"Jesus Changes Our Walk, pt. 1 (Ephesians 4:17-32)", Will DuVal | 10/27/24
Ephesians 4:17-32 | 10/27/24 | Will DuVal
I received a text message this past week from my childhood best friend that he’s apparently gonna have to undergo HIP replacement surgery sometime soon. He suffered from RICKETS growing up, so he was always a bit bow-legged. At one point I remember they even had him in the Forrest Gump leg brace, to try and correct his gait, but to no real avail. Such that today it pains him to stand, and especially to walk.
That’s what the apostle PAUL wants to do for you and ME this morning in Ephesians 4, vv17-32: he wants to FIX OUR WALK. Our spiritual walk: the way we COMPORT ourselves spiritually.
You’ll remember, this is a word, a metaphor, Paul has used MULTIPLE times already in his letter to the Ephesians, to refer to a person’s CONDUCT:
“You once WALKED in sin, following the PATH of this world” (2:2)
But NOW, Christ has SAVED us, and “prepared GOOD works for us to WALK in”, Paul said in ch2.
Or ch4: “WALK in a manner worthy of [God’s] calling”.
And now this MORNING, he warns us: “you must no longer WALK as the Gentiles [the unbelievers] walk”.
This imagery is intended to remind us that the Christian faith must be LIVED OUT; that mere faith WITHOUT works - without WALKING - is DEAD.
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But as we’ll see this morning: correcting one’s SPIRITUAL walk is even more difficult than fixing your PHYSICAL gait. It requires more than just leg braces or even surgery; we need a full-on TRANSPLANT. Not a LEG transplant, but a HEART one. That’s what Paul’s gonna argue in vv17-24: that our WALK (the way we LIVE) is determined by our WORLDVIEW (our MINDS) which is dictated ultimately by our WILL (our HEARTS). In order to TRULY change someone’s behavior, you’ve gotta change their BELIEFS, which means you’ve really gotta change their very BEING.
Your BEING drives your BELIEFS which drive your BEHAVIOR.
Your CHARACTER determines your CONVICTIONS determines your CONDUCT.
Then in vv25-32, Paul will begin to unpack what a believer’s new and improved behavior, conduct, WALK should look like, practically.
Would you STAND… Ephesians 4:17-32. Hear the word…
“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 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. 29 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. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
[This is the word of the Lord… Seated…]
Paul opens with a disclaimer that what he’s about to tell us isn’t just HIM talking; he “testifies in the LORD” - “as GOD is my witness”, Paul says, “you MUST no LONGER walk as the Gentiles do,” as unbelievers do. That’s the overarching message he wants to get across here: that Christians ought to live - we HAVE to live - lives that are markedly DIFFERENT from those around us. If Paul could hop in a time machine and survey the state of the American Church today, he would be absolutely APPALLED at the LENGTHS to which so many Christians and so many CHURCHES GO to try and FIT IN with the surrounding culture, to be “relevant”, to send non-Christians the message that “WE’RE JUST LIKE YOU!” Paul says, “Then why on earth would they bother with JESUS? If he makes no PRACTICAL difference in your LIFE? If Christians DRESS the same, DECORATE the same (at Halloween), if we TALK the same, WORRY the same, CONSUME the same content… as everyone else, then why even BOTHER?”
“NO!” Jesus said: “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ” (Jn 15:19) This was God’s plan from the BEGINNING, when he chose ABRAM and called him to be HOLY, literally “set apart”, DIFFERENT from all the other nations, in a way that made them HATE Israel for it at first, but the more they saw God BLESSING Israel for her holiness, the more they’d realize, “WE want what THEY’VE got. A relationship with the one TRUE God.”
In other words, there ought to be a distinct CONTRAST between believers and unbelievers, AND therefore, between the Christian’s OLD walk (“in sins and trespasses”) and her NEW walk in CHRIST. So now Paul fleshes out that contrast for us in vv17-24. And he begins with the “old walk” we’re warned to avoid. Remember there’s a 3-step progression to walking (being-beliefs-behavior / character-convictions-conduct). And Paul decides to work BACKWARDS; he actually begins in v17 by addressing our CONDUCT, probably because it’s most VISIBLE, easiest to diagnose: “don’t WALK like unbelievers” anymore.
But then he IMMEDIATELY explains why they DO still walk in sin: because they walk “in the futility of their minds”.
In other words, v18, “They are darkened in their understanding”. In other words, there is “ignorance in them”, in their MINDS.
Commentator Clinton Arnold (Ephesians, 281) explains: “Here the word ‘mind’ refers to more than just the ability to reason. It refers to the capacity to think, plan, and make moral judgments and choices. This could be described as the set of worldview assumptions that guide non-Christian[s] in their thoughts about life and how they live in light of these convictions”.
The BELIEF that human beings do NOT all have equal intrinsic worth leads to the BEHAVIOR of abortion: prioritizing a mother’s comfort and convenience over the life of her unborn child.
The BELIEF that there is no such thing as objective truth, that a person’s feelings are more important than biological facts, that a social cause is more important than children’s WELL-BEING - that belief leads to BEHAVIOR like “gender-affirming healthcare” in minors, i.e., physical mutilation.
We look around us in HORROR at the world today and wonder, “How on EARTH did we GET here?” Celebrating 9-month old babies being dismembered in the womb, men stealing Olympic medals from women; Paul explains it for us, in a word: “IGNORANCE”. This INSANITY is a result of the “FUTILITY” (the BROKENNESS) of unbelievers’ minds; they can’t THINK straight. “They are darkened in their understanding”. Paul goes into greater depth elsewhere, in Romans 1, where he argues that “all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men [is really a result of their] suppress[ing] the truth… they became futile [same word: BROKEN] in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise [“enlightened”], they became fools… they exchanged the truth about God for a lie… [so] God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”
A debased worldview LEADS to a debased WALK.
But where does that worldview, that IGNORANCE come from?
V18: it is “DUE to their hardness of HEART”.
Why don’t they believe God’s truth? Because they don’t WANT to. God can make the truth as plain as DAY to them, literally, they can look around and SEE the sun and stars, the earth and sea, and yet they would rather believe it was all one big happy ACCIDENT than admit the OBVIOUS truth of an intelligent Creator, because friends: THAT truth has CONSEQUENCES. If there’s a Creator, that means we’re living in HIS universe, and HE’S in charge, not US.
And many people HATE that truth so much, they’re willing to believe the CRAZIEST LIES instead - their minds are “dark” because their HEARTS are HARD.
SO hard, in fact, “They have become callous”, Paul says in v19. My daughter plays violin. For the first few weeks, months of practice, she’d complain about how much her FINGERS hurt, pressing down on those wire strings. Now she doesn’t even FEEL it. Her fingers are CALLOUSED.
Paul says: that’s what some folks have done to their own HEARTS. God’s been pricking their heart, convicting their conscience, rubbing their NOSES in the TRUTH time and time and time again, but they have IGNORED him for SO long, so STUBBORNLY, that according to Romans 1, there comes a point at which “God gives them OVER to a debased mind”, an impenetrably calcified heart.
And when he DOES, v19 warns, they “give themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” At that point, they no longer stumble into sin remorsefully; they LOVE to sin, they LONG to sin, they LOOK for every possible opportunity to jump headlong into sin. And in so doing, they become “alienated from the life of God”. The Bible says our sins SEPARATE us from a holy God (Isa 59:2).
UNLESS, friends: you know the CURE for sin! Unless you know the CURE for a hardened heart, which leads to a broken mind, which leads to a crooked walk? What’s the CURE??
V20: “LEARN CHRIST”! Arnold points out (284): “Paul makes the rather unusual statement [here] that they “learned Christ”. One normally learns a content (a law, a statute, etc) but not a PERSON. This heightens the [priority] of personal relationship with Christ that is central to the Christian faith… [Elsewhere,] Paul… says to the Philippians, “I want to KNOW CHRIST” (3:10).”
Friend: the CURE for your sin isn’t trying harder, so hopefully your good deeds outweigh your bad… the CURE isn’t even coming to church more, and reading your Bible more, to learn ABOUT Christ; the ONLY cure for sin is “learning CHRIST” - it is a personal, life-giving, sin-killing, active, living RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ - that is the ONLY way that sinners like us can be SAVED.
“The TRUTH is in JESUS,” v21 says. He is the Way, the Truth, AND the LIFE, and NO ONE comes to God except through JESUS.
So what does it MEAN to have a saving relationship with Christ? Paul answers for us in v24: it means to be a “new SELF”; the Greek word is “new MAN,” new WOMAN.
Jesus said, “unless [you are] born again, [you] cannot see the kingdom of God.”” (Jn 3:3)
How does that happen, “REBIRTH”? Paul explained it for us back in ch2: “We were all born physically alive, but spiritually DEAD, in sin. “Sons of disobedience… by NATURE children of wrath… But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us… he made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (2:1-5) - SPIRITUALLY RESURRECTED, in Christ.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17)
See, if the problem with our WALK was really our MINDS, and the problem with our MINDS was really our HEARTS, then in order to be truly “FIXED”, we need a new HEART. And praise God that’s exactly what he says he DOES for us when we come to Christ in faith: “ I will give you a new heart,” God promises, “and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove [your] heart of stone [calloused, calcified]… and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ez 36:26)
And friend, without a new heart, without becoming a “new man”, a new WOMAN, you and I have ABSOLUTELY NO hope of ever walking in newness of LIFE. Our WALK flows out of our WORLDVIEW, which flows out of our HEART.
But here’s the thing: God has MADE us new creations - all of us who have turned from sin and trusted in Christ by faith - but according to v24 here, we still have to “PUT ON that new self”, that’s been (re-)created after the likeness of God. The imagery Paul invokes NOW is that of getting DRESSED in the morning; same word he’ll use later in ch6 when he calls us to “PUT ON the armor of God”. How often do you “put on” your clothes?
I HOPE every DAY!
Paul says: Christ DIED to make you a new MAN, new WOMAN; but the decision to “PUT ON” that “new self” is a DAILY one, really a moment-by-MOMENT one: “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life… and to put on the new self”. In other words: BE who you already ARE. LIVE OUT - “put on and walk out” your new identity in Christ.
When we DO that - remember our BEING drives our BELIEFS - Paul says in v23, you’ll “be renewed in the spirit of your mind”. In Romans 12:2, Paul exhorts us “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind”.
That’s what Paul’s getting at here in v21 when he says: “I’m ASSUMING you have ‘heard about [Christ] and were taught in him’”. That’s how we renew our minds; as Jesus prayed for us: “Father… SANCTIFY them [GROW them, MATURE them] in your truth; your WORD is truth” (Jn 17:17). Warren Wiersbe (609) notes: “Physically, you are what you eat, but spiritually, you are what you THINK. Proverbs 23:7 - “As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he”. This is why it is important for us as Christians to spend time daily meditating on God’s Word.”
And when we DO, what’s the RESULT?
BEING drives BELIEFS drives… BEHAVIOR. A new WALK, v24: “in true righteousness and holiness.”
And NOW Paul’s ready spend vv25-32 (and really, the rest of EPHESIANS) describing what our new walk ought to LOOK like.
But please don’t MISS this as we move on: both this week and next are especially BEHAVIOR-heavy, CONDUCT-focused; “DO this, DON’T do that…”. But we can’t forget that ALL of those imperatives flow out of a single INDICATIVE: what Christ has ALREADY done for us - by GRACE we have been saved, CHANGED, made NEW. And only new men and women, who have been spiritually REBORN have even a PRAYER of living lives of “true righteousness and holiness”; “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6), all our attempts at good deeds, in our own flesh and strength, are like “filthy RAGS” in God’s sight (Isa 64:6).
But trust in JESUS, become a “new creation” in Christ, receive a new HEART, a renewed MIND, and then and ONLY then, can we actually begin to “walk in a manner WORTHY of our calling.”
So let’s examine that kind of walk PRACTICALLY now, in vv25-32. We’ve examined the CONTRAST between the old and new selves; now we’re ready to zoom in and consider the specific CONDUCT that accompanies each. So far Paul’s ALLUDED to it: he mentioned “sensuality, greed, impurity” as the TYPES of behavior that belonged to “your FORMER (corrupt) manner of life”, and he reminded us of the “true righteousness and HOLINESS” that belongs to the NEW man. But what does it actually LOOK like, in practice?
Paul gives us 5 traits now, 5 examples of holy conduct. As with the traits he listed for us 2 weeks ago back in v2 - “humility, gentleness, patience, love, and unity ” - these 5 NEW traits he now offers us are not intended to be comprehensive, but rather, representative, of the KIND of conduct we ought to pursue as believers. And in LISTING each of them, Paul follows a template of sorts here; there’s a repeated structure to his injunctions: with each, he essentially says: “Don’t… RATHER… BECAUSE…”
1) DON’T do THAT, 2) RATHER, do THIS, 3) FOR this purpose.
And with each, I’ll try and help us APPLY it even more practically and personally, by suggesting a few ways that you and I might assess and adjust our conduct this morning.
So, for instance, Paul’s FIRST exhortation here in v25 is:
2A) Don’t LIE, rather TELL the TRUTH, because we are CO-MEMBERS of Christ’s body. (v25)
Paul says, “put away falsehood” - same verb, same imagery as v22: changing CLOTHES: you “take off what’s DIRTY,” falsehood, and put on TRUTH.
And the “WHY?” here is surprising. Arnold notes (300): “Paul could have based his appeal not to lie on the very nature of God (who is truth; Jn 17:3)... However, here Paul wants them to consider how foundational and indispensable TRUST is for the [building up] of the community.”
Remember v15 from last week: how DOES the body of Christ “build itself up”? By “speaking the TRUTH in love”.
Conversely, do you remember the very first SIN God PUNISHED in the early church? In Acts ch5?
[It was LYING; Ananias and Sapphira; because God knew how destructive - DEVASTATING - that lying can be to the church.]
For US? In PRACTICE? Last Sunday afternoon I sent a group text to the kids min search team to get their feedback on Debbie, after her weekend here candidating. One thumbs up… two thumbs up… three… FOUR. And then Dave Hendricks texted. He said, “When I saw the text, I started praying about how to respond.” [By the time he got back to his phone: 4 thumbs up! But he said…] “I hate to do this, I was really hoping others would share the same concerns and I wouldn’t be the lone dissenter, but I have to be honest…”, and then he shared the hard truth: Debbie’s not a good fit, and here’s why. I SHARED his concerns. So did many of my fellow elders, who had interacted with her over the course of the weekend. And Dave’s honesty made our decision that much easier.
Or another example: YEARS ago, when I was still Associate Pastor, we had two very core families here who had been pretty close - they were in life group together, kids the same age… - but they got sideways with one another, actually, in the middle of ELECTION season, because of some contentious political posts the two wives had made back and forth on Facebook. And it escalated and escalated - I tried talking to both their HUSBANDS, “Why don’t y’all all sit down together and talk and pray this thing out…”, I offered to mediate it, but neither couple was willing to “GO there”, to “SPEAK the truth in love”, and so eventually one of them decided worship on Sundays had just become too awkward, having to see this other couple every week, so they left the church. And soon thereafter so did the OTHER family.
Now contrast that with: just a couple months ago, VERY similar situation - two families here, had a conflict, they sat down, prayed, and they worked it out. Both still here AND they both LEARNED and GREW from the experience.
Cuz that’s what family DOES. Paul says, “we are members one of another”; not just members of one body, but members of one FAMILY. If you had a conflict with a family member, that required you to say something difficult but TRUE, in LOVE, in order to work it out, you’d DO it; you wouldn’t just go join a different FAMILY! A new BODY… No. “We are MEMBERS, one of another.” We OWE each other the TRUTH, in love.
Second, and this COMMAND is gonna SHOCK some of you, in vv26 & 27: 2B) Don’t be SINFULLY angry, rather BE RIGHTEOUSLY ANGRY, because SATAN is prowling. (vv26-27)
Paul, quoting Psalm 4:4 here, instructs us to - “BE ANGRY, just don’t SIN in your anger.”
Be honest: If I had QUIZZED you, beforehand, and asked, “True or False: God actually COMMANDS us to get ANGRY in the Bible?” - How many of you would have answered correctly?
This has GOT to be the most UNEXPECTED directive in all of God’s word: “Be ANGRY”.
But it makes SENSE, doesn’t it? Because GOD gets angry… a LOT in the Bible… and still today… and WE are called to be LIKE him.
Romans 1, the passage we read earlier about unbelievers who “suppress the truth”, it BEGINS this way: “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”.
SIN angers God. And it ought to anger US as well. Romans 12:9 - “Hold fast to what is good, but ABHOR what is evil” - HATE it, with a PASSION!
Yes, ALL sin, but ESPECIALLY our OWN sin.
It’s EASY to get ANGRY about abortion; it is appalling. But are we equally appalled by how overrun the foster care system is? Does it make us ANGRY how many kids, whose moms CHOSE life, WITHOUT the means to PROVIDE much of one for their babies, who need our HELP - are we OFFERING it, church? Are we pro-LIFE, or just pro-BIRTH?
It’s EASY to get angry about biological men competing in women’s sports, using women’s bathrooms - I know I’m gonna score a few easy points with y’all by including that in a sermon. But Jesus said, “Why don’t you worry about the LOG in your OWN eye before pointing out the SPECK in someone ELSE’s” (Mt 7:3). He says, “Judgment must BEGIN in the household of GOD” (1 Pet 4:17), in the CHURCH. Are we as angry with OUR sin, Church, as we are with THEIRS?
With our JUDGMENTALISM, with how quick we are to point out OTHERS’ sin, while MINIMIZING our own: that is ITSELF a sin; it’s a BIG one, actually, it’s called “HYPOCRISY”, and it was Jesus’ LEAST FAVORITE sin; he hates ‘em all, but Jesus got ANGRIEST - he reserved his HARSHEST rebukes - for the HYPOCRISY of religious folks… like US.
Are we as angry with OUR sin, our political IDOLATRY. It makes ME mad every 4 years seeing how many “Christians” get more excited about an elephant or a donkey than the LAMB of God. Just count the social media posts, the yard signs - the numbers don’t lie.
Does it make us ANGRY when a church member violates their covenant pledge to SERVE, GIVE, ATTEND, PRAY for the church? Judging by the responses to last week’s sermon, I’m not so sure. People more angry at MY anger at it.
Here’s the tricky part about ANGER though: it’s really hard to BE angry… and NOT sin. That’s why this is the ONLY time in the NT that anger is commanded; God KNOWS most of us don’t have ANY trouble getting angry. What we have LOTS of trouble with is NOT SINNING in our anger.
How do you DO that? Well, Paul gives us ONE way here, at least: you HOLD ONTO your anger for too long; “do not let the sun go down on your anger”. Cuz then anger FESTERS and turns to bitterness, resentment, forgive-less-ness.
But that’s just ONE way. Aristotle said: “ANYONE can become angry. [But then he defined RIGHTEOUS anger THIS way:] But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right MOTIVE, and in the right WAY - this is not easy” (in Wiersbe, 610).
THAT’S an understatement! When was the last time YOU got angry with the “right person (you removed YOUR log FIRST, before finding their speck), to the right degree (you didn’t fly off the handle; your anger was appropriate and proportionate) at the right time (you were “SLOW to anger”, as James 1:19 exhorts us; you gave the benefit of the doubt), for the right MOTIVE (RIGHTEOUS anger gets upset when GOD is disrespected, not ME; when GOD’S law is disregarded, not MY desires) and in the right WAY” (even IN your anger, your didn’t break any of God’s OTHER commands - to “be KIND,” to “show MERCY”, “to LOVE”).
You see why truly RIGHTEOUS anger is so RARE, and DIFFICULT? That’s why just 5 verses later, Paul’s gonna say, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger… be put away from you” (v31); “On SECOND thought, y’all probably can’t be TRUSTED to “get angry without sinning”; it’s just too hard, for sinful people. Sin is crouching at the door. Satan is prowling, seeking someone to DEVOUR, and perhaps the EASIEST way for him to bring you DOWN, is through ANGER. Just get you good and ANGRY. So Jesus too, warns in Matthew 5:22 “I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment”. Just stay away from it. But if and when anger DOES flare up, you need to DEAL with it; don’t DWELL on it, simmer in it. So Paul gives us a SHOT clock: “Don’t let the sun go down”. Do you practice that in your marriage? Polly and I were encouraged to commit to that in our premarital counseling - “don’t go to sleep MAD at each other” - sounds good in PRINCIPLE… but then we got MARRIED! And it’s MIDNIGHT… 1am… 2am… “You still mad? I’m too TIRED to be mad anymore - TRUCE?”
This is HARD. But SO important. For unity in MARRIAGE, and unity in the CHURCH. “Give no opportunity to the devil.” Anger is his surest foothold.
THIRD injunction; v28: 2C) Don’t STEAL, rather WORK HONESTLY, so that you can HELP OTHERS in need. (v28)
That’s surprising TOO, isn’t it? We might have expected Paul to say, “Work hard so you can provide for YOURSELVES,” but he raises the bar even HIGHER than that here, even for the former thieves! “Aspire to work HARD enough that you will HAVE enough that you’ll be able to bless OTHERS when THEY find themselves in the same spot YOU once were.” You got so desperate that you STOLE; now when OTHERS are desperate, you’ll be able to GIVE FREELY to them, to help meet their need.
This one was the HARDEST for me to come up with a practical example for. Cuz we ALL struggle with telling the truth at all times… with being RIGHTEOUS in our anger… but STEALING? I doubt we have many kleptomaniacs here, shoplifters, identity thieves. But what about stealing others’ IDEAS? Of course there’s plagiarism; I could steal an idea from Clinton Arnold or Warren Wiersbe WITHOUT citing them, pawn it off as my own to make myself look smarter. But aren’t we ALL guilty of at least a SOFT version of this like all the TIME?! There’s ALMOST no such THING as a truly NOVEL idea; almost every thought I HAVE is just a reappropriation of something I heard someone ELSE say once. And I’m sure the same is true for you. But it’s IMPOSSIBLE to always “give credit where credit is due”.
Speaking of CREDIT, how about stealing THAT? “Great job with Fall Festival, Pastor; it was AWESOME!” – You know how much credit I deserve for Fall Festival?
ALL of it! Cuz ALLY ran the whole thing, and it was MY brilliant idea to HIRE her 8 years ago - best decision I ever made around here.
See, we’re still tempted to steal, aren’t we? But when you “labor… with your OWN hands”, your own mind, THEN you can help others when the need arises. If I’m just up here reheating other pastor’s sermons for y’all, do you think I’m gonna have “something to SHARE” with you when you come into my office for pastoral care, counsel? You only get WISDOM from working it over for YOURSELF. And the same goes for YOU - I spent 20, 30 hours working this passage over in MY mind, MY heart, MY soul this week, but if YOU want the wisdom, if YOU want to be a DOER of the word and not just a HEARER, if you want to “have something to share with OTHERS, when they SEE your godly conduct this week, and they ASK you why you’re so different (“What’s with all the LOVE, the JOY, the PEACE, the PATIENCE, the KINDNESS…”), if you’re gonna “be prepared to give an ANSWER as to the REASON for the HOPE that is within you, you’re gonna have to do the “honest work” with your OWN hands and mind and heart.
Fourth, v29 now: 2D) Don’t speak ROTTING words (“rotten; spoiled”), rather use EDIFYING words, so that you spread GRACE. (v29)
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths” - I told y’all the story a few weeks back of how this was the first Bible verse I ever memorized, when I was like FIVE, because my mom (who is with us this morning) made me WRITE IT OUT, 20x, as a punishment for cussing out my neighbor. And in that case, the punishment fit the crime - that is INDEED what Paul means here; the word he uses means “rotting, decaying”; it’s used elsewhere of rancid milk or spoiled meat. Our WORDS can be like that, and more importantly, they can have that EFFECT on OTHERS to whom they’re SPOKEN. I don’t think Paul’s talking here about stubbing your toe and letting a bad word fly. Maybe that’s a sin, but it’s not the sin HERE. HERE, he contrasts “rotten words” with those that are “GOOD for building UP”. Edifying; words of ENCOURAGEMENT. Do our words BUILD UP, or TEAR DOWN? Do they “GIVE GRACE to those who hear”, or do they convey condemnation and dishearten those who hear?
Colossians 4:6 encourages us to “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt”. Same metaphor. Salt is a preservative agent. Before they had refrigerators, they pressed salt into their meat, to slow down the rate of DECAY. Paul says, “Let your WORDS be like that - they can PRESERVE life, but they can also PUTREFY it; SUSTAIN life, or SAP it.”
Choose LIFE!, with your words.
But recognize, as Jesus did in Matthew 12:34, that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” In other words, to go back to Paul’s point from the FIRST half of the passage again, if you find yourself STRUGGLING to edify with your words, uttering the ROTTEN ones instead, you need to recognize that the problem goes far deeper than just your mouth; it’s a HEART problem. Jesus said, “You’ll know a tree by its FRUIT”. Good fruit, good ROOT; BAD fruit, BAD root. What do YOUR words say about what’s in YOUR heart?
Lastly, #5, and vv30 to 32 - 2E) We aim not to GRIEVE the Spirit, rather we strive to PLEASE the Spirit , (WHY??) because CHRIST FORGAVE YOU! (vv30-32)
How do we GRIEVE the Spirit? V31: with “bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and slander… along with all malice;” Paul says, “put those AWAY”.
Notice how those sins BUILD on each other. You’re driving home from work in the rain after a LONG day, and you think: “I bet my wife left the stroller in the middle of my parking spot in the garage again. She ALWAYS does that…” So you try CALLING her; straight to voicemail - “She’s ALWAYS forgetting to charge it…” - that’s bitterness; low-grade, residual, persistent, unresolved hostility.
You get home, open the garage door, sure enough: there’s the STROLLER. And there’s the WRATH. That sudden BURST of anger.
You put the car in park, get out, get WET, move the stroller, get wet AGAIN, park the car. All the while, the anger - the orge - is building; that’s settled anger; when the lightning flash that was “wrath” catches the tree on FIRE, and now it’s BURNING.
You walk inside. “Hi Honey, how was your day?”
“WET! My day was WET…” - clamor. The Greek word means “Shouting, yelling”. When anger comes OUT, it’s externalized now…
Now SHE’S angry. Because Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.” So she sarcastically snaps back, “Well welcome home to you TOO, dear…” and leaves the room. So you turn to your daughter sitting at the kitchen counter and say, “I hope one day when you’re married, you’ll respect your husband enough to put the stroller away.” - SLANDER. You’re now disparaging your wife’s reputation… to her own child.
This scenario is totally hypothetical, of course. It’s the kind of downward spiral into sin that I imagine IMPERFECT husbands must have; I wouldn’t know.
But just in case YOU know anyone who still struggles with sin - bitterness, wrath, anger… MALICE - you may want to warn them.
But if that’s how we GRIEVE the Spirit, how do we PLEASE God? V32, just the OPPOSITE: “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another”. How MUCH forgiveness? “7x70 times,” according to Jesus (Matt 18:22). In other words, enough that you lose COUNT. “Love keeps no RECORD of wrongs” (1 Cor 13:5).
Why? Because in his perfect love, our heavenly Father kept no record of OUR wrongs. WE are kind, WE show mercy, WE forgive, because GOD has been so kind, HE has shown such mercy… because v32: “God forgave US… in CHRIST”.
CONCLUSION: That’s why we do ALL of this, ultimately! Why do we give others the truth? Because God gave US the way, the TRUTH, and the Life, His SON’S life, on the cross.
Why do we put off anger? Because in CHRIST, God satisfied his OWN righteous anger against our sin; he “put it off” of US, and put it onto CHRIST.
Why do we work HONESTLY, speak GRACIOUSLY, forgive LIBERALLY? We do ALL of it - “We LOVE because He, God, first loved US”; he SO loved us, that he sent his only Son Jesus to DIE for us, to make us His OWN, and to make us NEW.
And that’s HOW we do all of this - ANY of this:
WHY? Because Jesus did it for US
And HOW? Because Jesus has CHANGED us from the inside out.
Jesus changes EVERYTHING!
Let’s pray…