Healing through Ephesians, Ephesians 4:25-32

Ephesians 4:25-32

Recap Ephesians 1-4:24
Now we’re getting into the practical part of the book of Ephesians. What Daniel preached last week was big picture; here’s what Christian life is supposed to look like. Paul uses the same word for “put off your old self” in verse 22, here in verse 25, “having put away falsehood.” Deceit is tied to the old self, and we are called to put it off like Mr. Rogers walking in and changing his shoes and sweater. 
A lot of what Paul is going to describe in this text is “this, not that.” Don’t do this; do that. In case you think we’ve gotten away from the theological implications of the rest of the book, this is Paul’s normal letter writing method. He starts on doctrine, what we as Christ’s disciples believe, then moves into the practical implications of that belief. Just looking at this passage apart from the rest of the book would be a mistake. Generally, if you go to the Bible for a how-to manual on what to do in every situation, you’re going to be disappointed. Paul’s even painting in broad strokes in this passage. 

1. Putting aside falsehood. What are you speaking to one another? What truths are you telling yourself? Pastoral plagiarism is a massive problem. I truly hope that I don’t even accidentally plagiarize another author. I need accountability on that front; please help me. I don’t think I have, and I’ve googled some phrases to hopefully not accidentally plagiarize. We should be known for telling the truth to one another. Preaching the Gospel in a way that’s true. There is a cost to discipleship, Jesus wants you to change. Grace is free, but following Christ comes with a cost. 
2. “Be angry” it’s an imperative. Anger by itself is not a sin. I’ve been talking with a friend, and we’ve been discussing how anger is an emotion that in and of itself is neutral. Anger is an emotional response to injustice. Where the “do not sin” part crops up in us becoming angry at that which is not an injustice. Kids leaving shoes in the hallway isn’t really an injustice against me personally; they’re just being kids. There’s correction that needs to happen, but there’s not much call for me to become angry at them about it. Even just thinking logically, if all anger was a sin, then we would have to accuse God Himself of the sin of anger, and He’s not sinful. He is angry at injustice for sure, He’s angry at sin, and if you’re not trusting in Christ for redemption, then he’s angry at your sin still. 
3. Because we’ve put away falsehood, because we’re angry at the right things, then we can speak truth to one another. Why are we supposed to be marked as people of truth? Because we’re members of each other. If one part of your body is injured, then the rest of your body has natural responses to take care of that injury. If you gashed your leg, your platelets don’t decide to call in that day and not work. If they don’t do what they’re supposed to do, there’s something wrong with your body. Your adrenal system has powerful rerouting abilities to move your blood supply where it’s needed most in an emergency. One part of your body doesn’t tell lies to the other parts of your body. Unless your brain is telling your body to get over it during a workout (but I’ll leave that to the workout folks).
4. Since we’re turning away from falsehood, Paul calls us to speak truth with our neighbor. Then, we have “be angry” and “don’t sin” and then “don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” You could probably twist this horribly and say that if you go to bed while angry with someone something horrible will happen to you. But that’s not the force of the passage: are your relationships in such order (especially in the church) that you’ve confronted others for their injustice? Have you processed what injustices actually are in a way that gives grace where grace should be given and righteousness upheld? 
5. Parorgismos and Parorgizo are used in the Greek OT to describe how both the nation of Israel and Judah provoked God to anger. So, one question is, if the provoking that Paul is talking about, someone else has done something to make you angry? Or is the provoking something you’ve done to make someone else angry? Is it both? Is there sufficient semantic overlap between these two words that they’re just synonyms for the same emotion?
6. Giving place to the devil and holding on to anger seem to be parallel. If I’m angry at someone for a wrong reason (i.e., there’s no injustice), then I am sinning against them. I’m holding someone guilty who isn’t guilty. Therefore, I’m not putting away falsehood. If anything, I’m lying to myself and others about the truth of who they are and what Christ holds them to account for. On the other side, if I don’t become angry over the things that grieve God, then I’m also not telling the truth about sin in that I’m not loving the things that God loves.
7. (vv 28) I’ve got an accounting background, and it never ceases to amaze me the lengths to which someone will commit fraud or other white-collar crime. If you just channeled that same drive and energy into something legitimate, they’d be great! But, our sinfulness wells up in us and we think we have to steal because there’s no other option. There’s plenty of reasons for theft, but Paul calls us to not walk in that anymore. To divert our energy to working to share. This concept dignifies work in a way that in the Greco-Roman context and today is very strange. Back then, work was something common people and slaves did. The ruling people did the thinking and philosophizing and running things. Now, not a lot has changed, although we have a culture of work and wealth-building as an end to itself that doesn’t have anywhere anything about sharing with those in need. One point of work (at the very least for the reformed thief), is to share with those he may very well have been ripping off before. In Luke 19, Luke tells the story of Zacchaeus, a tax collector who repented and followed Jesus. Part of the evidence of his changed heart was the he made fourfold restitution to anyone he had stolen from, and also gave half of what he owned to the poor. Zacchaeus loved one thing (wealth, power, prestige), and then loved another (Jesus and his neighbor).
8. (v 29) Let no corrupting talk. The word translated “corrupting” is sapros, and it has the connotation of rottenness. It’s used of a “bad tree” in Matthew and Luke bearing bad fruit. There’s supposed to be some revulsion when you hear that word. Oh yeah, that rotten talk, gross. Are what you’re saying building fellow believers up, or tearing them down? Are you using your words to strengthen or rot your brothers’ and sisters’ walk? James 3:1-12: the problem is we have a tendency to use our tongue to both bless God and curse our fellow humans.
9. (v 30) Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. What in the world does that even mean? Jesus promised that the Advocate (the Holy Spirit) would always be with us. Is there one thing that we can do to make God the Holy Spirit not want to be with us? Is this a pattern thing? Is grieving the Holy Spirit like the falling away passages - if we see that and turn around and don’t grieve Him, then is this passage God’s means to keep us from doing that? If we’re sealed by the HS, then we’re in God’s kingdom, but what does grieving look like? It could be a warning against falling away from belief in the Gospel. Because the Holy Spirit is a real being, he does have emotions in some sense. God can be grieved over sin (Genesis 6:6). I hold that grieving the Holy Spirit is in apposition to vv 22-24 earlier. Taking off the old man, being renewed in the spirit of your mind, and putting on the new man seems like it’s the opposite of grieving the Holy Spirit. In the end, true repentance looks like a change in tastes. I have never ever enjoyed the taste of yellow squash. It is, to put it in biblical terms, anathema. If I woke up tomorrow and asked for a big plate of yellow squash for breakfast, the whole world would know that Andrew Crawford has had a radical change in tastes.
10. Put away:
    1. Bitterness – treating someone harshly. Unrepentance may be on someone else who has wronged us, but bitterness is on each of us. What Paul is not talking about is having healthy boundaries with others who have abused us. If someone has abused you, there are certain boundaries that they must never cross again. What Paul is describing here is holding someone’s sin over their head in such a way that you cannot have a healthy relationship with them.
    2. Wrath – The same word is used in Revelation 12 for the “wine of God’s wrath.” To a large degree, damning someone is to take the place of God. Wrath within the body of Christ is a blasphemy. There is a precedent (in the Psalms especially) of calling down God’s judgment on those who hurt God’s people. I think that is biblical to pray. There should be a yearning within us for God to bring our suffering to a close and usher in the fully consummated kingdom. But, we’re here right now, we’re still in the “already” part of the “already, but not yet” kingdom. But it's not for us to take God’s place in holding wrath. Being grieved for the things that grieve God is a good place to be, though.
    3. Anger – Ironically, this is the noun form of the verb from verse 26. So, what do we do with this? God commands us to “be angry” in verse 26, and now in verse 31, He’s telling us to “Let all…anger…be put away from you” in verse 31. What gives? The sins that Paul describes in this list focus on injustice in relationships within the body of Christ (and outside the body of Christ too). I can’t be bitter toward someone with also being unjust toward them – i.e., I’m holding a sin over them that either Jesus died for, or they will pay for for eternity. I can’t be wrathful against someone else unless I feel like I must take the place of God to make justice happen.
    4. Clamor – shouting. When everyone is shouting, no one is listening. If our gathering as a church were to devolve into a shouting match, we’re not treating each other as created in the image of God.
    5. Slander – Greek blasphemia, where we get our English word, blasphemy. It has the connotation of abusive speech. Remember, Paul in verse 29 writes of us having “no corrupting talk coming from our mouths.” Not slandering or abusing one another with our speech brings God glory.
    6. Malice – Paul lists the first five, bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander and then adds along with all those, “all malice.” This word is more generic than the others, it’s like Paul went very specific about behavior, and then backed up and ended the command with a more generic. Think about it, if I can by the power of the Holy Spirit to rid my heart of malice toward my fellow image-bearers, I’m not going to be bitter, wrathful, angry, shouting at them, or slandering them. It won’t happen this side of eternity, but by God’s grace, that’s what he calls us to.

 

1. Be: Crazily enough, Paul doesn’t use the Greek verb, eimi here. He uses ginomai which has the range of “to be” but also has the range of meaning to mean “to become.” Paul knows they aren’t there yet. But he’s calling the Ephesians and us to that level.
   1. Kind – 4:32 is one of our memory verses for our homeschool. It’s easy to say, but much harder to be kind. And Paul does delimit the kindness, that is, “to one another.” We may not be able to be kind, stick a happy face on and head off into the world like some strange Pollyannas. And kindness doesn’t mean shallow pleasantry either. These behaviors are in marked distinction to what Paul listed in the last verse. If you’re being kind, you’re not going to be bitter toward someone else. If you being kind, you’re not going to slander a fellow believer (or anyone else for that matter).
   2. Tenderhearted – having healthy intestines. In Greek culture, the seat of the emotions was the guts. In English, (at least in literature, not necessarily science) the seat of the emotions is the heart. I know the heart just pumps blood, but in our thinking that where our emotions come from. Having a tender heart toward someone can mean giving them grace when they’re messed up. It can look at other people how God looks at us, that we’re created in his image, but we’ve fallen and rebelled against him. Look at others with the grace that God has shown you.
   3. Forgiving – God has forgiven me of so much more sin than I could ever hold against anyone else. Matthew 18:23-35 and the parable of the unforgiving servant. If God can forgive me, I certainly can forgive others. How dare we expect God to forgive us our infinite sin while we don’t forgive our neighbor a finite sin. Forgiveness certainly doesn’t happen automatically, or even quickly, but forgiveness should be the posture of our heart.

Conclusion:
So, Paul writes of behavior differences in this new life, this new body that God is creating. The old self that we’re supposed to put off looks like verse 31, always wanting its way, angry for no reason with other people, bitter, shouting. But the new self looks like kindness, tenderheartedness, forgiving, loving the things that God himself loves. Being careful to walk in step with the Spirit. In application, are you walking by the Spirit? Do you want what this new life looks like? Are you saved? Do you know Christ for yourself? It’s possible to look at this list as a rulebook of behavior and grit your teeth and just try harder, but in the end that’s only going to end in either despair or pride, neither of which will get you into heaven. Repent, trust Jesus, call out to him in brokenness, and he will forgive you of your sin, give you a new heart, and fill you with His Spirit.