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Made New (Ephesians 4:25-5:2)
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Made New (Ephesians 4:25-5:2)
Ephesians: Growing in Christ
Sunday Message recorded 05 March 2023
by Assistance Pastor Josh Shell
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Introduction and Context
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, good morning, everyone. How are we doing? Good. Hey, in my defense, by the way, I did not punch Victor. He said I punched him. I barely tapped him, okay? But yes, Philip and I, it's really cool to see him up there. We work together on summer staff in college, so it's cool to see him, see what the Lord's doing.
00:00:27
Speaker
up there in Alaska with his wife, Andy. They're incredible people.
Timelessness of Ephesians
00:00:31
Speaker
If you have your Bibles, go ahead and take them out and open them up to the letter of Ephesians. It's in the New Testament. That's where we'll be spending our time today.
00:00:41
Speaker
You know, we've been working through this letter over the last few weeks, and really months, but it's been an incredible letter for us to walk through, as I've said, and as we've said over and over again. This is a letter that is
00:00:57
Speaker
A modern day letter, so it was written, Paul wrote this letter to the people in Ephesus, but this is the most contemporary letter that we find in the New Testament that will meet us where we're at today. This letter is timeless. I mean, all of scripture is timeless, but this letter, particularly though, meets us where we are as a church.
Purpose of the Church
00:01:17
Speaker
And as you guys can recall, as we've been working through this letter, this letter, Paul starts out in the first three chapters. He's encouraging the church. He's reminding the church of the spiritual blessings that they have in Christ and how they were once dead in their trespasses and sins, but by grace they have been saved through faith according to the finished work of Jesus as our Messiah. And as a result of that, we've now been redeemed. We've been purchased. We've been brought into God's family. We've been adopted. Amen.
00:01:48
Speaker
That's God's church, those who've been adopted into the family of God, those who believe and confess as Jesus, as Lord and Savior of your life. That's who makes up the church.
00:02:00
Speaker
not the church building, not the Southern Baptist Convention, not the North American Mission Board, not the International Mission Board. No, what makes up the church is you and I, those who believe and confesses Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. That's who makes up the church.
Individual Roles and Conduct
00:02:16
Speaker
And that's Paul. That was what Paul was reminding us of, of the greater purpose of the church and how we, those who now
00:02:23
Speaker
are in Christ and who are the image bearers, the ambassadors of Christ, we are now to go and make disciples of all nations. We are to go and to fulfill the purpose of the church. Why God even orchestrated the church. Why God even put the church together so that way we can go be His hands and His feet.
00:02:44
Speaker
We were talking about this with our youth on Sunday night and on Wednesday night talking about purpose and how, praise God, we all have different purposes in this life. Praise God, you're all not Josh Shell. Praise God, you're all Victor Morrison. I mean, we'd all be Vols fans, that's fine with me. But praise God, you're not like us. We all have our own unique abilities and unique gifts and talents that God desires us for each and every one of us to use to advance his kingdom.
00:03:14
Speaker
So Paul's reminding us of this in the first two chapters.
Transformation and Conduct
00:03:18
Speaker
And then we see this kind of transition take place in chapter four where Paul goes from looking at the greater purpose of the church and reminding the Ephesians who they are in Christ and the blessings, the spiritual blessings that they have. So now he's zoning in and he's coming in on how we are to function together as the church, personally. He's now going from general to individual.
00:03:44
Speaker
And I love how Victor's been leading us through chapter four so far, and how we are to be men and women of integrity, and how we are to be men and women who are seeking and following Christ, and how we need to constantly remind ourselves that we are no longer who we once were, and our former ignorance and the passions of our flesh.
00:04:01
Speaker
This is a theme that you see all throughout the New Testament, especially in Paul's letters, whether it's Ephesians, Galatians, Colossians, Romans. I mean, he talks about this transformed life that we now have received as a result of receiving Jesus into our life.
00:04:21
Speaker
And he's encouraged us, hey, forget the things that are behind you, the things that you once pursued, the things you were once passionate about. But rather, now that you've been transformed the renewing of your mind, now that you've been this new creation, you need to now pursue the things of Christ.
00:04:38
Speaker
And then if you have any question about this, looks like I challenge you to go read Galatians, Galatians chapter five. We talked about, we actually went through that letter not too long ago, but he talks about how we need to flee from sexual morality, flee from all the temptations of debauchery, of, you know, all these of, oh my goodness, my mind just went blank.
Spiritual Values and Materialism
00:05:02
Speaker
But you guys know what I'm talking about. We just need to flee the passions of our flesh, the lustfulness of our flesh. We need to flee all the money, all these things that we take advantage of, because those things at the end of the day will perish. But the things of God are eternal. And what are the things of God? Well, you have the fruits of the Spirit, right? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
00:05:28
Speaker
Now, I'm not saying that the things in this life, the possessions are bad, inherently, no. I mean, they're gifts. But how you choose to use them and how you choose to view them and how you choose to worship them, that's where sin comes in. That's where ungodliness comes in. And this is where we start to see the true markers of a transformed believer in this life.
00:05:52
Speaker
And that's what I'm excited about looking at this passage today with you guys. And as we wrap up chapter four, we're gonna go from verses 25 through verse two of chapter five. But I'm excited to look at this because we're gonna look at some markers of what it means to be a transformed believer in Jesus.
00:06:09
Speaker
If you're in this church today, if you confess Jesus as your life, these are things that are gonna stand out. These are things that are gonna put you out as light into the darkness. These are things that Jesus talks about being the salt into the earth and light into the
Living as Lights in the World
00:06:22
Speaker
world. These are those kind of markers, the transformation in your heart and your life. So instead of just stalling, let's just get into it. So let's, everybody stand with me in honor of God's word.
00:06:38
Speaker
If you're able, it's not solely fine, I'm reading. Out of the ESV, it's gonna be up on the screen as well. Picking up in verse 25. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity for the devil.
00:07:07
Speaker
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
00:07:51
Speaker
Chapter five, verse one.
00:07:54
Speaker
Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Thank you guys, you may be seated. I would love to pray for us before we dig deep into
Guidance and Change
00:08:18
Speaker
these verses. Will you pray with me?
00:08:20
Speaker
Father, we just come before you this morning and we just ask that you go before us. Lord, that you'll meet us here, spirit, that you'll just truly pierce our hearts for where they need to be pierced. Lord, there's a lot of things in this life that distract us. There's a lot of things in this life that pull our attention.
00:08:39
Speaker
that take us away from doing the true kingdom work and what you've called us to do. And I pray, God, that as we walk through this, these verses, this is just one glimpse of things that we are to look at and that we are to cast off and put on. But Lord, I pray that you'll just prepare our hearts and that you'll just show us the things in our lives that we need to take off, that we need to put off.
00:09:00
Speaker
that we need and to where we can put on the newness in Christ, to where we can effectively do your work and have the most kingdom mindset that we can in this life. God, again, I pray that you'll just have your hand over this time, that you'll speak through me, that would be not my words, but your words, and that, Lord, that we'll just grow closer to you as the church, as the body, as members of Jesus. We love you, we praise you, we thank you for this time. It's in Jesus' name, amen.
Practical Steps for Transformation
00:09:33
Speaker
All right, so there's a few things that I want us to unpack in this passage. There's a lot in these verses.
00:09:42
Speaker
that I want us to kind of sift through. The first thing that I want us to look at, there's a chart that you can go into the next slide there. There's a chart I want us to see. I got this from a guy named Charles Swindoll. Many of you guys know who Charles Swindoll is. I found this in his book, his commentary as I was studying. And I thought this was just such a really good way to break it down for you guys. So what Paul is telling us here is that for anyone who's in Christ now,
00:10:11
Speaker
We are made new. We are new creations. The old is put off and the new has come, right? And so with that, we must put off. We must take off certain things, right? One of the things that you talk about here is falsehood. We need to take off our falsehood. We need to take off sinful rage, dishonest gain, unwholesome speech, and hateful attitudes and actions. Now I don't know about you guys, we can just stop right there and spend the rest of time on these things, but we're not gonna do that.
00:10:41
Speaker
Because I can tell you this much, I still struggle with several of those things. I'm human. I'm sinful. I'm sure you guys are right there with me. But that doesn't give us the right to stay there. That doesn't give us the right to make excuses. But rather, we need to be encouraged and challenged to truly take these off so that way we can truly be the church that we need to be in this dark and dying world.
00:11:10
Speaker
So what do we, so those are the things that we take off, whether the things that we put on, instead of falsehood, truthful speech. Lord forbid if we ever speak the truth to one another and love. We take off sinful rage and put on controlled indignation. We'll talk about that here in just a second. Take off dishonest gain, put on honest labor, unwholesome speech, and you put on edifying speech. When was the last time you had an edifying conversation with somebody?
00:11:41
Speaker
And you take off hateful attitudes and actions and you put on loving attitudes and actions. This is a very challenging list. Even as I work, even as I was walking through it this week of just seeing the things I struggle with on that list of what we should take off and things I struggle with when it comes to putting things on. I want to be as transparent as ever to each and every one of you in this room.
Markers of Transformed Believers
00:12:09
Speaker
There is nothing about me that is better than you. There is nothing about me that is greater than you. I am just as broken, as simple as you are. Pastor Victor is the same way. The staff is the same way. The only reason why we're even in this position is by the grace of God. I struggle with these.
00:12:29
Speaker
So if you're in this room and you feel like that you're not worthy of becoming a follower of Jesus or that you're not worthy of being in this place today because you struggle with something like this or because you have a sin that you can't get over or you have a past that you feel like Jesus can't meet you at, that is the devil lying straight to your face. Jesus is ready and willing to meet you in your most lowly and dirtiest place in your life.
00:12:59
Speaker
There is no darkness that can overcome him. So if that's you today, I pray that you'll consider surrendering that. Let that go, put that mindset off and put on a new mindset in Christ Jesus.
00:13:13
Speaker
But as we look at this list, there are five unique markers that I wanna pull out of this of a transformed believer. And I got these five different markers from a guy named David Jeremiah. He's a really good pastor. But he brought them to life so well, I figured I might as well use the points. So we're gonna use his points and they all begin with the letter M. That's not me, by the way, okay? So.
00:13:41
Speaker
That's Victor's specialty. But there's five markers of a transformed believer I want us to look at. The first thing I want us to see is that as a believer in Jesus, as a transformed believer, your morality, your morals will change. The things you once desired, you will no longer want to desire. And if you do desire them, you have a hatefulness towards them.
00:14:08
Speaker
Because let's be honest, as believers in Jesus, we're still gonna sin. That doesn't mean that you desire your sin. That doesn't mean you like your sin. But rather, though that sin's still there and it's creeping, you should have a desire to want to put it to death. Okay? So that's the first thing. Your morals, your morality. The second thing is your mood. I think I've said this way back in the day. As a believer in Jesus, if you're walking around with a frown on your face, there's something wrong with you. Because that means that the joy of Jesus is not in you.
00:14:36
Speaker
Wow, unless you're really a deepathon, you're really philosophical. I know I've met a lot of theologians like that at Union. And even then I looked at him and said, do you have the joy of Jesus in you? So it changes your mood. The third thing is money, your perspective and outlook on money, how you spend it, how you save it, how you give it. The fourth thing, your mouth. Ooh, your mouth. Yeah, as a transformed believer, you're gonna watch what you say.
00:15:08
Speaker
And guess what? Praise God that it's not contingent upon your ability, but rather, praise God he gave us the Holy Spirit to guard our mouths. And if you're speaking unwholesome language, Paul talks about it just then, don't grieve the spirit. We'll hit on that in just a minute. And the last thing is your manners.
00:15:30
Speaker
Your manners. So the first thing though is your morality there in verse 25. It says, therefore having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Put away all falsehood.
00:15:47
Speaker
What is that referring to? Well, if you go back up to verse 22 in chapter four, it says, to put off your old self which belongs to your former manor of life and it's corrupt, and it is corrupt through deceitful desires. So put away these things that are deceitful, put away these things that are corrupting in your life, these sins and these behaviors in your life that are only making you more distant from a holy righteous God.
00:16:17
Speaker
Well, what does that look like, Josh? What are the things that are unwholesome? What are things that are corrupt? What are things that are pushing me away from God? Well, anything and everything that is against the law of Jesus, anything that is against the commission of Jesus, the commands of Jesus.
00:16:32
Speaker
So if you're out there and you're living one way and you're doing things in the dark that you're not supposed to be doing, or if you're out there and you're behaving a certain way that you know deep inside somebody's convicting you of how you're supposed to act, those things are contrary to what God is asking you to do.
00:16:51
Speaker
You're supposed to live in a manner worthy of God and worthy of Jesus, to love, to serve, to be righteous, to be blameless, to be pure in your thought, to be pure in your heart. These are the things at which God and Jesus command us to follow. And if you're not doing these things and you're walking against, you're only corrupting your soul even more than what it already is. Because again, we're all born with sinful natures. I get it, we all want what's best for ourselves.
00:17:22
Speaker
But as a transformed believer, your mind is renewed. It's transformed. It is no longer about you. And your eyes are open to the reality that it was never about you. It's all about God. It's all about Jesus and the finished work in which He's done for us. So why continue to pursue the passage of your flesh, which only build up a wall, a barrier between you and Jesus and your righteousness and your holiness and your Christlikeness?
00:17:54
Speaker
So Paul is saying, put away all falsehood. Let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor. We're gonna hit on this one here just a minute when it comes to our mouth, but speak the truth to your neighbor. How many of you guys, it's so easy to push things under the rug. It's so easy to let things go. You know what else is easy? To get angry at your neighbor and to hang onto it, not address it.
00:18:23
Speaker
That is unjust behavior. We should not be afraid of approaching our neighbors out of love and out of common courtesy. When you approach your neighbor, it's not because you're, it's not a sense of wrath that you're coming at your neighbor, but rather it's out of a sense of love for the behavior which was either demonstrated towards you or that you demonstrate towards them or a behavior that is affecting something.
Truth and Communication
00:18:45
Speaker
We need to be able to speak the truth in love and not be afraid of it.
00:18:53
Speaker
And that's something we can do through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, guys, oh man, this is a whole another summer and for a whole another day.
00:19:05
Speaker
We neglect him so much. As I was reading through one of the commentaries, it's funny how they describe the relationship between man and the Holy Spirit. Many of us view the Holy Spirit as this distant figure. It's almost, he described it as a child putting on a white sheet saying, ooh, I'm a ghost, right?
00:19:27
Speaker
That's not who the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity. He's part of the three personhood of God. He is a being. He is personal. He is with you. He resides in your heart. He's the one who leads you and guides you and convicts you of things that you shouldn't be doing. He is ever present with you. He's not Jiminy Cricket in the back of your head.
00:19:55
Speaker
So why neglect the greatest gift that's been given to us in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit? Jesus himself said, it's far better for me to leave this place so that the Helper may come and he will be with you throughout all generations, through the end of the age. Why neglect him? So let us speak truth with our neighbor, for we are members of one another.
00:20:25
Speaker
The second thing here is our mood. And we see this in verse 26 and 27. It says, be angry, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity for the devil. No opportunity for the devil. I wanna read something. I'm gonna read out of Psalm 37. I should have marked these and I didn't. It's fine. Bible drill, right? Psalm 37.
00:20:51
Speaker
Verses 1 through 9 says this. This is of David. It says, fret not yourself because of evildoers. Be not envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land of befriended faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him and he will act.
00:21:14
Speaker
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noon day. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not yourselves over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself, attends only to evil. For the evildoer shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
00:21:44
Speaker
So when we look at those verses, it says, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. What Paul is saying here is like, hey man, I know there's things in this life that really get you ticked off. We all have our own personal things in us that just sets us off, right? Or things that we don't like. And it's just part of the beauty and the creativity of God and how we are all unique and we all have differences, right? But when it comes to the things that really trigger you, are they really worth getting angry over?
00:22:15
Speaker
How much of you getting angry at, okay, the freshest thing in my mind is like my neighbor, he always plays his music really loud. It's like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, right? And my daughter's in the room trying to nap. Guess what? My daughter's still gonna continue to nap. Why am I getting angry over it? Instead of getting angry, why don't I just look past that and realize, hey, he's just as broken and simple as I am, and he probably needs Jesus.
00:22:42
Speaker
Granted, I get it, it's hard to do that. It's hard to look past the thing that's really taking you off.
Honest Living and Generosity
00:22:48
Speaker
But let me tell you something, when you do that, guess what? You're putting off yourself in your falsehood and you're putting on Christ Jesus and you're putting yourself on display to be seen. And you're allowing Jesus to work in you and through you. He is sanctifying you through those moments. And ultimately what David said in the psalmist says, fret not over this. Because the evildoers, those that we,
00:23:10
Speaker
cast this vision of like, oh, he's an evil doer. Like at the end of the day, those who are not walking in Christ, those who are not living a righteous holy life, God is gonna deal with them, not you. So why hold anger? It's not your place. Now, is it, what about, is it okay to actually be angry though? I think there's actually a time and place to be angry.
00:23:36
Speaker
But rather, instead of being angry at the individual, be angry towards the sin and towards the one who brings about the anger. Satan himself. You see, Satan is the one who lays the snares. He lays the traps for us to fall into this anger. And so instead of being angry at our neighbor, at our brother, especially within the local body, oh gosh, guys. The church itself is full of drama.
00:24:07
Speaker
We gotta get rid of that, okay? I'm not saying us in particular, but I mean, I know it's in this church too. Just gonna step on some toes for a second. But we gotta let that go. We can be angry towards the sin, but when it comes to the individual, we need to reconcile. We need to go and pursue peace. We need to go and pursue restoration for that relationship.
00:24:34
Speaker
And that's why Paul uses his illustration of, do not let the sun go down on your anger. So before the sun goes down, if you haven't restored or if you haven't gone and repented or confessed to your neighbor, whoever that may be about the anger in your heart, you need to do that. Because when you, I don't know about you guys, have you, how many of you guys have ever gone to bed angry? I have, okay. Do you sleep well? No.
00:25:04
Speaker
I love my sleep. So I learned very quickly how to let go of my anger so I could sleep. I know it's a silly example, but the reality is when you hold onto that anger, all it does is take root in your life and it affects your overall mood. So going back to the idea of, for those of you guys who are in Christ Jesus, be it you walk around with a frown on your face.
00:25:30
Speaker
This might be something. There might be some, there might be something in your heart, in your life that you're holding on to that you need to let go of. You need to go and seek restoration, reconciliation, repentance of. Who knows? Maybe once you do that, you might even see a little crack of smile on your face, right?
00:25:50
Speaker
But Paul says, do not let the sun go down on your anger and give an opportunity to the devil. See, that's the other thing that we need to be mindful of. When we choose to hang on to that anger, it's Satan right there with you. And he is grabbing onto it and he's taking advantage of every opportunity. And you know who he's anticipating this most for? Do you think he's crouching, waiting around for the non-believers, those who are walking in their darkness, walking in their sin? Do you think he's waiting on them to be angry?
00:26:21
Speaker
No, who is he waiting for? The church, you and I, the believers in Jesus, he's anticipating us, he's waiting on us to get angry so that way he can take hold of it, so that way he can ruin the witness that we have. So, may we fight against this. There's a couple other passages I wanted to read. There's Proverbs 29, 11.
00:26:51
Speaker
Again, Bible drill, you're welcome. Okay, I'm a little slow, I get it, that's fine. All right, Proverbs 29, 11. A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.
00:27:16
Speaker
A fool gives full vent to his spirit, to his nature, to his anger, but a wise man quietly holds it back. He waits on the Lord. He's patient on the Lord. The next one I want to read to you is James 1. That one's a little faster. There you go. James 1, 19 through 21 says this,
00:27:43
Speaker
Says, know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Read that. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. That's powerful.
00:28:13
Speaker
That's very, very powerful. The next thing Paul hits on here, though, is just your morality, our mood. Then, money, in verse 28. It says, let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so he may have something to share with anyone in need. Now, you guys are probably thinking, Josh, I'm not a thief, so why does this apply to me?
00:28:39
Speaker
You're right, you may not be a thief, but at the same time, when you choose to withhold from someone who's in need, you're withholding the provisions which God has blessed you with to share. You're taking away from the body of Christ. You're taking away from the church. You're taking away from those who could use the witness. So he says, don't be like the thief.
00:29:04
Speaker
but rather, let him labor. So you guys, as we as the church, let us labor with the finances that we've been blessed with, with the things, with the provisions that we have, so that way we can advance the kingdom together, doing honest work with his hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. The next thing is our mouth, verses 29 and 30.
00:29:30
Speaker
Let no corrupting talk come out of our mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption." This is a topic that we can spend a lot of time on. We're not going to when it comes to our mouths.
00:29:57
Speaker
As transformed believers in Jesus, our words are powerful. When we speak to one another, when we choose to either encourage one another or on the opposite side, when we choose to confront one another or even tear one another down, there's weight to our words. We need to understand that. That's why I talked about how we need to speak the truth in love and not out of anger or out of bitterness or out of frustration or deceit. Speaking out of love.
00:30:33
Speaker
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as good for building up, building up. Guys, if we want the most effective church, the most effective witness as the body of Christ, okay, when I say the church, the unity of Christ and the Holy Spirit, for us to be able to do this, we need to speak openly and truthfully out of love towards one another. We don't need to talk behind each other's backs. We don't need to speak derogatory things towards one another or about one another.
00:31:02
Speaker
or even when we're out in the community, when we're not even around the local body. If you're acting one way here and you're out and you're throwing profanity out every other word elsewhere and you're thinking that it's okay, there's something wrong with that. We need to use our words in a beneficial way so that we can build each other up, build the church up and not tear it down.
00:31:32
Speaker
There is a way for us to approach one another out of truth with love. And guess what? Sometimes that hurts, but it's for our own benefit. There's a place for discipline too. I mean, like all these things fall underneath this thing. This idea of how we use our words in our mouths.
00:31:55
Speaker
But when we walk in the unity of the Spirit, when we have the Spirit leading us in guidance, when we are putting off our falsehood and putting on Christ, we can appropriately do this. And guess what? Not only can we appropriately do this, but if you're walking the Spirit, you can appropriately receive it. We cannot be afraid to receive criticism. We cannot be afraid to receive words. I receive words all the time. It's okay.
00:32:24
Speaker
It's just part of it, right? We can go to our daily jobs, we can go to our daily works, and our boss will come in and tell us everything we're doing wrong. You're like, oh, yes, sir, absolutely, sir, yes, sir. I'll fix it right away, sir. But man, if you come into the church and someone comes up to you and tells you you did something wrong, oh my gosh, did you hear what just, what? You know, like, you take it so personally. Don't let Satan have a foothold over that.
Kindness and Forgiveness
00:32:55
Speaker
I have a couple passages here that I wanted to read as well. Matthew 12. Verses 34 and 35. Matthew 12 verses 34 and 35. Come on Matthew 12, where you at? All right. Verses 34 and 35.
00:33:27
Speaker
Says this, you brood of vipers. This is a very famous passage. How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good. And the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. Our words reveal who we are inside.
00:33:55
Speaker
They reveal our nature and who we are in Christ. If you're not speaking edifying words to one another, then is the word of God in you? Is Jesus in you? Then the sister passage to Ephesians chapter four is found in Colossians. Colossians chapter four says this in verses five and six.
00:34:22
Speaker
Says, walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Let that sink in.
00:34:42
Speaker
And the last thing I want us to see here in this passage that Paul hits on is how it goes from morality to our mood, to how we view money, to our mouths, to finally our manners in verses 31 and 32. It says this, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.
00:35:10
Speaker
So again, he's reassuring this whole mentality and attitude towards how we are to view one another and approach one another. We need to be gracious. We need to be forgiving. We need to be kind towards one another when we sin against one another, when we say something towards one another, when we act a certain way towards one another. Again,
00:35:32
Speaker
I am just as broken as you. You are just as broken as I am. We all fall short of the glory of God. But by God's grace, we've been made new. We've been redeemed. We've been purchased by the blood of Jesus to where we can now have fellowship with one another. You see what Paul, I feel like he's trying to remind us here is that, hey, for anyone who's in Christ, remember that veil that once covered your heart has now been removed.
00:36:00
Speaker
That veil that once, that veil that which kept you from acting and loving and doing things a certain way according to God has now been removed. You now have full access to the Spirit. You now have full access to the word of God. You now have full access to the ability to be able to do the things in which he has created you to do.
00:36:26
Speaker
Yes, so many of us have a tendency after receiving Jesus, you're like, you know what? That veil was kind of warm. That veil was kind of nice. I want to put it back on for a season or for a second. No. Don't put the veil back on. Walk in the newness of life. Walk in the newness of Christ.
00:36:49
Speaker
We need to show grace and compassion towards one another. I get it. There's some of you in this room that's, I mean, I'm being honest. This is my personality, okay? Just bear with me. It's hard to work with some of y'all. Y'all are saying, well, right back at you, Josh. Good, let me have it. It's fine. But I feel confident to be able to say that out of love towards one of you, because I truly love every one of you.
00:37:16
Speaker
And I'm so thankful for the fact that you guys do have unique gifts and abilities and skill sets that I don't have because it makes this world so much more beautiful and it makes the creativity and the majesty of God that much more pronounced and on display. But the other reason why I'm able to do that and to be able to have this conversation with you is because it's by grace.
00:37:46
Speaker
So may we appropriately approach one another and love one another and serve one another and have the manners of Christ Jesus in our lives. As we approach, especially one another in church, remember this whole letter is about the functionality of the church. How you and I are supposed to function and how we're supposed to interact with one another and how we're supposed to, sorry, I'm getting really fast again, aren't I?
Imitating God and Spiritual Growth
00:38:08
Speaker
How we are to serve one another.
00:38:11
Speaker
in the local body to where it then goes out to the community. I'm just gonna wrap up with the first two verses of chapter five. It says this, therefore, therefore, because of everything he just mentioned in verses 25 down to 32, therefore be imitators of who? God.
00:38:39
Speaker
That's right, you have the ability of portraying and putting God out on display. That's right, you and your brokenness, you now have the ability as believers in Jesus to put God on display for everybody to see. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love. It's a process, it's not just gonna happen overnight. This idea of walking, am I walking right now?
00:39:07
Speaker
No, it's this act of emotion, right? It's one foot in front of the other. Walk in love. We gotta do this together. That's why God gave us the church, so we can do it together.
00:39:22
Speaker
walk and love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. He came out of his throne, out of his heavenly dwelling, out of the most perfect place to come down into the most broken place. So that way he could come and sacrifice himself and purchase us, redeem us so that way we can now walk in him and his attributes and his characteristics.
00:39:53
Speaker
Not only to walk with him, right? So as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 2 Peter 2, verses one through three says this, y'all ready? It says, the false prophets also arose among the people. Just as there will be false teachers among you.
00:40:16
Speaker
who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality. And because of them, the way of the truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep." What Peter is saying here is that if we are not careful, if we are not walking in the unity of the spirit,
00:40:44
Speaker
We're going to allow false teachers to come in. We're gonna be able to, and we're seeing it on full display right now in the church, especially here in America. This false prosperity gospel is going out. This gospel of, hey, God loves you. That's it, God loves you.
00:41:04
Speaker
And we're completely ignoring the fact of, hey, he loves you. That's absolutely right. But until you deal with this thing called sin and you repent and you surrender to Jesus, the only one who could take that sin away from you, that love of God has no value until this happens. And so you get brought back into right standing before a righteous, holy God.
00:41:28
Speaker
And if you have not done that, if you not repented of sin and turned away from sin and recognize that you are broken, you won't experience the true love of God, the full magnitude of his love. And Peter's saying that, hey, if we're not mindful, if we're not watchful, if we're not doing what Paul's talking about here and putting off the old self and all of his falsehood and we're not maintaining the truth of God, we're gonna fall into this deception.
00:42:02
Speaker
And I'm just gonna read this last verse, 2 Corinthians 2, 14 to 17. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession. And through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
00:42:20
Speaker
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance from death to death, the other, fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many peddlers of God's word, but of men of sincerity, as commissioned by God in the sight of God we speak in Christ. So in other words,
00:42:50
Speaker
What Paul is encouraging us, reminding us here is that the only way that we're able to fight this defense of the false gospels or of heresy and to be able to continue to walk in the unity of the spirit and to continue to fulfill the functionality of the church is by Jesus.
00:43:08
Speaker
and his triumphal procession. If we follow him, if we keep our eyes on him and we surrender to his will daily, it is then that we will ultimately be able to fulfill the true mission and purpose of the church. And that is to bring heaven to earth, people. By us functioning together, we are giving a full glimpse, well, not a full glimpse, but a glimpse of heaven to those who will never see it.
Reflecting Christ's Mission
00:43:37
Speaker
until we go and we share the gospel with them. We are the fragrance of Christ. We are the aroma of Christ.
00:43:49
Speaker
Who knew that God smelled like Ralph Lauren? But no, that's not what I'm talking about, right? It's through our actions. It's through our words. It's through our manners. It's through our morality. It's through all these things that we just talked about today that we put on Christ, that we put Christ out there for everyone to see and to smell. I know it sounds weird, but we are the fragrance of Christ. People, when they look at the believers in the bodies of Jesus, when we operate together in the unity of the Spirit, there is something different.
00:44:21
Speaker
Are you ready to be a part of that? Are we as First Baptist Church ready to do that, to put that on display for our community to see? We are a small town, but guess what? There's still a lot of lost souls. We need to surrender to that, to surrender to God's will and allow him to truly transform our lives.
Invitation to Faith
00:44:51
Speaker
to transform our lives from inside out so that we're not like the brood of vipers. So many people look at the church as, man, y'all act like you're so perfect, but really all y'all are a bunch of hypocrites. That shouldn't be the case. We should be the ones out there saying, yeah, we're broken. Hello, this is a hospital. We're not perfect. But that's what we do. We portray as if we're perfect.
00:45:24
Speaker
You've got to let the gospel penetrate our lives. We've got to let the gospel as the church to lead us, to guide us, to become the most effective tool that we can be for the kingdom. So my prayer as we wrap up is that we will feel the weight of that as a church.
00:45:55
Speaker
For those of you who are in this room and you are truly a believer of Jesus and you follow him and you surrender your life to him, that we will die to ourselves, that we'll pick up our crosses, we'll follow him daily. That we will allow the Holy Spirit to truly put on display these five unique characteristics of believers. That's just five of them. That's not all of them, that's just five of them.
00:46:24
Speaker
But there's anyone in this church, though, that either you believe you're a Christian because you're in this church building, or you're not a believer at all. I pray that you'll allow the Spirit to truly come into your life and to redeem you, to restore you, to renew you. So that way, that veil in which I was talking about, which covers the magnitude and the majesty of God, I pray that you'll allow him to come in so that we can take that veil off so you can experience him fully.
00:46:54
Speaker
Just because you're in this church today doesn't make you a believer. Let that sink in for a second. Just because you come to church on Sunday, Wednesday night, whatever, every time the door is open, doesn't make you a believer. No. It's all contingent upon your profession of faith in your heart as Jesus, as Lord and Savior of your life. That's what makes you a believer. That's what makes you part of the body of Jesus.
Unity and Conclusion
00:47:23
Speaker
So if you're in this place today, you need to make that decision. You can come talk to me, you can come talk to Victor, you can come to talk to somebody that you think is less intimidating, because I yell a lot. Talk to somebody. But that's my prayer for us, that we as the body of Christ will come together in unity as many members, but of one body and truly do the work of God and have a kingdom mindset.
00:47:54
Speaker
Will you guys pray with me? Father, we just come before you and Lord, we thank you for your word and the reminder that it is to us as believers of how we, it's the standard by which we must live by and how we are able to assess our hearts and how we are able to identify whether or not we are truly walking in the newness of Christ. And I pray that if there's anyone here, Father, that needs to stop and reassess and realign themselves with your word that they will do that, Father.
00:48:24
Speaker
This isn't a rededication, this isn't a recommitment, but Father, we all fall astray at times. But I just pray that this morning we will fall back in the right place with you and we'll follow the path of life, not the path that leads to destruction. Again, Father, may we as the church be your hands and feet, may we walk in unison together to advance your kingdom here on earth and bring heaven to earth.
00:48:50
Speaker
For we love you, we praise you, we thank you.
Closing Details
00:48:53
Speaker
It's in Jesus' name, amen. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.