Ephesians 4:25-5:2
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Last week, let me jog your memory a little bit. We were talking about putting off the old clothes and putting on the new. He said you should no longer live as the Gentiles do and then gave us some practical ways to carry this out.
To help us understand this we talked about vices and virtues.
Any one remember what a vice is?
Vice
A vice is a habit or practice of moral failing, sin, or wrongdoing. It is behavior that turns a person away from God and His will
What about a Virtue?
Virtue
A virtue is a good habit or quality that reflects moral excellence and aligns with God's character and teachings. It fosters spiritual growth and communion with God.
As we continue through the book of Ephesians, you are going to see a vice and then followed by a virtue.
I remind you that he is writing within the Christian community. It might be easy to read these verses and to think that is for them out there.
No this is for us as Christians and how we are to conduct ourselves and interact with one another.
25 Since you put away lying, Speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another.
Vice: Lying
Virtue: Speak the truth
(circle)We are members of one another. Christians break the bonds of love and fellowship when they try to deceive one another. So, they must be completely honest with one another.
Lying
Lying is a hinderance to the proper functioning of the body of Christ. When lying is present, there is only disunity, disorder and trouble in human community
Speaking the truth
A few quick points on this…
We as Christians think that if we don’t tell the whole story to someone then we are not living this out in areas of confidentiality. I would say speaking of confidentiality it is ok to say I know the answer to your question but I am not going to share that with you.
Speaking the truth should not be an excuse to tear someone else down. The statement, “well I am just telling the truth” This might be an indicator of a heart condition verses a truth statement that needs to be said out loud.
When members of the body speak truth and are open with one another then there is unity.
26 Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,
27 and don’t give the Devil an opportunity.
Vice: Anger
The Heart of the Problem book we use at OneHeart Wholistic Center for Biblical counseling says this
I have never experienced anger within my body as a positive force. It has always been a hinderance to intelligent straight thinking and constructive rational behavior.
And in my work as a counselor and business consultant, I have never observed anger to be a positive factor in problem solving. I have never found anger to be righteous.
In an instant, anger can change a person from being satisfied, cheerful, and relaxed to being dissatisfied, unhappy, and tense.
This verse is often used to justify anger. This is not a command to get angry. He is quoting Psalm 4:4. The whole of the chapter is concluded in the last verse that says I will lie down and sleep in peace for you alone, Lord, make me live in safety.
It is not a command to be angry.
It gives us a timeline on your anger. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.
Deal with it quickly
Let’s talk about righteous anger for a second
Righteous anger is spoke of when we talk about the injustices of the world. The Old Testament speaks a lot of the mistreatment of the poor and the lack of justice on behalf of the poor.
So when we hear of injustice for the poor then it is righteous anger.
Maybe…
Here is how we can know that our anger is righteous. Righteous anger will also coincide with the fruits of the Spirit. Righteous anger will be lived out with the fruits of the Spirit. That is anger with love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
What often happens is that our anger is not righteous but we use righteous anger to justify why we are mad. Someone does something to us. They cut us off in traffic and we get mad. We think our anger is righteous because they cut us off. That is not righteous anger. That is probably a little closer to idol worship of ourselves than it really is righteous.
Don’t give the Devil an opportunity
The longer we retain and nurse our anger the wider we open the door for the devil to lead his victim to unkind thoughts, words and actions, so work havoc with personal relationships.
The devil is to be resisted and given no place in the individual life or in the fellowship of believers.
So how do we do this? We deal with anger quickly!
28 The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.
Vice: Stealiing
Virtue: Honest work, sharing with anyone in need
Who is he writing to again? Believers!
Remember this as you read this verse.
The thief is to no longer steal
Some in the Christian community are stealing
He must do (Kopiao)
to do wearisome labor, or labor unto extreme fatigue
This word is used in 1 Timothy 5:17
17 The elders who are good leaders should be considered worthy of an ample honorarium, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
28 The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.
Virtue: Sharing with others in need
The purpose of this labor that produces fatigue is that you can now share something with anyone in need.
One of the main things the early church did was to come along side of the poor.
The end of hard work is not for yourself but it is for the purpose of sharing with others in need.
Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary b. Truth and Love to Replace Falsehood and Bitterness (4:25–5:2)
The Christian motive for earning is not merely to have enough for oneself and one’s own, and then perhaps for comforts and luxuries, but to have in order to give to the needy. The Christian philosophy of labour is thus lifted far above the thought of what is right or fair in the economic field; it is lifted to the place where there is no room for selfishness or the motive of personal profit at all. Giving becomes the motive for getting.
29 No foul language is to come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.
Vice: foul language
Virtue: Building others up, grace to those who hear
Foul Language or rotten/worthless language
Our speech can be rotten or it can bring delight
worthless language that is it does not have value and it causes others to think on what is not valuable.
Virtue
God has given us the gift of speech and the purpose of this speech is to be a blessing to someone else.
Are my words being used to impart grace to those who hear?
16 Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God.
6 Your speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.
Love to think about our speech being a blessing and used as a gift.
In our flesh it is easier to use our speech to criticize or tear down or find the negative than for us to walk in the Spirit and use our speech to build others up.
30 And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by Him for the day of redemption.
In our speech do not grieve or disappoint the Holy Spirit of God. We are called to fellowship with the Spirit. When we use our speech to offend a brother or sister by false words or act is to grieve the Holy Spirit.
Think about the level in parenting that it takes to bring you as a child to a place of disappointment. Our Father is a loving God and wants to bring us to a place of following him.
Assignment: Find one person this week that you can speak something that brings grace to them.
Husband and wives. Make it your spouse
Those who might not be married, then find someone who has impacted your life and share that with them. Bring grace to their ears with your speech this week.
31 All bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice.
Vices:
Bitterness:
Aristotle spoke of as ‘the resentful spirit which refuses reconciliation’.
Wrath:
Outburst of passion from the settled feeling of anger
Shouting:
or Clamour, ‘the loud self-assertion of the angry man, who will make every one hear his grievance’ (Findlay)
Slander:
Blasphemia, a word often used in the Bible for speaking against god, but also common for slanderous or abusive speaking against one’s fellows.
Malice:
wickedness, difficulties and hateful feelings
32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
Virtues:
Kind:
useful, good, easy or mild
It is love in practical action; as Barclay puts it, it is the disposition of mind which thinks as much of its neighbor’s affairs as it does of its own’
Compassionate:
Tenderhearted
Acts of kindness with a heart of sympathy and love that moves them. Central to Christian Ethics is to be kind to one another.
Forgiving one another
Often forgiveness is seen as a weakness. I would argue that it is stronger to walk in forgiveness and create intimacy when we forgive one another.
Notice the connection in this forgiveness. We forgive one another just as God also forgave you in Christ. Forgiveness is rooted and based in God’s forgiveness.
As Christians, our forgiving of others is to be as free and complete as that of God, who puts away a person’s sins as far as the east is from the west, and holds them against him no more.
1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children.
2 And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
3 The Lord says this: “I will return to Zion and live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, and the Holy Mountain.”
4 The Lord of Hosts says this: “Old men and women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of advanced age.
5 The streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in them.”
6 The Lord of Hosts says this: “Though it may seem incredible to the remnant of this people in those days, should it also seem incredible to Me?”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.
16 These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your gates.
17 Do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury, for I hate all this”—this is the Lord’s declaration.
18 Then the word of the Lord of Hosts came to me:
19 “The Lord of Hosts says this: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth will become times of joy, gladness, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace.”
