Tag: NAMED

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 24:1-6; Ephesians 5:1-16 (day six)
“Do not let immorality or any impurity or greed be NAMED among you.” (Ephesians 5:3)  Does Paul seem concerned with the reputation of the Ephesian church?  Do Christians have some responsibility to manage  how we are perceived?  When the subject is sin, the answer is yes.  Immorality and impurity and greed (three words describing the same subject) in the lives of individual believers it is a bad thing.  The hurtful rumor in the community that the church is tolerant of it or afraid to confront it is worse.  All of us have been baptized “in the NAME of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  When His Name is at stake, we must act with intelligence and courage. “But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who . . .leads people astray, so that they commit acts of immorality.”  (Revelation 2:20)  Lord, make us tender with sinners but fierce defenders of your Name.