Summary
TITLE: Household of God: The New Life – Ephesians 4:25-32
AIM: Consider the new life in Christ, coming from a change in heart.
INTRO: There have been remarkable gains in medicine over the last 50 yrs & 1 of most amazing has been the ability to transplant organs, esp the heart. In Dec of 1967, Dr. Christian Barnard performed the 1st heart transplant on 53 yr old Lewis Washkansky in Cape Town, S. Africa. How remarkable, to be able to take the heart of 1 person & put it into another & have it work properly! But even that is not as amazing as the heart transplant performed by God in the life of every believer. In Ezekiel 36:26-27 God promised to Israel, “And I will give you a new heart, & a new spirit I will put w/in you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh & give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit w/in you, & cause you to walk in My statutes & be careful to obey My rules.” This is what God has done & is doing thru the work of Christ in the lives of everyone who believes/receives Christ as Savior/Lord. Theme: HofG – understanding that we are, seeking to understand what it means to be. I would submit to you that members of God’s household have new hearts & live new lives. Years ago, the great Chinese Christian apologist Watchman Nee wrote a great commentary on Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, which I heartily recommend to you: Sit, Walk, Stand. We are seated in the heavenly places w/Christ, as Paul wrote about in chap2, so we are to rest in what God has done for us in Christ, who we are in Christ, our victory in Christ, our place of belonging in God’s family, knowing & enjoying the immeasurable love of God (Chap1-3). We’ve spent quite of bit of time looking at that “sit” part of Ephesians, and we must always keep it in mind, because out of that truth we are to walk/live the Christian life. Paul urged us to “walk worthy” & to “walk not as the Gentiles do.” We’re to put off the old self, the way we used to live before we came to faith in Christ, be renewed in the spirit of our minds – that is, learn a
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new way of thinking, learn to think God’s way - & put on the new self, created to be like God. We have new life in Christ & we’re to live new. Living new comes from a new, changed heart & is evidence of that new heart. If you don’t have a changed heart, you have reason to question your conversion. In Christ, we become new from the inside out. Paul gives us some concrete examples of this in text: Ephesians 4:25-32 [READ]. I think Paul probably drew these examples from areas in which the Ephesian Christians may have struggled. We can/should fill in the blanks in our own lives, but these are some basic struggles that we may have also. How might the new life look? In what ways are we to live new? What changes of heart should be evident in our lives? I)Put away falsehood and speak the truth to one another. That phrase “put away” carries w/it the idea of “once for all,” completely. The prevalent thinking in the world is that it’s ok to “adjust” the truth to suit your purposes, whether it’s a little white lie or blatant untruth – we call politicians or their PR people “spin doctors,” because they “spin” the truth to suit their cause/platform. Do what you need to get ahead, make self look good. But lying is following the example of Satan, who Jesus said is “a liar & the father of lies” (John 8:44). If we’re going to follow Jesus, we need to develop the habit of telling the truth. Now, Paul did urge us to speak the truth in love (4:15), so we need to be mindful how we go about telling the truth, but honesty is indeed the best policy. We need to be honest w/God & w/each other. Why? Because of the relationship w/have, 1st w/God & then each other. We who are in Christ are vitally connected to one another. I like the way Paul put it. He didn’t say “you are each members of the body,” which is true, but “you are members of each other.” As A.R. Fausset put it, we (in the Church) cannot “injure or deceive another w/out injuring [ourselves], as all have a mutual & common interest.” The change of heart/way of thinking that should be evident here is that we realize
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that we are members one of another, we belong to one another. Therefore I will/must promote truth, honesty. Christians aren’t always good at this. For fear of rejection we hold ourselves back, hide the truth of our struggles or the truth of our concerns for each other. As result, we are stunted in our growth individually & as the body of Christ. II)Stop sinning in anger. Paul put it like this: “Be angry & do not sin.” That tells us that we have a choice (always do). Anger is simply an emotion, a reaction to what we see around us or experience against us. But we never have to sin in expression of our anger. We never have to seek revenge. All too many of us are slaves of our anger, instead of its master. We let anger control us, which never leads to anything good. A change of heart is seen in righteous anger, Jesus being our example. When he met a man w/a withered hand & saw the religious leaders watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, Jesus looked “at them in anger, grieved at their hardness of heart…” (Mk.3:5). When He saw the money- changers in the Court of the Gentiles leading into the Temple, Jesus took cords & made a whip & drove them out of there, turning over their tables. They were hindering folks from coming to the house of God, intended to be a “house of prayer.” They were making it hard to worship God. There are reasons to be angry: injustice, abuse, abortion, misuse of resources, twisting of truth, etc. But we never have to sin by lashing out in in uncontrolled anger. We can control our anger – we do it all the time. People who don’t are called out of control. But, we who are in Christ can/should be under the Holy Spirit’s control. We also sin when we stew in our anger, letting it linger. A change of heart is seen in dealing w/our anger, addressing the situation in love, & being willing to let anger go. “Do not let the sun go down…” is proverbial. Fausset wrote, “Put it (anger) away at once before another day begins, before you part (w/your brother, spouse, child, etc.) at night.” Deal w/it – forgive, say I’m sorry. Ponder whether
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it’s really worth it. If we don’t deal w/anger we give opportunity to the devil to divide us, use us to hurt our bro/sis, family, & brokenness results. Anger that is not dealt w/, but stuffed down, kept in, erupts at the littlest thing. How sad & unnecessary! Deal w/it w/God’s help, & perhaps God would use a counselor/pastor/friend to help you deal with your anger – men especially. III)Stop stealing & start giving. Again, Paul was perhaps touching on matters w/which Ephesian believers struggled. Maybe some of the Ephesian Christians used to be thieves. The root Grk wd for thief/steal is “klepto,” which we use today, describing a person who has a problem – kleptomaniac. You may say, “I’m not thief; that not talking about me.” But think about it. God said in Malachi 3 that we rob Him when we hold back the tithe & offering. We steal from others when we don’t give our very best effort, or when we hold back what we have that they may need. We steal from others when we’re “takers,” looking only for what we can get out of a situation, instead of what we can give. All that matters is “What’s in it for me?” That can happen in a church family. Paul talks about a real change of heart here. The 1st change of heart he called for was hard work. “Let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands…” This takes a whole new attitude/approach to life. That word translated labor carries w/it the idea of “exertion to the point of exhaustion.” It’s giving one’s all, spending one’s self. Christians should be the hardest workers at any job, because we’re representing Christ & the Church. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work smarter more than harder, but we should do both, giving an honest & total effort in whatever we do. And note Paul’s emphasis of working w/our hands. It takes one’s hands to steal anything that’s a tangible object. What Paul is saying is that we should use our hands for good, to help others in need, to be about God’s business. A change of heart is also seen in the matter of giving: “…that he may have something to share w/anyone in need.” What a
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turnaround! From stealing/taking, to giving/sharing. As believers, we need to come to the understanding that we are not our own & whatever we have is only ours to use for God’s glory, in His work. Christians generally are & should be the best givers in the world. We’re simply stewards of God’s resources, giving to/sharing w/those in need. That means we must make the effort to notice others & what their needs might be. I know there are many who will try to take advantage, & I also know that no one can give to everyone/organization that has hand out, but we can prayerfully discern to whom/what God would have us give, including the church, of course. And we can be cheerful givers, knowing that God will use us to help others & that we can never out-give God. Don’t be a taker, but a giver. It takes a change of heart. IV)No corrupting talk, but words that build up & encourage. That word “corrupt” means “rotten, putrid, no longer fit for use, worthless,” etc. (Strong’s). That certainly would apply to vulgarity – we need to clean up our talk. Some believers are even proud of their obscenity, profanity. Even had someone say in my hearing once, trying to justify the use of vulgar language, “If you’re going to witness to [some people] you have to speak their language.” But you don’t have to talk like a sailor/biker in order to present the truth to one. As matter of fact, the use of vulgarity might indicate that you’re no different than they. But it’s not just vulgarity that Paul speaks of; I don’t even think that his main intention. It’s primarily hurtful speech that he wrote against – slanderous, degrading, wounding talk. As Pastor Tom pointed out recently, we all know that the childhood saying “Sticks & stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is not true, but very much a lie. Words can hurt, cut to the quick, wound the heart. James was certainly right on when he wrote that, “the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness…It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:6, 8). O, how careful we ought to be as we speak to our
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children, spouse, bro/sis in Christ, & unbelievers. Once spoken, words cannot be retrieved. Once wounded, it takes a long time to heal. Now, you/I ought not to be so easily offended/wounded, but it is primarily the speaker’s responsibility to choose words well & not be injurious. A change of heart is seen when we speak words that encourage, build up, when we & our mouths are instruments of God’s grace. Paul urges us to speak “only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Instead of tearing down, we are to build others up. The words “build up” are expressed in 1 Grk wd – “oikodome” – edify - & in Paul’s writing it means the “act of one who promotes another’s growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness & holiness” (Strong’s). John Brown wrote, “The things that flow from a Christian’s mouth should build people up, not put them down.” That doesn’t mean we can’t lovingly joke around & jab each other, but we should be careful. Sometimes things said in a joking manner only disguise the intentional thought, & often you can tell. We must be careful what we say to others & about others. Our main aim in what we say must be to build up/encourage. I like the way Paul put it, “as fits the occasion.” Is a kind word called for? Does our bro/sis need encouragement? Does he/she need a loving, gentle rebuke? Correction? Exhortation? We’re to be God’s instruments of grace, used by Him to speak into others’ lives the truths of Scripture, the truth of the Gospel, the truth that might lift them up when they’re down, hurting. That seems as far as we’ll get today, so we’ll pick it up w/vs30 next week, but it’s obvious to me that we as Christians struggle w/things that belong to our old self – anger, lust, selfishness, pride, greed, jealousy, etc. So, the putting off of the old self needs to be an ongoing practice, w/God the Holy Spirit’s help; & the learning & aligning ourselves w/a new way of thinking must also be ongoing, remember what God has done for us, who we are in Christ, & how God wants us to
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live; & the putting on of the new self, living new, needs to be ongoing, making right choices every day. It’s something that Paul says we must do, but can’t do it ourselves. God must do it for us, in us – that’s why we need the Holy Spirit, who is at work in us, as we set our gaze on Jesus & keep falling in love w/Him. He works in us, changing our hearts, transforming our lives from the inside out. Surrender to Him, submit to the Spirit’s control & He will change us into His likeness (vs24). It’s as Christ lives w/in us that our change of heart is evidenced by our new life. Focus on Him! We are the Household of God!
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