"Put Away" - Do Not Grieve The Holy Spirit

Ephesians 4:28–30 ESV

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

Emotion Should Not Determine Behavior

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Obedience Should Determine Behavior

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Paul’s main point “Stop doing” the things of this world that you used to do and “Start doing” those things that exemplify the new life we have in Christ.

No Longer Steal

Ephesians 4:28 ESV

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.

What are things people steal from us? We think of the material things, but what else can be taken from us?

Time

Joy

Peace

We ourselves need to make sure that we aren’t found doing these things. That we find ourselves not being idle and causing others grief through our actions.

Acts 20:35 ESV

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

How often do our emotions determine how we interact with other people? When we wake up after a horrible night of sleep? Maybe we don’t feel the best? Maybe we’ve had an argument with our spouse? In other words, things just didn’t go according to our plans.

Do we allow these emotions to take away the joy and the peace of others?

We need to get beyond our emotions and allow the obedience we should show to our heavenly Father.

Julie, my wife, always says, I’m not going to let that person steal my joy.

We need to be the examples for those who are weaker and younger in the faith. There are always those who are looking up to us to see how they should handle themselves.

Galatians 6:10 ESV

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Let us do good to everyone. Why especially to those of the household of faith? Why would you want to come be a part of something where all people do steal from each other?

Ephesians 4:29 ESV

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.

Corrupting Talk

Sapros -bad, Rotten, PUTRID

In the original text the word for corrupting is sapros. This word means bad, rotten, putrid.

Julie’s car

Ephesians 5:4 ESV

Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Mark will be dealing with this more next week, but these are examples of what we should guard against.

Colossians 3:1–2 ESV

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Colossians 3:8–10 ESV

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Speech & Technology

How often do we let our emotions influence our speech and what we say to others? How many times will we let our words that come out of our mouths try to cover for some wrong we have done?

Now with technology and social media, we need to not only watch our tongues, but we need to watch what our fingers are typing as well.

We can be quick to justify this. The truth is, there is no way to justify these actions.

If I’m to be honest, right now there way too much of this going on. If you look at the second half of this verse,

“…but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Right now, there are many people who will claim to have the right to say and write whatever they want. It is our constitutional right. While I will agree with you it’s your constitutional right, you need to weigh that against what the Word of God tells you to do.

Is your statement so inflammatory that it will turn people away from the witness you are supposed to have in Christ? Will it turn people away from the church, whether that be Fairlawn or the church as a body?

Ecclesiastes 10:12 ESV

The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him.

Proverbs 15:1 ESV

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

We need to make sure what is coming from our mouths and fingers is something that will bring glory to our Father God and something He will find no fault with, especially when we take a look at the next verse

Ephesians 4:30 ESV

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

Grieving The Holy Spirit

What does this mean? I asked that question on Facebook on our church page, and these are the answers I got.

When you fill your soul with worldly things and not allow the Holy Spirit fill you completely.

when we choose to follow our fleshly desires instead of His leadership.

Not following where He directs.

When we are mean or unkind to others.

When we don't spend time with him, in prayer or reading his word.

When we dont move as He directs. i.e. witnessing. Getting out of the pew and to the altar

When we put all of our attention on ourselves instead of Jesus!

When we neglect to do the things we know we are supposed to do for the Lord

Here is what I think sums all of this up:

What is sin? Anything we do against God. So therefore sin grieves the Holy Spirit.

So, anytime we find ourselves putting on the old-self, or our old ways, instead of wearing the new-self and keeping our eyes on Him and obeying His leading and calling, we are grieving the Holy Spirit.

Does He Still Feel the Nails - My wife, Julie, and I.....

When we grieve the Holy Spirit, we are sinning. We need to think about the price that Jesus had to pay for our sins.

The nice thing about all of these scriptures is that while the beginning of each is a negative, there is a positive that the second half brings up that we should do.

Old shoes

For those of us who have accepted the gift of salvation, we have been

Sealed For The Day Of Redemption

What does this mean?

Ephesians 1:13–14 ESV

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

It means that if we have truly believed that Jesus provided the one and only sacrifice that was needed to cover our sins, and we acknowledge that gift, an we truly take off the old-self and put on the new, and try as hard as we can to live a life pleasing to the Holy Spirit, then we have been secured by the blood of Jesus Christ until the day of His return.

So, we need to

“Put Away” those things that do not conform to our new life.

A life that is lived to please the Holy Spirit. To build others up even when we don’t feel like it. To be ready to give to those who are in need. To set an example to those who are younger in the faith. To watch and listen to the way we communicate with others. To renew ourselves in the Spirit through the reading and studying of His Word and prayer.

Invitation