Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• Looking at a very challenging passage
• Speaks about sins of speech, sins of attitude, sins that harm others
• Why did Paul feel the need to write about this?
• This is a battlefield for the believer
• Were the Ephesians ignorant to these truths?
• They needed to hear these truths again
• They were people from pagan backgrounds and didn't know anything about the moral law of God
• This is true of our society today
• Our society needs the gospel and to be converted
• We should not expect that people who are converted to be changed overnight
• Example of man from London
• We need to show love, give time and understand
• At the same time we are not to condone sinful behaviour
• Paul was addressing these issues in those in the Ephesian church who came out of this background
• Paul speaks in the positive
• All reasons are based in the gospel
• We were talking last week about the old man and the new man
• We are new creatures
• We are given the Holy Spirit
• We still have the old self within us
• "Put off the old and put on the new"
• Paul is repeating this in v25-32

In what way does the Christian Ethic differ from other religions?

A New Person

• Other religions emphasise some of these things - what is different about Christianity?
• v24 - you can only live the Christian life if you are a new person
• You need to be born again
• You need to be saved
• Christianity says 'only by the grace of God'
• There is a responsibility on each of us to live aright but it is by the grace of God
• We want to please God and now we have the power to do so

Do not grieve God

• More than not just hurting others - you mustn't hurt God (v30)
• " Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God"
• We are temples of the Holy Spirit as God indwells us
• We are seeking to please God

The heart of the matter

• It goes beyond most religions - it identifies the problems of bitterness and malice
• The Bible recognises this as sin
• The devil capitalises on sinful behaviour
• Other religions do not speak on this but Christianity does
• "Do not let the sun go down on your wrath" (v26)
• Keepin the law of God is a spiritual matter
• If we don't fulfil the word of God the devil will take advantage of us

Based on the character of God

• v32
• Look at God and think of His character
• Because of God's character love and forgive others

The details of Christian Ethics (v25-32)

• There is a pattern - something to put off and something to replace it
• The Bible does not leave us in a vacuum
• The Bible gives us a reason why
• v25 - Do not lie but speak truth because we are a family
• We cultivate strong relationships of truth by being truthful with each other
• v29 - Do not let corrupt words come from your mouth, replace it good words; to bring others nearer to God

Lying (v25)

• Not white lies
• Tell only the truth
• In some societies corruption is so rampant
• E.g. Brazil
• We lie for various reasons
• Often because of fear
• We should have freedom to admit we lied and have love and deep fellowship to confess our sins without judgement
• We are all to speak truth
• Think of Jesus - He did not speak what people wanted to hear but wisely and truthfully
• We should speak the truth because we are all part of one body/family

Anger (v26)

• There is an injunction to be angry at times
• There are times when it is right to be angry and sinful not to be angry
• Psalm 4
• Think of the Jesus cleansing the temple but also when He saw the hardness of the Pharisee's hands
• It would be wrong for us not to be angry if we saw someone being mistreated
• 2 Cor 7 - hate and be angry about sin; "godly sorrow leads to repentance"
• Be angry and do not sin
• Our anger should be propionate and right
• Think of David who had not reflected upon himself
• Perhaps if your righteous anger is not settled this might turn into bitterness and the devil may get in
• We should try and sort out issues there and then
• Pray to God if we cannot see the person that day - then go and see them
• If we don't sort it out, then the devil will get in

Stealing (v28)

• Let him who stole, steal no longer but work
• Quote: "Anything that you have acquired that is not a gift or not down to your work"
• God may see something as stealing that we don't
• E.g. not giving to the Lord
• Stealing time from your employer
• Taking of other people's property
• If we want to get rid of stealing - work
• Work is a blessing
• Work gives people a sense of purpose
• Work gives a salary
• Christians ought to prosper - we will be hard working people
• We work hard
• Not to have better pensions, more money, etc
• To have something to give to those in need
• God is blessing us that we might be a blessing to others
• As we have received from God, let us give
• This is a challenge to us

Speech (v29)

• Corrupt - uncouth, profane putrid, rotten, stinking
• Our speech should be none of the above
• Christians should not swear, make fun of others, use base language
• We should speak what is good
• We should build up others
• We speak of the good news of Jesus
• We speak the language of God
• We speak good and right words
• We should speak from our hearts (and not use jargon)

The Holy Spirit (v30)

• The Holy Spirit is a person, not an 'it'
• He guides and comforts - only a person can do this
• He has deep feelings
• He came as a dove at Pentecost
• He lives within the Christian church
• He lives within us
• He can be grieved
• The Holy Spirit will never leave or forsake you
• He can back off
• He can be upset

Our Attitudes (v31)

• Put away:
• Bitterness - Having a sour disposition and always finding fault
• Wrath - seething white hot anger
• Anger - a hard attitude and settled disposition against a person
• Clamor - loud quarrellings
• Evil speaking
• Malice - the world is like this
• Put all these things away - be kind instead
• What a difference this makes
• This kindness is seen in Tabor
• We are forgiving people because we have been forgiven

Closing Remarks

• How do we respond to this?
• Lord help me when I fail and help me to confess it to you and to others as needed
• This will help build up the church
• Lord help me to put off the old man and put on the new man