Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2020 12:05:15 GMT -5
I’m hoping to try and share how these scriptures below show how we are to imitate (and be changed inwardly into) the lovely nature of Christ and how He submitted Himself when He was found in the form of a man. This is the same for the born again spiritual child of God….they are the same reasons we are to obey earthly forms of propriety and fulfill all righteousness and submit to the order of earthly creation and authorities in obedience to the Lord, while we are still found in the flesh….even though in spirit we are all equal and really our obedience is only to the Lord.
New Christian believers back in the first century were rejoicing in their new found status in Christ….slaves in the Lord were equal to their masters, the poor were rejoicing in their high position; women who had been regarded as inferior creatures were elevated to equal status in the Lord; the younger who were born again still needed to obey & honour their parents; and also Gentiles were no longer regarded as unclean inferiors but equal to the Jews, etc….so some reminders and grounding was needed for everyone in the church to make the will of God clear and understood concerning earthly life. Kind of like where Jesus said “the sons are exempt”….. and we still need to pay our taxes and obey worldly authorities even though we aren’t citizens of this world.
To me this whole topic should be regarded as a thing of beauty and a joy.....didn’t Jesus say His yoke was easy and His burden LIGHT. When we only receive these things with our minds of flesh we miss the joy and beauty of it and it becomes another thing altogether…it becomes darkness and heavy burden and under compulsion rather than light and serving the Lord freely. But I pray we can try looking at this with fresh eyes and capture this in a right spirit as we read these scriptures altogether as a whole instead of isolating out just a few.
Phl 2:4-8
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Ephesians 5:1-2
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Eph 5:8-10
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
Eph 5:17-33
Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Eph 6:1-12
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: (the spiritual woman in Christ is no longer serving her husband in the spirit of man-pleasing that came about with the curse of the fall)
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
(Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.)
And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
New Christian believers back in the first century were rejoicing in their new found status in Christ….slaves in the Lord were equal to their masters, the poor were rejoicing in their high position; women who had been regarded as inferior creatures were elevated to equal status in the Lord; the younger who were born again still needed to obey & honour their parents; and also Gentiles were no longer regarded as unclean inferiors but equal to the Jews, etc….so some reminders and grounding was needed for everyone in the church to make the will of God clear and understood concerning earthly life. Kind of like where Jesus said “the sons are exempt”….. and we still need to pay our taxes and obey worldly authorities even though we aren’t citizens of this world.
To me this whole topic should be regarded as a thing of beauty and a joy.....didn’t Jesus say His yoke was easy and His burden LIGHT. When we only receive these things with our minds of flesh we miss the joy and beauty of it and it becomes another thing altogether…it becomes darkness and heavy burden and under compulsion rather than light and serving the Lord freely. But I pray we can try looking at this with fresh eyes and capture this in a right spirit as we read these scriptures altogether as a whole instead of isolating out just a few.
Phl 2:4-8
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Ephesians 5:1-2
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Eph 5:8-10
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
Eph 5:17-33
Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Eph 6:1-12
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: (the spiritual woman in Christ is no longer serving her husband in the spirit of man-pleasing that came about with the curse of the fall)
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
(Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.)
And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
