A Fathers Child

A believer who’s joined God’s family belongs to the Heavenly Father, and that says something about how we ought to live. If I’m my father’s child, then I’ll honour my father. And a sad failure in our commitment, it is indeed not to live up to such an identity. Philippians 1.27, Paul put it this way, only let, now listen to this, only let your conduct be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. You see? In other words, match your conduct with the gospel. The exalted reality of the gospel demands an exalted lifestyle. And that is precisely the issue we come to in Ephesians 4.

The first three chapters are positional truth, the resources, the riches, the things God has done for us. We’ve been through them all, absolutely staggering and incredible things. We found that he blessed us with all spiritual blessings. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. He made us to be holy, to be blameless. In love he even predestinated us, he adopted us, he made us to the praise of his glory. He has made us accepted in the beloved one. He has given us redemption, forgiveness. He’s given us wisdom, prudence. He’s made known to us the mystery of his will.

He has, in the dispensation yet in the future, to lift us up to heights we haven’t even replanned before the world began. He has granted to us the Holy Spirit. He’s given us resurrection power. He’s made us alive from the dead. He’s taken us who are afar off, who are lost, who are cut off, and he’s made us one new man in himself. He’s given to us the great mystery of the truth of the gospel, the truth of the church. And he’s made it possible for us to capitalise on all of this by giving us his Holy Spirit, who can strengthen the inner man, so that Christ can settle down and be at home, so that we can be filled with incomprehensible love, so that we can have eternal fullness, the fullness of God, so that we can know the power that’s in chapter 3 verse 20.

And he’s done it all for his own glory. He’s done everything for us. And simply, pointedly, directly, does Paul say, walk worthy, live up to it. It’s high time that we circumscribed our living to our identity, a great New Testament truth. Now listen, beloved, the transition here between 3 and 4 is not a random one. It is the typical pattern of Paul to make this kind of transition. It is a transition from doctrine to duty, from doctrine to duty, from precept or principle to practice, from theology to life. It is not a random transition. He doesn’t say, well that’s all for that, first three chapters, now I think I’ve got something else I want to say.

It is a transition that is inseparably linked. Doctrine, now watch this, always is the basis of duty. Duty always flows out of doctrine. There can be no living unless there are principles for it. There can be no lifestyle unless there is a theology at the bottom of it. There can be no practice if there are no precepts. Doctrine and duty are linked as closely as the flower and the stem, as closely as the branch and the trunk, as closely as the trunk and the roots. Doctrine and duty. Notice the word in verse 1, therefore. We know what the therefore is there for.

To take us back. It’s the transition, on the basis of all of this doctrine, therefore this is your duty. That’s always Paul’s approach. In all of his letters, beloved, he does this. In all of the letters that he wrote the churches, you’ll find these therefores. In fact, if you want an interesting study sometime, just go through Paul’s epistles and study all the transitions where therefore appears. Let’s go back to an illustration of it in Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. Now we’re all familiar with this great text. It’s one that we know and love. This is what it says.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual service, or reasonable service. Now I want you to notice something. He is beseeching people, and he is beseeching them to present their bodies as a living sacrifice. This is duty he’s asking for. He wants duty out of them. In fact, in verse 3, he talks about the gifts there to manifest. Down in verse 9, he talks about the love that they’re to manifest. And then further on, that they are to not be lazy, in verse 11.

That they are to rejoice, in verse 12. That they are to give to the needy, in verse 13. They are to bless their persecutors, in verse 14. Rejoice with people who rejoice, and weep with those who weep, to show sympathy, etc. All of these are practical things. Then in 13, he talks about how you’re to respond to the government. How you’re to respond to God’s standards. How you’re to respond to the weaker brother, in chapter 14. How you’re to respond to the weaker brother, in chapter 15. How you’re to carry out your ministry, in chapter 15.

Chapter 16. How do you relate to people who help you in the ministry? It’s all practical. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of A Father’s Child. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].