Sermon Tone Analysis

Illustration: Government Mandates - There has been a lot of discussion and consternation these last several weeks and months around the issue of government mandates.

As US citizens we have a particular aversion to mandates.

However that aversion to mandates, though appropriate in many cases when it relates to our government and our freedoms, is not always a healthy things.

Here in Ephesians, Paul is going to call us to certain non-negotiable mandates/commands of the Christian life.

Introduction/Review: Last week, Pastor Chris explored Eph.

4:17-24 and taught us that “As Christians we should live as new creations in Christ.”

This week, our passage directs us to consider (through the use of the word, “therefore”) how that truth about our being a new creation in Christ will transform the way we live and interact with one another.

Proposition: Today we will learn that Christians, living as new creations in Christ, will strive to maintain unity through a new pattern of living.

Furthermore, those who are new creations in Christ recognize that there exists an enemy of unity which believers are called to wage warfare against.

Paul is going to call us to strive to maintain unity through a series of commands or mandates that the Christian is called to live by.

These mandates help us to see and evaluate our own sinfulness.

It helps us to understand how our sin works to destroy unity.

Yet, Paul also gives us a blueprint to follow as we work out our new pattern of living as new creatures in Christ.

Summary: Today, then, we will examine how Christians, living as new creations in Christ, will strive to maintain unity through a new pattern of living that is characterized by the following:

Genuine Communication of Truth

Generous Provision of Need

Gracious Communication for Upbuilding

Godly Disposition of Christlikeness

Genuine Communication of Truth

Transition: First, we see that Christians, living as new creations in Christ, will strive to maintain unity through a new pattern of living that is characterized by a genuine communication of truth.

We see this in the first couple of mandates/commands given in Ephesians 4:25-26.

You will notice in this text three things before we dive into the details of the text.

“Therefore” = Connects this text with the preceeding section that Pastor Chris taught on last week.

Paul is drawing out additional ways in which the things explained in the preceeding verse need to be applied to life.

“Each One” = Paul wants us to see how we, individually have to strive to put off sin.

Paul wants us to understand that this passage is not for our brother or sister, but it is for us.

(Illustration: Meme Chat Meme that had pastor preaching to two people not paying attention.)

“Put Off” = A repeated refrain seen in our passage from last week in verse 22, we see it here in verse 25, and we see it again in verse 31.

This putting off encapsulates how a believer is to deal with sin in life.

His new position in Christ entails the laying aside of an old, sinful pattern of living.

Christians Communicate Truth through Genuine Conversation

As Paul unpacks how the genuine communication of truth builds unity.

He first sets before us two sins which will be used by the enemy of sow discord amongst the church.

These sins are the sins of falsehood and the sin of unresolved anger.

“Falsehood” = Paul first addresses the issue of putting away falsehood.

Here, Paul is obviously dealing with something we typically refer to as lying.

However, it should be observed, that although lying would obviously fit in this category.

It seems that Paul intends for us to see this as a larger problem then merely telling a direct lie.

We, I believe see this in his connection of falsehood with the speaking of truth.

Our new life in Christ works itself out not merely in the fact that we do not lie, but also in the reality that we become active communicators of truth.

The Enemy - Falsehood is the way that the enemy has always worked to sow division between relationships.

Jesus spoke of this in John 8:44-45.

In this text you will notice that Satan’s lies are tied together with the experience of Adam and Eve in the garden.

Beyond that Jesus declares that Satan lies because he does not stand in the truth.

“Speak the Truth” = Again we are called to be active communicators of truth with one another.

Application: We fail to speak the truth when we actively lie to one another, but we also fail to speak the truth when we allow relationships with one another to be hampered because we have not communicated our true thoughts, feelings, and ideas with one another.

This is actually how the parting of ways between Paul and Barnabas went correctly.

They had a vigorous debate and exchange of ideas wherein they parted ways yet edified the church.

“Members of One Another” = Paul ties this communication of truth together with our body life, by helping us to see our interdependence on one another.

Too often, we conceal the truth from one another thinking that in keeping the truth hidden that we are not causing harm.

However, Paul seem to believe and teach the opposite.

That our relationship with one another is hamstrung when we refuse to walk in truth with one another.

Illustration: Cerebral Palsy - The development of the brain is affected in such a way that the rest of the body is affected.

The communication between brain and different parts of the body affects not just the brain, but those other aspects of a persons body.

Similarly, the failure of Christians to genuinely communicate the truth in all of life with one another leads to a significant disability in the body.

Christians Communicate Truth while Carefully Evaluating their Anger

“Unresolved Anger” = Paul second addresses the issue of unresolved anger.

Here Paul gives the command that Christians are those who should pursue to live as those who do not sin when they are angry.

Here we would love for the Apostle Paul to explicate in greater detail what it means to be angry and not sin.

He does elaborate on certain aspects, but doesn’t give us a full theology of anger in this text.

However, what he does say is incredibly helpful.

Why?

Why does Paul choose this track?

I believe it is because Paul recognizes that there is a kind of righteous anger that believers can and should exhibit as they are confronted by certain realities.

However, even that righteous anger, can quickly turn south.

Danger of Anger: Therefore, rather than giving a full explication of the theology of anger, Paul wants us to understand how incredibly dangerous anger is to the Christian.

Everyone who is angry believes they have a right to be angry.

All anger is usually seen as righteous anger, but just because we believe our anger is right does not make it so.

Safeguards of Anger: He gives us two safeguards, or two ways to evaluate our anger, to keep it in check.

Christian Anger is Marked by a Short Shelf-life: Our Anger is to be marked off by having an incredibly short, shelf life.

Illustration: Essentially the Christian ought to treat his anger the way he treats his milk.

If you were to visit my home and ask me for milk on your cereal, and I were to say, “You know, we don’t drink milk a lot, but we have had this jug in the back of the fridge for a couple of months…” How many of you would willingly put that on your cereal?

Christian Anger takes Seriously the Threat of the Enemy: Our anger is to be marked off by a careful evaluation of motives and opportunities in which the enemy can gain a foothold to destroy relationship.

Generous Provision of Need

Transition: Second, we see that Christians, living as new creations in Christ, will strive to maintain unity through a new pattern of living that is characterized by a generous provision of the needs of others.

Christians Labor so as to Generously Meet the Needs of Others

As Paul unpacks how the genuine provision of need builds unity, he again begins with an issue of sin.

That issue of sin is theft.

Theft: Here again it is tempting to miss the positive command to which we are called when we get lost in a overly simplistic mischaracterization of the sin Paul addresses.

Paul obviously addresses men and women who in their past way of living were thieves.

And while it would not surprise me to learn that some of you once were thieves, it would be easy to simply dismiss what Paul is here saying because of the historical and experiential distance between us and these Ephesian believers.

Theft is in many ways related to other sins to which we are readily susceptible.

Sins such as ungratefulness, the inordinate love of money, covetousness, discontent.

At the bedrock of these sins is a failure to trust God for his provision and a self-centered use of God’s resources.

Laziness also seems to be in view when the theft is set in contrast to the man laboring hard in the second half of the verse.

“Doing Honest Work/Labor” = In the original, the word conveys work, but some authors suggest that beyond mere work it speaks of working to the point of weariness.

God has created and designed us to be productive, and not merely productive so that we might consume.

We ought to be productive so that through out productivity we can honor God through the provision of our needs and the provision of others needs.

“Something to Share with Anyone in Need” = Paul certainly is not calling those with needs to be lazy.

There seems to be two categories of people in view.

There are those who have needs and are stealing because they have not embraced God will for them to work, and then there are those who have needs because God is allowing them to experience poverty.

God intends to use the labor of the first Christian to meet the needs of the second Christian.

Gracious Communication for Upbuilding

Transition: Third, we see that Christians, living as new creations in Christ, will strive to maintain unity through a new pattern of living that is characterized by a gracious communication of truth for the purpose of building other up in the faith.

Christians Communicate Grace Having Put Off Corrupting Speech

As Paul unpacks how gracious communication builds unity.

He again sets before us two sins which will be used by the enemy of sow discord amongst the church.

These sins are the sins of corrupting talk and communication that grieves the Spirit.

Both of these two sins go hand in hand.

“No Corrupt Talk” = As with the preceeding sins, it is easy to discount your involvement in these sins.