Ephesians 4v25-5v2

Putting off and putting on

Is it wrong to lie?

I suppose most of us would say yes.

Is it always wrong to lie?

Well imagine you living during the 2nd world war. And ur a German. And uv

taken pity on the Jews. Uv been hiding them from Hitler and from the Nazis.

And right now uv got a family living in your basement. A mother and father.

Three kids. And uv made all plans for them to be able to flee the country

tomorrow morning.

But just as you about to go to bed. Some Nazi’s burst into your house. And

they say: Hail Hitler.

You say: Hail Hitler

They say, Tell us comrade Kyle. Have you got any Jews hiding in your

basement.

What do you say?

You say, I went to St James 10 years.

Yes comrades. I help Jews. Right now There’s a family of five Jews hiding in my

basement. Iv got all the paperwork for them to flee in the morning. Come, I’ll

show you where they are.

Is that what you’d say? I hope not.

As far as I’m concerned, Ill say no. no comrades. I don’t hide Jews. There’s no

Jews hiding in my basement.

Isnt that what we should say? Surely?

otherwise we’ll be helping the Nazi’s. We’ll be supporting murder.

And the point is simply that the demands of truth sometimes have to be

balanced by other demands.

Another example:

Is it wrong to speed? Yes. Yes Romans 13. we must submit to our authorities.

Is it always wrong to speed?

Well I remember when my youngest brother was a baby. he swallowed a

whole bottle of tablets. And my father certainly broke the speed limit that day.

He went through red robots. He raced all the way to the hospital. I mean

what kind of fool would drive slowly to the hospital with a dying child in the

back. Simply cause he feels obligated to keep the speed limit.

The demand to obey the authorities has to be balance by other demands.

And so what both these examples show is that if you take a command from the

Bible and you lay it down like a concrete slab. You say I’m always gona obey

this command. no matter what happens. No matter how much it hurts other

people.

Well then you not talking in a Christian way.

And I think the reason why some of us might be tempted to talk like that

Is because we’ve been taught an individualistic type of Christianity. Where its

all just about us and God. Us doing what’s pleasing to God.

That’s why we might be tempted to expose the Jews just so we can tell the

truth. Or drive slowly to the hospital just so we don’t break the speed limit.

Its because all we care about is our obedience to one command. And we not

thinking about the community.

But as we’ve been seeing in Ephesians. God has called us into a church. And so

a life that’s worthy of that calling involves relationships. How we treat one

another. How will our actions affect those around us.

And in fact that’s the great command that stands behind all other commands.

It’s the command to love

Galatians 5 verse 14 says:

“The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbour as

yourself.”

And we see the same thing in our passage this morning. This passage gives us a

whole lot of very practical commands. But at the end of our passage Paul

summarizes it all with one main command. Look at chapter 5 verse 1.

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love,

just as Christ loved us.”

You see that’s the great command of the Bible. To live a life of love just as God

has loved us.

So this morning we gona get very practical. Practical commands. But the great

principle or command behind it all is love.

Just two more introductory comments before we dive in

No 1. Paul applies the three steps to stop sinning.

Remember last week we spoke about fighting your sin. And we learnt three

steps that we can apply for fighting any sin. Can you remember what they

were?

Stop. Renew. Replace.

So stop the behaviour. But don’t just stop behaviour. You also need to be

renewed in your mind. So that it comes from your heart. And then don’t just

stop. you also need to replace the old behaviour with something new.

If you missed the sermon last week, you can find it on our website. Last week

Paul gave us those steps. Now he applies them in specific examples.

No 2 these examples cover every sphere of our lives

You’ll notice when we confess our sins every Sunday we normally confess the

sins we’ve committed by thought and by word and by deed. Those are the

different spheres in which we sin.

Well Paul’s examples here cover each of those spheres.

Firstly he talks about unloving words.

Secondly, unloving thoughts.

Thirdly, unloving deeds.

And that’s gona be our outline. Repeat

So let’s dive in.

Firstly unloving words.

Look at Verse 25

“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood”

And the word falsehood includes more than a blatant lie. It includes any type

of twisting the truth. It includes white lies. Or Flattery. Kyle you look good this

morning – I suppose that’s a white lie.

Or this meal is delicious as you try and force it down ur throat.

It includes exaggeration to try and impress people or to make them like you.

It includes false advertising to try and sell your product.

It’s any kind of falsehood. That’s what we need to put off.

And look at Verse 29. More stuff to put off “don’t let any unwholesome talk

come out of your mouth.”

The word for unwholesome means unhealthy. Just like junk food makes you

sick. I never used to realize that as a child. But now when I eat junk food. I can

almost feel it making me sick.

Well In the same way there’s junk talk that damages the body of Christ.

Gossiping. Running people down. Saying words that will hurt people.

It could just be light teasing. But you can tease people in a way that repeatedly

knocks someone down.

Manipulation to try and get people to do what you want.

Swearing.

Telling filthy jokes that put sick images in people’s minds.

Cheap talk. It’s all junk

It damages the body. We must put it off

But maybe you say: Kyle I’m just one of those people who likes to speak my

mind.

What I think. I say. That’s just who I am.

Well Maybe what you are’s not such a good thing. maybe you need to change

who you are.

maybe other people don’t wanna hear what’s on your mind. I know you don’t

wanna know everything that goes through my mind.

And so one very nb thing to learn here if we gona have any hope of applying

these things is that we need to think before we speak. Some of us. We don’t

think before we speak. Especially if we nervous. We just open our mouths and

the words just flow. But before we speak we should think. We need to filter

what we say. Cut out all junk.

And so Paul gives us a clear command to stop. If anything’s not true. If

anything’s not healthy. Then we must stop.

But as we saw last week. The way to fight sin isn’t only to stop. It’s also to

replace. We need to identify the opposite of our sin. and replace our sin with

that.

And so what’s the opposite of falsehood?

Verse 25.

“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his

neighbour.”

Look at verse 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.”

And so here’s the replacement.

don’t just focus all your effort on not lying. Or not gossiping. That might mean

uv got nothing left to say.

Instead focus your attention on truth. What’s some truth I can speak to this

person? What’s something I could say to build this person up?

Is she lonely? Is she hurting? Is he needing encouragement in his fight with sin?

Is he tired? Is she lacking joy? Is she anxious?

What can I say to meet this person’s need?

And this ties in with what we saw two weeks ago. Remember Chapter 4 verse

16.

“Instead speaking the truth in love we will in all things grow up into Him Who

is the Head.”

Remember we said we’v all been called into ministry. We’ve all been called to

speak the truth in love.

And so when we come to church we don’t only come to listen to the sermon.

We come to do ministry. Who can we speak to? Who can we encourage? Who

can we build up?

And so that’s why we encourage you to hang around after the service. Try find

someone to speak to.

You see life in this world is tough. Monday to Saturday. In our homes. In our

work places. Its not easy. Its tiring. There’s sin. There’s conflict. There many

things that break us down. And so when we come to church we shouldn’t only

think of it as family. We should also think of it as hospital. Its where we come

to be healed. And strengthened and built up.

And so we’ve seen stop. Put off lies and unwholesome talk.

Replace. Put on truth and beneficial talk.

What about renew?

As we saw last week. If you just do stop replace. Then you just doing behaviour

modification. Your hearts not in it. And then you just a hypocrite. Because you

doing all this outward behaviour. But God looks at your heart. And so whats

the attitude for our hearts?

Look at verse 25 again. What’s the motivation? Why should we change the

way we speak? Verse 25.

“Therefore each of us must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his

neighbour, why?

for we are all members of one body.”

You see, that’s the motivation. That’s how we should view each other. Not as

separate individuals. But as connected. members of the same body. Then you

wont want to deceive someone.

Imagine your eye sees a snake on the footpath and it decides to lie to the foot.

It says thats just a stick. Then the eye wont just be damaging the foot. It’ll be

damaging the whole body.

Every time we are untruthful, we destroy not only the person we are speaking

to, but ourselves too, because we members of one body.”

And so lets move on. We’ve seen unloving words. Now secondly unloving

thoughts

And there’s one specific thought that Paul focuses on. You can see it in verse

26.

“In your anger do not sin. do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.

Do not give the devil a foothold.”

Verse 31.

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with

every form of malice.

Anger anger anger

All those words have to do with anger or animosity.

Anger is a deadly poison very powerful for breaking down love.

But did you notice verse 26 doesn’t actually call anger a sin. It says in your

anger do not sin. So in other words, there is a place for righteous anger. In fact

there are times when we should be angry.

Listen to the following quote from John Stott.

“I would go further and say that there is a great need in the contemporary

world for more Christian anger. We human beings compromise with sin in a

way in which God never does. In the face of blatant evil we should be indignant

not tolerant, angry not apathetic. If God hates sin, his people should hate it

too. If evil arouses His anger, it should arouse ours also.

Psalm 119 verse 53 says ‘Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who

forsake Thy law.’

And so there is a place for righteous anger.

But at the same time we need to be very careful with anger. If we don’t deal

with our anger it will lead to sin.

James 1v20 says: man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life God

requires.

So according to verse 27 if we don’t deal with our anger then we giving the

devil a foothold in our lives. The devil’s desperate to get some control over us.

To gain some grip over our lives. And when we angry that’s just the foothold

he needs. From there he can bring all kinds of temptations into our lives.

And so Paul says, we must deal with our anger: Do not let the sun go down

while you still angry.

Now obviously we not meant to apply this verse literalistically. As if anger in

the light is fine. But anger in the dark is wrong.

Some people say: I always apply the Bible literally. Well sometimes the Bible

isn’t mean to be applied literally. When the Psalms say that the trees of the

field clap their hands. Its not saying that actually scientifically what looks to us

like branches are actually hands. And they not just blowing in the wind. They

clapping. No the Psalms are using a figure of speech. Its not meant to be

applied literally.

And the same is true here. So you mustnt wait until sunset before dealing with

your anger.

If thats what Paul meant then people in places like Greenland could stay angry

for months on end waiting for the sun to set. But no. Paul’s point is to not

allow anger to fester. We mustn’t allow it to grow and develop into sin.

And so we need to keep short accounts with people. And a big part of that

means We need to be humble enough to say sorry.

How many friendships and relationships have broken down so that people can

hardly even speak to each other. Simply because we too proud to say sorry.

One of our previous Bishops was Frank Retief. And whenever anyone criticized

him. He’d respond by saying: yip you don’t know the half of it.

And isn’t that right. No matter how much anyone criticizes us. They don’t know

the half of how sinful we really are.

And so you need to put ur pride aside. Be humble. And say sorry

And so we don’t have to wait til sunset. You might wanna do it right now.

husbands and wives. I know what its like. Sometimes you arrive at church and

you just haven’t had the chance to deal with the conflict. You put on this happy

face. But there’s actually this tension and this anger. So Just in case. Right now.

Husbands and wives. Just give each other a hug. Just in case. As a token of

peace. There might be things you need to talk through when you get home.

Maybe its with someone else. when you get home. Make that phonecall. Send

that e-mail.

It might need to be the first thing tomorrow morning at work. Go and speak to

that person. Don’t let your pride get in the way. Go make peace. say sorry. Do

whatever it takes.

So that’s the stop. Stop being angry.

What about replace? What’s the opposite of anger? Verse 32. Get rid of all the

bitterness, anger, rage, malice. Instead verse 32

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in

Christ God forgave you.”

And so the opposite of anger is to forgive. But it’s not just to forgive so that

you forget about the other person. You forget what they’ve done. You push

them out of your mind. It’s more than that. It’s to forgive from the heart so

that when you think about them you actually feel kindness and compassion.

That’s true forgiveness.

And that’s not easy. Especially if someone’s really hurt you. Its not easy to feel

warm and kind towards that person.

And so again we need the motivation. Remember its not just about outward

behaviour. It needs to come from the heart? How can we forgive from the

heart? Verse 32 again.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in

Christ God forgave you.”

This is the key to forgiving others. It’s the fact that God has forgiven you.

So I wanna give you a quiet moment now. I’m gona ask you each to close your

eyes. And Im gona give you a few moments to examine your own heart. Is

there any unforgiven bitterness in your own heart? Is there any person now

that you need to forgive. When their faces come into your minds you don’t feel

kindness or compassion. You feel anger.

Now I want you to think about specific things that person has done to make

you angry. Maybe they’ve been unfaithful to you. Maybe they’v said

something unkind to you. Maybe they gossiped about you. whatever it is.

Think about that offence in your own mind.

Now I want you to compare that offence with your great offence against God.

The fact that daily He is kind to You: giving you food and clothing and life. But

you fail to appreciate His kindness.

The fact that daily you ignore Him. Pushing his Words out of your mind.

Ignoring His presence.

The fact that daily you defy His commands. You do things that you know you

shouldn’t do. You fail to do things that you know you should do. Although He is

the glorious King and Creator of the universe. You still have the arrogance to

rebel against Him.

Think about all this daily sin.

And you might not think its that serious. But according to the Bible its serious

enough to have Jesus crucified. Its our sin that nailed Him to the cross. We are

responsible for that.

And now think about God’s response to your sin. He’s forgiven you. He’s wiped

it away. As far as the east is from the west so far has He removed our

transgressions from us. And He hasn’t just pushed us out of His minds. And

forgotten about us. He thinks about us constantly. But He does so with

kindness and compassion and love.

So just think about that. Allow it to sink into your heart.

And in the light of that forgiveness, will you not forgive those whov hurt you?

If you really grasp how God’s forgiven you, then nothing should be too hard to

forgive.

And now finally, we’ve seen unloving words. We’ve seen unloving thoughts.

Now finally, unloving deeds.

And the deed Paul focuses on is stealing. Verse 28.

“He who has been stealing must steal no longer.”

Now I doubt whether any of you wouldv put stealing on your top ten list of

unloving deeds. Oh yes, Stealing is definitely a problem in our country. We’ve

got very high levels of crime and theft. But the problem doesn’t lie with us. Not

us wealthy, sophisticated hardworking Summerstranders. We don’t steal. Well

before you shut your ears. I wanna suggest that this command actually has

quite a lot to say to us. So please listen.

Firstly, stealing is more than breaking into someone’s house and stealing their

laptop or their car. There many other ways in which we might steal.

Tax evasion.

If ur an employer - Failing to pay your employees fair wages. That’s stealing.

If ur an employee – failing to provide good work. Stealing work hours. That’s a

form of stealing

There lots of ways in which we might steal. But even more than that. Notice

once again Paul doesn’t just tell us to stop. He also tells us to replace. Verse

28. What’s the opposite of stealing?

“He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing

something useful with his hands”

So the opposite of stealing is being productive. Working. But again I don’t think

that’s a big problem for us. Most of us either are working or studying for work

or looking for work. We want to work.

But whats really striking about verse 28 is why we should work. Whats the

motivation? Its not just so we can provide for our families. put food on the

table. Get rich. Which is I think is why most people work. look at verse 28.

“he must work, doing something useful with his own hands,

Why?

so that he may have something to share with those in need.”

You see the opposite of stealing isn’t just not stealing. Its working. But its not

just working for yourself. Its working to be able to give.

The opposite of stealing isn’t self-provision. Its giving.

And so I wonder how many of us have this as ur motivation to get up and go to

work. And why we work hard. And earn a salary. Not just to provide for

ourselves. But so that we’ll have more to be able to give.

And you notice who we must give to? Verse 28. So that we can share with

those in need.

You see now we really dealing with stealing. those in need are the ones who

really face the temptation to steal. Cause they really need. I mean imagine not

knowing where your wife and kids will find their next meal. Wouldn’t you be

tempted to steal. And so by giving to people like that, we helping to overcome

stealing. It’s actually a beautiful verse.

And I’m not making an excuse here for those who steal when they in need. Its

wrong to steal. But what I am saying is that just because we don’t face the

temptation to steal, because we don’t have real need. And just because we

working and able to provide for ourselves. That doesn’t mean we finished the

battle with stealing. We still have a role to play. And our role isn’t just to

complain. Oh So many breakins in Summerstrand. Oh we’ve got so much

crimew. Those things might be true.

But our role is to work harder so that we can give more generously to those in

real need.

And of course we need to be discerning about who we give to. There some

people to whom we shouldn’t give because they wastful. Generally I think its

better to give to organizations. that provide real help and support. that lift

people off the streets. Rather than just giving a short term fix. Im looking for a

chance to get John Price up here to tell us more about Vista rus and the work

they do to help the homeless. That’s the kind of organization we need to help.

And so these are practical commands about love. Loving words. Loving

thoughts. Loving deeds. But let’s remember where we started. What’s the

main principle?

Chapter 5 verse 2. live a life of love. That’s what its all about. We need to be

loving others. And these commands are specifically for the church.

The church should be a picture of love.

And that’s only because we ourselves have been loved.

By the way please don’t try and obey these commands if you haven’t received

God’s love. No. 1 you’ll fail. Your love will run out. You wont have enough

strength to keep loving No 2. Even if you succeed. You wont please God. The

starting point for pleasing God is to enter a relationship with Him where you

receive His love.

And just notice how great that love is. This is how much God loves you if you

born again.

ch 5 verse 1 again. Notice the strong language. It doesn’t just say we are loved.

It says we are dearly loved. Do you realize that you dearly loved by God.

And It doesn’t just say we dearly loved. It says we dearly loved children. There

few things as strong as a parents love for their children. That’s how God loves

you.

You’re His dearly loved child. And if ur still doubting His love. Look at verse 2.

“Live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a

fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

You see God hasn’t only declared His love. He’s also demonstrated it.

Jesus gave Himself up for you on the cross as a sacrifice for your sins. He died

for you. There’s no greater love.

Ur a dearly loved child. Jesus died for you.

Therefore live a life of love.

Lets pray