The Practical Living of a New Person - Eph 4:25-5:2

Intro

Good morning GracePointe. i hope you have had a wonderful morning so far in worship as we have gathered together to love the Lord. To Love Him! As we sing songs, as our hearts and minds are centered on one thing....God. We are part of the family of God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. We gather to exalt the Lord. We gather to declare our allegiance to the Lord. The holy spirit alive within us spurs us and encourages us to keep doing this in all things. Sometimes encouragement can feel great....and sometimes it feels a bit more like poking or spurring.

John Maxwell, a noted author on leadership and faith has a common introduction to many of his public talks and conferences. He stands before the people....he smiles and he says “Hi. My name is John. And I am your friend. “ Part of the reasoning behind this is that much of John Maxwell has to give to folks centers around changing habits, changing the way we think. John Maxwell is famous for this and another quote...”they don’t care how much you know..until they know how much you care”.

And I want to start today by saying I love and care for you GracePointe. Not the building....although I have grown to love this place and the history it has. Hands, hearts, sacrifice, and faith have build this place. That is what it stands for.

I love and care for you people who make up GracePointe because I am called to do so. I try and demonstrate this not just in words but in deed. In sacrifice. In doing the next right thing. In praying for you... I don’t say this as If I am perfect…far from it.

I say this because part of what it means to go through the book of Ephesians.....it involves looking at the way you and I do things…day in and day out…and asking the question....”is this behavior…is this action…is this thought…are the words that are coming out of my mouth......does this reflect the life of a new creation in Christ.?”

Today, I hope to give a bit of both as we dive into practical specifics for how we as individuals and as a community are to represent our allegiance to Christ. We are new creations…the old has gone and the new has come. What does that look like? How do we know if we look like what God wants? This section of scripture paints a clear picture for how we are to live in the light of all God has done for us as followers of Jesus.

Open up your bibles with me to Ephesians 4:25-5:2 and let me read through this.

Ephesians 4:25–5:2 NIV

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Anytime we see the word, therefor, we should look at the previous verses. I appreciate all of our pastors and their ability to communicate the word of God. Last week Pastor Michael touched on how verse 17 alll the way through chapter 5 verse 2 is one big section. Pastor Michael last week walked us through how the big picture is this.

When you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you became a new you. You are transformed from the past you…the one who lives for themselves, only gives love to those that benefit them....the one full of greed and impurity....the one with a hard heart....that is the old you. The new you…the one in Christ is marked by righteousness and holiness. It is a complete transformation and it is all about looking more and more like Christ.

This is not in the text…but it almost is as if someone in the jail cell listening to Paul think out loud as he wrote this letter under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Someone overheard him and asked...”uh....what does the new you look like?”

Today i want to touch on 4 areas that Paul is outlining for us. These are indicators of a new person....this is the description of a new person…the clothes of a new person. The first is that we are to STOP LIVING THE LIE and TELL THE TRUTH

Stop living the Lie and tell the truth to your neighbor

Friends, that is where we find ourselves here in verse 25. Paul is going to utilize an approach of telling us what we should stop doing, what we should be doing and the why behind it. The way is so important. As I was thinking through all the different why’s one could have for engaging with God and with others in way that brings Him glory, I realized we didn’t have to go far....Eph 2:10 “10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

We are created uniquely, on purpose and with a purpose. But as Michael spoke on, we darken our understanding and begin to live out the lie. The lie that nothing matters…that pleasure and accumulating more....these are the only things that can satisfy. And they just don’t.

In verse 25, Paul says put off falsehood.....stop living the lie that you are not new. You are. Christ died for you and saved you and bought you with a price..the price of His son. You are new. So don’t live a fake life! I so appreciate when i ask someone how they are doing and they say “well…you really want to know?” We are not to hide behind a hypocritical mask of lies and deceit, a fictitious form of godliness. We must live out lives as new creations. New Creations....tell the truth about God, ourselves, and God’s love for others.

Paul is letting us know this because when live lives that our fake, we are actually hurting ourselves as the body of Christ. I remember a few movies I have seen where somehow one character controls the hands of another character. It is always hilarious to me when someones hand smacks their own face.

When we live a life that is fake, we are lying and in bondage. We must tell our story of being new people to others. When we don’t, we are harming ourselves.

You need to tell that story. Pastor Michael talked about his story last week…and I loved how he pointed out that he didn’t feel like he had a great testimony. That is how we all can feel at times. And yet, I believe we are to tell that story.

My Story

I need to tell that story of coming into faith as a 10 year old…wanting to belong as I hadn’t yet felt like I had anyone other than my immedate family who would know me. In college, I tried my hand at living a lie. Putting on the clothes of the old self and seeing what that was like. And it was awful. Fleeting moments of fun followed by regret, shame, and heartache. I rededicated my life to Christ along with a friend, Matt, who was also in my dorm room. We both felt like…we had tried it our way and came up with much worse than if we had been following God. So we put on the new clothes of a new creation. We started holding each other accountable. We started reading our bible together and finding others who wanted to join the journey with us.

On through the years, I have had moments of success and moments of failure but God’s love never changed. Not one time. I have come to the conclusion that the blessings God has already given me right now…they are enough for me to put my trust in Him. (INSERT VERSE)

My family, my church family, the love of Christ....these are not theological things that are fun to talk about from a textbook stance…this is the real stuff that gets you through funerals....inimaginable pain.....addictions....relationship problems and moments of doubt. These are the stories we need to tell one another because we are one body and we all benefit when we stop lying to ourselves and live as new creations.

So we are to stop living the lie and tell the truth to our neighbor....because we are one body.

The 2nd aspect is that when we have anger, we do not sin and we deal with it…now.

BE Angry, don’t sin, and deal with it.

At some point or another, each one of us deals with anger. For some, it is a daily thing. For others it happens less. But regardless, we all deal with it. We get angry for all kinds of reasons....our needs or desires are not met. Our own insecurities cause us to be defensive. Our own guilt and shame create a byproduct where we want others to be angry as well....join our angry club…its fun!

Anger is an emotion....how many of you can control your emotions? I would argue that you cannot control your emotions but the Holy Spirit can. Romans outlines this as well as how we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. The fruit of the spirit is self-control and this deals more with controlling our response to the emotions.

You see emotions often are driven by our thoughts, desires, opinions, beliefs and attitudes which all come from the heart. Proverbs 4:23

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

2 things to note here...... The first....the more time you spend in God’s word, the better your emotional response will be in general. When you treasure the wisdom of the Lord, the fruit of the Spirit, our hearts begin to produce different emotional responses. What once produced feelings of excitement.....now after spending time in God’s word because to produce a feeling of caution.

Truth time.....it is only recently that I have been able to have waffles again. You see, I grew up loving waffles. The smell of waffles cooking in the kitchen is one of my favorite memories growing up. Brings a smile to my face. When my wife Jen and I had our first child, Benjamin, I used to make waffles many times a week.

One day, we got our waffles in and then went to swimming lessons for good ol’ Benjamin. While in the pool, Benjamin got sick and proceeded to vomit what seemed like 42 puried waffles all over me and into the water. I have never seen adults get their children out of the water so fast....I don’t think a shark could have got them out faster. For a good while after that experience, when i would smell waffles, I did not have that same elation, that same smile. It was a disgust....oh so gross. Our experiences and the time we spend allowing the Holy Sprit to change us can help us affect our emotional response.

Secondly, we are human and emotions are fickle things. This side of heaven, I believe our emotions will always be something we are taming…not in full control over.

Why does this matter? Because anger is an emotion. Paul here is pointing to the fact that we will be angry....it isn’t a question....

I would argue that most of the time, we are angry for the wrong reasons. Notice here it says “be angry)....

Ephesians 4:17–24 NIV

17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Recap

Main Idea - Your character should reflect the new life God has given you. In this section, Paul outlines what our new selves should look like authentically in Christ. They should be marked by truth, desire for righteousness, hard work, encouragement and kindness. This is the practical living of a new person.

In this section. Paul talks about living falsely, anger, thievery, corrupting talk and harsh traits. But he does it in a masterful way. He communicates a negative attribute we are to avoid followed by the postive attribute we are to embrace as new people in Christ. He follows this up with a why.

Megative - Postive3- Why

Put aside falsehood - Tell the truth - why

Don’t live a lie but live our your story of redemption and tell your neighbors and people in your sphere…you are a new creation.

Be angry - What is rightous anger? What should we be angry about?

Don’t be known for your anger..deal with it in a God honoring way and do not sin.

Do not be a thief - taking someone else’s work and using for your own gain.

Work hard to do....what? Be a blessing

Ephesians 4:25–5:2 NIV

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Stories needed: Context.....You are now this....but what should reality now look like it.

Playing music for a living : Weekend Warrior…you spend more time loading in and out of a gig, more time practicing, more time driving to the gig or away from the gig…than you ever do actually playing music for people. And yet I sitll do it.

Ruined Rather Than Changed: A Poem by W.H Auden

We would rather be ruined than changed

We would rather die in our dread

Than climb the cross of the moment

And let our illusions die.

W.H. Auden, The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue, Princeton University Press.

Remember putting your face above a headless frame painted to represent a muscle man, a clown, or even a bathing beauty? Many of us have had our pictures taken this way, and the photos are humorous because the head doesn't fit the body. If we could picture Christ as the head of our local body of believers, would the world laugh at the misfit? Or would they stand in awe of a human body so closely related to a divine head?

Dan Bernard.

Ephesians shows that the Gospel is not mainly about trying to force other people or circumstances to change. The Gospel is looking to Jesus and living out in the reality of what He has done.

The Gospel brings about a true change in the human heart. When we all begin to live this out as the church, it begins to shift the culture of the world. The Gospel brings a true sense of hope into even the most desperate of situations.

We are working our way through the book Ephesians as Paul is helping us reimagine the church. The gospel was doing mighty things in this area as we see in Acts. The book itself has some significant parts with the first part being all about all that God through Christ has done for us. We have examined chapters 1 through 3 to explore our identity in Christ.