Walk in Love

Ephesians 4:30-5:2 ESV

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

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.

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Paul is switching from declarative to descriptive language. He was speaking of who we are in Christ, now of how we should act/conduct ourselves.

Loving others gives us a good idea of whether we are right with God. If we are not right with Him, we treat people badly. Loving others is for the glory of God. We can have great devotional lives and still be far from God.

Be angry and do not sin. Anger is not sinful or wrong. God is the angriest person in the bible. His anger is righteous. It is a reaction to sin. That is a proper response to evil. It is not just getting angry because things aren't going our way. That is not righteous anger. Sin is what impacts God's glory, His kingdom, and will. Not things in our little kingdoms. Righteous anger works toward good things in a controlled manner.

We are not often righteous in our anger. It is a rare thing... so Paul tells is to be careful. We often repeat the unhealthy ways of expressing anger as modeled by our parents. Paul lists off some unhealthy methods. Bitterness is a spiritual sourness which cannot see the goodness. Wrath and seething is like an explosive and boiling. Clamor is hot and uncontrolled. Slander is a cold and calculated anger. Malice is wishing ill will on others. We are to put off these ways.

Kindness is more than being nice. It is seeking to good of others. Tenderhearted is seeking to do good even to those who are dealing with the costs of things they rightly deserve. Forgiveness is accepting the cost of sin, rather than seeking payback from those who have wronged us. We are not exacting a cost of those who have wronged us.

The motivations of a Christian is different. It is because we have a relationship with Christ. The Holy Spirit lives in our hearts and when we do not live rightly, He is grieved. God chose this because he loves us. We choose to keep His commands because we do not wish to hurt Him. God wishes the best for us and sin breaks His heart. This love is why we want to change. The Holy Spirit is grieved, but keep grieving Him and He will discipline you. He will let you taste the emptiness of sinful living, so that we will repent.

The other reason for the Christian is because we are His children. We are in God's family and should live as such. We are adopted into the family of God and so we should dress and act.

The power to change our behavior or habits is not pure willpower. We are saved by grace, but it also motives us to work hard. We should use our energy to focus on what Christ has accomplished for us. It should be a cross-centered work. Your unrighteous anger comes from your idols. Hurtful, bitter, and upset over things that we desire... more than God. By focusing on God, we can let go of these little things, little desires. Kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness is a reflection of God's actions toward us in Christ. Jesus is the kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness from God. From this, we see how we are called to act. It is not an easy thing; but it is available through the grace of God. The power that raised Christ is at work in us. We can and will change.

Put off the old, put on the new

Ephesians 4:17-32 ESV

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.  Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. 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. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Take off the old (clothes)

The old self that was crucified in Christ, is to be taken off like a garment. How do we recognize it? Corrupt, through deceitful desire.

What happens when we don't?

We become callous to the sin in our lives. Sin becomes normal. Hard hearts are where unbelievers are. Their hearts do not hear God. Hardened hearts are believers who hear but refuse to change or repent. Their ways of sin don't bring them a sense of enjoyment, but rather just emptiness. We start to lose sense of how God sees things. We become alienated from Christian friends, serving, praying, and God. We become bitter about what God asks of us.

What to put on

Okay, what goes on after we have put off the old self? We are to put on our new selves, put on our new identities in Christ. We are not just adding a couple of good habits. We are to start acting out of our new identity in Christ. We are to enjoy God; do the good works God has prepared for us; be renewed in our minds. It is not just an outward habit, but rather an inner change.

How to truly change

Change happens by looking at Christ personally. We are not called to know Christ as a set of facts, but to actually know Christ and have personal fellowship with Jesus. In order for change to be permanent, we are to encounter Christ personally. God is not looking down on us; looking for an opportunity to criticize. He is working in us, lovingly and patiently.

Paul gives us examples of how to put off. Truth rather than lies. But this is inward not just outward. What motivates us to lie? selfish desire? Caring about ourselves more than anything else? We should care more about God's desires over our own.