Untitled Sermon (5)

Worship through the Word

“Blessings in Christ” A Study of Ephesians

“The Regular Christian Life” (Part 3) Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2

Context: The letter of Ephesians was written to encourage the church by reminding them of all the blessings they have and will have because of Jesus’ work on their behalf. Paul speaks about these blessings in two ways: (1) in terms of the eternal plan of salvation for humanity and (2) our individual salvation that we experience every day. In light of these blessings, Paul calls the church to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” in practical matters like: unity in the Church, living in the world, marriage, parenting, and work. Today’s text reminds us that as God’s children we are called to imitate Christ in all we think, say, and do.

Central Idea of the Text: “Live Like Christ”

Christians are called to imitate God’s loving kindness to others through the way we think, speak, and act.

Christians are called to be kind to one another. (Ephesians 4:31-32a)

~ we are to put away all evil thoughts, words, and actions

~ we are to be kind in our thoughts, words, and actions

~ we are to be compassionate through our words and actions

Christians are called to forgive one another. (Ephesians 4:32b)

~ we all need forgiveness

~ we all have been forgiven in Christ

~ we all must forgive as God forgave us

Christians are called to love as Christ loved us. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

~ we do not love like the world loves

~ we love because Jesus loves us

~ we love the way Jesus loves us

Conclusion for us: Today we were reminded that all followers of Christ are called to think, speak, and act like him. The Bible teaches us that in this life we will not live perfectly, but we are called to become more like Christ every day. This requires that we leave the thinking, speaking, and actions of the world behind us and purposely seek to by holy like Christ. We are to be imitators of Christ in all avenues of life. Do you seek to imitate Christ in all you do? Are you thinking, speaking, and acting like the world or Christ? May we at Grace Fellowship seek to walk in love and imitate Christ in all we do!

Series Intro>>> We continue to look at what it means for those who are “in Christ” to “walk as Christ calls us to walk”… that is to live as he calls us to live. The regular Christian life is one in which we turn away from the world and turn to Christ. We move away from living like the world, pursuing worldly pleasures and instead find our greatest joy and satisfaction in pursuing Jesus Christ.

Read text and pray>>>

I went to a very small private High School. There were a total of about 30 kids in the whole school. The school was located in the basement of the church I went attended. Often, the pastor of the church was there taking care of pastoral things. I remember one day, another boy and I were assigned to clean up the small front lawn of the Church. This boy was getting on my nerves and I remember shouting across the lawn “you are such a stup…” And just then the pastor walked out of the front door and said “such a what?”. I quickly said “nothing”. He told me I might as well say it since I already thought it. Now the pastor’s point wasn’t that I shouldn’t try to keep my words in check, rather his point (and I might add, a very clear point in the moment) was that it is not just a matter of not saying something that makes us holy, but rather the attitude of our heart in obeying the commands of Christ.

My hope and prayer this morning is not that we at Grace Fellowship would just be kind and nice to one another in sort of check list way, but rather, the disposition of our whole being would be one that desires to honor Christ in the way we think, speak, and act. And these commands of Paul to the church of Ephesus help us gage where we are in our heart in following Christ.

So, just like the last couple of weeks, let us ask the appropriate questions of these commands:

1. Am I kind to others in the Church?

2. Am I forgiving others in the Church?

3. (summary question of these two and the last two weeks) Am I walking (living) in love the way God wants me to?

First, in verses 31 and 32 Paul lists 8 commands very quickly without any unpacking of them. Some are negative and some positive. Paul lists the negative first and says “put away” all bitterness, wrath, anger, shouting, slander, and malice (evil). Then he gives two positive commands. Paul says “be” kind and compassionate. Then Paul list one more command for a total of 9. For our purposes today, I’m going to speak about the first 8 together and the last one by itself. The reason is for this is basically this: the first 8 commands can be summed up in the statement in your worship through the word “Christians are called to be kind to one another”. They all have to do with being kind to one another.

The last one “forgive”. Is the only one of the 8 that is unpacked at all by Paul. I understand him to separate this one a bit. It is almost as if he is saying “be kind, and when you fail to be kind, seek and give forgiveness to one another, just like Christ forgave you.

Let’s look at the 8 quick commands to be kind.

We must put these things away… it is not an option for us as followers of Christ to continue in these things. Again, we are not going to be perfect, but we must pursue these things. Not just our words and deeds, but also our thoughts.

Now you might be asking “how are we suppose to do that?”… well the best way to control your thoughts is by what you expose your eyes and ears to. The simple saying of “garbage in and garbage out” really does contain truth. If we expose ourselves to the thoughts, words, and deeds of the world over and over again we will think, speak, and act like the world. But, if we expose ourselves to the thoughts, words, and actions of the Spirit, we will begin to think, speak, and act like Christ. It really is that simple. The more you pursue Christ, the less like the world you become. The more you pursue the world, the less like Christ you become. The Apostle John speaks a ton about this in 1 John. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love to the Father is not in Him.”

When we focus on Christ, our thoughts will tend towards kindness rather than hatred. We will love because he loves. We will be kind because he was and is kind. We will be compassionate, because he was and is compassionate. We will be merciful, because he was and is merciful. We will become more like Christ because we see more of Christ.

Moving on, Paul does unpack one command and that is to forgive one another as God in Christ forgave us. If you were to remember a ways back in Ephesians, I preached about redemption and forgiveness. I mentioned in that sermon that I had just watched the Fred Rogers film by Tom Hanks. And at the beginning of the film, Hanks playing Mr. Rogers says “Do you know what it means to forgive someone? Forgiveness is a ‘decision we make to release a person form the feelings of anger we have at them’.” That’s a pretty good definition. Clear and helpful. Especially speaking of the forgiveness that we give to one another in the Church. The film then deals with the question of “why” we should forgive. It is a great film, I recommend it. Yet it doesn’t really explain the “why” from a Christian worldview (it wasn’t intended to, yet we get glimpses of it). So I want to give you three reasons why we forgive.

First… We all need forgiveness. Every single one of us. We have all thought, said and done things to others in which we need forgiveness. It is foolish to think that we would not need to issue forgiveness.

Now, we must pause and understand that forgiving doesn’t mean that every thing is honky-dory. In fact let me make clear what forgiveness is not:

It is not forgetting, it is not an invitation to receive more offense, it is not weakness, it is not a removing of sins consequences, it is releasing anger and hatred toward the offender and releasing the right to repay the moral, emotional, or physical pain caused by the offender and handing that over to God, trusting him to deal justly with the offender and the offense. (I was helped here by Justin Holcomb’s book “Is it my fault”)

Secondly, we as Christians can forgive because we have been forgiven. This truth is taught to us in the Lord’s prayer… “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

And finally under Paul’s command to forgive we are to forgive as Christ forgave. I think what Paul is driving at here is a bit of what we’ve already said, but it is not JUST because God has forgiven us, but also the HOW he has forgiven us that we should follow. Christ isn’t one to forgive and come back later and say “never mind, I’m still angry at you” Rather as the Psalm we studied this last Wednesday says “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us”.

Now in closing Paul sums up these commands today and the ones from the last two weeks by giving a blanket statement. “walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”.

Three things on this… first, we must not walk like the world. Ephesians 4:17 “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the gentiles (unbelieving world) do”. We are not to live like the world. Again, here the all that is sinful and negative in the world is what Paul is talking about. He isn’t calling us to a commune somewhere in which we remove ourselves from the world. Jesus himself prays not that the disciples would be taken out of the world but that they would be protected from the evil one.

And why do we love… because he has loved and loves us. And he will always love us. Oh brothers and sisters… walk in love because you are greatly loved. The love of God in Christ Jesus has been brought into your life, not so that you can live however you want, but that you life would be transformed. That your life would be lived in love. That the love of God would ooze from all aspects of your life. The way you think. The way you speak. The way you act. Walk in love brothers and sister. Let us do that. Let us walk in love. Then we will be a pleasing offering to God when we worship.

So let’s end by asking ourselves some questions…

From there weeks ago… am I bearing fruit in the area of truthfulness?”

“am I bearing fruit in releasing my anger towards people?”

From last week… Am I doing honest work for the glory of God?

Am I encouraging others in the way that I speak to them and about them?

And from today… Am I kind to others in the church?

Am I forgiving other in the church?

And to sum it all up… Am I walking in love as God in Christ Jesus has loved me? f