as to say to not study the Old Testament, seeing that we are no longer under the law. My argument is that the early apostles who wrote the New Testament only had the Old Testament and the words of Jesus to work with, and they often cited the Old Testament in their works. God gave us all word, from Genesis 1:1 until Revelation 22:21, and even today He still provides new prophetic words that act in conjunction with the Word that He has already established for His people.
Let’s begin with the word “kind” – this comes from the Greek word “chrēstos” – look at how similar that is to the Greek word for Christ, “Christos”! This word, in the Greek, means “fit, fit for use, useful, mild, pleasant (as opp. to harsh, hard sharp, bitter)”. The words that we typically associate with “kind” are the latter two – “mild” and pleasant”. But take a look at the first words – “fit for use, useful” – how peculiar that those words are also under the definition for the word “kind”. The thing is that God cannot use a Christian who is unkind – let’s backtrack for a second to verse 31 – a Christian who is full of “bitterness”, “wrath”, “anger”, “clamour”, “evil speaking” and “malice”.
Don’t get me wrong – God does want us to be able to make a stand for what is right. However, that doesn’t mean we have to be filled with unholy zeal to accomplish what we feel is right. People have went so far as to kill in the name of Christ, believing that they were doing God’s work. Christ taught us to pray for our enemies, and to love them. We do have to make a stand for that which is holy, in a HOLY fashion. Peter stood up to those who told him to keep silence in Acts 4, and Stephen spoke the truth in Acts 7. Granted, it cost Stephen his life, but God never promised us that we would always be able to keep our lives while living a godly life. He did promise that He would preserve our soul. But many holy men of God gave their lives while serving the Lord – they were martyrs for the truth.
Is there a difference between holy boldness in God and unholy zeal? Can we accomplish that which is holy in an unholy manner? God never commanded us to twist people’s arms to serve Him – each person gets an opportunity to hear the message of truth, and to either embrace it and turn from their wickedness, or to turn away from it and continue embracing a life of damnation. God never commanded us to strike back at those who mock the gospel – Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:39 to “turn the other cheek”. We cannot turn the other cheek while we are running our mouths at those who hate the gospel of truth.
Many of those who once mocked the gospel have turned to the truth – a perfect example in the Bible is Saul, who later became known as Paul. He was consenting to the death of Stephen – BUT he thought he was doing God’s perfect work. It wasn’t until He had a personal meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus that he changed. And even further – he never really changed! All along, his desire was simply to obey the LORD – in the beginning, he was actually in disobedience! However, his heart was always turned toward the LORD. He even stated in Philippians 3:4-6 how that he was extremely obedient to the Old Testament law from birth until the moment of his conversion:
4Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
5Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
6Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Thinking in this regard, we see that Paul never really was trying to be disobedient – according to 1 Timothy 1:13, everything he did was done “ignorantly in unbelief”. Once he saw the truth, he fully embraced it, and he changed the path he was walking.
How many times does this happen today? One day a person is speaking against God, and finally they have a “wake-up call” and realize that He is real! From that moment, their life is changed, and they proceed to live for Christ. Now think of all the Christians that spoke against them, saying they would never amount to anything – how they have to forgive every one of those people. What a testimony of the flesh!
Have we lashed back at others who spoke against the word of God? Was there ever a time in our lives when we did not agree with God on anything? Remember – disagreeing with God on ANYTHING puts us on the wrong side of the fence! However, God is always faithful to try to lead us the right way. Often, He has to “turn the other cheek” time and time again while we fumble through life, mixing a walk of denial with our fleshly pride and stubbornness. We must first crucify the flesh before we can truly walk in the Spirit! If God lashed out at us every time we accused His word of being wrong, every one of us would be dead! Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:2 – “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again”. God has full permission to destroy any one of us for our sins of rebellion – YET he refrains BECAUSE His love is so strong for us. God is KIND to us!
Continuing on with the scripture, we come to the word “tenderhearted”, which comes from the Greek word “eusplagchnos”, which means “having strong bowels, compassionate, tender hearted”. We can understand “compassionate” being used as a descriptive word for “tenderhearted”, but “having strong bowels”? We have to take a look at the use of the word “bowels” in the Hebrew to get a good idea of why this word is used. Even the Greek word “eusplagchnos” comes from compound word literally meaning “prosper” and “bowels”, or “healthy bowels”. If you mentioned this in a medical conversation, it would likely have a totally different meaning! All jokes aside, in the Hebrew, they used the word “me`ah” which not only meant “internal organs, inward parts, bowels, intestines, belly”, but also “organs of procreation, womb”, and finally (and most befitting for this part of the discussion) “place of emotions or distress or love”.
God is interested in how tender-hearted we are – do we have compassion on others in their weakness? We see others who are spiritually lost – do we speak about them behind their backs? Do we seek to reach out to them and demonstrate the love of Christ? Remember the words spoken in Romans 5:8 – “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God reached out to us BECAUSE His love is SO STRONG! Remember in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit they were commanded not to eat of? They hid “amongst the trees of the garden” (Gen. 3:8) and God “called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” (Gen 3:9). God sought out the lost! It has never changed – God has been doing this since Adam and Eve, seeking after those who are lost. Remember Jesus’ words in Luke 19:10 – “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Jesus was “moved with compassion” in Mark 1:41 and healed a leper, and in Matthew 20:34 he had “compassion” on the blind and healed them. Remember – compassionate is one of the meanings of the word “tenderhearted” – Jesus was “tenderhearted”!
The last word we are discussing in Ephesians 4:32, “forgiving”, comes from the Greek word “charizomai”, which means “to do something pleasant or agreeable (to one), to do a favour to, gratify, to show one's self gracious, kind, benevolent, to grant forgiveness, to pardon, to give graciously, give freely, bestow, to forgive, graciously to restore one to another, to preserve for one a person in peril”. These are a lot of different definitions for the word, but it shows the complex illustration that the word “forgiving” presents. It simply means “to wipe clean the slate” – to erase any debt owed to you. Consider all the debt that we owed God – He erased our slate by applying it to Christ as He gave His life for us! He “preserved us in peril” – He “restored us to another (Himself)” – He “showed one’s self (Himself) gracious”…how many times can I go back to this definition and apply it to God? Remember – if we are His children, then we are to obey His commands! His command is that we forgive others their sins – otherwise we will not be forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15)!
One additional way to look at forgiveness is that if you refuse forgiveness, you will constantly be in bondage trying to establish judgment upon that person, place or thing. This unforgiveness will birth the fruits of the flesh mentioned in verse 31, and we will not be free in Christ – we will be in slavery to our own selfishness!
I hope that every one of us can walk away from this message with a more clear understanding of what God expects from us, and even more – that we can see that God’s way will truly birth many great spiritual blessings and freedoms in our lives. God is not seeking to lead us along a path of hard bondage, but rather a path of freedom from the deceptively harsh bondage of sin.
One last thing – the freedom only comes through Christ! This world promises many paths that lead to God, but Jesus clearly spoke in John 14:6 – “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The truth is, we cannot get to God any other way. There is no other path to heaven – no other path to the true blessings of God. God established a clear path through His son, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth to die for our sins. He fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah 53:5, written about 700 years before Christ was ever born – “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” As a matter of fact, Isaiah 53 as a whole paints a very descriptive picture of EXACTLY what Christ would suffer for our sins. It was even written as if it has already happened or as if it was currently happening. God CLEARLY wanted us to understand what He had planned for us – a TOTAL PLAN OF SALVATION FOR ALL MANKIND! It can come from no one else, but through Christ.
If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you want to do so, salvation is free! It comes from humbly coming to God and admitting that you have sin, and that you are in need of redemption. God gives this gift freely through the gift of His son – we read in John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
It takes a simple prayer, spoken from your heart:
“Dear Jesus, please forgive me of my sins. Please come into my heart, and be my Lord and Saviour. I believe that you are the Son of God, and that you died for my sins. I believe that you rose from the dead, and that you are seated at the right hand of God.”
If you have prayed this prayer earnestly for the first time, you are saved! However, it does not end here – this is only the beginning of your journey with God. The next step is to go to a church and find a good pastor – one who will teach you the truth. It is important to attend church with other believers – people who you can connect with who are also on the path of righteousness.
If you ever have any questions, please feel free to send me a private message – God bless you!