WHEN WE MOVE OUT, GOD MOVES IN PART 5
Moving Out in Unity ( All my sermons use illustrations from sermoncentral.com and all scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted)
As we wrap up this series of sermons, please turn with me to Ephesians 4 and we will be looking at many scriptures from this chapter all morning, so keep it open here. Now, I don’t always know what God will move me to speak on each week, BUT, this week it seemed from the very beginning of the week that the sermon I had planned was not what we needed to hear, please note that I said we, and not you. Many of these sermons have been for ALL of us lately, this one is no exception.
We have seen how God tells us to MOVE OUT, so He can MOVE IN. We need to have authentic humility, we need to move out of the comfort zone, we need to trust God, even when we don’t understand and we need to have endurance, never quitting. There are many other things we need to move out in so that God can move in, but this is the last sermon in the series. It is my humble opinion that every church in America needs to hear more about unity. So this morning if you have your Bible with you I would ask that you turn with me to EPHESIANS, chapter 4. Now you will want to keep your finger there, we will be looking at different scriptures from this chapter at different times this morning, BUT, let’s start out with the first couple of verses.
Eph 4:1- As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
I think you would agree that sometimes, it takes someone with the proper credentials to speak to us before we are willing to listen. Paul has such credentials. Perhaps some of us in this room this morning can relate to Paul, he was not raised “in the Lord,” he was actually set on ridding the world of Christians. Now, he sits in Rome, on house arrest. AND, he is not taking time for a pity party, but, instead, he writes to the Christians at Ephesus, and implores them to “live a life worthy of the calling.” Paul is insisting that the walk match the talk, that if they claim Christ, that they display Christ and he tells them how to do this:
He uses four words that should be seen in the life of any openly called Christian, the first is HUMILITY. Now we spent an entire sermon on this subject. Humility is not thinking of ourselves as useless, it understanding that we are nothing without God. It is becoming less that He might become greater, removing our desires and our comforts in order that God can be glorified. Paul says as much in 1 COR 10:31 1 Cor 10:31-33 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God- 33 even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
I see this as Christian, or Christ Like HUMILITY - not worrying about our feelings, not worrying about our comfort, glorifying Christ, EVEN AS I TRY TO PLEASE EVERYBODY.
Meekness = humility – Dr. Samuel Brengle (Salvation Army) said “The axe cannot boast of the trees it has cut down. IT could do nothing but for the woodsman. He made it, he sharpened it, he used it. The moment he throws it aside, it becomes only old iron. O that I may never lose sight of this.”
Without God we are nothing! This kind of humility, when displayed by everyone can and will create unity. Paul groups this type of humility with gentleness, or being considerate. This words denotes a controlled strength, an element of restraint, the ability to hold our tongue. James tells us that the tongue is much like the rudder of a large ship, our WORDS direct our STEPS!
That is humble and gentle, and then Paul tells us to be PATIENT and “bear with one another, in love” And I think that the word PATIENT means two different things that are equally important, first the ability to endure trials and second the reluctance to avenge wrongs. Paul is calling us to live a life that displays an ability to finish the race, to endure and persevere. He is also telling us that we need to control our anger and our desire to “pay back” those that do us wrong. BUT, we do love to get even, don’t we?
A soldier fighting over in Iraq received a letter from his girl friend that said she was breaking up with him. She also asked him to send the picture she had given him when he left because she needed it for her bridal announcement. The soldier was heart broken and told his friends of his terrible situation. So his whole platoon got together and brought all their pictures of their girlfriends, and put them in a box and gave them to him. So he put her picture in the box with the rest along with a note that said, “I’m sending back your picture to you please remove it and send back the rest. For the life of me I can’t remember which one you are.” We love revenge don’t we? And because we like revenge we think God is that way as well. Yet Paul is telling us to live a life worthy of the calling, and folks, revenge is not part of that calling.
Paul tells us to bear with one another in love, and this really means to “HOLD EACH OTHER UP,” to put up with each others fault and idiosyncracies.
Those of us who have been married for a while understand that our spouse is NOT always exactly what we wish they were. Actually, if we were to be honest, people in general are not always what we wish they were. We are ALL very different from one another. I see that as a good thing, the world probably would cease to exist if there was another just like me, one is more than enough. I suppose there are people that make the world a better place a we might learn from them, strive even to be more like them. But even those people we admire are NOT always the way we wished they would be. Paul calls us to understand this and to bear with one another, to hold those people up. This is stepping out in UNITY and giving God room to work.
Now would you skip down a few verses with me, and let’s read verses 11-13
Eph 4:11-13 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Now, I have studied this section of scripture many, many times. I do not want to spend a great deal of time here this morning, because the message needs to be on unity. BUT, this section talks about the gifts, the different gifts of those that are to be leading the church, He speaks, of those that are the foundation of the church, the Apostles and Prophets - I think the days of these are over, the 12 CAN NOT in my opinion be replaced, they were appointed by Jesus and sent out. As for Prophets, well, there are many claiming to be prophets even today, I can not say they are not, especially if what they claim goes hand in hand with scripture. I do not think it is important, they are the base of the church. Evangelist, is a word that is thrown around a lot today, I think these are more in the missionary category. I see, these people being the ones that bring the message to those that have never heard it before. There are not many in the United States that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, at least by name. Some still refuse to humble themselves before God and admit they are sinners in need of a Savior, but, they too will see the need one day. Pastors and teachers are grouped and again I think this is done for a reason, I think these two roles compliment each other, some are better at one then the other, and some are good at both. The Pastor being one that nurtures, protects and supervises the flock, and the teacher one who would instruct in the Word of God. Neither is anything without the power of the Holy Spirit, and YET the purpose they serve is to PREPARE GOD’S PEOPLE FOR WORKS OF SERVICE! Now I don’t want to spend a lot of time dwelling on this, but the reason we have Pastors, preachers, teachers is to allow the body, THROUGH the Word of God to be prepared to WORK. God built in a fail safe. The Pastor is to preach only God’s Word, he may have an opinion, hopefully an educated opinion, BUT, it must be from the Word of God. Paul, gave credit to those that checked.
Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
An example to all of us, a willingness to accept the truth, BUT a need to examine the scripture, not just once, BUT everyday. This needs to be done as well if we are to step out in Unity. Demonstrating humility and gentleness, patience and forbearance, and accepting the teachings of God’s Word for the training, or preparing of good works is essential for unity in God’s church.
Now there is a lot more meat in this chapter, a lot of things that I will preach about and share with you in years to come, however, this morning I ask that you skip down with me to verse 25.
Eph 4:25-27 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
OK, here we go! Verse 25 is the kicker - the one that many of us do NOT want to handle. I can speak of this from experience, I have been on both ends of this. The old self is gone, this was spoken in early verses we did not examine this morning, BUT, with the “old self” gone so is “falsehood.” This is the form of hypocrisy that keeps the worldly from becoming Christians, this is where people talk about each other a lot differently then they speak to each other, and I will ask for an AMEN?
I honestly believe that when we do not speak the truth, in love, we allow the devil a foothold. We act as if there is not a problem, but we know there is and this is falsehood. We know that Jesus is TRUTH, therefore the body must speak TRUTH, and the fellowship we have must be marked with an openness, a need to be open and honest with one another, anything less than this gives Satan room to work and keeps God from leading and directing the steps of the church. I see that Paul continues his point by saying “In your anger, do not sin.” Folks, we are offended by other people ALL the time, Jesus told us to concentrate on the plank in our own eye before we worry about the speck in our brothers. BUT, there are times when we see an injustice, a sin, a wrong doing and we are instructed to act. Gal 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted
Matt 18:15-16 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ’every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
Notice that these teachings never say, let it fester so you may have real anger in your heart before you deal with the problem. When we allow anger to fester, instead of dealing with the problem directly, Satan uses this to divide and conquer. We start by talking with others about the problem, instead of dealing with the problem. We pretend that everything is great with the people we have a problem with and here the hypocrisy starts to build. “Oh, how are you today? Give me a hug!” Let’s face it, there are some things we really don’t like, some things we hate. You know there are some things that I hate Like Brussel sprouts, there is nothing about Brussel sprouts that I like, I don’t like the smell, the looks, or especially the taste Its safe to say I hate Brussel Sprouts. Some people dislike boxing or NASCAR or competitive eating as a sport. Some hate bell bottom pants, or rainy days, or Mondays I suppose we all have things which are less than our favorites. But what do you really hate? We talk about God’s love, but there are some things that God hates. God hates pride, lying, and hypocrisy, just to name a few. And with a passion! But He never stops loving us. So while vehemently against those things, those attitudes, and those actions, which can hurt us. His love for the person is always there. God hates the sin but He still loves the sinner. And just think of all the sins committed in all of eternity. From the little white lies all the way up to the most horrible sin you can think of. Every sin from the fall of Adam, until God establishes His eternal Kingdom with the saints. Was placed on Jesus, on that cross, His only Son who with every drop of blood covered each and every sin. And that is How God loves you.
And God wants us to love one another this way too, we can dislike, even hate those things that our brothers and sisters do, say and act on, but we are to love one another. And Paul wants even more, read with me verse 29, let’s read it aloud together, Eph 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
DO NOT LET ANY UNWHOLESOME . . . This is to say any unhealthy talk, anything that would be considered BAD LANGUAGE, now for some of us that will be different then others. I imagine that it has something to do with the way that we are raised and in the culture we grow up. BUT, here Paul is saying much more than just bad language, he is saying any kind of gossip or slander, or anything that would start dissension, anything that would keep the church from growing. AND then he takes it another step, he says SPEAK ONLY encouraging words, that which will build the church, will build others up according to the areas they fall short in, do this so that those that listen will benefit from it.
If we were to only speak encouraging words about our church body, it could not help but grow, if we are united the world will see this.
For many years before I became a preacher, I was a chef, I worked in many different kitchens with many different people. I learned quickly that teamwork was the only thing that would make Friday evening go by smoothly. If there were people that did not like each other on the crew, things would be more difficult. I found that those that didn’t like someone were always trying to get other people to feel the same way AND this caused even greater problems. The church is to step out in UNITY in order that the lost of this world can see the Lord Jesus Christ, we must put our indifference behind us and work together for the kingdom. We must build each other up.
Let’s end with the last few verses - Eph 4:30-32 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
It is easy to allow those that offend us to bring us down to a level we should never arrive at. Abraham Lincoln, America’s most beloved president, was anything but beloved while he was in office. The South hated him. The anti-war activists hated him. Democrats hated him, calling him a widow-maker. The media ridiculed his eyes, looks, and body, calling him a freak of nature. Harpers magazine so much as to call him a host of names in print: filthy story teller, despot, liar, thief, braggart, buffoon, usurper, monster, ignoramus Abe, old scoundrel, perjurer, swindler, tyrant, field-butcher, land-pirate. But Abraham Lincoln would not stoop down to the level of his critics. He won over a lot of his enemies and critics by holding fast to this famous principle encapsulated in his second inaugural address: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right.?
GET RID of BITTERNESS which is the opposite of sweetness and kindness, RAGE is what flows from keeping bitterness inside, it is an outburst of uncontrolled frustration - these things that Paul lists here are products of the old self. Instead we are to be kind and compassionate to one another.
Now I can say that it is not hard to come across as lacking in compassion. I have done this myself, and have asked forgiveness from God and from those that have perceived me this way. UNITY at all costs, whatever it takes. The Bible teaches us that as far as it depends on US, make peace with all people. We can only do our part, we can do no more, BUT God calls us to do NO less.
My prayer this morning as the musicians come forward is that we as a church might learn from the Apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit that guided him when he penned these words for all of us to hear. If you are hear this morning and you have not done your part to insure UNITY in God’s church, won’t you come forward and ask God’s forgiveness and pray that He might guide you down the right path starting today?
INVITATION
