SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn them to Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to start in verse 17 today.
SPEAKER_00: We're continuing our Made for More sermon series.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm over here because I've heard from a number of you that it's hard to see the text when I'm standing all the way up here.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's going to be harder to see me, but I think the words are going to be more important, so that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've wondered, who am I?
SPEAKER_00: Does my life really matter?
SPEAKER_00: But I love that Ephesians offers a hope-filled, powerful answer to that, that you were made for more.
SPEAKER_00: More freedom, more purpose, more joy.
SPEAKER_00: And we get to unpack how the gospel reshapes our identity, our relationships, our lives in every way, our work, our worship.
SPEAKER_00: You were made for more.
SPEAKER_00: And Ephesians is exhorting you to live that life, that life that you were made for, that you were made for more.
SPEAKER_00: And last week we got to focus on the unity and the building up of the body that's been in these key text that we keep coming back to.
SPEAKER_00: This key text that we said.
SPEAKER_00: This is our focus for a church this year.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 4, 11 through 16, which says He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers to do what?
SPEAKER_00: To equip the saints for the work of ministry.
SPEAKER_00: To grow up so that the saints would grow up in every way into Christ, the head, when each part is working properly, so that it builds itself up in love.
SPEAKER_00: We get to be built up in love as we pursue this unity, this oneness as a church.
SPEAKER_00: This oneness that Jesus prayed for the church in John chapter 17 when he prayed for you and me specifically, those who would believe because of the words of his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: This oneness that we get to be built up in love.
SPEAKER_00: And unity is beautiful and awesome, and we love to talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: But there's this other side of unity that we're going to look at today, which is this call towards holiness.
SPEAKER_00: This call towards purity.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're going to experience unity, it needs to be also pursued with holiness and purity.
SPEAKER_00: If we're going to be the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, we need to pursue this unity that comes with holiness.
SPEAKER_00: That we would experience this growing up, that we would experience this maturity together, that as we're built up in love, united with Christ, that we would experience this growth and maturity, and this growth in Christ-likeness.
SPEAKER_00: I love that Ephesians 1 talks about how we've been blessed, that we're saints, that we're in Christ, blessed with every spiritual blessing.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to know how much God loves you, if you want to know your identity in Christ, you can look to Ephesians 1 and just write down all of those identity statements that belong to you.
SPEAKER_00: These are just some of them in Ephesians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: And as we look at the unity together in chapter 4, the main point that Paul's going to point out is that we're to live in the not in the way that we used to, but in this new way in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That we've been given a new identity, and as those who've been brought from death to life, who have this new identity in Christ, that we have this new stewardship of how do we live that way?
SPEAKER_00: How do we stop living like the rest of the world and start living in the way that God intended us to live?
SPEAKER_00: If you had a main idea, believers are called to live out their new identity in Christ with a lifestyle that is different from the world and different from our own pre-Christian past.
SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't look the way we used to look.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: If I was if I was going home and I started driving back to my home in Pflugerville that I lived at four years ago, that would be weird.
SPEAKER_00: I don't live there anymore.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes when we're not thinking, we'll start driving to old houses or we'll start reverting back to our old ways before we knew the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We have this tendency to go back, but you don't live there anymore.
SPEAKER_00: That's not where you belong.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the life that you're called to live.
SPEAKER_00: And it's about much more than a physical address.
SPEAKER_00: It's about the way that you live your life.
SPEAKER_00: The uniform that you put on, the clothes that you put on.
SPEAKER_00: You put off the old and you put on the new.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're going to look at God's word.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to read the text first, and I'm going to invite you, if you're able, to stand for the reading of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: These are God's word, not mine.
SPEAKER_00: God words God's words not mine.
SPEAKER_00: Now this I say and I testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
SPEAKER_00: 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, they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
SPEAKER_00: But that is not the way you learn Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Assuming you have heard about him, and were taught in him, as the truth in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through the deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
SPEAKER_00: Be angry and do not sin.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity for the devil.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as good for the 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.
SPEAKER_00: Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
SPEAKER_00: Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_00: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 17 through 22, uh, we'll put the point up first on this because we're going to move through a lot of text with a lot of exhortation in it, a lot of uh this is what we should do, because we're getting to more of the practical side of the letter.
SPEAKER_00: And as we look at this, we see this put off the old self and its deceitful corruption.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is calling the Christians in Ephesus to put off the old self and its deceitful corruption.
SPEAKER_00: Like, don't live the way you used to live.
SPEAKER_00: Don't live like the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds, in the darkened understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of hearts.
SPEAKER_00: They're callous and have given themselves up to sensuality.
SPEAKER_00: They're greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not you.
SPEAKER_00: So put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires.
SPEAKER_00: Put away any kind of impurity, but rather walk in holiness.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is saying they should no longer live how they used to live.
SPEAKER_00: They should no longer live as Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: He's referring to those outside of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Here and in several other verses, he uses walk.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying the way that you live should be you should live according to the calling that you've been called.
SPEAKER_00: You've been called to be a Christian, you've been called to be one in Christ, now live like it.
SPEAKER_00: This is already the reality that you are in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now live like it.
SPEAKER_00: Live like a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to give you a lot of examples of what that looks like and what that doesn't look like.
SPEAKER_00: He he really spells it out on the practical side of if we want to have unity, you can't be like just shanking everybody as you're around them, right?
SPEAKER_00: You can't be harming people as you're doing community with them.
SPEAKER_00: And the problem is that none of us are fully there.
SPEAKER_00: None of us are without sin.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we live life together, there's a lot of wrongdoing that will happen.
SPEAKER_00: The more that you spend time with each other, the more that we're going to offend each other.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's just the reality of living in a fallen and broken world where we're all prone to this selfishness.
SPEAKER_00: We're prone to this living in our own way instead of in God's way.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying, hey, stop it.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to stop living like you used to live.
SPEAKER_00: And you've got to live this new way.
SPEAKER_00: Or we have no chance at unity and peace and harmony and community.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to walk in holiness.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to live in holiness.
SPEAKER_00: He's tuning into this importance of living in holiness at this point.
SPEAKER_00: So he's talking about the beauty and that picture of like, hey, how awesome is it that we're one body together.
SPEAKER_00: But how terrible is it that we keep harming each other, that we keep messing with each other, that we keep offending each other.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, put away the old man.
SPEAKER_00: Now that you're in Christ, you're no longer to conduct yourself like the rest of humanity.
SPEAKER_00: Like he's saying, if you're Christian, I'm going to call you to a higher standard.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a loving thing for us to do with those who are in Christ, to say, hey, let's live in a better way.
SPEAKER_00: Let's live with a higher standard for each other because we're in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Because as he's talking about the unbelievers, he says they're futile in their thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Their thinking has no aim or purpose.
SPEAKER_00: They don't have a clear purpose with their life or in their minds.
SPEAKER_00: So they're excluded from the life of God.
SPEAKER_00: They're alienated from that life of God.
SPEAKER_00: Their hearts are hard.
SPEAKER_00: They become callous, leading to every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.
SPEAKER_00: There's like this insatiable desire for more and more darkness.
SPEAKER_00: It's like YOLO, you only live once, so I'm going to stack up as much pleasure as I can, and I'm going to order my life, and how can I have my life be as self-gratifying as possible?
SPEAKER_00: That's like our default settings that we revert back to.
SPEAKER_00: Of how do I, it's this way of living called hedonism of like, let me stack my pleasures, my joy, make my life as self-serving as possible.
SPEAKER_00: They've committed sins for so long that their consciences no longer feel.
SPEAKER_00: The things that might have once shocked them don't shock them anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 18, he's tracing this attitude of these unsaved Gentiles to its source.
SPEAKER_00: They don't have a worthy purpose because they don't have a clear understanding.
SPEAKER_00: And this is this makes sense for those who aren't in Christ, for them to live self-serving, self-absorbed lives, right?
SPEAKER_00: But if you're in Christ, I'm going to call you to a higher standard.
SPEAKER_00: So he's saying, hey, let's live this way instead, let's live for more than the way we used to live.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Gentiles are insensitive to God and his ways.
SPEAKER_00: They just have this uh sensuality, this uh wanton violence, this greediness of saying, How do I have more and more of a self-serving life?
SPEAKER_00: But he's saying, Hey, that's not how you learn Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20, he's saying, This isn't how you learn Christ if you are in him.
SPEAKER_00: He's referring to a Christian's new relationship with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, you have heard about him, you've been taught by him.
SPEAKER_00: To learn Christ is to be to learn about Christ, but also to enter a relationship with him.
SPEAKER_00: And as you enter that relationship with him, you start to enjoy him.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, so are there these new set of rules for me?
SPEAKER_00: Well, now my heart is turned towards how can I live in a way that glorifies God the most, not how can I maximize my own pleasure.
SPEAKER_00: My life, my life is not about how can I be as happy as possible, but rather how can I live for Jesus and give God as much glory as possible.
SPEAKER_00: You see how that's different?
SPEAKER_00: And what's crazy is you think that this is gonna give you happiness, that this is gonna give you satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: This is actually what you're made for.
SPEAKER_00: And as you live a life of saying, how can I live for maximum joy and pleasure in Christ, at that point is when you're actually gonna be satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: Because the one who made you and who calls you to himself says, Hey, I actually designed you for this.
SPEAKER_00: And it's much greater than the way you were living.
SPEAKER_00: It's much greater, even though you are gonna be called to a higher standard, as you start to live in his ways instead of your old ways, you start to experience joy and peace.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It's like I have a friend who uh had a had a long-term struggle for alcohol, and uh he had uh something wrong with his car where he got pulled over.
SPEAKER_00: But he experienced this great peace and satisfaction that when he was getting pulled over, he had zero nothing to worry about.
SPEAKER_00: They weren't gonna bust him for alcohol, they weren't gonna bust him for drugs, they weren't gonna bust him for anything that was in his car, and he was just happy that they stopped him because it was the first time that he had experienced freedom.
SPEAKER_00: It was the first time that he experienced peace in the face of a cop stopping him to correct him for something that needed to be fixed about his car.
SPEAKER_00: But he experienced peace that surpassed his understanding in knowing that he was living right, in knowing that whatever minor infraction was wrong, he could take care of that.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't have to worry about his whole life being derailed because he was living in his old way, because he's adopted a new way of living, a new way of thinking, a way where he's without blame, without guilt.
SPEAKER_00: So Christians should put their former unsaved manner of life aside.
SPEAKER_00: The old self, the old man, the person the Christian was before their regeneration.
SPEAKER_00: That person was experienced this progressive corruption, like increasing corruption, because their desires that appeal to their physical senses, these lusts that are deceitful, that say, hey, this is where the joy is, this is where the pleasure is, and they lie because they never satisfy in the way that they promise they will.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to be the most full of joy, live a life that honors God the most, and you will be satisfied in Him.
SPEAKER_00: We were alienated from God because of our inherited sin.
SPEAKER_00: We go through life rebelling against Him, trying to find satisfaction outside of Him.
SPEAKER_00: But we have this opportunity to receive reconciliation from God.
SPEAKER_00: But the hardness of heart that the nonbeliever experiences and can't overcome because of their ignorance, that's also there.
SPEAKER_00: It takes a lot for the nonbeliever and their callous heart.
SPEAKER_00: God has to strip that heart down and rescue them and draw them near.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's it's important for us to remember our state in Ephesians 2, right, 1 through 10, where it was talking about we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but we were called to this newness of life.
SPEAKER_00: We were saved by grace through faith, not according to anything that we could do, but he saves us, he rescues us, so that we can enjoy this relationship with him.
SPEAKER_00: And even when we do fail, he's saying this is where the joy is going to be, when you're renewed in the spirits of your minds, and you put on the new self, created in the likeness of God.
SPEAKER_00: So in verse 22 it says, put off the old self, and in 24 he says, put on the new self, created after the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness.
SPEAKER_00: As we're part of the body of Christ, we're pursuing righteousness, we're pursuing holiness.
SPEAKER_00: We're already given his righteousness fully and freely, right?
SPEAKER_00: Through what he did for us on the cross, but then we're slowly, progressively experiencing that, like this progressive sanctification that on this side of heaven we are waging war against our flesh, we're putting our fleshly desires to death, and we're saying, How can I live in a way that would honor God more and more each day?
SPEAKER_00: And so a lot of this first section is like, stop it.
SPEAKER_00: Stop putting on your old self.
SPEAKER_00: Start instead putting on the new self.
SPEAKER_00: You don't live there anymore.
SPEAKER_00: You don't belong to that old way of living.
SPEAKER_00: You have a new way of thinking, a new way of living, a new way of operating.
SPEAKER_00: Everything about you is different.
SPEAKER_00: What you think, say, and do should all be transformed by the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: So verses 17 through 22, put off the old self and its deceitful corruption.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 23 and 24, put on the new self and be renewed in true righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: We're being renewed in this true righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: As we have this relationship with Jesus, we change.
SPEAKER_00: We take off our former self and we put on the new self.
SPEAKER_00: When you were saved, you got a new wardrobe.
SPEAKER_00: You have to take off the old clothes to put on the new.
SPEAKER_00: When he makes the inside clean, he wants to make the outside match.
SPEAKER_00: How do we make this happen?
SPEAKER_00: Well, our thoughts of ignorance, our thoughts without understanding, our thoughts before, that was the common mistake.
SPEAKER_00: But now the new the newness comes through what?
SPEAKER_00: A renewal of our mind in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Similar to Romans 12, 1 and 2, where it says that we not to be conformed to the image of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that by testing we may know what is good and acceptable and perfect.
SPEAKER_00: We can be renewed in our minds through this new way, this new living.
SPEAKER_00: Because that reality, right?
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 5.17, that we're a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: The old has passed away, the new has come.
SPEAKER_00: We just need to walk in that.
SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, this is already the reality, Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Now live it out.
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy that life that you have.
SPEAKER_00: Live out what already happened.
SPEAKER_00: Put on the new self.
SPEAKER_00: You've already been made new.
SPEAKER_00: Now live like it.
SPEAKER_00: It's this description of what has already happened to the believer.
SPEAKER_00: Rather than being futile, darkened, and ignorant, we've taken on a new attitude.
SPEAKER_00: And this renewing process is an ongoing process.
SPEAKER_00: Um, this sanctification that happens over and over in time, that we're gonna wrestle against our flesh till the day that we die.
SPEAKER_00: On this side of heaven, we're always gonna be wrestling against our flesh, meaning we're gonna do things that we don't want to do.
SPEAKER_00: But we don't just give up and say, Well, I messed up a little bit, so I might as well just jump off the deep end.
SPEAKER_00: No, there's no joy there, there's no life there.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to experience the joy of a Christian, repent quickly, turn to him quickly, confess, and not just to God, but to man.
SPEAKER_00: Experience that healing.
SPEAKER_00: Share with one another, bear one another's burdens, even in confession.
SPEAKER_00: I love that be renewed is a passive verb that emphasizes what God is the one who renews our mind.
SPEAKER_00: God is the one who renews us in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: God is the one who helps us to experience that reality of being made new.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul shows our identity, our responsibility in this verse, verse 24, we're to put on the new self as we do with the shirt.
SPEAKER_00: We put on the new self.
SPEAKER_00: The new self is the person the Christian is after he experiences regeneration.
SPEAKER_00: We put on that new man as we pursue the things of Christ rather than the desires of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: God created the new self, the Christian, in regeneration after the image of our spiritual parent, God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: Righteousness and holiness marks our new life rather than sensuality, impurity, and greed and this pride of life of how do I make my life more and more about me.
SPEAKER_00: Your life is not about you.
SPEAKER_00: Your life is about bringing honor and glory and fame to the one who made it all.
SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna be most satisfied when you recant from your old selfish ways that say, How do I make it all about me?
SPEAKER_00: And say, How do I make it all about him?
SPEAKER_00: How do I live for him instead?
SPEAKER_00: That's where your joy is gonna be found.
SPEAKER_00: That's where your joy is gonna be full.
SPEAKER_00: Put on the new self and be renewed in true righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Now, verses 25 through 32, I'm gonna give you a preview.
SPEAKER_00: There's a slide for this, thank you, Lee.
SPEAKER_00: How to speak, live, and think as a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: So, like, there are gonna be, I think, five different imperatives that come from this, and we're gonna look at how to speak, how to live, and how to think as a new creation.
SPEAKER_00: Like, basically, Christianity 101, let's go.
SPEAKER_00: Here are the things that we need to stop doing, and here are the things that we need to start doing.
SPEAKER_00: And he gives some very clear imperatives of hey, Christians don't act like this.
SPEAKER_00: Christians act like this.
SPEAKER_00: Christians don't act like this, Christians act like this.
SPEAKER_00: And then he gives a reason for each of those things as well.
SPEAKER_00: So he says, Stop doing this, start doing this.
SPEAKER_00: And it's very much like uh a lot of directives and a lot of imperatives that we're looking at together here.
SPEAKER_00: So first verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, having put away falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
SPEAKER_00: So the first imperative that he gives, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
SPEAKER_00: So replace lying with truth telling.
SPEAKER_00: This one's pretty clear.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard for us to work with liars.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard for us to experience the unity that we're meant to have if we're lying to each other.
SPEAKER_00: Like, why do we lie?
SPEAKER_00: We like pad our resume for approval or control.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, if we are remote workers, maybe like the amount that we're working can be fudged a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: There's room for margin or dishonesty with how we're working, like slacking on the job in general can be like lying or stealing from the employer.
SPEAKER_00: This first exhortation is to stop deceiving.
SPEAKER_00: Deceiving deception is a mask that false teachers and the old man wear.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, we should speak the truth, namely, what is in harmony with reality.
SPEAKER_00: The reason is the Christian belongs to and must function honestly in a group, the church.
SPEAKER_00: Truthful speech is essential to the unity in the body.
SPEAKER_00: It's important for us for other reasons as well.
SPEAKER_00: Lying might be an accepted weapon in the world, but it has no place in the life of a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: A lie is a stab to the very vitals of the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Replace lying with truth telling.
SPEAKER_00: I love that this these passages are showing this way of renewed thinking, this new way of life that results from renewed thinking and produces authentic community.
SPEAKER_00: Since the church is the body of Christ, we are members of one another, we're connected.
SPEAKER_00: So we we can't lie to each other.
SPEAKER_00: Satan is the father of lies, so don't look like Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Look like God the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Tell the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Even if it costs you, be serious about telling the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Like, where does this come into play?
SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes with uh self-checkout in the grocery store, like something might ring up the wrong amount.
SPEAKER_00: Like, will you go at call an attendant?
SPEAKER_00: Be inconvenienced for the sake of your integrity.
SPEAKER_00: Your integrity is worth more than saving a couple of bucks in the self-checkout line.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look like Satan, the father of lies, but rather look like God the Father.
SPEAKER_00: That was the way of the old man with the old condition, but the new man has a better way, a truth-telling way.
SPEAKER_00: We see more exhortations.
SPEAKER_00: There's four more.
SPEAKER_00: Verses twenty-six and twenty-seven replace unrighteous anger with righteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: Be angry and do not sin.
SPEAKER_00: Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.
SPEAKER_00: So as we look at this verse, it almost looks like there's an exhortation of saying, hey, it's okay to be angry.
SPEAKER_00: It is, it's okay to be angry.
SPEAKER_00: But what he's saying here is to replace that unrighteous anger with righteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: What's righteous anger look like?
SPEAKER_00: How's it different?
SPEAKER_00: As we say, be angry and do not sin.
SPEAKER_00: People are gonna make each other mad in the community of faith, especially as we're sharing life, as we're sharing uh our lives with each other.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to do things that will offend each other.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul says, control your anger.
SPEAKER_00: Deal with it daily.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give it the devil an opportunity to inflame it into something bigger.
SPEAKER_00: Keep short accounts, forgive and confess quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Like when you know that you've wronged each other, forgive quickly.
SPEAKER_00: When you know that you've wronged somebody else, confess that to them quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give the devil an opportunity to divide.
SPEAKER_00: Anger is sinful when it attacks people and seeks revenge rather than addressing the problem.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a difference between righteous anger and unrighteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes, like when I'm angry, 95% of the time I would say it's unrighteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: Usually it's anger that's exposing something in me, like a desire for comfort, and so I get angry at my kids when they inconvenience me, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or this desire for control, so I get uh angry if something that I'm doing and I think is going really well gets questioned.
SPEAKER_00: We have this unrighteous anger that tends to bubble up and boil over a lot more often than righteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: Righteous anger would be like if you see somebody treating a human being inhumanely, in a way that nobody should be treated.
SPEAKER_00: Righteous anger is like what we see with Jesus when he goes into the temple and he sees them making a profit on people coming to worship God, so he flips over the table and he drives them out with whips.
SPEAKER_00: This is righteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: Most of the time, most of our scenarios that we're in, we're most of the time, at least for me, unrighteous anger is the culprit.
SPEAKER_00: And so I need to bring that to God and say, God, am I angry in a way that is just about me, or am I angry in a way that this thing also makes you angry?
SPEAKER_00: There is such a thing as righteous indignation, a good anger when we see evil in the world.
SPEAKER_00: This is rare, though.
SPEAKER_00: And it's still easy for us to lose control of our anger, to let it control us instead of controlling it.
SPEAKER_00: Anger becomes sinful when it's inappropriate the way that we deal with it.
SPEAKER_00: We needed to confess our sinful anger and confess it as sin.
SPEAKER_00: If apologies to other people are necessary, we should offer them quickly.
SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't let the sun go down on our anger.
SPEAKER_00: Now, is there a literal sun that is setting on your anger?
SPEAKER_00: No, it's a figurative speech saying, hey, don't be angry for too long.
SPEAKER_00: If you're angry, especially in marriage, this is a great place to say, hey, um, keep short accounts.
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't, what's the saying?
SPEAKER_00: Never go to bed angry, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's that idea of don't let something linger too long.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a literal, uh, if you go to bed angry, then condemnation is coming on your head.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's just saying keep short accounts.
SPEAKER_00: Take care of anger quickly, because it can be consuming and it can cause you to sin.
SPEAKER_00: Place unrighteous anger with righteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to come back to this because there is more about uh forgiveness here.
SPEAKER_00: But I think what's really important is verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: Give no opportunity to the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Often when we're angry, we're prone to sin.
SPEAKER_00: We need to keep short accounts, we need to forgive quickly, we need to uh confess when we're angry so that we can move on from that and not allow the devil to divide us because of anger.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Replace stealing with working and giving.
SPEAKER_00: This one's pretty self-explanatory.
SPEAKER_00: Uh any kleptomaniacs, you don't have to raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: Stop it.
SPEAKER_00: No stealing.
SPEAKER_00: There's no place for stealing in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And this also includes that uh remote work idea, that uh idea of like when you work, give your best as you're working, work for the Lord, not for man.
SPEAKER_00: But the follower of Christ must not steal, but do honest work that he can share with anyone who's in need.
SPEAKER_00: Not only is Satan the father of lies, but he's also a thief.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look like Satan, look like God the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Christians are not to rip each other off, but to be productive and serve one another.
SPEAKER_00: That includes putting in a full day's work and serving in a ministry that blesses others for the advancement of God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So, business owners, the way that we wheel and deal, we should honor God in the way that we work, as if we're answering to God because you will.
SPEAKER_00: You will answer to God for the way that you run your business.
SPEAKER_00: You will answer to God for the way that you live your life in every aspect.
SPEAKER_00: So don't steal.
SPEAKER_00: Christians are not to rip one another off, but to be productive, to serve one another.
SPEAKER_00: Putting in a full day's work, serving a ministry that blesses others for the advancement of God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: This exhortation is to refrain from stealing, but to work so that we have something to share with the needy.
SPEAKER_00: Like we should work and have margin in our lives so that when the time comes up, we can give to the needy.
SPEAKER_00: We can give to those in need.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes when we steal, it's because we don't believe that God will provide or that there's joy beyond God's provision.
SPEAKER_00: Don't steal.
SPEAKER_00: But work and give.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such is good for building up as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
SPEAKER_00: If we're going to build authentic community, we have to build each other up rather than tearing them down.
SPEAKER_00: And the way of the world, it's easier to talk about all the ways that somebody fails us, right?
SPEAKER_00: All the ways that uh this person has let you down.
SPEAKER_00: And it we actually like kind of have this sick way of building community through commiserating together and through uh like talking bad about other people, and there's no place for that in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Like if if you hear that, you need to say, Well, have you talked to that person about that thing that you're complaining about?
SPEAKER_00: Have you confronted them with this issue that you seem to have with them?
SPEAKER_00: Because if you haven't, then this is gossip, and we need to shut that down.
SPEAKER_00: There's no place for gossip, there's no place for slander, there's no place for this in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But what what should we do instead?
SPEAKER_00: Build each other up as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
SPEAKER_00: Now, does this mean that you never tell somebody negative feedback?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: You can give negative feedback, but you should do it discreetly to the person who offended you.
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't talk to other people about it.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: So if we're going to build each other up, we need to recognize that what comes out of our mouths is part of our new wardrobe.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't include uh foul language, doesn't include bitterness, anger, wrath, shouting, slander.
SPEAKER_00: We say what's needed, we say it at the right time, we say it to the person that needs to hear it.
SPEAKER_00: If it's not their business, we don't need to be talking about it, no matter how good it might feel or how indulgent it might be.
SPEAKER_00: We do have to deal with the real life issues, but our goal should always be to help and not to hurt.
SPEAKER_00: We we should provide loving correction to somebody who's out of step.
SPEAKER_00: But it should be done in the proper ways.
SPEAKER_00: Our words should minister grace to those who hear them.
SPEAKER_00: And like correction should be surgical, not just like slash and burn.
SPEAKER_00: See you later.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times when people are talking to me, they'll they'll apologize for things that they say.
SPEAKER_00: They'll say, like, oh James, I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, hey, like you didn't offend me, but like you should maybe you should go apologize to God, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like it when corrupting talk is coming out of our mouths, you're grieving the Holy Spirit, which is the verse that we're gonna see in just a second.
SPEAKER_00: There's this exhortation to speak good things as well as do good things.
SPEAKER_00: Anything that injures others or causes division or dissension in the body is unwholesome, rotten, defiling.
SPEAKER_00: Christians should use words to build each other up rather than tear them down.
SPEAKER_00: Words can give grace, they can communicate encouragement and direction, and enable the hearer to do right.
SPEAKER_00: There should be edifying or building up of saying, How do we correct the body?
SPEAKER_00: How do we work together to right this ship?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 30.
SPEAKER_00: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
SPEAKER_00: Don't grieve God's Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: His joy, his presence, his power will not be yours when you disappoint him in the way that you speak.
SPEAKER_00: Don't grieve the Holy Spirit in the way that you speak, in uh living in unrepentant sin.
SPEAKER_00: And is kind of connecting it to the previous verse about how you speak.
SPEAKER_00: We can grieve the Holy Spirit with our speech, we can grieve him with unrepentant sin.
SPEAKER_00: And this is inappropriate for us because the Holy Spirit is our seal, he's our pledge of God's final redemption in us that will happen at our resurrection, and grieving the Holy Spirit amounts to rejecting a priceless gift from God.
SPEAKER_00: Anything that grieves the Holy Spirit is a sin.
SPEAKER_00: So we should instead live the new life to please the Holy Spirit that's dwelling in us.
SPEAKER_00: We live the life in a new way to please the Holy Spirit that's in us.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 31 and 32 are our final exhortation, and then we're gonna have an application with all of the text together.
SPEAKER_00: We need to replace bitterness and rage with kindness and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 31 and 32, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you.
SPEAKER_00: Stop doing these things, put it away, along with malice, don't forget malice, malice is bad too.
SPEAKER_00: But be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.
SPEAKER_00: There's these virtues, he's saying, Stay away from this way of living, and rather live this way.
SPEAKER_00: So put away bitterness, the opposite of sweetness and kindness.
SPEAKER_00: It harbors resentment and keeps a record of the wrongs that are done.
SPEAKER_00: Wrath or rage flows from bitterness and refers to outbursts of uncontrolled passionate frustration.
SPEAKER_00: Anger is inappropriate, noisy assertiveness and abuse.
SPEAKER_00: Clamor or brawling describes shouting.
SPEAKER_00: Slander refers to words that hurt another person, specifically like speaking negatively of a person that's not around.
SPEAKER_00: Something that you maybe wouldn't go and confront that person with, but you would say it to others.
SPEAKER_00: Malice is this negative feeling, the source of these other virtues.
SPEAKER_00: Because you have malice, you have bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander that come out of you.
SPEAKER_00: So often, if you are speaking ill of somebody else, you say, Man, do I need to go and forgive that person?
SPEAKER_00: Do I need to go and reconcile with that person?
SPEAKER_00: Because why is this hate spewing from me?
SPEAKER_00: And this verse might seem to contradict verse 26, which says, Be angry and do not sin, but it doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, what he's saying is, anger in its certain circumstances is proper, but we should normally avoid it.
SPEAKER_00: Most of the time, if you're like me, your anger will cause you to sin.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes there is a righteous anger that you can hold and say, Okay, what do I need to do with this, God?
SPEAKER_00: What are you calling me to do with this righteous anger that you've given me?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 32.
SPEAKER_00: We are kind when we say or do what is suitable or fitting to a need with a sweet and generous disposition.
SPEAKER_00: We're tenderhearted, we're compassionate when we feel affection for someone else.
SPEAKER_00: We are forgiving when we let offenses and grievances go freely and graciously.
SPEAKER_00: Why should we be forgiving?
SPEAKER_00: Because God in Christ forgave you.
SPEAKER_00: You had the unforgivable debt that was on you, and God, through Christ, made a way for you to have peace with a holy and perfect God.
SPEAKER_00: He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: We can experience peace with the holy God, not because of anything that we can do on our own, but because of his grace that he lavishes on us, that we can live in this new way instead.
SPEAKER_00: Why should we be forgiving?
SPEAKER_00: Because God has forgiven us freely and fully and forever in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If we demonstrate an attitude of constant forgiveness, we that will enrich all of our relationships.
SPEAKER_00: It will allow us to develop transparency and oneness.
SPEAKER_00: It'll allow us to resolve conflict that doesn't seem resolvable.
SPEAKER_00: We have to seek forgiveness when we wrong one another and communicate understanding to each other.
SPEAKER_00: Just as God in Christ forgave you, so you must forgive.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to make sure you pay for that.
SPEAKER_00: You have to be punished.
SPEAKER_00: We're inviting heaven down.
SPEAKER_00: And when we fail to forgive for whatever reason, we're inviting hell up into our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We're inviting hell into our circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: Every time you forgive, you pull heaven down into your life.
SPEAKER_00: And when you fail to forgive, you pull hell up into your life.
SPEAKER_00: We can't experience the power of the Holy Spirit when we're inviting demonic spirits into our lives.
SPEAKER_00: So when churches go through bitterness, division, unforgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: This is unspiritual, it's earthly, it's demonic.
SPEAKER_00: When we hold on to deep resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness, it's this open wound that's going to cause us to fall into sin more and more often.
SPEAKER_00: It leads to this decay spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: Now, forgiving someone doesn't mean that you're saying what they did was right.
SPEAKER_00: And forgiving someone doesn't mean that you're reconciling and you're inviting them right back to the table in your life to hurt you again.
SPEAKER_00: It means having proper boundaries with one another, but extending forgiveness as you've been forgiven in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness frees you and your own heart from being controlled by the person who hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: It's necessary for all of us because we're surrounded by sinners who hurt us.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to be ready to forgive as we've been forgiven in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So we replace bitterness and rage with kindness and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: And so, church, as we consider what do we do with this today, I've got two questions for you.
SPEAKER_00: One, what way of life do you need to stop putting on?
SPEAKER_00: Like what, as you look at those, that list, we've got a Lee, can you put that list up?
SPEAKER_00: Like maybe for you, there's one of these that stand out, they jump out.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what way do you need to put off?
SPEAKER_00: Like, stop putting these things on and start putting these things on.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you need to run from?
SPEAKER_00: What do you need to run to as you run to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: How will you start putting on your new way of life?
SPEAKER_00: As we look at these two different lists, sorry, Lee.
SPEAKER_00: Like, do I need to stop lying?
SPEAKER_00: Do we have a problem with lying?
SPEAKER_00: Do I have a problem with unrighteous anger?
SPEAKER_00: That I need to run to righteous anger instead.
SPEAKER_00: Do I have a problem with stealing in its various forms?
SPEAKER_00: How can I work and give instead?
SPEAKER_00: Do I have a problem with corrupt talk?
SPEAKER_00: Like unguarded words will sow division and dissension.
SPEAKER_00: Do we have problems with bitterness and rage?
SPEAKER_00: What do I need to put off?
SPEAKER_00: What do I need to put on?
SPEAKER_00: And as we consider this church, this all starts with putting on Jesus Christ first, right?
SPEAKER_00: He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf, he lived the perfect life we could never live, he died the death that we deserve so that we could be forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not a Christian, this is all just a very moralistic message today.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not motivated by the Holy Spirit indwelling you, living inside of you, that's going to allow you to go from this side to this side, then this is just a moralistic message.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want you to hear that.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to hear that because of the joy that you have in Christ, because of the new life that you've been given by the Father, put on the way of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Look like God the Father, not like Satan, the author of life, the thief, who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
SPEAKER_00: But rather live like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Live a life that would be satisfying to you, that will be difficult to be renewed in.
SPEAKER_00: But it's going to be worth it because it's going to give you joy.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to give you this fullness of joy, and it's going to allow you to be united in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to allow us to live together, to enjoy life together, and to not constantly be bleeding because we've harmed one another.