“Changing Wardrobe”
Ephesians 4:31
REVIEW
I. Our Wealth and Worth In Christ 1-3
II. Our Worthy Walk in Christ 4-6
A. Live in Unity 4:1-16
B. Live in Newness of life 4:17-24
C. Live in Love 4:17-24
1. Speak truth not falsehood 4:25
2. Be angry without sinning 4:26-27
3. Stop stealing but work with your hands to give 4:28
4. Speak with your mouth to encourage and energize not demoralize 4:29
5. Stop grieving the Holy Spirit 4:30
God continually works in our lives to bring us to the point where we not only do the things that please Him but actually want to do them. His will becomes our will. That which pleases Him, also pleases us. After six weeks of eating healthier, I am actually coming to the point where I actually enjoy the taste of healthier food. Sometimes changing tastes is a process.
That process may even reach a point of neutrality. We may neither feel good or bad following God’s ways. As we keep at it, life lived according to God’s ways eventually becomes our delight. David prayed that God would lead in in the “ruts” of righteousness. We will eventually find ourselves saying, “I delight to do Your will O God.” Jesus told His disciples that His food (what sustained Him) was doing His Father’s will.
Paul now expands on how God’s love is supposed to operate in God’s new community.
Part of not grieving the Holy Spirit is to live in love and harmony rather than hostility.
Living in love requires that we deal with the hostile feelings toward others that rise up in us from time to time. God’s community thrives on an others-centered philosophy. God’s community is all about love and harmony, unity and cooperation. Paul returned to a negative/positive pattern of teaching. He first gave a list of negative things to be purged followed by a list of positive things to be practiced. The things Paul listed are similar to clothes or uniforms that identify people with a particular group or organization.
You see the clothes; you automatically associate that person with a certain group. Each of the branches of military service can be clearly identified by their uniform. You can spot a policeman by his uniform. You can identify a fireman by the clothes he wears. Bikers, doctors, nurses, businessmen, priests, sports teams can all be identified by the clothes they wear.
Paul advocates discarding of the clothes of the old Kingdom and donning of the new Kingdom clothes. You might say the soldiers need to strip down and suit up.
Take away instruction for the next two weeks…
As dearly loved children of God’s family we must eliminate all hostility and embrace harmony.
All of us have experience a hostile moment or environment wither at home or in the work place. It is uncomfortable. It robs us of the joy. The dissonance eats away at us, divides us, hinders creativity, and stirs negative emotions. Dissonance is part of life in a rebellious world.
It does currently play an important role by illustrating the relief caused by its resolve.
6. Let God purge the hostility within us 4:31
Everyone is familiar with broken relationships, hostile interaction, heated arguments, and downright hurtful behavior between people. God’s intent for His community is different.
He requires harmony over hostility, love over lashing out, cooperation over conflict.
Paul has issued a whole string of present active tense commands all through this passage.
Only here does he switch the flavor of the verb. Rather than an active verb, which indicates an action done BY ME, he employs a passive verb, which indicates an action done TO ME.
All the other commands have been things that we were supposed to do or change. This command has to do with us allowing someone or something else to do the action. Paul assembles a list of six relationship killers that need to be eliminated from our lives; six toxins to community life. Each one is a bit different but all of them share a common element with each of the others. Every one of them has to do with relational dysfunction and broken community. Each one of them has to do with hostility rather than harmony between people.
All of them are the result or outworking of a hard or self-centered heart.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Ephesians 4:31
These things are all the result of a heart condition that only God can address in our life. We must cooperate with him. We must invite Him to accomplish the work in us. We cannot get rid of them without His supernatural work in the core of our soul. Just as we could not save ourselves, neither can we live the Christian life without His work. We must fully cooperate with him in the transformation of our relationships and the removal of selfish hostility still lurking in the soul.
Just a note before we look at Paul’s list. God includes lists of harmful things to purge or helpful things to practice in the Bible not to focus necessarily on the particular items in the list but to diagnose our heart condition. They function as an EKG or treadmill test which measures the proper functioning of the heart. These lists are a way to determine when our heart needs attention. We will not spend a great deal of time on each individual item; only enough time to explain it and to realize that its presence in our life always indicates a deeper issue of the heart. A closer look at this list as a whole seems to indicate a progressive nature to it.
Paul progresses from the internal fuming and the hostility of a bitter angry spirit to the destructive external expression of it toward others.
a. Purge all manner of Bitterness
This is a subject that we addressed for several weeks a while back. I suggest that you request the notes from that series for a more thorough treatment. Today we will hit just the highlights since there are several other relational issues to address from this verse.
Bitterness describes the harboring of negative thoughts and emotions in the soul toward those I hold responsible for an actual or perceived offense intentionally or unintentionally inflicted upon me or someone I care about.
Bitterness refers to the hard-heartedness that harbors resentment about past offenses.
Wounds and offenses are unavoidable in this life – bitterness is. We can’t avoid them. We can, however, resist allowing them to take root and pollute our hearts. Hebrews is clear about how we should deal with bitterness.
See to it…that no root of bitterness springing up entangle, and by it many be defiled Heb 12:15
All relational wounds are painful when they first occur. Failure to promptly and properly address such wounds results in serious infection.
The Greeks defined bitterness as long-standing resentment.
Wives harbor bitterness about things done years ago.
Husbands nurture bitterness because of perceived neglect or disrespect by their wives.
Church members foster bitterness over some past disagreement or misunderstanding.
People nurse bitterness over some real or perceived offense they are unwilling to release.
Infected wounds will never heal without special and sometimes radical attention. It's much easier to address a fresh uninfected wound than an infected one. Relational wounds that we fail to properly address result in serious infection or bitterness. Once bitterness is allowed to take root, greater damage and possible death result. God instructs those in His community to continually guard against bitterness taking root in their life and community.
Six observations regarding bitterness flow out of this short passage.
1. Bitterness is a community issue (ya all see to it)
2. Bitterness is distasteful and poisonous (bitter)
3. Bitterness begins underground (root)
4. Bitterness eventually surfaces (springing up to the surface)
5. Bitterness entangles us (entangle you)
6. Bitterness defiles others (many be defiled)
We have all encountered bitter people and have harbored bitterness ourselves to one degree or another. Just as there are different levels of biological infection, there are varying degrees of bitterness. There is the general infection that goes away with Neosporin. Then there is MERSA which can literally eat someone alive. Be certain that ignoring the infection will not eliminate it. Failure to address bitterness will always turn into something worse. You recognize bitterness in others. It makes you uncomfortable to be around. It tears churches apart and destroys the closest of families. Christians are certainly not immune. Even a cursory survey of the New Testament exposes continual hostility among Christians.
These bitter roots thrive best in the soil of self-centeredness and pride. It is a heart problem just as all of the things in the list are indications of a heart problem. The cure may seem difficult and appear to promise more emotional pain but will ultimately result in the healing of the original wound. Wounds may leave scars but dealing with the wound properly will free us from the poisonous infection that affects every area of your life through bitterness.
Since the prevention and cure for bitterness is also the prevention and cure for all of the rest of the heart issues listed here, I will present it at the end.
The next two items in the list could actually be considered together. Recently, we spent considerable time on the whole issue of anger. Paul uses both of the Greek words translated anger in this verse. Whereas earlier he told us to be angry without sinning, here, he instructs us to allow God to eradicate all sinful wrath and anger. Bitterness allowed to fester in the soul continually stirs anger which fertilizes the bitter roots.
b. Purge all manner of Wrath
If there is any difference between these two words, “wrath” would have more to do with a deep-seated settled kind of anger; the slow burn. This is the kind of anger that simmers over a period of time. It is like a long burning hot coal that could be fanned into flame at any moment. It has deep roots into the soul.
c. Purge all manner of Anger
The word translated “anger” leans toward a flash-burn kind of anger. This is the kind of anger like quick burning straw or tinder which ignites with a spark. It seems to be more of a reactionary kind or response. I encourage you to go back over the notes on our discussion of anger from a while back for greater detail on this subject of anger and how to either direct it or defuse it. Unchecked, this hostile bitterness will ultimately breach the surface in one or more of the following manifestations as well as many not specifically listed here.
d. Purge all manner of Clamor
This word refers to a loud cry or commotion. Clamor doesn't necessarily always have a negative connotation to it but in this context, it seems to indicate intense loud and insensitive verbal confrontation. It is a harsh and hostile confrontation between people that tends to get loud. This Greek word was used to describe what the demons did when confronted by Jesus.
It suggests the lack of restraint which erupts in angry yelling, while blasphemy, “slander,” indicates the more specific form this can take, namely the abuse and vilifying of others.
Such behavior usually indicates a general hostility toward others. It usually does not have a redemptive or positive purpose in mind. The purpose is to win, manipulate, punish or control.
What Paul has in mind here are those self-centered clashes between people because of internal issues and ill intent lurking in the heart. Again, the problem stems from a heart issue.
Many have been on the receiving end of such an encounter. Others have been on the transmitting end.
e. Purge all manner of Slander
This is actually the word “blasphemia” from which we get our English word blasphemy.
It refers to evil speaking or to speak intentionally hurtful things against another person.
It is used for both words and actions that demean another. It is used in relation to God as well as people or groups. Paul warned about a couple guys in the New Testament who blasphemed God by their actions.
Keep faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme. 1 Timothy 1:19-20
Paul previously instructed Ephesians to stop letting any such words proceed from their mouth but only graceful words that build others up. Again, such behavior is the result of hostility hanging about in the heart. Paul instructs us to let God put a guard over our mouth and continually transform our heart.
Have you ever said things you regretted later?
Have you ever had someone say things about you?
This is not the foundation of the new community of God. God’s family is a community of harmony not hostility.
f. Purge all manner of Malice
Finally this next instruction serves as a basic summary. The Greek word translated “malice” has a broad usage. It is translated bad, evil, depraved, harmful, wicked or malicious. It describes any inner desire for someone’s hurt, any evil intent, any wish for revenge. Perhaps this summarizes any attitude or action which wills harm to another person. Let God take away anything that might be hurtful to others from our life. King David asked God to search his heart for any hurtful way in him.
Do any of these things characterize our relationship with people?
When you see these things in a person's life, your first conclusion is that they must not belong to God's kingdom. In fact, Paul makes it clear a bit later and in other passages that these kinds of behavior will have NO place in God's eternal community.
Those whose life is characterized by these things will not have an inheritance in His kingdom.
Paul calls us to do everything we can to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and harmony. Peter urged all followers of Jesus to live in harmony.
To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3:8-9
Once we have discarded these filthy rags from the old life, we’re not to stay unclothed but to slip into God's new kingdom clothes. The style of those new kingdom clothes will be the subject of next week. Let us look at some things we can do to get our heart in shape so as to avoid these things.
Preventing Heart Disease
There are some preventative measures that can be taken to prevent hostility from taking root in the first place.
1. Fully trust God
If we keep our heart focused on God, we are less susceptible to the flaws of people.
If there are hurtful things, our world view tells us it is allowed by God for a higher purpose.
Nothing exposes the junk in our own heart faster than hurtful the actions of other people.
2. Sacrificially serve people
If we focus on serving people, we become more likely to overlook issues in them.
We become more concerned about their eternal redemption than our personal rights.
3. Completely forgive those who offend me
If I continually chose to forgive those who offend me, bitterness cannot take root.
The humility necessary to forgive others depletes the soil of our heart of the element that fertilizes bitterness cannot take root.
4. Genuinely bless those who offend me
God blessed us to bless others. He calls us to even bless our enemies and those who hurt us.
You can’t bless and be bitter at the same time. When we have allowed our negative thoughts and emotions to take root in our life the following steps are some curative measures necessary for its eradication. Some of these things are also the things that will prevent it in the first place.
Curing Heart Disease
1. Honestly examine your life for hostile roots.
2. Confess pride and selfishness causing the hostility
3. Entrust your life to God; even the events of life that hurt you.
4. Offer your life in service to others; change your focus outward
5. Embrace your own forgiveness by Jesus
Remember how you have grieved the Holy Spirit.
6. Forgive (release) all those who have offended you; refuse to hold them hostage
7. Bless those who have offended you; do something to demonstrate your attitude change
Let those of us who claim to be genuine followers of Jesus Christ live like it. Those who are true disciples of Christ must demonstrate that by how they love one another. Those who want to be readily recognized as followers of Jesus Christ must discard the repulsive clothes of hostility and don the radiant clothes of harmony. Next week we will look more closely at that harmonious wardrobe of kingdom kids.
Let God change your heart today.
Reflect on your heart conditions
Repent of any wrong believing or living
Renew your thinking
Resolve to live differently
