Scripture:
Ephesians 4:25-32 NKJV and I Corinthians 6:7-11 NKJV
[25] Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. [26] “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, [27] nor give place to the devil. [28] Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. [29] Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. [30] And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. [31] Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. [32] And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
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[7] Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? [8] No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! [9] Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, [10] nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Observation:
As I was reading this morning I was led to several places in the Bible. I’m not exactly sure what it was looking for, but one of the places I landed was in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verses 7 through 11, which I included so that we can get a good picture of what is being said. Now as we continue what I want us to know is that what has been said in these scriptures is not from me and although it’s pretty heavy it’s what the LORD has said. I hope by the end of this we can see the grace that is held inside the words that are in what has been said inside the scripture. Having just recently studied through the letter to the Ephesians. A lot of what we discovered is still fresh on my mind. As Paul was writing this letter, he was teaching about spiritual warfare, so it’s really no surprise that he has come to the point of giving instructions on what repentance really looks like. As I have said before many times, when you see the word therefore in the Bible it’s a good idea to see what it’s there for. I find it no mistake that the subtle portion of scripture just before the one we are diving into is, “The new man” and talks about a life that has been transformed. If anyone knows about the transforming power that an encounter with Christ has, it’s Paul. If you have not had the opportunity to hear about how Paul came to Christ you can find one version of his testimony in the book of acts. It starts in chapter 9. Paul knew the effects of grace, and the power it holds. His life was totally transformed seemingly overnight. At the peak of this letter to the church in Ephesus, as he teaches about repentance he gives instructions to put away the old way of living and put on a new way to live. In a sense what he is saying here in the verses we are looking at is, do not handle your life how you used to, the way you used to be dishonest needs to change, along with the way you handled your emotions, because that’s how the enemy finds his way into the church, and once he has found his way in its hard to push him out. Now drawing from the verses that we were brought to in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 we can see exactly how that happened. This letter was written to correct some issues in a church that had already allowed room for the enemy to come in. I absolutely love the way that the Holy Spirit works. Jesus said HE will bring to our remembrance the things HE has taught us, and the way my mind works is exactly that. As I was typing HE brought my thoughts to these verses. As Paul is writing this letter to correct a church that is falling apart at the seams. He says, “It’s an utter failure for you,” you see they had already allowed the enemy to come in and separate them through the things that we read about in Ephesians. What he is saying in the second half of verse 7 is, give them the same grace that you were given, although the words are different. That is the idea behind them. This church was in turmoil. Lawsuits and division had set in. They were all in their emotions. Believers were at odds with Believers, and Paul wanted to bring to light that they had been changed. They were not the people they were acting like. The harsh statement starts in verse 9 and continues through verse 10. It’s not something that we can afford to ignore. We can not be confused about this, the words do not be deceived are important, the list is sure and true. I won’t repeat it because I feel like its pretty self explanatory. Verse 11 is a reminder to this church that the way they are acting is not the new creation that they were made by the blood of Christ. The word that I key in on in this verse is “WERE” it says, “And such “WERE” some of you, but you “WERE” washed, but you “WERE” sanctified, but you “WERE” justified. In other words the fruit you are producing is not the fruit that you are claiming. Now back to ephesians. Looking at verse 28 we get a great example of what repentance looks like. What Paul is saying is that you have to change the behavior. Stop what you “WERE” doing and do something different. He continues to teach that as he writes. Don’t talk the way you used to. Start building each other up through grace. Man It sure would be nice if I could just write about the Bible all day long. I would not run out of material. Paul instructed the church to, “let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit.” What Paul is saying is meet everyone with the grace you were given. Offense is how the enemy gets in. We can see that by the list that is given in verse 31, but it is eliminated by verse 32, treating others with the same grace you were given.
Application:
We have to realize that not everyone starts their salvation journey at the same place we did. Some of the old behavior takes time to put away. Now the thing is, if they have had a true encounter with Christ the change will take place, but until it does we have to meet them with grace. All the enemy needs is a little crack, not much. You see, I picture him walking around with a bag full of wedges and a mallet, looking for the smallest little spot to drive a wedge. We can’t give him that room. As I look at the “CHURCH” I can see how the years have gone by. Little disagreements have turned into division. Now let me ask you a question. How are we going to be effective at the great commission if we can agree on the gray areas in the Bible? Or if we are allowing Offense to separate us? So many lines of division have been drawn by placing labels over doors. I go to this church, or I go to that church. We need to come together as “THE CHURCH” and stop letting the enemy just have his way. But how does that look for the individual? Well the grace of GOD has changed us, or at least it should have. Don’t get me wrong I’m not always good at letting things roll off my back like water off a ducks butt. I have gotten offended and made a choice to go somewhere else. So I get it. When our heart gets hurt it’s a natural reaction to protect it. But at some point we have to deal with that offense, not allowing it to grow into bitterness. This is not something that is always easy to do. People hurt people but Christ never hurt anyone. HE willingly allowed them to place HIM on the cross and pierce HIM to it. Although HE did not deserve what HE got, HE did not allow that to stop grace. People are going to be people. They are going to do things that hurt us, and it’s not always going to be easy to just let that happen. But we can not hold on to it or we will never get to where GOD wants us to be. Jesus Christ is the model. The grace HE showed you… that’s the same grace you need to show others. Of course it’s not going to be easy. In Galatians chapter 6, there is a phrase that needs to be paid attention to, it’s, “Do not be deceived, GOD will not be mocked for whatever a man sows that shall he also reap.” GOD’S grace has changed my life, yes I still get offended and there are times when i don’t want to do the right thing, but I sit and pray and search, and what always comes to me is….. grace changed you, let it change them. You see we do not have to answer for what has been done to us, but we do have to answer for how we react to it, and I don’t know about you but I already have enough to answer for. Letting the offense roll off your back is not easy, but it is necessary. You have been washed, so stop playing in the mud.
Prayer:
Father, you never said it would be easy. In fact you told us that in this world we would have trouble, but take heart, because you have overcome the world. It’s so easy to allow our hearts to get hardened, or to think we are right. But the thing is you know what you are doing. You have been at it a lot longer than we have, we want our lives to be a pleasing aroma to you. Like a sweet smelling sacrifice. We just want to thank you for the grace that you have placed in our heart. Yes we hurt but so did your SON, im sure HE felt every lash all 39, but like a lamb to the slaughter HE said not a word. Once nailed to the cross HIS desire was that you would forgive those who placed HIM there. So who are we to be any different when that is our example. Our lives here are not at all what is important. At some point we will stand in heaven face to face with you, and our desire is to hear well done. If that means we have to go through it here…. Well that’s what it means…. You know best, and we surrender. Our white flag is in the air. Our lives don’t belong to us and our hurt has a purpose in your plan. You hold every tear and you are still “I AM” you are all we need. It’s in the mighty name of Jesus we pray amen.