July 25, 2021 - The Christian Life
Notes
Transcript
As we come today before God’s word, we continue to make our way through the Book of Ephesians...
Specifically through chapter 4.
Last week we saw the apostle Paul, the author of this book, call the church - to MATURITY...
…to MATURE in the faith!
And we saw that MATURING in the faith - entails NOT JUST pursuing RIGHTEOUSNESS...
But even prior to that - FLEEING UNRIGHTEOUSNESS!
See we’re called as Christians - to TURN from sin and pursue Christ!
We read this in v22-24
22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
We see HERE - the call to - CHANGE
How many of you - like CHANGE?
Often times - we don’t.
We get comfortable in our WAYS...
In our THINKING...
And we can JUSTIFY our growing APATHY for Jesus...
But Paul won’t let us!
He wants us to CHANGE - and TODAY - he’s going to get even MORE SPECIFIC about HOW we can do that!
Last week Paul gave us a high-level view of - the NEW LIFE...
Today - Paul will bring THAT CONCEPT - to GROUND LEVEL!
And so let’s get to it...
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
If you remember last week - Paul showed us that our BELIEF SYSTEM - whether we believe or not -
…that - THAT belief system - WILL MANIFEST itself - in our lives!
AND so with that in our minds - it’s not surprising - that WHEN PAUL is speaking to - BELIEVERS - he POINTS TO the ground UPON which they WALK...
v25
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
He’s saying - THEREFORE - SINCE we have been called to CHANGE - Christian!!...
Since we’ve been called to WALK IN THE NEWNESS of LIFE...
IF WE ARE EVER going to DO THAT...
we will have had to PUT AWAY - Falsehood!
KNOW THIS...
SLIDE: The New Life: Rooted in The Truth
The New Life
The New Life
The point here is that we would ROOT ourselves in THE TRUTH....
But let’s go back to our verse to see AGAIN how we are to HANDLE our OLD SELF - before taking a step in NEW LIFE...
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
PUT AWAY - Falsehood!
SO - if I was to say - I need you to put away the FALSEHOOD of Biochemistry!
What would you think?
Here’s what I would think if someone said that to me...
I’d say - I have NO IDEA what that is!
I don’t KNOW if I hold to FALSEHOOD in biochemistry...
To which the reply SHOULD BE - then you’re probably holding to FALSEHOOD in biochemistry…!
If i don’t know anything about biochemistry…HOW would I lay down FALSEHOOD pertaining to it?
I would FIRST - need to - CARE that I don’t know the TRUTH of biochemistry!
And so - I would FIRST need to CHECK my DESIRES...
I would need to LAY down my continued NEGLECT of biochemistry...
…I would need to LAY down my continued APATHY toward biochemistry!
And so…the same is true with God’s TRUTH!
Lay down:
your continued NEGLECT of God’s word
your continued IGNORING of God’s word
your continued APATHY toward God’s word and His truth!
PUT AWAY - Falsehood
If I’m ever going to SPEAK truth … I must first KNOW truth…which requires me to - PURSUE IT!!
And then POSITIVELY - speak THE TRUTH with the person who is NEAR YOU…[neighbor]
And this positive command here - mimics what Paul said a couple weeks ago...
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
Remember what this is calling us to?
Maturity!!
God’s TRUTH is the bedrock of Christian maturity!!
And so as we talk about these things today - we find that Paul spoke on this same thing to the Corinthian church
1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
This is important here - because it shows us there’s a connection between...
our maturity level (still on the milk - not solid food)
and our behavior in life
The people here were still on the milk of the Word - they were INFANTS in Christ… “of the flesh”
And their behavior REFLECTED that!
Their behavior reflected that diet!
“behaving only in a human way?”
And so in our text today - Paul is really calling the Ephesians to the same SOLID FOOD DIET!
And he starts by saying - LAY down the FALSEHOOD
Pursue the SOLID FOOD of God’s word…
*Video of Doctor who decided he was going to ACTUALLY help people - as opposed to just helping them manage their sickness!
He gave his patients TIPS on how to actually FIX their problems...
And Paul gets specific today about how we can SPIRITUALLY attack the OUTER FLESH in US as Christians...
that still pursues sin
And so we just saw how - the NEW LIFE we’re called to WALK IN - is rooted in TRUTH
But not just that...
SLIDE: The New Life: Rooted in Community
The New Life
The New Life
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
I see a lot where people will say - NOPE, it’s just ME and my Bible...
And my response is - well - if you take your Bible seriously, you will END UP living life WITH OTHERS
How can I say that??
“for we are members one of another”
The New Life is Lived WITH and FOR others!
We’ve seen this recently - WE - when working properly…make the Body of Christ grow up into the head which is Christ!
And this takes us back to the REASON that Paul gets specific today!
Our first verse today - verse 25 - begins with the word - THEREFORE
WHICH MEANS - that what come before that verse is the basis for what we speak of today...
Well - what did v24 say last week? How did we close last week?
24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
HERE - we see what we’re AIMING at today!
Why get detailed today - why get practical today?
Because we’re aiming at TRUE righteousness and holiness!
And so the BATTLE FIELD that we’ll see today - is a Physical Battle Field - but we fight with Spiritual Ammunition
26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
Notice it doesn’t say - DON’T be ANGRY!
Being Angry isn’t a sin...
I WANT to be ANGRY at sin in my life!
I WANT to be angry about abortion!
It’s not WRONG or SINFUL to be ANGRY about those things...
BUT - even our RIGHTEOUS anger - can lead to SINFUL decisions - can it not?
If left UNCHECKED - my righteous anger toward ABORTION could lead me to one day KILLING an abortion doctor!
Shall we pretend that that hasn’t happened before?
It has!
And so EVEN righteous anger needs to be MANAGED - How?
Spiritually!
ANY anger that comes upon us - for WHATEVER reason - SHOULD lead us into PRAYER!
We need to FILTER our anger through - - TRUTH!
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
How is this possible?
Because our FILTER should ALWAYS be up and working!
We should FILTER any situation thru God’s truth
NOW - we know that ANGER - in US - will usually RISE up when we feel like we’ve been - WRONGED!
And the natural - FLESHLY response to that WRONG - is to RECIPROCATE the wrong!
BUT - remember what the AIM is?
v24 from last week said - We’re AIMING at TRUE righteousness and holiness…in the LIKENESS of God...
Listen to how ANGER fits in with this AIM...
What did James 1:19 say here?
next verse
20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
The anger of man - MISSES the mark!!
AND YET - How often have you - LET the sun go down on your anger?
What happens when we do that?
That anger - BREWS!
It REPLICATES...
It leads to ASSUMPTIONS
It leads to - - FALSEHOOD - more often than not
And so Paul says - Don’t DO THAT!
Well - what does it take for us to NOT let the sun go down on our anger?
What’s the Spiritual Ammunition that we need?
What do we need to be ROOTED IN - in order to not let the sun go down on our anger?
SLIDE: The New Life: Rooted in Prayer & Humility
The New Life
The New Life
Listen to Paul’s advice to Timothy...
8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;
It seems here that Paul understands Prayer to be a weapon against ANGER.
41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Prayer is an ENTRE - part of the SOLID FOOD of a Spiritual Diet
It helps to reorient our DESIRES to fall in line with what God DESIRES...
But PRAYER isn’t the only ammunition that helps us fight anger...
HUMILITY will always help us SEE things from a Godly perspective!
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
In any moment - can we view the person who has OFFENDED us - as A SOUL in NEED of MERCY?
In that moment - can we SEE OURSELVES in that person who has offended us - KNOWING that WE OURSELVES have offended God- and yet received His MERCY?
Humility will keep up SEEING LIFE - from a Godly perspective!
Not letting the sun go down on our anger will take us - BEING INTENTIONAL about THINKING thru the situation from a Biblical framework...
In any moment - can we ELEVATE our thinking?
Instead of focusing on OUR WOUND…can we focus on THEIR NEED…?
If they’re an UNBELIEVER - they NEED Jesus - not me RETURNING INSULT for INSULT
If they’re a BELIEVER - they NEED to walk through repentance and forgiveness...
they NEED to experience GRACE… - Not our REVENGE!
The battle belongs to the Lord!
The battle field - while a physical one - requires Spiritual ammunition.
We’re going to see that The New Life is not only rooted in:
the Truth
Prayer & Humility
SLIDE: The New Life: Rooted in Honesty
The New Life
The New Life
28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
Here Paul highlights HONESTY in our dealings with others...
And what we see here in this verse is really - a battle between - Creation and the Creator
Here’s what I mean:
What is Paul comparing in this verse?
He’s comparing a THEIF (someone who steals) WITH...
Someone who SHARES what they have…someone who is EAGER to GIVE
And so - the comparison here is between someone who -
VALUES this world so much that they will ACQUIRE it by any means necessary, and THEN - HOARD it to themselves (the WORLD is their GOD)
Between that person...
And someone who...
VALUES Jesus so much - that they WORK hard to Acquire things - IN ORDER TO HELP OTHERS in NEED!
So on the one hand -
the thief: the CONSTANT CONSUMER (always consuming)
On the OTHER hand -
the honest - Jesus lover - the hard working - CONSTANT GIVER (always looking for ways to give)
the obvious question for us is:
Which one am I?
Am I always CONSUMING? What’s in it for me?
OR
Am I always GIVING? What can I do to help? Let me SACRIFICE for you!
And HONESTY will provide the basis for either side -
whether the LACK of honesty for the thief: who will do what he can for his own GAIN
or the presence of honesty in the one who seeks to live FOR Christ - working hard himself so he can BLESS OTHERS!
And so - the NEW LIFE we’ve seen today is:
Rooted in:
The Truth of God
Prayer and Humility
Honesty
But we’re not done!
29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
What do we see here?
SLIDE: The New Life: Rooted in Grace
The New Life
The New Life
back to our verse...
29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Paul here is highlighting for us the REALITY that WORDS matter.
*Words with my kids - I know that I can DESTROY my kids with what I say (how I say it)
We can REALLY HARM people by what we say - HOW we respond to people...
Do we often IGNORE people?
Do we look at others as NOT BEING worth my time?
I know people that if I walked by them and say “Hey...” - I might not get a response.
And so that person - in that moment - is NOT building up
They’re tearing down!
I think for most people - they would understand that it’s easy to BUILD someone up who is nice to us.
It’s NOT SO easy to build someone up who is NOT nice to us.
And yet - it’s in THOSE TIMES that we NEED this TRUTH!
Paul says - let NO CORRUPTING talk come out of your mouths...
Well when do we naturally WANT corrupting talk to come out of our mouths?
When we’ve been - WRONGED..or IGNORED...
What Paul is saying is - IN THOSE TIMES - let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths...
We all know the saying - If you ain’t got nothing nice to say - say - NOTHING at all
There’s truth to this.
Our speech should BUILD UP…encourage…strengthen
Now that doesn’t mean that HARD CONVERSATIONS are off the table...
Because sometimes - it’s the HARD conversations where the BUILDING UP of the Body happens!
We just need to know and remember - that words matter - because after all - out of the HEART - the mouth speaks
Which takes us back to - the battle field being a physical one (your home, your neighborhood, your workplace, your church), but the ammunition we use is - Spiritual = a matter of the heart.
When we respond to the world WITHOUT offering grace - we put on display - SOMETHING other than Jesus Christ...
and our AIM - if you remember - is “the LIKENESS of God in true Righteousness and Holiness”
WHO - by GRACE - saved us.
And so - the New Life - is ROOTED in Grace...
And finally - we’ll see that the New Life is rooted in the Power of the Holy Spirit
SLIDE: The New Life: Rooted in the Power of the Holy Spirit
The New Life
The New Life
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
If we remember when Jesus started His earthly ministry, He was water baptized in order to be introduced to Israel...
And in that - the Holy Spirit came and rested upon Him...
We find in Scripture that Jesus carried out His ministry in the Power of the Holy Spirit...
Birth The Scriptures teach that the Holy Spirit was involved in the conception of Jesus.
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
The Holy Spirit, through the Virgin Mary, conceived the child Jesus.
Baptism - As we just saw - the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus as His baptism...
Temptation
Luke records that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
Public Ministry The public ministry of Jesus was performed through the power of the Holy Spirit.
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.
Jesus Himself testified that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him.
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Miracles During His public ministry, Jesus performed miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit.
28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
The signs He performed were done in obedience to the Father through the agency of the Holy Spirit.
The Resurrection The Holy Spirit was also at work in the resurrection of Christ.
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
The Spirit of God brought Jesus back from the dead.
And so we see that the Holy Spirit - POWERED the ministry of Jesus from beginning to end...
SLIDE:
Birth
Baptism
Temptation
Public Ministry
Miracles
The Resurrection
And how AWESOME it is to know that the Spirit of God does the same for us...
FROM our NEW BIRTH…to OUR RESURRECTION...
We - as BELIEVERS - are POWERED by the Holy Spirit
And SO - to GRIEVE the Holy Spirit is to - SET ASIDE that power in our LIVES...
And to TRY to live life - in our OWN power...
And we see both side here in Galatians...
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
And so THIS IS what the New Life is -
Keeping in step with the Holy Spirit...
Because see - the MORE we can DO THAT…the CLOSER we’ll get to living out our last 2 verses for today...
and that’s where TRUE Righteousness and Holiness can be displayed...
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Jesus is our example...
GOD - IN JESUS - was all of these things toward us...
May we be the same for those around us...
SUMMARY:
The New Life
Rooted in The Truth
Rooted in Prayer & Humility
Rooted in Honesty
Rooted in Grace
Rooted in the Power of the Holy Spirit
The Truth: God’s word (seeking to KNOW truth that we might build each other up IN truth)
Prayer and Humility: Knowing ourselves in the sight of God helps us control ourselves (anger)
Honesty: Living with Christ as the Uppermost affection - seeking to GIVE away what’s been given to us…Understanding that God REIGNS - not me
Grace: Showing grace to others displays what has been GRANTED to me - God’s grace
The Power of the Holy Spirit: God wants to mold us into His likeness - this MUST happen and ONLY happens in His strength! - May we not grieve His work in us!
Let’s pray!