Gifts of Grace: A Way to be Good Again

This is part 12 of a sermon series on Ephesians. Last week (“Gifts of Grace: The Parable of the Onion”) I said that we were turning the corner in Paul’s letter, changing from talking about theology to talking about practical issues of Christian living. In the parable of the onion, I said that that the whole process of sloughing off an old way of living and taking on a new way of living is a never-ending process.

James says, “If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check” (James 3:2). I have learned the hard way that my mouth routinely shows how far from perfect I am—how many layers there are to the onion. I recall when I first became a Christian, my mentor said, “If you want to show the world that you are a Christian, clean up your mouth.” I battled profanity in my language for months (i.e., taking off one old way of living) but profanity was only the beginning. Beyond profanity, I have had to battle gossip, little white lies, sarcasm, foolishness, and more; each was an old way of living that needed to be taken off. I have had to learn encouragement, forbearance, silence, kindness, forgiveness, and more; each is a new way of living that I have tried to take on. Nothing I have ever done as a Christian has been as humiliating—nothing has ever convicted me more—than my own mouth.

Ephesians 4:25-32

Commentary

These verses are sort of a hodgepodge of vices and virtues—ethical instruction, ranging from exhortations about lying, anger, theft, negative talk, grieving the Spirit, malice, and compassion. Each vice represents an “old self”—an old way of life that must be “put off” (v25). Here each vice is followed by a virtue, a “new self,” a new way of life that must be adopted.

The question is: Are all of these verses—all these vices—related somehow, or not?

v25 Notice the “body of Christ” language in these verses: “members of one body” (v25); “building others up” (v29)

v26 Paul is quoting Psalm 4, verse 4. Questions for later: Do you think Paul is quoting the psalm in context? Where is the anger in Psalm 4 directed? What comparisons can you make between Psalm 4 and the verses here today?

v28-29 These verses are linked by the word “need.” The former thief must give to those in need and the former badmouth must encourage (literally, build up) those in need. The one who was formerly a drain on the community has become a community resource!

v30 The notion of grieving the Spirit occurs only here and in Isaiah 63:10, but it appears to refer to willful disobedience by a believer. If you have asked God into our life, if you have asked God for a spiritual makeover, God is faithful and he will do it. You are sealed for redemption. However, to then stand in God’s way and resist God’s work is simply foolish and a waste of your time. God has infinite time; however, you don’t, so why waste your precious little time by resisting what you have already asked God to do?

v31 In the body, this is what resisting God—refusing to take off an old way of living—will look like.

v32 In the body, this is what submitting to God—living a new way—will look like.

Application

Sticking with the metaphor of the body of Christ a little longer, there is one part of the body that we haven’t talked about: an alien part, a part which really doesn’t fit in, a part which doesn’t support the other parts, a part which doesn’t build up the body. Once upon a time, it looked like a vibrant part of the body, but then something happened; it changed. Once it supported the other members; now it just worries about itself. Once it fed others, it built up the other members; now it just worries about feeding itself. It is a tumor.

A tumor has forgotten that it once belonged to a body. A tumor is willing to kill the body for the sake of trying to feed itself. A tumor has forgotten its place, forgotten its role in the body. It comes to dominate and throw out of equilibrium the delicate balance of the members of the body.

On the surface, in today’s verses, a tumor is most like the thief (v28) who invades by stealth, takes what it wants, and shows no remorse. However, the tumor is like the other vices as well: the liar, who steals the truth; the brawler, who steals the peace; the badmouth, who steals the harmony; the evil-doer, who steals justice. In the movie Kite Runner, the narrator’s father, a merchant, says:

Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. When you kill a man, you steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal someone’s right to fairness. There is no act more wretched than stealing. [1]

Like a tumor, our old ways are self-centered and have no regard for family, community, or God ... except where family, community, and God might be useful to us. When we lie, we seek to steal an advantage for ourselves. When we gossip, we seek to steal an advantage—perhaps by disadvantaging another. When we are angry, we seek to steal an advantage at the expense of real justice. When we are malicious and spiteful, we seek to steal a personal peace at the expense of the peace of the community.

Our old ways don’t just hurt a few others—the ones we think deserve to be hurt—our old ways hurt the whole community, the whole body of Christ. Therefore, the truth be known, our old ways are hurting us as well! Therein lurks the lie that feeds the tumor and poisons our souls. We have thought that we could gossip, hold secret grudges, nurse blame in our hearts and that malice would give us strength and peace even as we sought to steal justice. [2] But our old ways are stunting us, deforming us, and killing us even as they hurt the community. The tumor ultimately will kill itself as it kills the body.

Like a tumor, our old ways must be cut out and destroyed. That surgery for us, as members of the body of Christ, is taking off our old ways of living, e.g. gossip, finding blame, malice, and badmouthing. Like a tumor, other therapies may needed to help the body get back to normal. That therapy for us, as members of the body of Christ, is putting on new ways of living, e.g. forbearance instead of gossip, forgiveness instead of finding blame. Like many medicines, this new way of living may not taste great at first, but God’s promise is that it will be worth it.

Points to Ponder

If what comes out of our mouths is a window into our souls, what is your mouth revealing about you? Are you perfect, with your tongue firmly in check, or is there a place that you are struggling?

If all sin is a form of theft, what you trying to steal?

Paul is concerned about members of the body building up each other. Why does he not seem as concerned about building up those outside of Christ’s body and being built up by them? Aren’t the secular communities in which we live important? [3]

What we are talking about today is shalom and building a community of peace, justice & security for all.

End Notes

1 - I highly recommend this movie! Set in Afghanistan, it tells a story of cowardice & betrayal that takes a generation to see justice. The movie has some violence, but no swearing and no sex. You can read a movie review at http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2007/kiterunner2007.html . The sermon title is taken from the tagline of the movie: There is a way to be good again.

2 - Curiously, the human body maintains health on a cellular level by enabling individual cells to kill themselves when they realize that they are damaged and are a threat to the body. This process is called apoptosis. Many tumors grow because the cancer cells have forgotten to kill themselves—more correctly, they have a chemical imbalance (e.g. survivin) that prevents apoptosis. See the parallel here:

• the human body maintains health by enabling unhealthy cells to terminate themselves, while the body of Christ maintains health by encouraging members to die to self,

• the human body develops cancers, in part, when cells “forget” to die when broken, while the body of Christ gets sick when members forget to die to self and seek to serve self instead.

3 - Of course you are a part of many communities—family, work, church, town, etc.—all important, but some more spiritual than others. I think Paul is concerned with building up other Christians first because: (a) without Christians working in harmony, the other communities don’t stand much of a chance, (b) the greatest damage Christians do in the world is the witness they bear when they hurt each other, and (c) non-Christians ultimately have no power to harm us with their words (Matt. 5:11-12).