Do Not Grieve The Holy Spirit Series

Last week, this week and for the next few weeks we are looking at in this sermon series what “Putting on the New Man” looks like. Reviewing from last week:

Ephesians 4:22a and 24a (NKJV)

that you put off, … the old man, -- and that you put on the new man ...

These instruction that Paul gives reading, From Ephesians 4:17 through Ephesians 5:21, appear to have a lot of negative instruction, meaning he says a lot about what we should not being doing. Why is that? As we discussed last week, we have problems taking off the “old man.” The ways and influences of the world around us tend to tear us away from the things we should be doing.

My daughter and her husband are in the process of adopting two little girls, ages two and five (Ellen and I are new grandparents!). They have a son age 9. I was talking to her last night and she was telling me about all the adjustments they are making. How many of you remember what it was like with a two year old in the house? Well my daughter’s new two year-old is quickly learning her new name, “No-No.”

Are we not like two years-olds in many ways? We have to be constantly reminded what not to do. This is the situation Paul is in with the church in Ephesus. It is a lifelong process of ridding ourselves of all our old ways of the old man so we can be all that God has called us to be as a new man, a new creation in Christ. (2 Cor 5:17).

Ephesians 4:25–32 (NKJV)

In Ephesians, the Scriptures tells us, as Christians, those that are saved, who are “in Christ," have their lives changed by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13–14 (NKJV) In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

We have been sealed. Who can break that seal? No one, not even ourselves, can break the seal that is on us by the Holy Spirit. What comfort that brings by the assurance of our salvation.

That "seal" implied possession. It was like the brand that ranchers use to identify their cattle. Once that brand was seared onto a cow, it could not be removed. It could be altered or changed with another branding iron, but the true brand would still show up if the hide was examined from the inside. If a cow is marked with a certain brand, it belongs to a certain ranch. It also means that a cow with that brand better now show up somewhere in the neighbors stock-pens!

But that brand that was burned into the cows hide also meant that the rancher made a commitment towards that piece of livestock. What would the neighbors say if they saw his cows wandering around with no water on the range? Or what would they say down at the auctions if all the cows with his brand came through mangy and uncared for? What would that say about the owner of those cattle?

And so God put his seal (or His brand) on you when he gave you his Holy Spirit. When you first heard the gospel, the Holy Spirit entered your heart. His presence in your heart is God’s seal. That seal gives a message loud and clear to the devil, who would love to claim you as his own. It says, "That one belongs to me. Don’t you dare meddle with someone who carries my seal!

And that seal also carries with it a commitment on the part of the Holy Spirit inside of us. On the last day, when we are brought before the Lord for judgment, how can he miss his own seal? How can he not see that we have been bought with the blood of Jesus and sealed with the Holy Spirit? He must then claim us for eternity! We have been sealed for the day of redemption! [1]

Today’s passage deals with the seal of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4:30 (NKJV) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

With the Holy Spirit, the very seal of God on our lives, we should not be doing anything that brings grief to God and His Spirit. In the Greek, the “do not grieve” is in the Present Active Indicative tense coupled with a negative. That means it is a command to stop an on-going action. If Paul was writing this today in today's contemporary English, he would say something like “STOP GRIEVING the Holy Spirit.” The implication is that we are grieving the Spirit continually. We cause pain as well as well as sorrow to God and His Spirit because of our thoughts and actions. We know there are many things we can do to grieve the Spirit, but I want to consider this verse in the greater context of today’s passage, our conduct within the church.