Ephesians 4:25-32

Ephesians 4:25–32 KJV 1900

25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil. 28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. 29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Introduction

It is a poor thing for us to talk about being seated with Christ in the heavenlies, when we are walking with the world.

As our mindsets are renewed by the Holy Spirit and by the Word of God, Paul advocates for believers to trade these worldly behaviors for new, more worthy behaviors.

Trade lying for truth.

Trade stealing for giving.

Trade sinful anger for righteous anger.

Trade corrupt speech for building speech.

Trade bitterness for kindness.

Paul established a pattern in vss 22-24 of this chapter.

We are to put off the old man.

We are to be renewed in our mind.

We are to put on the new man.

Walk worthy in your honesty. 25

Lying is the thing that we are to put off.

Some of us immediately jump to an elementary idea of lying.

Did you steal the cookie from the cookie jar? No! (wipes crumbs from mouth)

The word that is here in this verse is much bigger.

The word is pseudo.

It has to do with all things that are false.

When we are told to put off lying, it goes beyond the matter of telling a lie.

It means that we are careful not to live a lie either.

Why?

Because we are all members one of another.

We are all part of this same body.

Chrysostom illustrated this when he said...

If the eye sees a serpent does it deceive the foot?

If the tongue tastes something bitter does it deceive the stomach?

This is the renewal of our minds.

We see ourselves as members of the same body.

What is for the good of one is for the good of all.

Why would we ever attempt to deceive a fellow believer?

Put on speaking/expressing truth to each other.

The second half of the the command, here, is a quote from Zechariah 8:16 “16 These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:”

You will notice, however, a small deviation.

Rather than speaking truth to your neighbor, Paul says to speak truth with your neighbor.

There ought to be a culture of reciprocal truth within the church.

Walk worthy in your anger. 26-27

Put off sinful anger.

There is a difference between sinful and righteous anger.

It is possible to be angry and sin not.

We know this because Jesus was angry on several occasions.

When does anger become sin?

Anger is sinful when self is introduced as the cause.

If your anger stems from your pride, then it is sin.

You do me wrong and I flare with anger, that is sin.

We must avoid sinful anger.

Why?

Because sinful anger leaves the door to our life propped open for Satan.

When you cannot let go of your anger, you open yourself up to attack.

Too many of us cherish our anger.

Cherished anger becomes malice, and Satan works in and through a malicious Spirit.

We need to change our mindset towards anger.

You cannot hold onto it and not open yourself up to Satan’s attack.

Put on righteous anger.

One Puritan author said this...

I am determined so to be angry as not to sin, therefore to be angry at nothing but sin.

We flare with anger when our pride is attacked.

But, we stand by as others blaspheme the name of our Savior and we are not stirred with anger.

If my spirit would not be stirred with indignation by injustice today, then I am not the sort of Christian I ought to be.

The problem with anger is not that we are angry too often.

The problem with anger is that we are angry about the wrong things.

It is not a sin to have strong feelings and even to express those feelings.

The problem is we spend too much time angry over what people do to us as opposed to what they do to others or to God.

How many of you felt anger when Bro. Burden talked about trafficking a few weeks ago?

I am not saying this is an easy change to make.

I feel like I have always struggled with anger.

I have a really good memory too, so it is hard for me to let things go, even things that happened a long time ago.

Maybe you can relate.

Maybe you feel like you can’t control your anger over offenses and slights.

Here’s an idea that will help you develop anger for the sin of anger in your own life rather than the offenses of others against you.

Rather than hanging on to anger until it becomes bitterness, make it a habit to confess and seek forgiveness.

If we did this, we would get tired of repeatedly apologizing and we would put a check on ourselves.

In other words, we get angry at anger and do something to stop it.

Walk worthy in your relation to money. 28

Put off stealing.

This is really very simple.

Don’t take what doesn’t belong to you, no matter how small and insignificant.

The child of God especially ought to be the one who can be trusted anywhere.

A Christian should be as faithful with another man’s things as they are with their own things.

Why?

Well it has less to do with respecting the rights of others.

It’s more about the Christian’s role as an ambassador of God.

Are we left here on this earth to have a debiting affect or a crediting affect?

Are you a drain or a contributor?

Do you take or do you add?

The old way of living was to get everything we could.

The new way of living should be for us to give everything we can.

The new goal of the Christian is to be able to give to those that are in need.

How is this possible?

Put on working a job.

We are supposed to work to provide for our families.

But that’s not where it ends for a Christian.

We are also supposed to use the wages that we earn to be a blessing to others.

One author said it this way...

I can live up to the righteousness of the if I refrain from taking what is another’s, but I cannot live up the holiness of grace except as I share with others.

Walk worthy in your speech. 29

Put off corrupt communication.

Corruption is to be understood as rottenness.

The kind of rottenness that spreads not only throughout the individual but to others that are nearby.

It’s the kind of talking that brings people down.

Inappropriate or off-color jokes.

Murmuring and complaining.

Gossip.

Some of us are so used to talking this way that we don’t even realize it.

If we are going to walk worthy, we have to break ourselves of the habit.

Why?

We should want to minister grace to others.

Your voice can be an instrument of God’s grace in the ears of others.

Think about this.

Someone might be struggling with something (maybe lying or anger) and God could use your words to help them grow through that.

Or, your corrupt communication could further drive them into the vice that they are trying to get the victory over.

Put on edifying speech.

Edifying is the opposite of corruption.

It builds up rather than tears down.

Walk worthy in your relationship to others. 31-32

Put off bitterness.

Bitterness is the endpoint of this list of words that we are to put off in our relationships with others.

I just want to give you some definitions of these words; they pretty much tell you everything you need to know.

Bitterness: resentfulness and a refusal to reconcile.

Wrath: the outburst of passion.

Anger: a settled feeling of resentment.

Clamor: loud, self-assertion

Evil Speaking: blasphemy or slander against another person.

Why?

We do it for Christ’s sake.

Jesus has done all of this many times multiplied.

He has set this example so that we would in turn treat other people the way He treated us.

If you were here last Sunday, remember, when God’s character is displayed among His creation, He is glorified.

Jesus took the first step in forgiving, showing tenderness, and being kind to us.

Now He expects us, for His sake, to do the same for others.

Put on kindness.

Building off of the idea of what God has done for us, I want to go back to the middle of the passage to find the motivation of why we are to put off, renew, and put on these different behaviors.

It’s not primarily for the good of others.

Though they and we do benefit.

Our motivation has to have a more God-centric foundation.

Grieve not the Holy Spirit! 30

Grieve, means to give pain.

Do not cause pain to the Holy Spirit.

All sin is a matter of personal sorrow to God.

When we claim His name, but we fail to walk worthy, it is grievous to the Holy Spirit

When we claim to be seated with Christ, but we are walking with the world, we grieve the Holy Spirit.

When we are false with others, we grieve the Spirit.

When we are angry...

When we steal, we grieve Him.

When we talk about things that are not edifying, He is there in you enduring pain as a result of your actions.

When our relationships do not mirror the forgiveness and kindness that God showed us, He is grieved.

You cannot grieve Him away, though.

Jesus promised us that the Holy Spirit would abide with us forever.

He cannot leave you, even when you are at your worst.

That doesn’t mean He has to accept a Temple that refuses to walk worthy.

So many Christians lack peace in their life because they are walking with the world.

So many Christians lack the power of the Holy Spirit because in all other moments they are grieving Him.

Have you ever known what it was like to have someone in your house who did not approve of anything you were doing?

Perhaps they did not say anything, but you had the sense that they did not like things?

That’s what it’s like to live life with a grieved Holy Spirit living inside of you.

It is always better to walk worthy of the life God has called us to.

Trade lying for truth.

Trade stealing for giving.

Trade sinful anger for righteous anger.

Trade corrupt speech for building speech.

Trade bitterness for kindness.

All of this depends on the Holy Spirit enabling us and renewing our thinking.

Are you walking worthy this morning or are you grieving the Holy Spirit?