Ephesians 4:25-32 – Berris Patience – 2025 12 21

25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. 29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (NASB 1995)

Transcript:

(Disclaimer: AI generated transcript. Accuracy may vary)

Ephesians chapter four, verses 32 or 25 rather. 2 32, Ephesians chapter four. Therefore rid yourselves of falsehood. Speak truth each one of you with his neighbor because we are parts of one another. Be angry. Do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not give the devil an opportunity. The one who steals must no longer steal, but rather he must labor producing with his own hands what is good so that he will have something to share with the one who has need. That no unwholesome word come out of your mouth. But if there’s any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the holy Spirit of God by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, must be removed from you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. God, we ask that you take your words and may they be manifested boldly and with authority and with clarity and that God and again Lord, we ask that your spirit will lead and direct, that your people will have receptive ears, receptive hearts to receive your word with joy and with gladness for Christ’s sake. Amen. So what I’m gonna do this morning into this afternoon is do a first pair of these last few verses of Philippian or Ephesians. So we’re gonna be hopping and skipping as we make our way along just so you are aware, which I’m sure you would’ve picked upon nonetheless. But Paul continues here in our passage before us to lay out for us versus vices and virtues. So vices that ought to be put away, virtues that ought to replace those vices and virtues that should reflect and represent the Christian. The new life that we now have in Christ new believers, that believers that we are vices obviously are negative habits, behaviors, and moral failings that lead person or lead a person away from living ethically, morally, and upright in our society such as greed, such as envy, pride, sloth or laziness, wrath or anger, gluttony and lust, vices have a negative effect on society and that is stating the obvious. It has a negative effect on society and it has a negative effect obviously on the church as well. The local body, the universal body of Christ. It does affect us as opposed to virtues which builds character, strengthens the community and society and promotes harmony and wellbeing. And a few examples of virtues are honesty, compassion, humility, patience, generosity, love and justice. And Paul also talks about forgiveness in the last verse of this passage and this chapter for the body of Christ vices, our temptations to resist and virtues are attributes to be cultivated, to be nurtured and to be matured in the lives of the believer. Because God established the church as a fellowship of believers called to grow together towards towards maturity. The cultivation of so social virtues and the biblical virtues that Paul are gonna list are absolutely essential and necessary for us to do this, to grow and mature in our faith in Christ Jesus. So Paul therefore urges the Christians to cast off devices. And again, this is a phrase or a term that Paul uses quite often put off, put on. So he calls the believers here in Ephesus. He does own Colossians as well by application to the entire body of Jesus Christ locally and universally to cast off the vice that undermine the communal life and instead embrace the virtues that strengthens and edify the body of Jesus Christ. And above all the supreme and unifying virtue that is gonna tie everything into place. We don’t won’t see this till chapter five is love and this is revealed in the father’s gift of his son to us. And Christ self-sacrificing, self-giving love for his body, for his church. So as we look at these vices and verses, I have four things that I want to present to you or to us that we have to guard. And the first of which is we need to guard our tongues. You need to guard your tongue. For some these vices, some aren’t gonna be an issue. For some of us, some is gonna be more challenging, but we all need to pay close attention to these vices. But first and foremost, we need to guard our tongues. Verses 25 and 29. Paul says in verse 25, rid yourselves of falsehood, speak the truth. Each one of you to his neighbor. Verse 29 said, let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth. But if there’s any good word for edification according to the need for that moment, say that, say that so that it will give grace to those who hear it. So Paul starts off by appealing to the believers to lay aside falsehood, lay aside lying. And this means there is no room for anything that is falsity. Anything that is false shouldn’t proceed out of the mouth of God’s people. And this is broad, this isn’t just little white lie. There’s also things little white lie or for the sake of the better good or the greater good. We have to say no there. Paul is saying no falsity at all should proceed out of the mouth of God’s people. Why? Because we are people of truth. Paul talks about this number of times in this book so far talking about the truth that is in Christ the truth of God. We are people of truth. God is truth. Jesus Christ is a source of truth. Furthermore, why should we put away falsity, not only from the fact that the people were supposed to emulate the de, the two, the deity, the the, the God of this, the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ son. We’re supposed to be emulating them. But Paul, we need to remember that where the falsity comes from falsehood lies is of the devil. And but the Bible, John tells us that he is the father of lies and he always cover quotes the lie with a little bit of truth. He dabbles a little bit of truth in there to make it seems presentable and acceptable. This is more than avoiding lie when Paul says put away falsity from you, it’s more than just avoiding lies. It’s about removing anything that distorts reality, including hypocrisy and pretense. And we could get into so many examples here, but you, you can fill in the blanks, especially when we look at our society in which we live and speaking, the truth is relational. That is important for us. It’s relational, meaning it builds trust, it fosters love. How many of you right now don’t show of hands, just answer within your heart. Believe and trust somebody who is constantly lying to you. We don’t we that that’s not somebody that is easily trust and easily loves. The body cannot function properly if the members are deceiving themselves, are deceiving each other. The body will not function properly if the members are deceiving each other. So put away falsity, put away any kind of falsity whatsoever. Then verse 29, Paul states that there should be no unwholesome word coming out of our mouths. So it’s not just falsities, it’s crude language that we’re going into here. And this word paints a very powerful picture, a very powerful word, picture of the deadly nature of the tongue. James talks about that. James tells us how deadly the tongue is. In fact, he said, of every beast on this planet, people were able and are able to tame. But the tongue, this tiny member of the body, nobody can tame this word that Paul uses here. Un wholesome. Some translation we use corrupt. The word means that which is bad, that which causes decay or rotten, that which has no value and that which is very harmful. It can also refer to corrupt speech, evil talk, foul language and offensive talk. It is used to refer to rotten wood disease, lungs, rancid fish. So you get, you get this the, the idea behind this word and I I see faces turning up. ’cause you’re thinking of the, especially the the rancid fish, withered flowers or rotten fruit. That’s the idea. That’s the picture that this word paints for us. And again, James says the tongue is very hard to tame him. What Paul is saying here to us in this verse verse 29, is that our words can either, either our words do two things. It either can tear down or it can build up. That’s the end goal. That’s that’s the two conclusion. It either tears down, they either tear down down or they either build up. And what Paul is commanding us to do here is build up what Paul is commanding us here to do is edify each other. And if our words are like a rancid fish, you can’t expect that word to be edifying. You can’t expect it to build up. And even if you use it in a doc, say, well I’m just saying this, I’m using rancid words for the purpose of building up. It won’t. That’s what Paul is saying here. It has to be wholesome words. This does not mean ’cause You might ask then can we correct people? What about reproving and rebring and training and instructing in righteousness? Paul isn’t saying that we are not supposed to do these things here he’s saying, as he said, I believe in colossian, let your speech be like grace seasoned with salt. So even if it’s correcting, even if it’s a reprove, even if it’s a rebuke, it should still be gracious. It should still be leading towards the person being edified and being built up. Now if that person doesn’t take it that way, then that’s on them. But your responsibility is to be gracious in your speech. Our responsibility. And again, Paul is talking about in the context of the believer, the body of Jesus Christ. Here let us remember that how we interact with each other, it’s building up whether it’s correction corrective, whether it’s reprove, whether it’s rebuke, whether it’s instruction and training in righteousness. The idea and the end goal, the aim ought to be edifying the body of Christ and that individual whom you’re rebuking, rebuking, et cetera. So we are commanded to do these things. We are commanded to reprove, we’re commanded to rebuke. But again, it’s to build up. That’s the purpose or should be the purpose of why we do these things. And this is what Paul means when he says according to the need as you see it arising, the expression suggests that believers should be attentive. So our responsibility is massive. I I hope you have gleaned that as we’re making our way through, as we’ve been making our way through chapter four, our responsibility as believers, every single one of us is massive. Paul is saying as the needs arise. So what he’s saying that we have to be so attentive to the emotional needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ is not just asking that superficial Christian, how are you doing this morning is not just being formal about it. And I don’t really want to hear about your week and hope I’m just being formal here. Leave me be, lemme go to my seat. No, Paul is saying we have to have a desire, we have to be concerned about the emotional needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ. That’s what it means when you say, as we see the need arises and then focus and aim our words that are wholesome and encouraging and uplifting and edifying towards whatever that need or needs are. We’re exhorted by Paul to extend grace to one another. And if we’re brutally honest, we’re not always gracious. We’re we’re not always quick to extend grace to one another. And he’s using the analogy here and the idea behind him saying extending grace is in the same way that Jesus Christ, our Lord and our savior has poured out grace upon grace on each and every single member in the body. And we saw this in verse seven of chapter four. So now the responsibility rests on the community, the sheer this grace in the same freedom that Jesus Christ shared his grace upon us. This passing on of grace is expressed not only through our faithfulness and not only through the faithful use of our spiritual gifts for service in the local assembly, but all through through as Paul is highlighting here in verse 29 through the very words that we speak. Proverbs 18, verse 21 reminds us that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Words are not light things. I hope we’ve come to that realization. Words are not light, they carry weight, they shape destinies, they heal or they wound. And to guard your tongue is not simply to avoid just avoiding harsh speech, that’s a part of it. But it is to recognize that every single word is a seed planted in the soil of someone’s heart. And what that’s going to do depends on how, what that word is. So when we speak carelessly, we scatter thorns as it were. When we speak with grace, we sow peace. James tells us that the tongue is like a small spark that can set a forest, a blaze, a small spark. Guarding your tongue means pausing before you speak. Pausing before we speak. Asking ourselves, will these words that I’m about to utter build up or will they tear down? And again, Paul also talks about this that everyone be quick to hear here, slow to speak and slow to anger. That’s why, because if we just go off impulse nine out of 10 times our words will not be wholesome. It will tear down. Will my words that I’m about to order reflect Christ or obscure him. It means choosing silence. Sometimes when anger arises it it sometimes mean we just have to keep ourselves quiet and choosing blessing when bitterness temps. So let us be a people whose speech is seasoned with salt, seasoned with grace. Words that are rivers of living. Waters whose tongues are instruments of peace and edification and upliftment. Guard your tongue and you will guard your witness. Guard your tongue and you will guard this community. Bowmanville Baptist Church. Guard your tongue and you’ll honor the Lord your God. Guard your tongue. But Paul’s also warns us to guard your temper. Verse 26 says, be angry and do not sin. Don’t let, do not let the sun go down on your anger. And then you jump over to verse 31. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, must be removed from you along with all malice. Paul warns the church in Ephesus and by default is warning us about the dangers of anger that this needs to be dealt and that this needs to be dealt with quickly. Anger needs to be dealt with quickly. He’s not saying we need to get angry quickly, we need to deal with it quickly. When we are in that state, this as well as any of the other vices will leave the believer vulnerable to the attack of the enemy. If goes unchecked, it will leave us vulnerable. And although our peer versus verse third one, Paul urges the church to put off anger. This is one vice that is different from all the others in that he sees it as a place he doesn’t see it as a place in the life of the believer. And this makes sense given that God has displayed a righteous anger. I mean it does. See there is a place for anger in the life of the believer, but it’s the anger that God would display, the kind of anger that hates sin and immorality and injustice and ungodliness that we’re seeing in the in the world. That’s the kind of anger that Paul sanctions. But because we’re not God, ’cause we’re not always angry with injustice. We’re angry just because we’re angry people. Some of us, most of us, Paul will later on say, you know what, just put it away. Just put aside anger because we cannot always, and we do not always exhibit righteous anger. The righteous indignation, that anger that Jesus Christ had when he went to the house of his God, his Lord. And he sees people using it as a marketplace, selling things and cheating people out of their hard living. And he turn tables over. Yes, we have that kind of anger and should have that kind of anger against unrighteousness and ungodliness. So there is that place for it in the lives of the believer. But yet Paul says, we can be angry in that context where God is, but we still, it still shouldn’t lead us to sin. It still shouldn’t cause us to sin. It still shouldn’t allow sin to creep in our lives. And that’s where the issue comes in. And that’s why he’ll go on to say, just put it off. Because even when we’re angry righteously, we allow sin to creep in. And I can use a personal example during that era of time where things just seem like nonsense beyond compare COVID era. I’m sure you knew and I’m seeing these things on social media and I developed such a rage and I had to tell Jason, one of my meanest, I have to, I had to either unfollow or pause for months these things ’cause the kind of anger that developed in me for the political leaders. I said, I shouldn’t have that anger and I had to distance myself from anything people call I I don’t want to hear anything about that C word because it’s not good for me. We’ll justify that and say, well I have the right to be angry because it’s injustice. It sparked sin in my life and I had to deal with it. And that’s where Paul is saying, even righteous anger. We as human beings, it cannot be named of God. We know that for a fact. But we as finite beings will allow the righteous indignation that we have for the immorality that we see out there to spark sin in our lives. And it’s better to just get rid of it. But in the context of the verse verse 26, we have to deal with it swiftly and it cannot lead. It shouldn’t lead to sin. Paul was quoting Psalm four verse four, and this is why I can say definitively that Paul here is saying the anger that we are supposed to exhibit as believers and the only place for anger in our lives really, if you follow this text and the cross reference in Psalm four, four is data for righteous indignation for injustice and ungodliness. In the context of Psalm four, David is expressing his distress over the way the people of God pursued idolatry. And David asked the question in verse two, how long will you love delusions and seek false god’s? God’s anger over his people’s idolatry is very prominent in the entire, in the Old Testament. So the warning here is clear for us. Anger must not cross over into sin. I’ve made that abundantly clear, whether it’s through bitterness, through revenge, through acts of violence, it calls us, it calls for us to examine ourselves whether our anger is rooted in justice or rooted in selfishness and pauses. Do not let the sun go down on this on your anger, whether it’s righteous or not. And especially if it’s not righteous, don’t let the sun go down. And again, the emphasis here, it shouldn’t linger. It shouldn’t be an ongoing thing. It should be resolved very quickly instantaneously. If not why? Because lingering anger hardens and it turns and transform like I told you with my own personal experience. It turns and it festers into resentment and hatred. And this damages relationships and it damages spiritual health in your own lives. Paul talks about putting away bitterness verse verse 31 and bitterness refers to a settled hostility that poisons the whole inner man. That’s bitterness. It poisons your entire being. Somebody does something we don’t like, so we harbor ill feelings against them. We get angry and that anger transfers and transforms into bitterness. Paul says in Colossians three 19, husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them. Bitterness leads, as I said, to anger, to wrath, which is the expulsion of an outside feeling from the inside. Wrath and anger often lead to brawling. That’s what pauses put away, clamor, it leads to brawling. And you get the picture there. This is actually a physical fight put. And if Paul is saying these things, these things are happening in the church at Ephesus. That’s why he is writing these. So their anger turned not only into harsh words and unwholesome words, but they were duking it out, if you will. And Paul is saying this, this is unheard of. This is unimaginable. That you are God’s people. You are God’s new creation who should be setting the tone for society and this is how you’re living. This is unacceptable. Put away brawling or clamor or blasphemy that is evil speaking. So first is fighting with words, then there’s a fist fight. And it is absolutely extremely difficult to believe that Christians would act this way. But unfortunately we do. And this is why Paul warns us. Behold how good. And this is why the psalm is says behold how good and unpleasant. Psalm 1 33 verse one, how good, how pleasant it is for breth, for brothers and sisters in Christ to dwell in harmony, to dwell in unity. Anger is one of the most natural human emotions and responses, yet it is also the most dangerous if God is unchecked and if left unchecked. And scripture reminds us that true strength is not found in conquering cities or overpowering others. True strength is found in mastering ourselves is guarding our anger, is guarding our temptation, is guarding our temper, is submitting ourselves to God and leading, having ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit of God. Guarding your temper is not about suppressing a feeling or feelings. It’s about surrendering those feelings to our Lord and our savior, Jesus Christ. It’s about surrendering them and placing them at the foot of the cross. Knowing that I am incapable of fully affecting these feelings the way God desires and God expects me to in and of myself. It’s surrendering them over to Jesus Christ. We allow anger. When we allow anger to rule, it clouds our judgment. It wounds relationships, it damages our witness. But when we guard against our temper, we create space for the Holy Spirit of God and the fruits of the spirit to develop in our lives such as love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Galatians 5 22 23. So guarding your temper means pausing before speaking, praying before reacting. Choosing grace over retaliation. It is a discipline that transforms conflicts into opportunities for grace and for edification, turning moments of tension into testimonies of God’s peace and favor in our own lives. Guard your temper, guard your tongue guard against temptation verses 27 and 28. Paul says, and do not give the devil an opportunity, the one who steals must no longer steal, but rather he must live or producing with his own hands what is good so that he will have something to share with the one who has need. This is the essence of what Paul is trying to say with all these vices, not only in this section that we’re looking at today, but what he’s been trying to say throughout the entire chapter with vice that we’re presenting. He’s trying to drive home this point. It is for the church individually, corporately, to avoid anything, anything. Not just anger in the immediate context of verse 26 and 27, anything that will lead to sinning and thereby giving the devil an opportunity to tempt us. The word placed here, our word place rather here is used by Luke in Luke 11 verse 24. And this refers to the inhabiting place of evil spirits. And that speaks volume right away before without me even saying anything else. It speaks of the inhabiting place of evil spirits. So Paul is associating not just anger, but all of these vices with devilish, demonic work, demonic traits, demonic emotions, demonic characteristics. And these are obviously opposed, oppose and in contradiction to the leading of the Holy Spirit of God. So what Paul is trying to say here is that when we allow these vices to rule our lives as believers, we are allowing the devil and his henchmen to operate in our lives. We are going back to where Paul says we were once ruled by the prince of the power of the air. And Paul is saying, that does not define who we are anymore. That’s not us anymore. So by allowing anger or malice or clam or rage or any of these vices in our lives and having a foothold and festering in our lives, the believers can surrender their space for evil influences. Calvin said this, John Calvin, that is, I have no doubt that Paul is warning us to be aware lest the devil should take possession of our minds like an enemy occupied fortress and do whatever he pleases. We need to be on guard. Any unchecked, sinful behavior in the life of the believers will eventually yield a place to the enemy to further his goals and to stunt the sanctifying work of Jesus Christ in the life of the believer. And that’s what the devil wants. He he doesn’t, he know he can’t. He doesn’t have us anymore because we have been saved by the grace and the mercy of God. So what can he do? Stunt our growth, hinder us from growing and maturing into that adult manhood that Paul talks about. And by default, in doing so, we’re defaming the name of our Lord and our God, Jesus Christ. That’s his end goal for the church. If he can allow that, if he can use that against the believer, then he’s successful. And that’s why we need to guard against that. Ephesians 4 28 said, the one who steals shouldn’t steal anymore. And that this is one of those beautifully passages that captures, that truly captures a transformation that should occur in the life of the believer. The one that is stealing or used to steal is not stealing anymore. But Paul says it doesn’t stop there, you have to do something to replace theft. Then what is that hard work? So he is working hard and now he’s analyzing the believers. He is analyzing the body that is among and he’s seeing that you know what people are in need, people are physically in need and I’m gonna labor hard and I’m gonna contribute to the needs of those in the body of Christ. That is a transformation that Paul expects of the believer here. Yes, it’s the context of thi of thiry, but it applies right across the spectrum. But that is a hallmark of a transform life in Christ. We saw the same thing with Zachias. Z said, if I have robbed anyone, I will repay them four times what I stole. And again, that if is not, if it’s sin. ’cause he knew that he robbed the people blind. But that is a radical transformation that is expected of the believers. We have nothing to do with that old life anymore because we have been changed and we’re new men in Christ and we’ve replaced that old life, that old pattern of life with something that God has prescribed for us to replace it with. And work here doesn’t mean just survival. It becomes a holy act that is done with integrity and and directed for blessings of others. So I want you to notice the progression. Stop stealing. So that is leaving behind the old habits. I’ve said this already, but just to reiterate it, old habits of selfishness because you thought nothing of the person that you’re robbing from. Start working to embrace honest labor as a gift from God and then you share generously. So let your work overflow in the lives of those who need. And then that’s the transformation from selfishness to selflessness. Selfishness is you’re stealing, you’re taking. Selflessness is, you know what I’m giving back to the community. Temptation in and of itself is not sin. We know that. I hope we know that because Jesus Christ was tempted. If you remember that. And the author of Hebrew said he was tempted yet without sin, temptation is the invitation to sin. Victory comes when you and I refuse that invitation and lean on the strength and the power of God to resist. Remember the presence of temptation is proof of your spiritual significance. And I love this. It’s proof of your spiritual significance. He is so concerned about you spiritually. That is the devil. He’s gonna do everything in his power to temp you and to draw you away from becoming closer and closer to Jesus Christ. He sees that you are on a path of righteousness and he wants you to deviate from that path. It’s proof of your spiritual significance, not only to yourself and for your relationship with God, but for your relationship in the kingdom of God. ’cause if he can veer you off that spiritual path, then you would want nothing to do with the building up of the kingdom of God. The enemy temps those who matter to God. He temps those who matter to God. He’s not concerned about the world. He already has them. He’s, they’re already ba behaving according to how he wants them to behave. It’s a church he wants to attack and he is vehemently attacking the people of God. Guarding against temptation requires vi vigilance. Jesus tells us to watch and to pray. Watching means be alert to the areas where we’re most vulnerable. Praying means inviting God’s strength into those moments, into our lives when we are, when our own resolve flatters, when temptation comes, I want you to remember this. I hope you remember this. And these aren’t my words, these are the words of scripture. God always has a way for you to escape. One Corinthians 10 13, guaranteed. Again, that’s that’s the word of God. There’s always a an escape route. The problem is we’re not looking for the escape route, which is ironic because in the case of a fire, what, what would you look for? Exit, sign. See temptation as that fire. You’re not looking to stay in the fire wouldn’t make any sense. You’re looking for the exit so you can get out and get outta harm’s way. God has provided the escape road. Look for the escape road. Scripture is the word or the sword, rather to resist the enemy’s life. Paul is gonna talk about this more in Ephesian than the armor passage. But also remember, community strengthens us. This is why this is so vital and this is why Christians need to be reminded of the importance and the significance of gathering corporately on every single occasion that we meet because it strengthens us. Confession, confessing struggles and seeking accountability brings light into darkness. Guard against temptation. So we guard our tongues, you guard your temper, you guard against temptation. Finally guard your divine treasures verses 30 and 32. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption. Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiven each other just as God in the Christ also has forgiven you. The gift of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling Holy Spirit and his role in your lives and the family of God is also a gift from God. And the both are used to shape and to mold us more and more into the image of Christ. We saw this earlier in the text, the importance of vital necessity of us utilizing those gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us to shape and fashion each other. Any of these vices that Paul listed and so many more will grieve. The Holy Spirit does grieve the Holy Spirit. And what does this grieving mean? What does it look like? This is a feeling of deep sorrow and deep sadness. So you go back to Genesis chapter six where God said it, it pains, I’m paraphrasing obviously. It pains my heart to see that my image bearers are constantly forever, perpetually living a lifestyle of sin and ungodliness. It grieves me that I made them. That is what we do when we s sin against the Holy Spirit. That’s the kind of grievance that we give that he has when we s sin. That’s the kind of sorrow and sadness that he has. Believers, you and I, we are set apart by God, through the spirit of God and knowing that God will remain with us. God the Holy Spirit will remain within us until the end, until God returns for his creation. That should be a motivation to us. That should spur us on to live how God has called us to live and live according to his calling. Paul draws on the words of Isaiah 63 verse 10, urging the people not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. And in that scripture, the prophet remembers how God rescued his, his idea of redemption. God rescued his people with his love, with his mercy during the Exodus in Isaiah 63, verse nine. But they still rebel. There are still rebellious people and that troubled the Holy Spirit of God. Similarly, the psalmist mourns over the repeated rebellion against God in the desert in Psalm 70 verse 40, Psalm 78, 40, sorry. And it caused him to be grieved. Paul sees that those who belong to God now face, we face the same risks. We have been saved by God’s grace. We know that chapter one, verse seven and chapter one, verse 14, we have been saved through his love and through his mercies. Chapter two verse four, yet the words, our words, our actions, our attitude, our characteristics. We are constantly rebellious just like the children of Israel. And I’ve often been slapped, proverbially speaking in the face when I read the Exodus and see the miraculous sign just the, the the parting of the Red Sea. I’m like, man, that alone right there would’ve done it for me. There would be no reason, no cause for me to say, are you gonna leave us out here to die? And here’s where the slap comes in. Bear your no better. You would’ve complained just like they did. You would’ve seen that miraculous parting of the Red Sea. And you forget it the moment hunger and your belly starts to growl and the food isn’t there instantaneously or your, your lips are parched and looked so cracked like the desert ground that you’re walking on because you don’t have water. So you start to complain it was a slap in the face because that’s who we are as people and we have to guard ourselves against that. And verse 30 is both a warning, don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. But it is also serves as a reassurance to us that the Holy Spirit has sealed us. He’s our down payment as it were, stamp of approval that we belong to God. But that’s not our license to grieve him. That should be our motivation, not to grieve him. The warning, don’t resist, don’t quench, don’t dishonor the Holy Spirit through destructive behavior. And of course the comfort, as I mentioned, is the assurance of who we are in Christ. Our eternal salvation. That some would deny that we are gods and nothing will ever, ever change that this is a call to live in harmony with the Spirit who dwells within us, shaping us towards Christ’s likeness. The Holy Spirit is not a distant force or a force for that matter, but a living presence, God living within us to grieve him is to wound the heart of the one who comforts us, the one who guides us, the one who empowers us. And Paul reminds us that our words and our attitudes and our action matters deeply. Not only to those around us and how it affects them, but it matters to God himself. Because it affects him too. It grieves him deeply too. So when we choose bitterness over forgiveness, anger over gentleness or selfishness over love, we resist the Holy Spirit work within us. Yet this verse also carries immense hope. We are sealed that God’s seal is unbreakable and the promises that we belong solely to him and nothing will ever snatch us away from his hand guard your hearts against grieving God the Holy Spirit who indwells you. It is important to uphold unity and harmony within the family of God. And Paul advises us to cultivate compassion attitude that extends kindness and forgiveness to others rather than responding with bitterness and anger. Believers are encouraged to reflect on the examples that were set by Jesus Christ himself through God who forgave us. Kindness is identified as the first of these three characteristics to be demonstrated within this interpersonal relationship between the body. This quality, of course, is an attribute of God himself. The psalm is said, taste and see that the Lord is good. That’s the same word that is used there in Psalm 34, 8. Paul further asserts that kindness or the kindness of God is instrumental in leading people to repentance in Romans two verse four. And God is depicted as not only as a morally upright but also actively benevolent, extending his love towards people. And of course the Psalm is additionally exclaimed the Lord is good to all. Since corrupt speech arises from a diseased heart. True transformation then must occur within, before outward behavior can be expressed. Transformation has to happen from inside out is what I’m saying. So Paul therefore urges the believers to develop tender heartedness. Compassion. A word that in itself is literal self refers to having highly healthy intestines or bowels. That’s what the word literally means. Of course it’s being used figuratively here, but it conveys deep compassion, genuine care, genuine concern for the body of Christ, for those who are a part of the body of Christ. And again, this is a characteristic of God himself. So feelings of bitterness and resentment and desire for relationship are no relationship must give way to a warm, tender heart art. But Paul’s most demanding call for the believer here as he closes off verse 32, is for us to forgive one another. The present tense of this participant. And I’m sure as you heard the word participant, you know what that means because I’ve said it so many times in this pulpit, underscores that forgiveness is a continual practice within the Christian community. Jesus himself highlighted this principle to Peter, Peter in teaching that even a brother who repeatedly sins must be forgiven continually. So, uh, Matthew 18, verse 22, this reciprocal prone pronoun that is used one another or another makes it clear that Paul instruction is directed specifically to towards the body of believers. He’s talking to the church again, he doesn’t mention, he doesn’t seek to address what forgiveness should look like outside of the church community, outside of the body of Christ. That’s not his point here. And we shouldn’t read into it to say then we shouldn’t continually forgive out there. That’s another story. But he’s focused on the body of Christ that we always ought to live with a constant attitude of forgiveness among the body. The model for this mutual forgiveness, of course, is seen in God himself, in graciously pardoning his people. No greater example of forgiveness can be offered than that supreme example through Jesus Christ. And I, I wor a thing that I find very fascinating about this word, forgiveness is the root word. The Greek word for forgiveness here is omi. And if you’re familiar with Greek, the Greek word for grace is cherish. That’s the Greek root word that is here for forgiveness. So embedded in forgiveness is the idea of grace. Grace and what is grace is something we don’t deserve. And I, I, I strongly believe that what Paul is trying to say, why it should be an ongoing continual thing, even if the belief the person doesn’t deserve it, and they probably don’t, we’re still supposed to forgive. We’re still supposed to extend forgiveness because that’s what God did for us through Jesus Christ. We didn’t deserve the forgiveness of God. We didn’t deserve anything that God has given us that we’ve seen in Ephesians chapter one. All those spiritual blessings, nothing of it. We can claim nothing that we can say, yeah, I, I deserve that. I’m entitled to that. No we didn’t. That’s why it’s called grace. And his mercy is withholding from us what we actually deserve. We deserve hell. We deserve eternal separation from a loving, righteous, just and holy God. But in his grace and in his mercy, God said, I’m going to choose you before the foundation of this world so that you can be conformed to my son into the image of my son. We don’t deserve it. And that is our template that we go off. That is the example that we use when we’re interacting with each other. That just as God forgive me, he extended his grace to me. I’m extending it to the body of Jesus Christ. I’m extending it to the believer whether they deserve it or not. That’s not for me to say because God demands, God expects, God commands me to forgive my brothers and sister continually. And it’s not gonna be easy. And as I’ve always said, things in the Bible are commanded because the Bible authors through the undergirding of the Holy Spirit knows is not going to be easy. Even something as simplistic as love one another, which is repeated so many times in scripture, why we don’t get what it means to love one another. So the commands aren’t easy, but they’re there for us to obey the easiness and the difficulty, the difficulty level of the, the, the commandments aren’t for us to debate and negotiate whether we should a agree with it or listen to it or abide by it or not. It’s for us to obey whether we like it or not, whether we see it easy or not. God expects that of us vice our vices to abandon Virtues, to adapt, to nurture, to mature in. We mature in these virtues by guarding our tongues, by guarding our temper, by guarding against temptation, by guarding our treasures. That is the gift of the Holy Spirit. In dwelling spirit, we guard our treasure that is our body. And I don’t think many believers today see the church as a treasure. See the body of believers as treasure, as a gift from God. And it is because we weren’t saved in isolation. Heaven isn’t gonna be bear off to himself on this remote island worshiping God. And then Peter’s over there unaware that bears his way over there. No, we’re gonna be from all tribe and tongue right together, glorifying and honoring God. Together we are a treasured community. The Bible tells us that we guard these divine treasures, that God is graciously, mercifully granted to us. This chapter, this entire chapter as we close, is one that I hope anyways. It has significantly challenged me and convicted me. And I hope it has challenged you and convicted you as well. But they’re also comforting verses in these chapters, knowing that God, everything that we have com been commanded here in this, in this entire chapter. God has supplied us with the means, he has enabled us so that we can be able to accomplish to, to live and to obey the commands that he has written in these words. And what Paul is doing here is setting the stage, is setting the template for Ephesians chapter six, verses 10 to 18. Because even though we struggle with our old self, even though we are continually at war without ourself, Paul knows that there’s a bit of bigger battle. And he’s gonna tell us about this bigger battle in Ephesians six, that we’re not wrestling just against flesh and blood, that that’s theirs to it. But the battle is, is the war. The war is bigger than that. We’re fighting against spiritualities and powers and rulers in, in the heavenly places in dark darkness. That’s what we’re up against. And if we are going to be able to put on the armor that he’s gonna talk about in Ephesians chapter six, we have to get these things down pat first or else we’re not ready for battle, we’re not ready. We’re gonna be a casualty. Even Bo, even before we get on the battlefield, those wilds that the devil are gonna be shooting us or it’s gonna hit us left, right, and center. Because if we’re so fixated and concerned and allowing these things to deviate and distract us from our spiritual growth and maturity in Christ, we’re not gonna have time to actually suit up and gear up for the battle. Guard your tongue, guard your temper, guard against temptation. Guard the treasures that God has graciously given us. Father, we’re so grateful and thankful for this chapter, your word in his entirety. But as we have been making our way slowly through this chapter, Lord, as I mentioned, very convicting, but also in the same breath, very comforting, knowing that you have enabled the body of Christ, the church collectively and individually with the gifts and abilities that are required to shape us and mold us so that we can actually rise above these vices and continually to continually nurture and mature the virtues that we ought to be putting on and to be exhibiting in our Christian walk with you. So strengthen us Lord, and may we can constantly be reminded and be mindful of these verses in scripture of the high calling that you have placed on each and every believer. And the church itself is to reflect and represent our Lord, our God, our Savior, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.