Learning Christ

-

Scripture
Ephesians 4:20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 

Observation

The Apostle Paul doesn’t say that the people had learned “about” Christ, but that they had “learned” Christ. There is a distinct difference as one may study a subject to gain knowledge, or someone can practice a subject so that it becomes a part of who they are. We don’t just study medicine — we practice medicine. The same is true about learning Christ. The challenge here is to know Christ and everything that he embodies. When one gets to know Christ in this way, there is no possibility of deception by the enemy. The people of the world were living out of the hardness of their hearts. The Ephesian believers were to have learned Christ in such a way that he was embodied in their hearts and lives. Therefore they were to be completely and totally renewed, living in righteousness and holiness. 

Application

It’s much easer to learn about something, than to really “learn” something. There have been times when I have tackled my Bible reading as if it were a box to tick off in the morning. When I finish that project I can move on to the next thing! The problem is that I may have learned about the scriptures, but I didn’t really learn them. To spend time in the scriptures means that I slow down long enough to contemplate the living Word — Jesus Christ. The scriptures become a pathway to get to know the heart of God. This is what it means to truly learn Christ. 

Interestingly the way in which Paul says this, intimates that the Christian community had adopted practices of discipleship that would help the whole body truly learn Christ. This means that there must have been intentional discipleship from the time of childhood through all of adulthood. 

The way that we truly “learn” Christ is to teach this kind of understanding of the Messiah from one generation to the next. Only in this way are we able to say to the world that we will not be like them. Not only will we say it, we will have no desire to participate in the activities of darkness. When we truly learn Christ — we put on Christ and become more and more like him. His desires are our desires and we wouldn’t even want to go into those places were we lose all of our sensitivity and “abandon” ourselves “to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” No — that is not the way that we have learned Christ.

Learning Christ takes intentional discipleship and discipline. Being clothed in Christ leads us to a life that is radically different from the world — but that’s the point. We can’t succumb to the things of the world when we are in Christ. Learning Christ truly means that we are in Christ. 

Prayer

Lord, may there continually be opportunities to know and serve you faithfully as I am privileged to learn you more every day.  Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a ti...
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her ...
Read more

On Grief and A Flute Player

-
Scripture: Matt. 9:23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, Matt. 9:24 he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Matt. 9:25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. Matt. 9:26 And the report of this spread throughout that district. Observation: This is a simple story which we have heard or read numerous times. Jesus heals the little girl and the people rejoice. But at the moment in which he arrives at the home he encounters the professional mourners. These are the flute players, the ones who have come to make a great noise about the child’s death. It is the flute player that testifies to the fact that she is truly dead. Also, flutes were generally employed when it came to the death of a child. The whole community would therefore understand that it is a child who has died in this home. The flute player is doing the job they have ...
Read more