Ephesians 4:25-5:2:

[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. 5 [1] Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. [2] And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Introduction:

Our text for this morning is going to be Ephesians chapter 4 verse 25 through chapter 5 verse 2 (repeat). Let me start by saying  that it is humbling to be here this morning and have the opportunity to preach the word to you.  I am blessed to serve along side and sit under such godly men of faith. And we are all blessed to sit under men who faithfully preach God’s word week in and week out with such power and clarity. It is humbling for me to be able to stand in this pulpit and exposit the text for you. You may be wondering why I am preaching this morning. The answer to that question is very complex…I asked to preach this text, haha.  I did this for two reasons. The first is that there is no greater joy than to pine the word of God in order to bring out treasures to share with the body of Christ.  I love to sing and I love to lead worship in song by there is often a burning desire in my bones to be able to proclaim the excellencies of Gods word. The second reason is because of how instrumental this text has been to my faith over the years. Several years ago, I was teaching through Ephesians with a college bible study I was leading and, as I drove myself deep into this particular section of Ephesians, I kept finding nugget after nugget of spiritual ammunition for the battle with my flesh. These verse are simple enough that they preach for themselves, yet powerful and deep enough that if one commits them to memory they will find endless spiritual ammunition for the race ahead.  Over the years these nuggets shape how I interact with my friends, my wife, my kids, my extended family, the body of Christ, and those outside the body. They have shaped how I pursue work and finances in light of the glory of God and the good of His bride. They have shaped how I train and focus my mind when I am alone. They have stung and brought godly sorrow at times and revived and brought joy to my soul at others.   I find myself constantly going to these 7 verses to strengthen my faith. The truth is, I do not have much to add to what the words of these verses say at face value; but it is my hope this morning that I can be used this morning to help you see how beautiful these words are and how you can take take them and apply it to your life.  I am delighted to have this opportunity and I am absolutely humbled that the elders of Sovereign Hope have considered me able and faithful to bring these truths to you this morning. So before I get that look from my wife that says I am giving way to many details, lets move on to the bible.

Before we dive in, it is important to remember the context for our verses. What we have been studying is crucial to our understanding of these verses.  At the beginning of Chapter 4 we see Paul switch from what has been called the theology or doctrine of the letter of Ephesians in chapters 1-3 to the second half of the letter which I have heard put as the way theology walks itself out practically in our lives. Just to clarify, theology simply means “the study of God”and doctrine means “a set of beliefs held and taught by a church.” So, Paul has moved us from the study of who God is and how He has worked in salvation, which giving us beliefs or doctrines  to hold firm, to showing us how the truth about who God is and how He has worked in salvation affects our life.  Paul starts by setting the tone of the conversation in chapter 4 verses 1-6 where he urges us to do everything we can to strive for unity of the faith, because we are one in Christ (picking up on the theme of the end of chapter 2 and beginning of chapter 3). Remember, he says there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (vs. 5-6).  He then moves to the gifts the Ascended King has given to us he tells us that these gifts are for the purpose of ministry to the body, in order to build the body up until we attain mature manhood (verses 7-13). Paul reveals to us us that the body (the church) is designed to work together to build itself up in love (verse 16), showing us that we need every joint and every member to be built up in love. Unity, Unity, Unity, body, body, body! Over and over again.  Pastor Brett and Pastor Sam taught so well on these verses and if you haven’t had a chance to listen to the sermons I encourage you to go back and listen to them because they will bring even more clarity to our time this morning.  But then Paul seems to shift to more of a focus on the individual life.   What see in the verses prior to our text, as pastor Sam taught on last week is saying in strong language again that true believers are to walk no longer like the gentiles who pursue the passions of their own flesh.  Listen to the severity again of Paul in these verses.  READ verse 17-20

He goes on to say that we are to “put off the old self” and “put on the new self.”  And we say last week how we are to do that. So, there is our context. God, through the pen of Paul, is telling us that our old sinful nature does not belong with the nature of the new man.  So, everything in our text is explaining how to live as the new man. But what is particularly striking, is that everything Paul tells us does not pertain to us individually but has in mind the entire body (the church). So, though Paul shifts to the individual, he desires for it to be understood that the way he is urging us to be individually is for the good, or the “building up in love” of the church. I have titled this sermon “Exhortations for the new man’s attack on his flesh.”.I loved how pastor Sam put it when we were discussing the structure of the language, “verses 25-32 is a grammatical machine gun of imperative commands.” Paul just unloads a round, so to speak, of imperative exhortations. What I mean by that is he very pointedly gives us authoritative and crucial commands that we are to obey. My goal this morning is to make it through  6 exhortations that Paul gives for the new man in verses 25-32 of chapter 4 and then show how they are all summedl up with 1 lofty exhortation that he concludes with in 5:1-2 which will lead us perfectly into communion. So, here we go with Exhortation #1…

Exhortation #1: Speak the Truth because we put away falsehood and have learned the Truth

The first exhortation is found in verse 25 to speak the truth because we have learned the truth.  Verse 25,

[25] Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

WE HAVE LEARNED THE TRUTH:

First we see that this exhortation is clearly attached to the preceding verses by Paul’s use of the word, “therefore.” However, Paul doesn’t use the same word he uses for therefore here.  He used a different greek word with a little more umph to it.  Where as he usually “oun” (pronounced oon) which means and now then, likewise then, he uses the word “dio” (pronouced dee-o) meaning “consequently or for which cause.” Why is this important to know. Because, Paul is not just saying “so then do this”, he is saying “as a result of…do this.”   As a result of what? Paul leaves no question to what he is wanting us to connect this verse with, by saying, “having put away falsehood.” He is saying, as a result of “laying aside falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor.” As a result of learning Christ, putting off the old man and putting on the new man, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor (vs. 20-24). As a result of this new self being “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (v. 24), let each one of you speak the truth to his neighbor.  This has all already happened.  If you are a true Christian in this room, you have been made a new creation, and have been shown the truth in order to put away falsehood.  Now the word for falsehood encompasses all kinds of lying, deceit, or cunning practices.  Some have suggestion that it means “the great lie of idolatry,” and while that is plausible giving the fact that Ephesus was the home of the temple of “Artemis,” it is hard to justify that because the singular noun is used collectively and the parallel passage of Colossians 3:8-9, which we read earlier, does not lend to this interpretation.  So we can conclude that this is referring to their old manner of life, the way of life the gentiles still walk in (v. 17) which included lying, deceit, falsehood, and cunning practices.  So Paul is saying, as a result of putting this away, or because you have learned the truth (learned Christ), speak the truth to your neighbor.  John Calvin puts it beautifully when he says,

“the doctrine of Christ teaches us to renounce our natural dispositions. He whose life differs not from that of unbelievers, has learned nothing of Christ; for knowledge of Christ cannot be separated from the mortification of the flesh.”

So, what does it mean to “speak the truth to his neighbor”

SPEAKING TRUTH:

First and foremost it involves speak of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what I mean by that is speaking of “the good news of Jesus Christ.” Declaring to one another, over and over, the good news that the God/Man, the Son of God, the now ascended King, came in the flesh and dwelt among us, so that He could give His life as a ransom for our sin, then rose again and ascended on how, bringing salvation for all who believe. I get this for 2 reasons, first because of what we have seen in what it means to “learn Christ.” And second because of what Paul has been writing about in the first section of this letter (chaps. 1-3) which culminates with Paul’s prayer that we “may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled will all the fullness of God” (vs. 18-19). This also ties into verse 15 of this chapter where Paul writes, “rather, speaking the truth in love.” What is more loving that proclaiming the way of salvation.  What is more loving, brethren, than saving someone from the wrath of God and being used to help them see the glory of the King.

Secondarily, this means that the truth generally permeates your life. The truth of how to act, the truth of the effect of sin, the truth of the word of God, etc. I get this from the fact that Paul is citing Zechariah 8:16 when he says, “speak truthfully to his neighbor.” Verse 16 of Zechariah 8 immediately follows the promises in verse 1-15 regarding the new Jerusalem and is in an exhortatory section as well. The exhortation is directed toward the remnant of God’s people who “will inhabited Zion, which will be called ‘The City of Truth’ because of the indwelling presence of Yahweh (v. 3).” There God’s people will be characterized by truth and here in our text God’s people are called to be Characterized by truth.    

AS WE ARE MEMBERS OF ONE ANOTHER:

Paul concludes with the motivation for all that we have seen. Look back at verse 25. Paul says, “As we are members of one another.” Because we are one body, joints tightly fitted together, striving together towards mature manhood, to the full stature of Christ. Brothers and Sisters in Christ you are no longer your own but are one with the church.  Your faith, your maturity, your walk with Christ depended on the truth spoken in love by the body and theirs on yours.  

SO LET US: SPEAK THE TRUTH BECAUSE WE HAVE PUT ASIDE FALSEHOOD AND HAVE LEARNED THE TRUTH

The second exhortation follows a similar pattern as the first.

Exhortation #2: Be angry and do not sin; do not let anger rob you and the body of joy

This is found in verses 26 and 27

[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.

BE ANGRY:

Paul again is drawing from the Old Testament in this exhortation in Psalm 4:4 which reads the same as this verse. There are generally 2 views held on this exhortation.  The first is that Paul permits and restricts anger.  Paul allows for anger in general, and permits it, but restricts it in its breadth and length.  The second is that Paul is saying that there are times to be angry.  There are occasions in the life of the church when righteous indignation is called for. I tend to agree with the later because in structure of the word used in the original language for “Be angry” is a command and the structure of “do not sin” is a command.  This tells us that there is a time where anger is called for and even commanded but we must be careful.  

DO NOT SIN; DO NOT LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON YOUR ANGER:

We are to be careful with our anger not to sin.  Paul’s call for careful attention to our anger is heightened by placing a time limit on our anger.  Look at the second portion of verse 26, “do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Pastor Sam Storms writes that, “The exhortation not to let “the sun go down on your anger” (v. 26b) is not to be taken literally. In the OT sunset was viewed as the time limit for a number of activities (see Deut. 24:13,15,23).” God sees our anger as dangerous and causes Paul to put a time limit on our anger.

DO NOT LET ANGER ROB YOU AND THE BODY OF JOY:

The purpose of this time limit is given in verse 27 when Paul writes, “give no opportunity to the devil.” Verse 27 may be translated, “Do not give the devil a chance to exert his influence” (O’Brien, p. 340). We to be cautious with our anger, judging rightly where the motivation lies, and we are not to let our anger fester. For that is when the devil has an opportunity.   The word for opportunity here is translated “foothold or room” in other scriptures signifying occupied space.  Elsewhere, in Romans 12:19, Paul uses it for allowing “room” for God. Listen to Romans 12:14-21.

So, in regards to our anger we are to leave room for the wrath of God to seek proper justice but give no room to the devil. We need to be able to release our anger.  If our anger is allowed to simmer and seethe and we do not properly deal with the cause of our anger it begins to cause relational strain in the Christian  community. It should be pointed out that the devil is not credited with being the producing the anger, that happens within the person, but anger can provide the devil with the opportunity to cause dissension in the body and hurt the walk of the individual. Because the way the body is built up in love is through each joint working properly to help the body grow.  When we do not properly deal with our anger we allow the devil the opportunity to rob our joy because he robs us of our growth in love.

MY STORY:

These particular verses have been highly influential in my life as in my natural flesh I have the tendency to be hot headed.  Anger has been something I have struggled with since childhood and it truly had wreaked havoc on several relationships.  By the grace of God those relationships have been healed. Anger is something I still struggle with and probably always struggle with.  I use these verses as a guide often as I continue to battle this part of my flesh.  I first ask myself if my anger is the right kind of anger.  Is this a righteous indignation seeking the glory of God or anger from my injured pride?  I ask this often.  I ask it in conflicts with my wife and my kids often.  I ask it when I have an outburst of anger in the car because I got lost and my iphone wouldn’t give me the right directions.  Then I remind myself of what my anger will produce and ultimately rob me and others of if I allow it to continue to fester.  I am zealous for the glory of God, my joy in Christ and my families joy in Christ.  And if I allow this verse to sit on my heart I will be an aid to that joy and not a hindrance. “If ours (anger) is not free from injured pride, malice, or a spirit of revenge, it has degenerated into sin” (O’Brien, p. 340_.

LET US: BE ANGRY AND DO NOT SIN and LET US: NOT ALLOW IT TO ROB US AND THE BODY OF JOY

The third exhortation moves into our physical life.

Exhortation #3: Diligently perform honest work, so that you may give to those in need

Look with me at verse 28

[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.

DILIGENTLY PERFORM HONEST WORK

First notices that this exhortation appears to be directed a particular person or type of person, “The Thief.” Scholars debate as to whether Paul has a particular incident in mind that was happening in the Ephesian church or whether it simply a use of the strongest negative to counter the positive.  The positive is to “labor, doing honest work with his hands” and therefor the strongest negative would be someone who steals.  One scholar, Ernest Best thinks that Paul is referring to day labourers of skilled tradesmen whose seasonal work caused them to steal when they were out of work to provide or maintain their lifestyle. While we do not know which one it is, we do know that it is referring to those who’s prior lifestyle actually causes them to be called “the thief.” I personally think the safe conclusion is that Paul is using “the thief” as a strong negative to contrast it against what life as the new man looks like. I also don’t believe Paul’s intention is to merely apply this to the act of physically stealing something. I believe this means that the cheating and robbing that was going on was not necessarily the act of physical picking up an item and walking away with it (though that is certainly at play) but also the acting of thievery in regards to cheating people in trade and commerce. Here are my reasons why. First, the ancient city of Ephesus was a hub of trade and commerce and the temple of Artemis had become the chief banking establishment in all of Asia Minor.  I believe that due to this, it is safe to assume that some aspect of the thievery could tie to this industry. Secondly, I come to this conclusion get this from what Paul wrote in verse 25 and says in the second portion of this verse, look again at verse 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.” In verse 25 Paul wrote “as a result of putting off falsehood, speak the truth.” If you remember the word for falsehood means “falsehood, lying, deceit, or cunning practices.” And now Paul, after telling the thief to no longer steal, says “but rather” let the thief labor doing, what kind of work? “Honest work.” And how was he to do this work? “With His own hands.” The word for work here “denotes labour to the point of weariness.” So, what we see first that thievery is considered lazy work and the thief is called to labour to the point of weariness.  Then we see that this is suppose to be honest work with his own hands. Therefore, Paul is saying that the thief, previously characterized deception, selfishness and laziness, is to now do honest work to the point of weariness. Let’s put this in context by looking at Paul’s life and what he says about himself.

READ PHILIPPIANS 3:1-7 AND ACTS 20:33-35

So, Paul, once possibly charactized by laziness and selfishness, after Christ works diligently to relieve the burden of others.  But notice in our text again that Paul does not stopped there in regards to the transformation of the thief. Look at the last portion of verse 28 as Paul gives the motivation for this new found work ethic…

THAT HE MAY GIVE TO THOSE IN NEED

So, Paul takes the thief from one who through deception, laziness and desire for selfish gain; to one who labors to the point of weariness, doing honest work with his hands, in order that he may have something to give to the anyone in need. What a radical transformation! Now, I told you at the beginning of this sermon that I want to show you have to take these verses, cherish them, and use them to run the race set before you. The point of the text is to show the fullness of the teaching of Christ. Verse 28 doesn’t just say “do not steal any longer but rather do honest labor with your hands.” Paul could have stopped there and it would have been a pretty radical transformation. But, he goes a step further and says “so that you can give to those in need!” Paul wants us to see how this applies to even the one who does not consider himself a thief. So, lets talk about what this means for us and where I get the exhortation from.  I have to thank Pastor John Piper for bringing this to my attention.  

What this means for us:

• Stealing is so you can have in your greed
• Stealing is lazy, therefore he says “let him labor”
• Yet, working hard can sin because the motivation is so that you will have in your greed
• Working to give is the call of the Gospel

Paul shows that God’s goal for His children to work hard instead of stealing is not complete unless they are giving to those in need! This is how we DISPLAY the glory of God in our not stealing and our working!

John Piper says, “The very essence of faith is the delight of the soul in the experience and display of God’s grace.” The one walking by faith, transformed by the gospel of Christ, screams the words of David, “In His presence is fullness of joy, at His right hand are pleasures forever more.” (Psalm 16:11) and likewise Paul, when he says “I consider all but rubbish compared to the value of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord” (Phil 3). This is probably one of the most influential thoughts on my walk to date.  The goal of my labor in life is to have the ability to give to anyone in need, particularly those in the church. We are to attack our fleshly desire to work for ourselves by striving hard to work in order to have something to give. This is how the gospel takes shape in your life.  This is the attack of the flesh new man.

LET US: DILIGENTLY WORK WITH OUR HANDS, SO THAT WE MAY GIVE TO THOSE IN NEED

Paul the then moves to show how new man attacks his flesh through his speech with exhortation #4.

Exhortation #4: Let all speech edify so that it may give grace

Look with me at verse 29,

[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.

Just like the prevous exhortation this one is motivated by the desire for the good of others, which we will look closer at in a moment. There is a contrast between good and evil here in regards to the mouth, just as the preceding verses contrast in regards to action. Paul begins again with the negative, or the evil, “let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth.” The language Paul has in mind here is anything unwholesome, gossip, slander, libel, course joking, unhealthy sarcasm, filthy language, etc. Paul is going to talk about this kind of speech again in Ephesians 5:4 where he says, “let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking.” Listen to Pastor Sam Storms as he comments on this kind of talk.

The word translated “unwholesome” (sapros; NASB) is found here and in Mt. 7:17-18; 12:33; 13:48; Luke 6:43. In these latter texts it = rotten fruit, decaying food, putrid fish. Paul is speaking about spiritual halitosis! What kind of speech does he have in mind?

Lying (cf. v. 25), obscenity, abusive language, gossip, flattery that manipulates, cynical remarks, judgmentalism, slander, contemptuous talk, condescending speech (with a patronizing attitude), sarcasm that cuts and degrades, mockery, ridicule, etc.

And Paul says let “NO CORRUPTING TALK.” Nothing, nada, zilch. And moving on, Paul makes sure he is clear about what he means when he gives the positive.

LET ALL SPEECH EDIFY

Look at the second part of this exhortation in verse 29 again, “but only such as is good for the building up, as fits the occasion.” Paul ties in our speech to the building up on the body letting us know how we talk to one another plays an intrical role. Every word that proceeds from our mouth should have the in its desire, the intention to build up the believer in Christ, or call the non believer to Christ for that matter. What are these kinds of words. Encouragement, truth, words that build confidence in others, words that remind others of their identity in Christ, praise, reassurance (esp. following failure), comfort, sympathy, instruction, rebuke for sin, loving criticism, warning of impending danger, etc. We know this because of the motivation Paul gives at the end of verse 29

THAT IT MAY GIVE GRACE

Literally, Paul says we are to speak so as to “give grace to those who hear.” Many contend that this simply means “to do a favor” or “to confer a benefit.” But could Paul mean that our words are vehicles or channels for God’s grace to others? Does speech have the power to communicate God’s grace to those in need? There is a strong reason to say this is exactly what Paul is saying. Paul, through the Holy Spirit, wants us to see how our speech builds up the body in love. Remember in verse 16 what causes our growth, “from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, WHEN EACH PART IS WORKING PROPERLY, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Grace can absolutely flow through our speech, and not only to the other person, but also to ourselves.  There are times when what you are saying to another person, it motivated by the desire to give grace, will be exactly what you need to hear, providing you will grace.  So, before speaking, ask yourself four questions:

First, what is my motive for speaking? What is my reason for responding to this person? What do I hope to accomplish by opening my mouth?

Second, what impact will my words have on this person? Will it tend to tear them down or build them up?

Third, what impact would my words have on me if the situation were reversed?

Fourth, what would Jesus say?

The truth is, if we are swept away by grace, it will proceed from our mouths.

LET US: LET ALL SPEECH EDIFY SO THAT IT MAY GIVE GRACE

Our next exhortation can easily be tied to the preceding verse/verses or verses after. But because of the weight of this verse, I am going to provide it as a stand alone exhortation.

Exhortation #5: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit as He is the seal of redemption

Look at verse 30,

 [30] And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

DO NOT GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT

There are two things to notice here:

1. Only a person can be grieved. The word for grieve means to cause pain or hurt, to provoke or irritate.  

2. The title of the Holy Spirit of God is an exalted title. This emphasizes the ONE who is grieved.

I couldn’t come up with better words to show this than what I found in commentaries.

Sam Storms: (5)  Pleasing the Spirit 4:30

Paul’s language is taken from Isa. 63:10 and together with other texts (1 Thess. 4:8; 5:18) indicates that the Holy Spirit is a person, not an impassible, unfeeling, energy. The one who is said to be “grieved” (= to cause pain or hurt, to provoke or irritate) is the Spirit who is characterized by holiness and who is himself a co-equal member of the Trinity. “It is not a question of some offense aimed directly at the Spirit but rather that believers by committing the sort of sins that have been mentioned in the earlier sentences, sins which disrupt communal life, are thereby disrupting and opposing the work of the Spirit in building up the Church (cf. 2:22; 4:3,4). When believers act in a way that harms their brothers and sisters, God is hurt” (Lincoln, 307).

Says Fee:

Since spirit does not tend to call forth personal images, and since our view of God is often laced with a kind of transcendence that keeps him especially distant from our everyday lives, it is easy for us to pass off our sins in a much too casual way. Here, then, is the text that forever reminds us that such sins bring grief to God (715).

Paul understands the Spirit in fully personal terms, since only persons can be grieved or feel pain and distress. And now notice the motivation Paul gives for this exhortation,

AS HE IS THE SEAL OF REDEMPTION

Paul is reminding us of one of the most amazing aspects of our salvation and adoption.  God has given to us His Spirit as a guarantee of our inheritance.  If we are in Christ and have been redeemed there is a day when our redemption comes to full maturity.  Pastor Sam spoke briefly about this last week in regards to our body and spirit.  This Spirit whom we grieve by our sin is also the one by whom we were sealed (Eph. 1:13) for the day of redemption. That is, that future day when the redemption that is already ours in terms of the forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7) will extend to the glorification of our bodies, finally and fully setting us free from corruption in both body and spirit. There is a physical day coming beloved when this battle against the flesh will end and we will be fully mature, perfect and complete, and God has promised He will bring this about (Phil. 1:6). So, Paul says, “do not grieve” the person of the Holy Spirit which has been given to you to secure your future glorification.  This is an exhortation to set deep on our hearts as it ties in to the rest of the exhortations. What grieves the Holy Spirit more than the tearing down of the body of Christ! When our actions and speech are still old man actions and speech know that we are grieving the Holy Spirit.  We are grieving the 3rd person of the Trinity who “helps us in our weakness” and “intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Our my brothers and sisters in Christ,

LET US: DELIGHT THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO SEALS US FOR THE DAY OF REDEMPTION RATHER THAN GRIEVING HIM

This leads us perfectly into the 6th exhortation for the new man’s attack against his flesh,

Exhortation #6: Put aside all forms of selfish anger and put on compassion and forgiveness

Lets look to our text at verses 31-32,

 [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.

PUT ASIDE ALL FORMS OF SELFISH ANGER

If you haven’t noticed by now these verses continually tie into each other, overlapping, and weaving a tapestry of beautiful exhortations useful for the attack of the flesh.  These verse ties back into verse 26 in dealing with anger.  It is as though Paul wants to readdress the anger issue and further clarify the necessity of how cautious we are to be with our anger.  Paul does this through a climactic progression in verse 31. Look again at the verse, “Let ALL bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice.”

Unrighteous Anger v. 31

1. Bitterness refers to a hardness of heart towards others that will not let go of the past
2. Wrath refers to the initial outburst of rage.
3. Anger refers to the festering orientation of hostility of others
4. Clamor suggest a lack of restraint that explodes in angry yelling
5. Slandor refers to verbal abuse.  Literally “blasphemy” the worst kind of evil speaking.  
6. And Malice applies to all of these as an attitude towards others that desires their harm

Peter O’Brien notes that Paul starts “from an inner resentful attitude, through its indignant outburst an seething rage, to public shouting and abusive language and cursing” (O’Brien, p. 349). Our anger has a significant effect on our tongue and speech as well, doesn’t it? Look at what Paul is saying, if we allow our anger to fester it builds to abusive and harmful language and we are clearly called to control our tongue. Do you remember how harmful out tongue can be from out study in James(James 3:5-6). We are call to control our tongue because it can cause enormous harm to others and ourselves.

PUT ON COMPASSION AND FORGIVENESS

And Paul gives how we should respond and the proper motivation again for this furth push to control our anger. Notice verse 32 with me, Paul writes, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  Being kind refers to being kind, good, or gracious. It can also mean “kind or good in one’s self.” And tenderhearted refers to having compassion.  So Paul is saying, be good and gracious, having compassion on one another. Why? Because of how God, in Christ, has forgiven you. Paul says we are to forgive “as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32). The “as” points to two things: we are to forgive “because God forgave us” and “as or in the same way He forgave us.” So how did God forgive us?

He forgave us by absorbing in himself the destructive and painful consequences of our sin against him.
God forgave us in Christ by canceling the debt we owed him.
Forgiving others as God has forgiven us means you resolve to revoke revenge.
God has forgiven us and determines to shower us with kindness and do them good rather than evil.
God forgave us in Christ by reconciling us to himself, by restoring the relationship our sin had severed.

Our bitterness, wrath, anger…etc and lack of kindness, sympathy, and forgiveness can be directly linked to how amazed we are by mercy. This is why Paul spent so much time in the first half of this letter teaching on the doctrine of salvation. When we see ourselves truly, and realize the extent to which grace and mercy have been poured out on us we should be transformed in how we interact with others.

LET US: PUT ASIDE SELFISH ANGER AND PURSUE COMPASSION AND FORGIVENESS BECAUSE WE ARE OVERWHELMED BY THE GRACE AND MERCY SHOWN TO US.

As we come to a close in our text this morning we are going to see one final exhortation Paul gives.  We have seen 6 exhortations prior to this. These exhortations again are:

1. Speak the truth because you put away falsehood and have learned the Truth
2. Be angry and do not sin; do not let anger rob you and the body of joy
3. Diliegently perform honest work, so that you may give to those in need
4. Let all speech edify so that it may give grace
5. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit as He is the seal of redemption
6. and Put aside all forms of selfish anger and put on compassion and forgiveness

And not Paul is going to move into an exhortation that sums up all of these with one command.  

Final Exhortation: Imitate Christ with Sacrificial Love for The Church

We find this in Ephesians 5:1-2,

[1] Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. [2] And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

First notice the lofty command, “be imitators of God”” Paul just gotten through telling us of how God has worked in salvation and the great love with which he has loved us in Christ.  And now we are called to be imitators of this God.  and notice how? As beloved children. Every child that is beloved by his or her children will grow up with some desire to imitate their parents.  I know I do.  I was blessed to grow up with parents who loved each other and love me and my brothers with true unconditional love.  Because of this I desire to imitate my parents.  I want to support my kids how my parents supported me.  I want to stand by my wife and love her as my dad stood by my mom and still loves her.  I want to encourage my kids in the same way my parents have encouraged me.  If we who are human can see good attributes in our parents and want to imitate them, how much more should we see the amazingly unfathomable goodness of God that has been poured out on us as adopted children and desire to imitate Him.  Surely, when we feel the effect of grace on our hearts, we will want to speak that grace to others. When we see the righteous anger of God, that was perfect and just, taken upon the shoulders of God himself instead of the white hot wrath of God that would have rightly been directed at us in our sin. Surely, we will see that our anger is not perfect and just and how much more we should seek to be kind and compassion.  Surely, when we see the love the God has for the bride of Christ, will love swell up in our hearts for the church. The exhortation is to be imitators of God.  Imitators of the holy, just, wrathful, merciful, gracious, kind,  wise, and perfect God. These words cannot fall lightly on you.  We cannot read over this and fly by this.  We have to let this exhortation sink in.  We are called to be imitators of God.  Brethren, “be imitators of God.”  This is indeed a lofty command and a daunting one.  But Paul does not simply leave it there. He continues on to show us how we are to imitate God, namely to imitate the love of Christ. Paul guides our focus in to see how we are to perform this imitation, in our love. The second half of Ephesians (chaps. 4-6) contains a series of instructions to love (4:2, 15, 16; 5:2, 25, 28, 33; 6:24). As the first have showed us the immense love of God and ended with a prayer to comprehend this love. The second have calls for us to imitate this love in relation to others. So lets end our time by looking at this love:

Three Qualities of Christ’s Love

1. The love of Christ for us is undeserved.None of us has ever qualified to be loved by Jesus Christ.
2. The love of Christ for us is holy and ours should be holy. The aim of the love of Christ is the holiness of his church: “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her . . . and present her to himself in glory . . . that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25–27).
3. The love of Christ for us was sacrificial and self-denying. The love of Christ was costly.

Do not think that there was anything in you that God saw which made him love you.  The love of Christ is underserved, and so should ours be. We should put away all notions of love that are driven by mere sentiment and emotion. Love aims at the holiness of a man and a woman, not at their approval or their worldly happiness. So our love should aim to promote holiness. And as the love of Christ was sacrificial and self-denying, so should ours be.  Where does this kind of love come from? Is this something you can muster up and give out? What causes this kind of love? Pastor Sam Storms gives three things that the text tells us about what is needed to produce this love. Let me simply read his words as they are better than mine.

Sam Storms: Three things:

1. We must believe that Christ died in our place. Verse 2: “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” That is simply an awful sentence—that the slaughter of his Son smelled good to God!!! There are in this sentence realities so great and so awful and so wonderful and so devastating that when we believe them, they are the power of God unto sanctification and a great uprooting of unkindness.
2. We must believe that God has forgiven all our sins. Verse 32: ” . . . forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.” In order to be kind, you must be forgiven. In order to be kind, you must believe that you are forgiven for all the sins you have ever committed and will ever commit. To know and believe that every slap in God’s face has been forgiven freely in Jesus Christ breaks a Christian’s heart and makes it lowly and tender and kind.
3. Finally, we must believe that we are loved by God. Verse 1: “Be imitators of God, as loved children.” As LOVED children! Child of God, you are loved by God! Believe this with all your heart, and you will behold a miracle in your own life—the fruit of the Spirit, the gift of God!

IN ALL THINGS LET US: IMITATE CHRIST IN OUR LOVE FOR HIS CHURCH

This leads us perfectly in to our conclusion and communion.  

Conclusion:

Christian, if you have tasted the goodness of the Lord.  If you have put on the old man and put on the new man.  If your heart is spurred on by these exhortations then praise God for His grace! See the Lord of glory ascended waiting and longing to return in the day of redemptions.  Know that his wounds have paid your ransom.  Know that His love has brought you to life and rejoice.  Know that He will carry your sanctification to completion. Meditate on this loving, gracious, all powerful King who came to this world, spilled His blood, and broke His body for you and proclaim His death until He comes again.  

For the one in here who may not be the new man.  The one walking as the gentiles do.  The one bound by his anger and incapable of controlling his tongue. The one possibly working and working to try and earn his salvation. See the Lord of the universe nailed to the tree.  See His sacrificial love poured out for you and go to Him.  To the weary Christ says, “COME TO ME!”  To the frail and weak Christ says, “COME TO ME!” To the thief Christ says, “COME TO ME!”

TO ALL WHO HAVE EARS TO HEAR CHRIST SAYS “COME TO ME! FOR MY YOKE IS EASY AND MY BURDEN IS LIGHT.”