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| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) *Song of Adoration: Hymnal #145C “I Will Extol You, O My God” Song of Confession: Hymnal #482 “In Doubt and Temptation” *Song of Preparation: Hymnal #23B “The Lord’s My Shepherd” Scripture: Ephesians 4:17-32 Text: Ephesians 4:25-32 Message: New Life Means New Virtue *Song of Response: Hymnal #501 “Lord, Speak to Me, That I May Speak” *Doxology: Hymnal #488: 1-3 “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior” |
Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Christian virtue is a sign of the new life in Christ. After the Reformation, ethical questions moved from the realm of virtues and vices to the law or 10 commandments. Still now, in exams for the ministry, you don’t here many questions directly about prudence and fortitude or sloth and greed. The questions asked involve applying the decalogue. This isn’t bad, however, I fear something has been lost.
What has been lost is virtue. 750 years ago a prolific theologian, Thomas Aquinas, wrote much on ethics. He defined virtue as “a good habit bearing on activity.” The Christian life is made up of habits. We know how habit works. It is usually a slow process of getting used to doing the same thing. We go through daily routines getting ready for work and school. But also in the Christian life, we get into a routine, it could be good or it could be bad. Some people are in the habit of swearing or cursing. Others never do that. Some parents get up an hour or a half hour before the rest of the house to begin their day with some good devotional time, others do not. It is a good habit.
We need to be careful also not to fall into a type of legalism as we speak of Christian virtue. This all must be rooted in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Christians ought not to pursue virtue and flee vice so that God will accept us. We are already accepted through the blood and righteousness of Jesus. So, we turn to God’s word this morning. Our theme is our new life in Christ is to be characterized by Christian virtue.
- Speech
- Hearts
- Conduct
I. Speech (v. 25, 29)
In each of the ethical calls to godliness in our text, there is a both a positive and a negative command given. Following that, we see a reason usually given. This happens at least 6 times. The first principle given is found in verse 25. Negatively, “having put away all falsehood”, positively “let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor”, and the reason is “for we are members one of another.”
The falsehood that is mentioned in verse 25 refers to a type of deception. The Christian ought to be committed to the truth. Whether it is in returning too much change given to you at the grocery store or filing your tax return. When I bought my truck, the guy I bought it from did not fill out the purchase price on the bill of sale. He said I left it blank so you can put in there whatever you want. It was an invitation to lie so I didn’t have to pay so much tax. This is lying to the government. There are dozens of ways of lying which are considered respectable sins.
Rather, let the believer speak the truth with his neighbor. Christians should be known for their honestly. This is important for not only does it honor God, but the end of verse 25 says, “for we are members one of another.” What that means is that your lie, has an impact on how others see Christians. Part of the sadness to see a Christian leader fall into great sin is that the world will then judge the church. There are people who have been mistreated in churches who have grown cold to the church altogether. Here also is one purpose of church discipline. Christians are to be those who stand for the truth.
The second direction given in our text regarding speech is found in verse 29 (read). When you speak, let it have purpose. The term corrupting talk is a broad term which can refer to swearing and vulgarity or even things like backbiting and gossip. The struggle with swearing is much more difficult if you were converted later in life or your workplace and associations are filled with profanity. A dear brother in Christ who was converted later in life struggled with this. In the midst of a round of golf, after a bad shot, he would say something and the rest of us would look at him, like, wow, I can’t believe you dropped an “F-bomb.” It has been so part of his vocabulary that it didn’t stick out to him like it did to the rest of us. That is profanity.
Likely a greater struggle for Christians is to ensure their speech is for “building up.” Have you ever been in a conversation over a coffee and people start talking about others. There is a fine line between sharing factual news and gossip. I know of people who have left a ladies night with a bad taste in their mouth because the women kept bashing their husbands. Two terms are used to describe the Christian’s speech, it should be “building up” and “grace giving to those who hear.”
If you realize that the conversations you have with your friends are not upbuilding or grace giving, you need to change that scenario by either objecting to corrupting talk or finding new friends. The habits of others wear off on you. That is why, young people, your parents emphasize so much the importance of the people who hang out with. Their influence is greater than you realize.
II. Hearts
Frankly, all of the imperative commands of our text are a matter of the heart. But, we look at two in particular at this point. They are anger and grieving the Holy Spirit.
Read verses 26-27. What is clear in verse 26 is that there is a good type of anger and a bad type of anger. The bad type of anger permeates our mind and heart. It works it way toward things like resentment, hatred, vengeance, and violence. The good type of anger is an anger toward sin. The commentator Wilson says, “He that will be angry and not sin, let him be angry at nothing but sin.”
Believers can be angry at injustice. They must be. However, as we receive information, the negative is always the leading story. I made a decision years ago to stop watching the news. By watching the news, you are being led by their narrative. I prefer now to read the news. But it gets tiring. We are barraged with all kinds of messed up brokenness. It can lead us jaded and resentful. When verse 27 says, “give no opportunity for the devil” we can understand what this means. Our hearts become hardened to others. Have you ever seen those shirts that says something like, “I like fishing and maybe 3 people.” I had a friend who often joked with that phrase. He had been a prison guard for his whole working life. He told me, “Pastor, you don’t realize what it is like to work among people (inmates) who hate you and want to kill you.” Daily comments wear down anyone. He became jaded. His heart became hardened. When it was time for the church do hand out soup in the inner city with the Salvation Army, he said he would never go…because he hated those people, they were in and out of jail. The anger in his heart gave opportunity for the Devil to harden him. He should have quit his job.
There is something more here. In verse 26, it commands us to not let the sun go down on your anger. This is important in marriage. However, notice what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say “don’t let the sun go down on your dispute or disagreement.” It says anger. The reason why is because anger is like a small fire that is easily rekindled. Sometimes it takes time to work through a disagreement and at 1:00 in the morning when husband and wife are exhausted it is probably not the best time. Let go rather of the anger that can so easily ensnare.
Now we skip down to verse 30. The reason why I connect this with the heart is because this is where grieving the Holy Spirit begins. The command to not grieve the Holy Spirit shows that the spirit is a personal. He can be grieved. How might the believer grieve the Holy Spirit? Any unholiness is grieving the Holy Spirit. Since he is called the truth, any lying can be a grieving of the Holy Spirit. Two great examples in the Bible are first the Israelites grumbling after they left Egypt. They wanted to return. They disregarded God’s great deliverance. They wanted the physical and worldly opportunities of Egypt over the Spiritual fellowship with God through the Spirit.
Another example is found in Acts 5. Here is where Ananias and Sapphira are caught lying about the price of the land they sold. They are struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit. To be sure, we should expect to see them in glory some day, but they did grieve the Holy Spirit.
The reason given at the end of verse 30 is that we are sealed for the day of redemption. We have been given all the blessings in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the special gift we are given as we walk this path which leads to life.
III. Conduct
The first of these moral imperatives is given in verse 28. Here the negative is that they should no longer steal. Positively, let him work and the reason is so that he may be able to share with others.
The negative of this command is obvious. Do not steal is the 8th commandment. As our catechism makes clear in Lords Day 42 is that the commandment is not just dealing with outright theft, taking that which isn’t yours. But all types of deception that gives to you what is not rightfully yours is theft.
Rather, let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands. The reason why a good day’s work is fulfilling is because you carrying out the virtue of a God-centered work ethic. II Thess. 3:10 says, “If anyone is unwilling to work, then he is not to eat, either.” There are all kinds of options to be lazy, to steal time from you employer. Rather, work hard, work honestly, respect your employer and employees, etc.
The reason given in our text for hard, honest work is so that we will have the opportunity to share with anyone in need. The fact of the matter, is that our money is not our own. It belongs to the Lord. He has entrusted it to us. Let us be generous in seeking first the kingdom of God with our finances. It is easy for us to seek first our own kingdom with our money. Let us seek first God’s kingdom.
The final virtue is kindness. In verse 31 there are 6 things mentioned that will work contrary to the call of verse 32. They are getting at the things we have already looked at. Examine your hearts and watch your speech. All of the things in verse 31 will tear down. In verse 32, we see the things that will build up.
Is kindness the forgotten fruit of the Spirit? Let Christians be kind. The likely initial application is in the life of the church, but all throughout this text, there is a call to show virtue before the world.
Our text concludes with the call to “forgive one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” God’s forgiveness of us is our motivation to forgive others. As we pray, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” As our catechism summarizes, “forgive us, just as we are fully determined to forgive our neighbors.” The amount of grace we give is proportionate to our realization of the amount of grace we have received.
Virtues are habits that we form. When you put yourselves in places where it is easy to honor God, it is so much easier to form these habits. The habit of vice works the opposite way. At the end of this ethical treatment of the Christian life in Ephesians 4, let me place before your consideration another time, the love that God has for you. “Because of the great love with which he loved us, even while were dead in our trespasses and sins, he made us alive together with Christ.” That is the greatness of God to us in Jesus Christ. We are new creations in him. Brothers and sisters, as new creations, life with the new ethic of life. Let it be our goal to love God and our neighbor as ourself, for in doing so, we are living in gratitude to the Lord. Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Steven Swets, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2024, Rev. Steven Swets
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