Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning and welcome to Dishman Baptist Church.

Please take your Bibles and turn in them with me to Ephesians 4, Ephesians 4.

We are legitimately going to finish this chapter this morning - and what a finish it is gong to be.

Paul started this section of Ephesians - the practical portion of the book - encouraging his readers to practice unity

Now here in the final sentences of this chapter he is going to highlight three killers of unity.

Hayden has started getting interested in historical novels, something that touches my heart deeply as I also enjoy historical fiction, and is particularly interested in the period and stories surrounding the Second World War.

He’s read books about the Holocaust, D-Day and several other periods of World War 2. So for his birthday my mom gave him a little extra money to buy a book related to that period of history.

After looking around we found a book about snipers in world war 2 on Audible but, knowing the character of war novels, I told him I would need to listen to it first.

The book chronicles the personal battle of two snipers - one German and one American - in the days following D-Day.

The pivotal moment comes during the battle for the fictional town of Bieneville, France.

The Americans took the town and are now dug in to the town and the Germans want it back.

The German sniper finds out from one of the German soldiers about a tunnel that leads from outside the town into the church at the center of the town.

He sneaks through the tunnel and gains access to the church steeple within the lines of a small American force that is seeking to hold the town.

He carefully chooses his spots and starts shooting the defenders of the town, one by one.

Now what does that story have to do with us this morning?

Three of the characteristics that Paul is going to admonish the Ephesians against are like that sniper.

Unless we guard against them, they will infiltrate the church at first silently, and then more vocally as we will see, and destroy any hopes of unity among the members.

They are sneaky and can often show themselves in ways we may not expect but in every instance they will always lead to the same thing - a breakdown of love and unity among the church.

Let’s take some time this morning to examine these characteristics and then search our hearts to see if there is any vestige of them within each of us and be devoted to rooting them out as we seek unity with one another.

Look with me at Ephesians 4:35-32.

Some see here a progressive list from Paul - and while it is possible that bitterness can lead to deep anger and then to wrath culminating in shouting and slander - it does not have to be that way.

Each of these can also stand on their own as a lifestyle that is antithetical to what we are meant to portray as Christians.

The progression of this passage reveals three keys to understanding what Paul is driving at here in the latter portions of this admonition to his readers.

Coupled with the illustration from World War 2, there are the assassins, the ammunition and the antidotes.

The Assassins

Bitterness - Wisteria, a beautiful vine that has destructive power.

These fast-growing and aggressive vines can wind their way over entryways and may crack or damage facades.

The vines will creep through any cracks in the side of the home or in crevices, pushing their way through the exterior and buckling siding.

It can wind its way under roof tiles and create water damage after a big rain.

Wisteria can also clog gutters, cover and even break glass windows, remove decorative shutters, or otherwise damage the exterior of your home within just a few months during peak growing season.

This vine can be controlled through rigorous pruning and, in the right circumstances can actually be a beautiful addition to a garden.

Bitterness can have much the same affect in the human heart.

One obvious difference is that there is nothing beautiful about bitterness.

And once bitterness takes root, no amount of pruning or self-control will keep the bitterness under control.

The root of bitterness in the church.

Someone may say something in a way that you don’t approve of and the seeds of bitterness are planted.

You may resolve not to speak to that person or to avoid them all together.

Even in a small congregation such as ours it is possible to come to church and not to speak to someone if you desire not to.

So you start off avoiding them.

But soon that’s not enough - even the sight of the person irks you.

You are shocked that they would show up to church wearing that.

How could they let their children act that way.

Commentator Matthew Poole, who Charles Spurgeon recommended above Matthew Henry, describes bitterness as a secret lurking displeasure at another.

Bitterness results in the inability to give any charity to the individual who is the recipient or target of your bitterness.

There may be found some who rebuke the failings of their neighbors rather in the bitterness of hatred than out of charity, and not so much with a view to correct them as to give vent to the bad feeling they have in their hearts.

This is certainly not according to God’s will, as it is prompted by revenge rather than by a love of discipline.

Hugh of St. Victor

Rather than a beautiful vine with attractive blossoms, bitterness, once root has taken, the only result can be greater, deeper anger.

Anger - Thymos - indignation.

It was a quiet morning of May 18, 1980 when Mount Saint Helens erupted sending a column of ash and smoke into the sky.

1300 feet of the mountain was blown away.

The blast killed 57 people, showered ash onto 11 states as well as Canada, destroyed 158 miles of highway, 200 homes and caused nearly 1.1 billion dollars in damage.

Washington state alone removed 900,000 tons of ash from highways and roads.

This anger which Paul is referring to here carries with it these kinds of consequences.

It is anger that is generally concealed beneath the surface of an individual’s life.

It simmers, just waiting for a precipitating event.

Then it explodes.

One such example of this is the first sin chronicled in the Bible after the Fall.

Cain was ruled over by his anger and the explosion cost Abel his life.

Maybe you know someone who lives like this.

Maybe you are someone who lives like this.

The anger you feel simmers just below the surface.

The unfortunate truth about this sort of anger is that usually when it boils over, when it explodes it generally does so on someone other than the real target of the anger.

A child.

A spouse.

A co-worker.

A friend.

This sort of anger is different from the anger Paul previously referred to as this is selfish anger.

This is the anger that is directed at the person who offends you, who slights you, who maligns you or who simply annoys you rather than one who is an enemy of God.

It is selfish anger that says I’m annoyed and I’m going to make someone pay for that annoyance.

It is a dangerous condition in which to live - and it is also one that is often sinfully explained away.

That’s just who I am.

It’s how I was raised.

Charles Spurgeon said

I believe that if you who are subject to a bad temper will lay this besetting sin before God in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit’s help, you shall not only be able to curb it, but you will also acquire a sweeter and gentler spirit than some of those whose temperament is naturally even, with no propensity to fitful change or sudden storm.

Do not tell me that there is anything in human nature too obdurate for the Lord to overcome, for there is not.

And this one is too great not to quote.

Spurgeon also said this

I heard someone say that he was sorry he had lost his temper.

I was uncommonly glad to hear that he had lost it, but I regretted that he found it again so soon.

It is this anger that spills over into the condition of wrath that Paul now addresses

Wrath - orge.

Sometimes translated as anger but predominately translated as wrath.

And mostly is a reference to the wrath of God.

When we are bitter and angry the natural result is that we feel justified in placing ourselves in the position of God and exacting some sort of vengeance on the object of our anger.

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Medieval Church (When Wrath Takes Possession, Wisdom Takes Flight)

When wrath takes possession of the breast, wisdom takes to flight even from the wise.

Bitterness, anger and wrath are all poisonous to the individual who allows them to fester within their heart.

But they become even worse when they are released in the form of the next two categories that Paul addresses.

The first three conditions are the assassins that take up residence within the church steeple - or within our hearts - the next two are the ammunition that is fired that results in the death of unity among the members of the church.

The Ammunition

Shouting - clamor.

Matthew Poole - such inordinate loudness as men in anger are wont to break out into in their words.

Oh what a world we live in in which this is made even more possible by the presence of social media.

We even have names for this - keyboard warriors.

Trolls.

Those who lurk in the shadows and the safety of their own phones or homes and speak just to hear themselves speak.

They actually bring the opposite of value to a conversation - instead they are often guilty of last week’s admonition against speaking “foul” or putrid words and language.

This type of speech is the direct outworking of bitterness, anger or wrath in the heart of a person.

They feel they’ve been wronged in some way and they want the world to know.