We are members one of another

Ephesians
{4:25} Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
{4:26} Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath
{4:27} Neither give place to the devil.
{4:28} Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with [his] hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
{4:29} Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. {4:30} And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
{4:31} Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice
{4:32} And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

'For we are members one of another'

Member one of another.

The human race. Humanity. Mankind. We are all basically the same. Strip away the outer trappings *all* the outer trappings and our basic needs are all the same aren't they?

We all need to eat, drink, eliminate waste, stay warm or cool, breath air, be healthy enough to keep our bodies alive. If we as the race of human beings have all our basic needs in common physically it stands to reason that our basic spiritual needs are the same as well. Basic spiritual needs in that we all need to worship and honor our creator and accept the grace of our redeemer if we want our spiritual need met.

I can already hear the arguing that everyone has different spiritual needs and I'm sorry, but I don't believe that.

Equally as human beings we have needs, we were made that way, created that way.

We were made to worship our creator, our redeemer and yet just as we've twisted our basic physical needs we've twisted our spiritual needs.

We are members one of another.

No matter the diversities that exist in us, you liking mushrooms me not, me liking raisin bread you not, no matter what we are all basically the same. We are. We have something in common one with another no matter how horrible or how wonderful we are. The sweetest person alive has much in common with the most evil person alive. Man was never meant to strive for supremacy and to divide into a higher and lower class, never. We were never to esteem another better than ourselves, or others better than us. True equality in basic decency, in life was the way it was to be.


We are members one of another.

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another -- don't lie-- the truth, we all deserve the truth and nothing less. We are all the same in our basic humanity, all of us, and none of us needs to lie to another because it's like lying to ourselves. The lies hurt us, every lie reflects on us, all lies spring from one source- the father of lies, Satan.

Be not angry.
Sin not.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
Give no place to the devil.
Steal not.
Work as you are able and help those who aren't.
Speak that which will uplift, not tear down.
Minister grace to those you speak to.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit of God seals us to be redeemed.
Put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and all malice.
Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving-

Even as GOD for CHRIST'S sake hath FORGIVEN YOU.

*
Heh, we say that our actions don't matter, that there are no do's and do not's, that we just have to believe and nothing else matters, all the time forgetting that our faith, our belief changes us naturally through the Holy Spirit. We can grieve that Holy Spirit. Our choices, our actions reveal our beliefs.

A complete pacifist who believes that any fighting is wrong will not reveal his pacisfism if he goes and brawls on the street, no one will mistake that person as a pacifist. Words only mean so much, it's our actions that reveal who we are. I can claim to be a follower of Christ but if my actions are not Christ-like am I truly a Christian? We are giving many examples of what it means to be a Christian. The greatest and the truest is simply following Christ, striving to be as Christ was and is.

Be not angry - anger blinds us to compassion and understanding, anger can lead to so many things and most of them are no good at all. Out of anger a lot of evil acts are committed. Out of anger people regret more their actions so much more. We're familiar with the criminal state of temporary insanity where anger causes us to commit many, many evils. Anger can cause us to sin. Prisons are filled with people who otherwise would never have hurt anyone did so out of anger. Anger is a dangerous thing, very dangerous.
Sin not- Anger causing sin flourishes, is it no wonder we are told not to be angry.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath- You've heard the secret to marriage long married couples tend to spout and a common secret is not going to be angry. The basis could be a bit Biblical, mmm? Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Resolve any conflicts right away, don't wait and let them simmer. Often is we embrace anger it grows inside us, eats at us, changes us, consumes us and our actions, our lives start to resolve around that anger.
Give no place to the devil- the devil will gladly use our anger against us in any way He can. He'll take a minor annoyance and encourage it to grow, a spark flare to a flame and the flame to an inferno. We can't make it easy on the devil. He has so many ways to get to us, so many that we're basically inviting the devil to have his way with us when we embrace anger in our lives and don't resolve our wraths before night falls each and every day.
Steal not- taking that which isn't yours is always wrong.
Work as you are able and help those who aren't- labor is good, working is a good thing, helping those who can't work is a good thing as well.
Speak that which will uplift, not tear down- when we talk to others doing so in a away that will uplift them and help them is much, much better than saying anything that will upset them, bring them down to despair is wrong to speak. Words are powerful, very powerful, we have to be careful not to use them in a way that will bring harm.
Minister grace to those you speak to- The grace of Jesus Christ is something we need to share now and always, if we can speak of the grace of God we should.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God- Grieving someone is doing things that bring them sorrow, right? How can we bring the Holy Spirit sorrow? By choosing to live in a way that is un-Christ-like, by choosing evil over good.
The Holy Spirit of God seals us to be redeemed- The Holy Spirit seals us. The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our Redemption. The Holy Spirit is the bit of promise given to us for our future life with Christ.
Put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and all malice- bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking and malice only harm us, they harm us and if we allow them to live in us then they'll eat away at us and they will grieve the Holy Spirit. As we give place to evil things, we give place to the devil and that's the last thing we want in our lives, the devil alive and well and the Holy Spirit Grieved!
Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving- We must forgive, to not forgive is to encourage discontent, anger and we know where that will lead. We must forgive not because ANY deserve forgiveness, but because--

Even as GOD for CHRIST'S sake hath FORGIVEN YOU-- Because Christ has forgiven US.

May God help us to walk as Christ walked, live as Christ lived. May the Holy Spirit be alive and well in us now and always, never grieved. May forgiveness rise in us for others for no other reason that we are forgiven.

In Christ.

Amen.