How right are you with that assumption?  I’m guessing you’re probably wrong.

If it’s too hard, too long, too stressful, too much work, too (insert excuse here) you’re probably justifying that which you should question.

Worse, in HTML5 web workers you can set up a loop that will take a machine to its knees even if it doesn’t do anything.  I’d make a demo page, but someone will undoubtedly use it for evil, so just trust me that a bad coder doing bad things can use non-flash things to take down your computer.  I can do it without HTML5, too.  I can probably write bad code in every programming language and probably take down every machine – because it’s bad code.  Don’t blame the messenger [AKA Flash]!  Blame bad coders and people who are using it irresponsibly.   There are bugs, there have been security problems, but Flash is just as vulnerable as the browsers, and even your word processing software (ahem, Office + Macros).

I should also point out: I don’t code/program in Flash.  I have nothing to gain from Flash being anywhere (except of course when I play Scrabble on Facebook, which I quite enjoy). I just don’t like it when people point their fingers at one technology or another like has  happened to Flash pointing to the middle of the problem instead of the root.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

There are subtleties in these last two verses that make me want to scream and shout at legalists.  The apostle is warning the readers to watch out for those who twist God’s word to their own destruction in the verses leading up to this thought.  He warns them with this in full view so that they would watch to not be carried away by the error of unprincipled men.  In the context of Paul there are two ways I have seen people take the message out of context: 1) Paul really was a closet legalist and wanted to see people burdened by the Law  or 2) Paul was too gracious (as in Romans 5 & 6).  Here’s the real deal: If you’re not being accused, like Paul, of saying people should be liberated to sin because you’re teaching grace like Romans 5 & 6 state clearly, then you’re not preaching grace appropriately.  And like Paul writes in those very same chapters: sin should not abound because grace is a motivator and motivates us to stop sinning and to be living a life of abundant abiding.  The measuring stick is not the Law, it’s grace.  Grace is a tough measuring stick because it is infinite.  Deal with measuring growth by grace like Peter suggests: grow in your understanding of it.

If you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, not just by studying to be better, but by pursuing Him and His grace, you will grow in a measurable way: in context of grace.  Grace, as a motivator, leads us to righteousness, but it doesn’t lead us to a rigid system that burdens and beats up.  Grace leads to conviction unto relationship, legalism leads us to guilt and more flesh based works to try to make up for past failings.  I call shenanigans because there is no good deed that goes unpunished in a legal system.  Its not good enough.  It isn’t meritorious, it isn’t paying God back.  Grace is always sufficient.  Always.  Because its our justification in Christ that brings about our measurement in grace, it always measures up infinitely.

Christ when speaking to the woman at the well in John 4 talked about living water.  The woman at the well was obsessed with getting that living water and which well it came from.  Christ was referring to spiritual things that brought life abundant.  When legalists bring out their rulers for success and growth I scoff.  I used to have one of those rulers.  I used to pull it out, measure myself by it in front of other believers, and then go back to my sinning in private.  The legalist has outward works to judge by, but the heavenly minded believer doesn’t even see the ruler.  The legalist can sin in private without being caught (until they’re being caught and are then found in scandal) while the grace based believer finds himself out of fellowship and quickly comes back to the Father through the past forgiveness of sins due to the totally adequate work of Christ on the cross.  The legalist is constantly looking back wishing with regret that he had never sinned before while the gracious believer is constantly looking back at awe that the Lord forgave such a sin as the ones the believer committed.  One would give anything to change the past, the other sees that Romans 8:28 is true: God can use anything, even shenanigans, for good.  Give up the Law my Christian friends and the rulers that come with it, instead walk by faith in grace, grow in your knowledge of Grace, because it gets it definition, its source, and its motivation from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

1) Instrumental Jam.  This tune is one I’ve been playing to myself for years but never performed for anyone but family.

2) When I Survey.  This is a traditional song arranged by myself and is roughly based on the way I have played it at church for background music during communion.

“We should be held just as accountable as anybody. Obviously, he takes the sword for us.  He didn’t have any bad at-bats, he didn’t throw any bad pitches. He’s the same manager he was two years ago [editor: when the Rockies went to the World Series]. We realize that. We realize that ultimately we are the reason he got fired because we played bad baseball. We definitely feel responsible.”

There are times when one person takes the fall for a group.  Christ, being the only acceptable sacrifice for the sins of mankind made the sacrifice.  We all deserved the penalty for our not ‘playing well’ – there is no minor leagues for real life where you get to figure out this being a human thing and then bring it to the big game.  Instead you get to screw up in front of everyone, blow it miserably in front of anyone, and ultimately stand before God as having failed to live up to His glory (Romans 3:23) – accept if Christ took your place in judgment on the cross.  Then you were identified with His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and seating.  The Rockies players know that they were saved from being dropped into the minor leagues because of their coaches sacrifice.

We know that without the sacrifice of Christ we would have nothing to stand before God with that would give us any confidence.  Instead of the worry of judgment for punishment, we look forward to a judgment for rewards.  One where heaven will become a place for a bride and the bride groom.  It will be a perfect game, one with no outs, endless innings, and no injuries.  Oh, and I think that there will be no stealing of bases

You see Paul doesn’t start chapter 4 on its own, instead he starts it after a prayer that outline believers as family.  And before that he outlines who the individual is in Christ.  Nothing about the context of Ephesians allows for my radical and aggressive departures from various churches due to doctrinal differences.  Paul reminds the believer in 4:1 that he should be walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which he was called.  What calling is that?  The life of Christ being lived out through moment-by-moment relationship.  Each believer is called to this relationship with God first and foremost.  That way the life of Christ can be manifest in a daily walk.

Paul, not wanting to stop with the profundity that is a walk that is worthy of our calling, hits the believers up with an immense request in verse 2, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;”  BAM!  Its as if Paul was shooting for the very foundation of the fleshly nature and goes in for the kill: no more pride.  Pride is what hits me and causes me to want to be right and dogmatic about things.  I have dear friends who have endured this pride and still love me (and my family) despite this intensity.  My parents told me growing up that I should consider being a lawyer because I loved to argue.  Over time my love for arguing has disappeared.  I’ve seen the arguments tear people down, destroy relationships and ruin church bodies.  It is not that the doctrine was not important, it was, but that the way that things were discussed rapidly escalated to the point of injured soldiers who were wounded from once friendly fire.

Paul writes that the believers should be lowly or humble, meek or gentle.  With patience the believers should forebear or tolerate with love.  Love!  I hate the term tolerance because it is so often used outside of the context of love.  We tolerate neighbors with house colors and decorations we don’t care for, but we don’t often love them.  Worse is that in the church we could ignore love and simply tolerate brothers and sisters whom we should know intimately enough that we could pray for them without ceasing (I Thes. 5:17), and as the Lord does things in the life of the body we never stop rejoicing (I Thes.5:16).  What wound can be caused between friends when they’re gentle and humble with one another?  What blow struck with the slowness of patience can be described as cutting and haughty?

It is with this attitude of moment-by-moment relationship, walking in a manner worthy of our calling, being humble, gentle, patient and tolerating in love that we are called to then endeavor or preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  If I were to say, “Hey brother (under the Father Eph.3:14-15), I have been walking with the Lord and meditating on His word and contemplating this doctrine for a while (in patience), and I think that we don’t see eye-to-eye and I would love to spend some time going over God’s word with you to see what He says about it so that we can preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” then you would say that I have come with a noble and yet humble attitude.  I didn’t come with a sledgehammer, but instead with graciousness and love.

Doctrine is critical.  It is the clear delineation of what should be God’s revealed truth.  But doctrine does not give us the right to depart or destroy others in the body at the onset of a disagreement.  Yes, there are biblical grounds for separation.  Yes, there are times when believers should part ways because one or more of the parties involved are not behaving in a manner worthy of the calling, but we don’t jump to that conclusion with haste.  We rest in Christ, we seek to preserve the unity.

The Greek for the word preserve or keep there implies a guarding or maintaining of something that is whole, to prevent the decay of that thing.  Unity is fragile, but in Christ it is not only positionally existent, but very easily possible for Him to preserve.  The Holy Spirit has preserved His word for thousands of years and there is not much of a chance that you or I could ruin that.  We’re called to a life that is rich and abundant together.  Consider that togetherness the next time you start to feel your blood pressure rise.  Consider tolerance in love.  Consider the opportunity you may have one day in the future where your failures could be offset by the illustration of God’s work in your life to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.