1. The first transformation is from lying lips to a truthful tongue.
2. The second transformation is from wrath to righteous anger.
3. The third transformation is from stealing to sharing.
4. The fourth transformation is from destructive to constructive words.
5. The fifth transformation is from malicious vices to the Master’s virtues.
EPHESIANS 4:25-32
Having spent the last few years of my Air Force career at a HQ level position, I kind of got to have a front-row seat to some of the politics that went on. Many of you know that Donald Rumsfeld was the Secretary of Defense up until a few months ago. According to the media, he got fired because of the way he handled the war in Iraq. Well, here’s the behind-the-scenes story. Top level generals in some of the branches of service were trying to get him fired from day one—even before 9/11. They were trying to get him fired because of a program called transformation. He wanted to completely change the way the Army and the Marine Corps did business. He took a “my way or the highway” approach and fired some of the top Army brass. When he did that, let’s just say he encountered a lot of resistance. The bottom line is, he wanted the military to change and they didn’t want to transform. He wanted them to change. As a rule, people don’t like change. Businesses spend millions of dollars every year trying to train their managers to get people to accept change in their corporations. But, unfortunately, that type of change is all based on manipulation. And it has to be, because true change only comes from a changed heart. The government can’t change a heart. A corporate boss can’t change a heart. Even a pastor can’t change a heart. Only one Person can change a heart. And that person is Jesus Christ. When Jesus saves us, He transforms even the very details of our lives. In the previous verses, Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians about the difference between the old man they used to be and the new man they had become in Christ. Now, in this passage, he goes on to give them the details of their transformation. He draws the focus a little tighter. We might say that he’s gone from preaching to meddling. He lays out the contrast because he wants them to live transformed lives. That’s what I want for us here this morning. I want each of us to live the transformed life that Jesus has saved us to have. In order to do that, we’re going to look at five transformations that Christ brings to the life of a believer. The first transformation is found in verse 25:
EPHESIANS 4:25
The believer transforms from lying lips to a truthful tongue. Have you ever gotten a new pair of glasses with a new prescription that you weren’t quite used to? I remember the first time I had to wear glasses. I can see up close just fine. I just can’t see far away. So if you ever see me take off my glasses in the pulpit, it probably means that I don’t want to look at you. But when I first got glasses, my feet looked like they were really far away. It became almost difficult to walk until I got used to them. It was difficult to walk because my eyes were giving my brain false information. They were telling me that my feet were farther away than they really were. In a sense, my eyes were lying to my brain and my body was having to pay the price of overcoming the lie. It is the same thing in the church—the body of Christ. If we in the church don’t speak truth with one another, we won’t ever get anywhere. Now, a word of caution here. Speaking truth doesn’t necessarily mean telling everything we know or feel. We are commanded to speak the truth in love. If someone tells us something in confidence, we can’t betray that confidence unless it is for their safety. Here’s another example for the men. If your wife asks you if she looks fat in these jeans, it’s best not to say yes. If she does look fat in them, you can’t say no. But you’d better not say yes. If you figure out how to get out of that trap, you need to write a book. You’ll sell a million copies. All kidding aside, when Jesus saves us, He transforms us. He transforms us from everything from telling outright lies to little exaggerations that make us look better than we really are. Sometimes those lies show up in the church when we act more pious than we really are. We give off the air of being perfect instead of encouraging others with how Jesus helps us with our struggles. Even if our struggles are with the truth. As Christians, we’re part of the same body. And we’ve been transformed from lying lips to a truthful tongue. The second transformation is found in verses 26-27:
EPHESIANS 4:26-27
The believer transforms from wrath to righteous anger. Phyllis Diller agreed with this verse, as far as not letting the sun go down on your anger. She said, “Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.” Well, of course that’s not what the passage is talking about. Did you know that the Bible never condemns anger? Anger is an emotion given to us by God. But there are two problems with anger. The first problem is, What makes us angry? When Jesus transforms us, there are certain things that should make us angry. We should be angry when we see child abuse. We should be angry when we see division and strife in the church. We should be angry when we see people dragging down the name of Christ with their behavior. Those things should make us angry just like Jesus got angry when He saw the temple being turned into a money-making facility. Just like He got angry when the disciples tried to run off all the children. Just like He got angry at the results of sin when his friend Lazarus died. That is righteous anger. Unrighteous anger is the kind of anger we show when we don’t get our way. The temper tantrums we throw when something doesn’t go the way we wanted it to. Or when something might not agree with our style or personal taste. The kind of anger that either results in or results from hurt feelings. Anytime we lash out in anger, we hurt feelings. But many times, when our feelings get hurt, we react by lashing out in anger. Either way is wrong. It is unrighteous anger that is not evidence of being transformed. So, what makes us angry is a problem. The second problem is, How do we act when we’re angry? The truth be told, most of the ways we act when we’re angry are wrong and they’re tied directly to our temperament. Most of the time we think of people who are hot headed and blow up as wrongfully acting in anger. But what about the ones who just let it simmer under the surface. Probably a better word than simmer is fester. The anger of a person who blows up is all at once and is all in the open. And just like the Ghent explosion, it leaves a lot of damage in its wake. No amount of human cleanup or patching can repair the damage from many angry temper explosions. But the under the surface festering kind of unrighteous anger is just as bad or worse. Just like a wound that festers. It slowly grows and spreads its disease until before long, a full-blown case of gangrene has set in. When Paul says not to let the sun go down on our wrath, he’s pointing out two things. First is what we most often think of. Don’t sleep on it. Don’t go to bed mad. Get it worked out before too much time passes and it festers. But he’s also using the idea of the sun going down as a metaphor for illumination. In other words, don’t turn the light off your anger. Don’t hide it and cover it up. Shine the light on it—expose it. Actively seek the reasons why you are angry. Is it selfishness? Is it hurt feelings? Is it pride? Is it righteous anger? Figure it out. Shine the light on it. And then expose it by either repenting of the unrighteous reasons or confronting the righteous reasons. Expose it. Shine the light on it. Don’t let it linger. Clear it up and get over it. Transform it from wrath to righteous anger. The third transformation is found in verse 28:
EPHESIANS 4:28
The believer transforms from stealing to sharing. I would venture to say that there are not many of us who would have ever considered ourselves to be a thief. A thief is such an ugly word. Nobody likes people who steal—not even lost people. Or, maybe I should say that nobody likes to be called a thief. Or nobody wants to be the victim of a thief. Because people steal stuff all the time. We steal other people’s joy when we treat them badly. We steal from our boss when we waste time on the job. We steal from our families when we don’t give them the time and the love they need. We steal from the government when we cheat on our taxes. We steal from the church when we don’t serve God with the gifts He’s given us. We steal from God when we don’t willingly and cheerfully give our tithes and offerings. But a transformed person doesn’t steal any longer. A transformed person works hard to accomplish what is good. Works hard to give instead of take. Works hard to serve instead of steal. Works hard to share the blessings of God with those who are in need. Transforming from stealing to sharing involves hard work and it involves a humble heart. It can’t involve control, it can only involve caring. It can’t involve gaining, it can only involve giving. Transform from stealing to sharing. The fourth transformation is in verses 29-30:
EPHESIANS 4:29-30
The believer transforms from destructive to constructive words. When you think about it, our mouths can only be used for two things. They can either be use for blessings or cursings. You know, we’re very careful to never use words off that list that we’ve determined to be curse words. There was a foul-mouthed comedian back in the early ‘70s that came up with a whole routine based on the seven words you can’t say on television. At the time, he was arrested for performing it. Now all the words except one are regularly heard on TV. But we’re good people. We’re very careful not to use those words. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were equally as careful about only using words that built each other up? That’s the contrast that Paul uses here. It’s not about using curse words verses not using them. Of course it’s crucial that our speech be pure. But it’s also crucial that it be edifying. That it be the kind of speech that ministers grace to whoever hears it. I have often said that most of our churches would be much better off if telephone service went out for about 6 months. This is how important our words are. Paul said that when we speak destructive words… words like gossip, slander, and backbiting. Words that tear our brothers and sisters down instead of lifting them up. He said that those kinds of words actually grieve the Holy Spirit who lives in you. He has sealed your salvation and is deeply saddened and hurt any time you use your words destructively. When we’re transformed, our mouth is transformed as well. We’re transformed from using destructive words to using constructive words. The fifth and final transformation is found in verses 31-32:
EPHESIANS 4:31-32
The believer transforms from malicious vices to the Master’s virtues. A vice is a corrupt behavior that has become a habit. We think of vices as things like gambling and drinking. Once again, those are things that we do a pretty good job of avoiding. And we should. But Paul gets to the deeper vices. Drinking and gambling can be horribly destructive behaviors. But the vices that Paul lists here can be even more destructive and classifies them all as malice. The first malicious vice he lists is bitterness. Bitterness is what happens to hurt when it is allowed to take root. Bitterness harbors resentment. It has not only kept a score sheet, it dwells on the score, spitefully hoping for a chance to get even. Bitterness is a vice because once it takes root, it’s hard to dig out. Kindness won’t do it. Apologies won’t do it. Only the contrite and transformed heart of the one who is bitter will do it. He talks about wrath and anger. The words he uses speak of rage and simmering hatred that grow out of bitterness. When the root of bitterness is left unchecked and allowed to grow, it grows into a tree of wrath and anger. Finally, it grows fully and blossoms with the fruit of clamor and evil speaking. The word used for clamor comes from the incessant cawing of crows. It is grating, constant arguing and bickering that can be likened to brawling. Evil-speaking is from the exact same word we get our word blasphemy. In other words, when the malicious vice of bitterness takes root, it inevitably grows into a tree of wrath and anger that eventually bears the fruit of verbal abuse and even blasphemy. That only makes sense. Because if, as the church, we are indeed the body of Christ… what does that mean if we verbally abuse one another? It means we’re verbally abusing Christ Himself. And that’s blasphemy. I’ve heard preachers warn people about speaking against the Lord’s anointed, referring to themselves. That’s a twisting of the Scriptures for their own personal benefit. But if the passage where David refuses to harm King Saul has any application today, it is with all believers. David wouldn’t harm Saul because he was God’s anointed King. When a person trusts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they now have God’s anointed King living inside them. So anytime we treat one another maliciously, we are doing harm to God’s anointed. And He doesn’t take kindly to that. He considers that blasphemy. But in verse 32, Paul gives us the RoundUp that kills that tree all the way down to its bitter root. And it’s pretty simple. He goes in reverse order to kill the tree from the blossoms to the rood. First, be kind. Simple kindness kills verbal abuse and blasphemy. Then, have a tender heart. Ripping the callouses off your heart and making it tender again will make rage and simmering hatred impossible to hold on to. Finally, forgiving one another in the same manner that Jesus forgave you kills the root. Jesus forgave you, not because you did anything to deserve it. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for you. He gave everything for your forgiveness before you were even born, much less asked for it. Why should you do any less for a brother or sister who has wronged you? Unconditional forgiveness is the only thing that will kill the bitter root. And unless the bitter root is killed, the rest of the tree will continue growing. We’re transformed when we move from malicious vices to the Master’s virtues.
Most of the time when we see how a transformed person is supposed to act, we fall short. We still struggle with sin. But that’s just the point. We struggle with it. Prior to being transformed in Christ, the old man doesn’t struggle with sin. He can’t help but lie. He can’t help but show unrighteous wrath. He can’t help but steal. He can’t help but use corrupt words. He can’t help but engage in fleshly vices. But when Jesus saves us, we can help it. He gives us the power of His Holy Spirit to resist the temptation to sin in our lives. He gives us the conviction of His Holy Spirit to remind us when we succumb to that temptation. And He gives us the strength of the Holy Spirit to confess and repent of that sin and set up safeguards so we don’t do it again. Transformation is both an event and a process. Our standing before a Holy God is automatically transformed when we submit to the Lord Jesus Christ and give our lives to Him. That happens immediately and nothing can change it or take it away. But it’s also a process. From the moment we’re saved, we are to be transforming into the very likeness of Christ every day. Some days are better than others. But our transformation is to be happening every day. The question is, have you ever been transformed in the first place? Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior this morning? We will be having the Lord’s Supper here in a few minutes. Don’t enter that time without knowing that you have submitted to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Don’t enter that time without knowing that you have been transformed by His salvation. Maybe you know that you’ve been saved, but you aren’t living the transformed life you know you’re supposed to. Don’t leave this place this morning without making that right. Confess your sins before Jesus and ask Him to make your transformation fresh and new. Publicly commit to live your life the way He would have you to so that we can support you and pray for you.
