Discipleship Essentials*
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, I pray that today and everyday You will empower me by Your Holy Spirit to hold the truth and love together. Sometimes I find it easy to tell the truth—I enjoy telling others the truth, although in doing so I forget the love that is necessary to make the truth a benefit to others and to me. At other times I want to be loving, so I am afraid to tell others the truth. Give me the wisdom and discernment to be able to speak and live both the truth and love that You may be glorified, and that folks will see the reality of Jesus’ saving truth and love in their lives. I pray these things in the strong name of Jesus! Amen.
God’s Word Today
Ephesians 4:11-16
11He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, 13until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.
14Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. 15Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Background on the Text – Who Wrote It? Why Was It Written? Who Was the Audience?
One of the important realities of Bible study is that when we look at any particular verse of Scripture, such as Ephesians 4:15 for example, we must learn to look at it in its immediate context—in this case Ephesians 4:11-16—the context of the entire book or letter—in this case Ephesians, and in light of the Bible as a whole. Many times folks will take one verse out of its immediate context or the context of the book in which it is contained, or out of the Bible and use it as a “proof” text to uphold a certain viewpoint. Such prooftexting has been used to support slavery, abortion, homosexual practice and various other practices, which are seen to be unbiblical when looked in their greater contexts. As you read the single verse: Ephesians 4:15 today, remember that it must always be held in its greater contexts. As we do that we will ensure that the Bible truly does speak for itself, and when it does it is consistent in guiding us to the truth and to faithfulness in daily living!
Observation – What Does the Text Say?
Interpretation – What Does the Text Mean?
Application – How Can I Respond to the Text’s Insights and Teachings?
Each Week’s Check List.
After reading and studying this text, reflect on the following discipleship growth points:
Growth Point |
How |
Encouraged and strengthened me by |
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Fallen short areas |
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What will I do with these insights? |
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What did God say to me today? |
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Share insights and growth points |
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Changed/transformed how? |
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Thoughts...Holding the Truth in Love...
Nothing is so necessary, and often nothing is so difficult as holding the truth in love! It is so easy to tell the truth if we aren’t concerned about love. In fact, many times people “bludgeon” people in the name of being truthful. While we are always called to tell the truth, we must remember that speaking the truth without love is injustice. No one has the right to hurt others by being honest. Particularly, as followers of Jesus we are called to hold truth and love together. This teaching is so vital, because most of us have a natural tendency to err either on the side of being “too honest” – which really means being unloving in the name of truth; or “too loving” – which really means being untruthful in the name of love. After all, we don’t want to hurt others, and what right do we have to tell others their shortcomings when we have enough of our own. The reality is, though, that it is not loving to let a brother or sister in Jesus live in the error of their ways in the name of love. True love never turns its head to sin or error, but rather calls attention to it in a way that corrects rather that condemns. When we hold truth together with love as “opposite sides of the same coin” we will find that others will respond quite well—at least if they are committed to following Jesus and growing up to be like Him. As you go about this day ask God to show you ways to speak the truth in love, and thus help others grow up to be like Jesus!