Exploring Christ's Spiritual Laws

Webers.Home · Oct 18, 2018

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Gal 6:10 . . So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men,
and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

Those who are of the "household of the faith" are actually kin; viz: siblings; and
like they say: charity begins at home.

Some churches have what they call a deacon's fund. What that's for is to
assist members who are down and out and/or in dire straits. Contributing to
that fund easily qualifies as sowing to the Spirit; and what I would call a
"wise" investment.

And don't overlook your church's senior citizens. Some may be getting up in
years and finding it difficult to even maintain their own homes and yards
anymore. Chores may not seem like much of a holy calling; but pitch in
anyway if for no other reason than that it's neighborly.
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Webers.Home · Oct 19, 2018

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Gal 6:11-16 . .Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to
compel you to be circumcised, simply that they may not be persecuted for
the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the
commandments themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that
they may boast in your flesh.

. . . But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the
world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor un-circumcision, but a new
creation. (cf. Acts 15:5-32)

Some Christians truly believe it's possible to be an adherent of both Judaism
and Christianity at the same time (e.g. Messianic Judaism). No, that's
against the rules. Judaism must be abandoned if one is to take up
Christianity because human sacrifice is illegal under the terms and conditions
of the covenant that Moses' people agreed upon with God as per Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. If you try to take up both religions at
the same time, the one will invalidate the other.
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Webers.Home · Oct 20, 2018

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Eph 2:11-22 . .Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by
birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the
circumcision-- that done in the body by the hands of men --remember that
at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in
Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and
without God in the world.

. . . But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought
near through the blood of Christ . . Consequently, you are no longer
foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of
God's household

Christians are prone to forget; and one of the things they forget is that their
religion didn't begin with the Roman Catholic Church; no, it began with
Abraham; and the purpose of Gentiles hearing the gospel is not so they can
replace the Jews as God's chosen people, but rather, so they can join them
and share in their blessings.

"If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive
shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the
nourishing sap from the olive root, don't boast over those branches. If you
do, consider this: You don't support the root, but the root supports you."
(Rom 11:17-18)

"Salvation is of the Jews." (John 4:22)
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Webers.Home · Oct 21, 2018

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Eph 4:1 . . As a prisoner for The Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy
of the calling you have received.

What if Christ's followers neglect to live a life worthy of their calling? Will
they be lost? No; they have eternal life, which is a kind of life that cannot
die; therefore, it's impervious to the wages of sin.

"The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ
our Lord." (Rom 6:23)

People with eternal life have 100% immunity from prosecution.

"I assure you, those who heed my message, and trust in God who sent me,
have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have
already passed from death into life." (John 5:24)

The reason they will never be condemned for their sins is because Christ was
raised again for their justification. (Rom 4:25). The Greek word is dikaiosis
(dik-ah'-yo-sis) which essentially means acquittal-- a legal term that can be
roughly defined as the act of adjudicating that a person is not guilty, i.e. an
acquittal is a legal declaration of innocence.

According to 1John 1:8-10 believers in this life are never 100% sinless; but
that's no longer a legal issue for Christ's sheep seeing as how according to
2Cor 5:19, God is no longer keeping a record of their sins as an indictment
to hold against them at the great white throne event depicted at Rev 20:11
15.
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Webers.Home · Oct 22, 2018

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Eph 4:2 . . Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, putting up with
another in love.

Humility is one of those virtues that people love to talk about; but rarely
ever seem to exemplify.

The koiné Greek word is a tongue twister. It's tapeinophrosune (tap-i-nof
ros-oo'-nay) which means: humiliation of mind, viz: modesty; defined by
Webster's as: free from conceit and/or vanity.

Conceit is defined as: excessive appreciation of one's own worth or virtue;
viz: a too-high opinion of one's self; i.e. a master-race mentality.

Vanity is defined as: inflated pride in oneself or in one's appearance; viz:
narcissism and/or self adoration.

Cosmetics and figure-shaping undergarments don't really qualify as the kind
of vanity that Paul is talking about; which is a kind of vanity that goes way
beyond just trying to look your best.

Sinful vanity is an ugly creature. It's self aggrandizing. Vanity isn't gentle
either, on the contrary, vanity can be quite cruel, thoughtless, competitive,
given to rivalry, indifferent, and insensitive; and vanity abhors associating
with people whose station in life is decidedly below its own; and God forbid
someone below themselves should have the nerve to correct either their
conduct or their knowledge.

Patience is a jewel. It's defined as: the power, or capacity, to endure without
complaint something difficult or disagreeable. Patient people seem to have a
predilection for retaining their composure while under stress. These make
the best leaders because they don't get flustered when everything around
them is disintegrating into chaos.

Patience is very useful when it comes to "putting up" with certain kinds of
rather annoying Christians who seem to have a knack for getting on people's
nerves.

During my forty years working as a professional welder, I encountered
numerous fellow employees whose skills and performance were excellent;
but nobody could work with them. They were just too difficult.

God forbid that Christ's followers should ever be "difficult". It is rather to be
desired that they be civil, courteous, thoughtful, sociable, agreeable, helpful,
approachable, accommodating, affable, rational, reasonable, temperate, and
self-controlled. Christians around whom everybody has to walk on egg shells
all the time, are in sore need of a personality make-over if they're to ever
have any realistic expectation of associating with God.
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Webers.Home · Oct 23, 2018

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Eph 4:3 . . Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the
bond of peace.

Peace is what everybody wants but seem thoroughly unable to attain--
either by force or by diplomacy --even in Christian churches; where you'd
think that at least there you'd find peace seeing as how it's related to one of
Christ's beatitudes (Matt 5:9). It's also a fruit of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22)
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Webers.Home · Oct 24, 2018

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Eph 4:17-19 . . So I tell you this, and insist on it in The Lord, that you must
no longer live as the pagans do, in the futility of their thinking. They are
darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because
of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having
lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to
indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

Sensuality and the life of God are diametrically opposed to each other. The
one is carnal and the other is spiritual, the one is human and the other is
divine. The one does whatever comes natural below, and the other does
whatever comes natural above.

Paul said that pagans live as they do because of the hardening of their
hearts which doesn't always refer to ones emotions-- those can be roughly
defined as one's bowels (e.g. 2Cor 6:12, Phil 1:8, Phil 2:1, Col 3:12, et al).

Hardening of the heart takes place at the core of one's being; the very
marrow of one's bones. For example the heart of the Pharaoh who opposed
Moses and Aaron in the book of Exodus.

Some things are said to be scratch-resistant, fire-resistant, mold-resistance,
UV-resistant, rust-resistant, and so forth. Well; a hard heart is God-resistant,
really God-resistant. If the highway to Hell could be said paved with
sensuality, then the substrate upon which the pavement is laid could be
depicted as hard hearts; for example:

"But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped
their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an
adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which The Lord
of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a
great wrath from The Lord of hosts." (Zech 7:11-12)
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Webers.Home · Oct 25, 2018

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Eph 4:20-24 . .You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely
you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is
in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off
your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made
new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be
like God in true righteousness and holiness.

When God completed the six days of creation, He went on sabbatical (Gen
2:1-3). The six days were all bounded by an evening and a morning. The
seventh wasn't bounded; i.e. it hasn't ended, indicating that God has yet to
resume creating things for the current cosmos. So then, the new self spoken
of in the passage above isn't for the current cosmos, rather, it's a self
created for a cosmos yet to come. (Isa 65:17, 2Pet 3:13, Rev 21:1)

The koiné Greek word for "desire" is epithumia (ep-ee-thoo-mee'-ah) which
means: a longing.

Epithumia by itself doesn't indicate sinful desires. The very same word
describes The Lord's personal longing to dine in the company of his apostles
just prior to his crucifixion. (Luke 22:15)

The kind of longings in view are "deceitful" which is from the koiné Greek
word apate (ap-at'-ay) and means delusion, which Webster's defines as: a
persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self, or persons or objects
outside the self, that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the
contrary-- in other words: deceitful longings are delusional longings.

For example: the old saying "The grass is greener on the other side" which of
course is an unreasonable expectation. Some people sincerely believe that
they would be happier if only they had more money. Well; sad to say,
money can be guaranteed to buy you neither love nor happiness.

Delusional longings get people to chasing after brass rings that may or may
not satisfy; viz: sometimes the dream is better than the reality. Meanwhile,
their life clock is winding down while they're in pursuit of those brass rings
and they are steadily becoming more and more secular and unspiritual. Paul
"insists" that Christ's followers avoid squandering their time and energy
chasing after delusional longings; viz: keep their feet on the ground and
their heads out of the clouds.
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Webers.Home · Oct 26, 2018

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Eph 4:25 . .Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his
neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

The Greek word for "neighbor" is somewhat ambiguous. It normally relates
to one's fellow man regardless of age, race, gender, or religious preference.

I think in this case, the application is similar except for religious preference
because not everyone is identified with Christ's body. Membership is
exclusive; viz: only people who've undergone a special, supernatural
baptism are admitted.

"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into
one Spirit." (1Cor 12:13)

Christ's body constitutes a church (Eph 1:22-23). However, this particular
church isn't a denomination, or an agency, or a society that we might find
listed in the Yellow Pages of a phone book.
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Webers.Home · Oct 27, 2018

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Eph 4:26a . . In your anger do not sin.

Anger isn't eo ipso evil. It's how one handles their anger that matters. Anger
can be a very useful tool when it's applied by somebody who knows what
they're doing. For example:

"And when Jesus had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved
for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man: Stretch forth thine
hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the
other." (Mark 3:5)
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Webers.Home · Oct 28, 2018

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Eph 4:26b-27 . . Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and
do not give the Devil a foothold.

Ol' Smutty Face is no slouch. You just start holding a grudge, or fly off the
handle at the inappropriate time, and you and the Devil will be roped
together on the Eiger where your common goal won't be the summit of a
mountain in Switzerland; but worse: disunity in the body. No fuming!
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Webers.Home · Oct 29, 2018

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Eph 4:28 . . He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work,
doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to
share with those in need.

Isn't is just amazing that early Christian church members were active
criminals? Yes, right there in the Ephesian church were thieves. Ironically
Paul didn't order the Ephesian Christians to not steal, no, of all things; he
ordered them to stop stealing; and not only to stop stealing, but to stop
stealing for a living!

You'd think church would be the one place on earth where you'd be safe
from crime, but not so. Back in the 1970's I sang bass in the choir of a
monster Baptist church in San Diego. The 90+ member choir would meet in
a rehearsal room and the ladies would all leave their purses in there when
we moved out to be seated in the loft. The room had a very sturdy door and
was always securely locked when we left the room.

Well, one Sunday morning when we returned to the room, that Fort Knox
door and its lock were busted open and all the ladies' purses were rifled.

Does cheating on your taxes count as theft? (chuckle) If the Ephesian
Christians needed to be told to stop stealing, then modern Christians even
more so; don't you think?
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Webers.Home · Oct 30, 2018

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Eph 4:29 . . Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be
good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who
hear them.

"helpful" is from the koiné word oikodome (oy-kod-om-ay') which means: to
build up (as opposed to tearing down).

"foul or abusive" is from the koiné Greek word sapros (sap-ros') which
means: rotten, i.e. worthless (literally or morally) viz: inappropriate.

The foul and abusive category no doubt includes not only profanity, but also
biting sarcasm, cruel remarks, thoughtless comments, chafing, relentless
fault-finding, sneering, ridicule, mockery, and unnecessary criticism.

Speaking of humanity as a corporate body, the Bible says:

"Their throat is an open sepulcher" (Rom 3:13a)

It's not advisable to open a sepulcher seeing as how the contents are no
doubt going to be quite odious and in a state of decay; especially in locales
where the remains weren't cremated or treated with formaldehyde.
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Webers.Home · Oct 31, 2018

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Eph 4:30 . . Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were
sealed for the day of redemption.

The koiné Greek word for "grieve" is lupeo (loo-peh'-o) which means: to
distress; to make sad. There's a lot being said these days about human
rights abuses, while very little to nothing is said about abusing God's Spirit;
which is no doubt far more common. (cf. Gen 6:6-7)

Seals aren't always a mark or a tattoo or an impression made in wax with a
signet ring. Sometimes a seal is merely a vocal validation. For example:

"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water:
and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven,
saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matt 3:16-17)

In other words: God vouched for Jesus' credibility by sending His spirit to
mark him out, and also by a solemn pronouncement. By that method; God
himself personally sealed Jesus' mission; viz: signed off on it; so to speak.

"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life;
which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his
seal of approval." (John 6:27)

Christ's followers are singled out by the Spirit too; but not with a visible bird
or an audible voice, but rather; by the Spirit's occupation inside their very
bodies. Christ's followers can't see the Spirit for themselves of course; but
God can see it and that's really all that matters anyway in the long run.
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Webers.Home · Nov 1, 2018

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Eph 4:31 . . Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander,
as well as all types of malicious behavior.

It wasn't The Lord's wish that Ephesian Christians avoid all bitterness, rage
and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice; no; on
the contrary, he wanted the Ephesians to "get rid" of those behaviors.

"bitterness" is from the koiné word pikria (pik-ree'-ah) which means: acrid,
poisonous, and/or toxic (literally or figuratively)

Christians like that are nothing in the world but deadly reptiles.

"The poison of asps is under their lips" (Rom 3:13b)

"rage" is from the koiné word thumos (thoo-mos') which means: passion (as
if breathing hard). Passion is just the opposite of reason; and as everyone
knows, emotions are incoherent; so it's to be expected an emotional person
is not acting rationally. This is a kind of conduct that Paul says brings sorrow
to God's Spirit.

"anger" is from the koiné word orge (or-gay') which means: desire (as a
reaching forth or excitement of the mind), i.e. (by analogy,) violent passion,
ire, (by implication: punishment)

People overcome by orge typically want some satisfaction; even to the point
of at least your ruin; if not your death.

"harsh words" is from the koiné word krauge (krow-gay') which means:
outcry.

Out-crying is what protestors do; in other words: assertive, in-your-face
confrontational complaints and/or demands.

"slander" is from the koiné word blasphemia (blas-fay-me'-ah) which means:
to vilify. Webster's defines "vilify" as: (1) to lower in estimation or
importance, and (2) to utter slanderous and abusive statements against;
viz: defame, discredit, and/or denigrate.

A statement need not be false in order to qualify as slander; it need only to
be unnecessary; viz: you'll often hear people say: Well, I was only telling the
truth. Were they? No, that's a ruse. In reality, they're insensitive; and they
don't care who gets hurt by their thoughtless remarks.

The Lord notices the words people say, and he also takes note of the spirit in
which they say them.

"But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for
every careless word they have spoken." (Matt 12:36)

"malicious behavior" is from the koiné word kakia (kak-ee'-ah) which
means: badness, i.e. (subjectively) depravity, or (actively) malignity, or
(passively) trouble:

Malice usually includes the element of "spite" which Webster's defines as:
petty ill will, or hatred, with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart.
Compare that to the koiné word for "persecute" in the eighth Beatitude
which means, literally: to pursue; viz: to stalk, to hound, to harass.

Webster's defines "thwart" as: (1) to run counter to so as to effectively
oppose or baffle; viz: contravene, and (2) to oppose successfully; viz: to
defeat the hopes or aspirations of; in other words: to deliberately get in
someone's way; block, discourage.

Boy I'll tell you, that Ephesian church was as rough-hewn and crude as the
old logging community of Stump Town (now Portland) out here in the
Oregon of the 1800's. They cussed, they brawled, they bad-mouthed, they
held grudges, they were thieves, they were arrogant, they somehow had the
idea that Jews were below them, they were immodest, conceited, vain, and
impatient, they walked unworthy of their calling, and they were splintered
into cliques.

NOTE: I've heard more than one expositor boast that the Ephesian believers
represent "the church" at its spiritual peak; but I thoroughly disagree. Yes,
there were some outstanding individuals, but by and large that
congregation's spiritual condition was decadent, deplorable, despicable, and
unbecoming.

Paul began his letter to the Ephesians by saying that he made mention of
them in his prayers; asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
glorious Father, might give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation; and
also that the eyes of their heart might be enlightened. (Eph 1:17-19)

Well, it seems to me that kind of prayer isn't for advanced Christians, rather,
for Christians just starting out. From thence, Paul went on to explain some
of Christianity's most treasured doctrines, which I assume the Ephesians had
no knowledge of till Paul wrote to them.

I'll grant that the letter to the Ephesians is lofty, but I will not grant that the
Ephesians themselves represent "the church" at its spiritual peak: not from
how Paul described them.
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Webers.Home · Nov 2, 2018

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Eph 4:32 . . Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each
other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

(chuckle) that resembles a line from one of Bill And Ted's adventure movies:
"Be excellent to each other"

Within the context of the letter Paul wrote and sent to the Christians residing
in the ancient city of Ephesus; the objects "one another" and "each other"
are exclusive; viz: the comments refer only to one's fellow Bible-believing
Christians rather than the world at large. So if you're unwilling to be kind
and compassionate to outsiders; at least be so with people at church so as
to help prevent church from becoming a hostile worship environment.

The koiné Greek word for "kind" is chrestos (khrase-tos') which means:
employed; viz: useful.

Chrestos is found in only seven places in the New Testament, and without
exception implies being beneficial to others for their own good rather than
using people to benefit your own self.

The word for "compassionate" is eusplagchnos (yoo'-splangkh-nos) which
means: sympathetic.

Webster's defines sympathy as: 1) an affinity, association, or relationship
between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the
other, 2) inclination to think or feel alike: emotional or intellectual accord, 3)
feeling of loyalty: tendency to favor or support, 4) the act, or capacity, of
entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another, 5) sensitivity,
and 6) heart; as in "have a heart".

Eusplagchnos would make a good substitute for a word found in one of The
Lord's beatitudes.

"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." (Matt 5:7)

"merciful" is from the koiné Greek word eleemon (el-eh-ay'-mone) which
means pretty much the same thing as eusplagchnos: compassionate and
sympathetic.

In my dad's final months of battling with a terminal cancer back in the late
1960's, he was in a great deal of pain and discomfort which made it difficult
for him to sleep. In fact, he couldn't sleep in a bed at all. He sat on a small
stool and rested face-down with his forehead on a coffee table in the front
room.

One day, as we were driving to our week-end ritual of coffee and donuts on
a Saturday morning, he complained that his third wife (call her Rosa)
seemed indifferent to his condition. He remarked that he didn't want
sympathy, just some understanding. Well, I was both perplexed and
amused; and asked him: Dad, how can Rosa possibly appreciate your
feelings without being sympathetic?

Dad was stumped. The problem was, he never knew his own father; and his
mother abandoned him with relatives when he was just a toddler. My dad
was a tough, self reliant old ex-Navy farm boy who himself was thoroughly
unable to sympathize with anybody. In his prime, Dad was a brutal man,
given to outbursts of rage and purple epithets. He was defensive, combative,
thoughtless, and quite cruel to animals too. In my dad's mind, sympathy
was for panty-waists not for "real men" but there he was in old age, dying of
a terminal cancer; and starving for compassion-- something he'd yearned all
his life but could never admit.

It used to be that Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts were trained to be useful to
others as just simply a matter of good deeds and good citizenship. I don't
know, maybe they still are; but I've known lots of churchians who were
totally useless to others because they're infected with an ugly spirit of
conceit, rivalry, and indifference. Far from being kind and compassionate;
those Christians are actually sociopathic and don't even know it.

The word "forgiving" is charizomai (khar-id'-zom-ahee) which essentially
means: to grant as a favor; viz: gratuitously, i.e. courtesy.

Webster's defines gratuitous as: 1) given unearned or without recompense,
2) not involving a return benefit or compensation or consideration, 3)
costing nothing: free, 4) not called for by the circumstances: unwarranted,
5) complimentary, 6) gratis, and 7) voluntary. In other words; charizomai
seeks no reciprocation; it never says "you owe me one"

Sailors are oft heard to say that the sea is very unforgiving: meaning it
allows no room for error or weakness. Christians ought not be like the sea.
We ought to be the most forgiving people on the planet; and not because we
expect others to reciprocate; but just because we enjoy being gratuitous.
For some Christians though, courtesy is an effort.

Eph 4:31-32 isn't easy. What we're looking at there is not just good
citizenship; no, what we're looking at is something divine in both its nature
and its behavior.

"If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any
fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye
be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."
(Phil 2:1-2)

The koiné Greek word for "bowels" is splagchnon (splangkh'-non) which
means: an intestine. Your gut is the very place where you "feel" pity and/or
sympathy for others-- that is; if you're capable of those kinds of feelings;
not everyone is.
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Webers.Home · Nov 3, 2018

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Eph 5:1 . . Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children

One's dad is probably the most important role model a kid can have, that is,
if he's a good man; otherwise, he'll just be another bad influence. It's pretty
kool when a kid can look at its dad and honestly say, from the bottom of its
heart: "Dad; when I grow up, I want to be just like you".

In this case, the imitator isn't a pretender; no, he's not a stand-up comic
mimicking a famous celebrity. What we're talking about here is duplication;
in other words: God's children shouldn't just act like Him, they should
reproduce Him; so that when the angels observe God's child at work or at
play, they can say: "Yep; that kid sure takes after his old man; he's a chip
off the old block"
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Webers.Home · Nov 4, 2018

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Eph 5:2 . . Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for
us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Christ's love goes way beyond just being friendly and helpful. His is a
sacrificial kind of love; in other words: it's protective and supportive at the
cost of deep expense to himself.
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Webers.Home · Nov 5, 2018

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Eph 5:3a . . Among you; there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality

I've lost count of the number of celebrities I've seen on television talk shows
shacking up with people and boasting about their babies while in reality
those children are illegitimate and nothing to be proud of at all.

When my sister got knocked up by a sailor boyfriend back in the late 1950's
at the age of seventeen, our parents whisked her off to an aunt out of state
to avoid the disgrace. My sister gave up her baby to adoption right out of the
womb and nobody back home was any the wiser; but today, who really
cares anymore?

FYI: The illegitimacy rate in the USA during 2013 was almost 41% of total
births and it's no longer illegitimacy; now it's labeled Non-marital
Childbearing. (chuckle) A rose by any name is still the same flower.

My wife once belonged to a woman's group in a mega-church we attended
back in 1980. One of the ladies was married to an assistant pastor whose
duties included counseling married couples. She told my wife you wouldn't
believe the amount of adultery that goes on among married church
members, and she wasn't talking about your average rank and file pew
warmers either; no, her husband counseled church members a whole lot
higher up than that.

That church was very impressive and had something like 4,000 members on
the books. It's budget was over $16,000 per week. (The buying power of
$16,000 in 1980 was comparable to the buying power of roughly $47,000 in
2017).

To look at that church with its buildings, its property, it's programs, its
membership numbers, its music, its missionary outreach, and its whopping
budget; you would think it housed the holiest collection of saints on earth.
But no; behind the scenes, behind the façade, behind the curtain, behind the
pulpit; there was moral decadence. (cf. Matt 23:27-28)

"And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness
was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there." (Ecc
3:16)
_

Webers.Home · Nov 6, 2018

.
Eph 5:3b . . nor any kind of impurity, or of greed

It's so easy to assume that naughty fantasies and porn-like behavior are the
impurities that Paul is talking about; but any behavior associated with sin is
an impurity. So then, maybe you're an usher in church; but are you
dishonest? And maybe you sing in the choir, but are you a malicious gossip?
And maybe you attend mid-week prayer meetings; but do you deny your
children even common courtesy and their fundamental human rights? And
maybe you teach Sunday school, but do you go over the speed limit, feed
parking meters, J-walk, and drift through stop signs? And maybe you even
stand in the pulpit; but do you have a drinking problem?

Webster's defines "greed" as avarice; which is an excessive, or insatiable,
desire for wealth or gain. Greed is associated with biblical covetousness. Just
simply wanting money isn't sin. It's wanting money simply for the sake of
accumulating it that's covetousness. Ben Franklin once said a penny saved,
is a penny earned; but to greedy people a penny saved is a penny
stockpiled. Were you to ask a greedy person to name the dollar figure that
would satisfy them, they would likely respond: "more"
_

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