A1
Scriptures
Ephesians 4:24-32 NKJV And
that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in
true righteousness and holiness. 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.
A2
Outline
B1 The New Man
C1 To be put on.
C2 Which was created in God's
image.
D1 In true righteousness
D2 In true holiness
B2 Practice Instructions for
the Church
C1 Do not lie anymore.
C2 Do not be angry anymore.
C3 Do not steal any more.
C4 Do not be lazy anymore.
C5 Do not be selfish anymore.
C6 Do not speak stupid stuff
any more.
C7 Do not grieve the Holy
Spirit any more.
C8 Do not be bitter anymore.
C9 Do not have wrath any more.
C10 Do not have anger any
more.
C11 Do not be loud, insistent,
and demanding any more.
C12 Do not speak evil any
more.
C13 Do not have malice any
more.
C14 Do not be unkind any more.
C15 Do not be hard hearted any
more.
C16 Do not refuse to forgive
any more.
A3
Notes
B1 Put on = as in clothes.
What we wear often reflects on our lifestyle, habits, personality,
tastes, etc. As in (The night is nearly over, and the day is near; so
let us get rid of the works of the darkness, and let us put on the
weapons of the light—Romans 13:12 WPNT) we are to take off evil and
wear the armor of light. What we wear should be consistent to who we
are and believe. If we are evil, we should look evil. If we are not
evil, we should not look evil. Here we are to put on something. That
something is the new man. We have a new attitude. This is renewed as
the old attitude, desires, views, standards are to be discarded. The
new here is all that is contained in the New Testament. Mind here
stands for the part of a human that reasons, thinks, makes decisions,
etc.
B2 New man = the new creation.
The work of rebirth done by God himself without any works from us.
The old flesh is still present with us, gets sick, and eventually
dies.
B3 The new man is in God's
image. The first, of Adam, was lost, damaged, corrupted because of
sin.
B4 True righteousness = not a
fake righteousness, facade, or hypocrisy. Many have an outward,
religious appearing holiness which is not truth. Righteousness is
defined by God's character and His thoughts, desires, words, and
deeds. True righteousness is found in the inner self.
B5 True holiness = not a fake
holiness of someone parading around pretending to be a holy
man/woman. "So
whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may
be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their
reward."
(Matthew 6:2 NRSV)
B6 The Greek in verse 24 reads
"righteousness
and true holiness."
B7 A list of 16 rules from God
for the way that we are to live.
C1 No lies—little lies, big
lies, medium lies. God does not lie, therefore we should not either.
If caught in a lie, confess it. "I just caught myself in a lie;
please forgive me. Here is the truth."
C2 No anger. Anger is "the
strong feeling you get when you think someone has treated you badly
or unfairly, that makes you want to hurt them or shout at
them—Macmillan Dictionary. Consider—But
I say to you that whoever gets angry with his brother without cause
will be liable to the judgment. And whoever says to his brother,
‘Numskull!’ will be liable to the council. But whoever says, ‘You
absolute idiot!’ will be liable to hell fire."
(Matthew 5:22 WPNT). Pickering notes, "God
hates injustice and will judge it. Less than 2% of the Greek
manuscripts, of inferior quality, omit “without cause” (as in
NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). NIV, NASB and LB favor us with a footnote
informing us that “some manuscripts” add ‘without cause—by
“some” they mean 98% of them!! More serious, the shorter text has
the effect of forbidding anger, which would contradict other
Scriptures ("Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your
heart on your bed, and be still. Selah"—Psalms 4:4 NKJV) and
the Lord's own example ("After looking around at them with
anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts, He says to the
man, “Stretch out your hand!” So he stretched, and his hand was
restored as healthy as the other!"—Mark 3:5 WPNT) The point
anger will be experienced, but we must not let the sun go down before
we have cooled off. Holding on to anger causes many problems.
C3 No stealing—taking what
is not ours. It is due to covetousness. It can be taking people,
time, property, affections, keeping what we should be giving.
C4 No laziness—Work instead.
If for some reason you cannot find a job, look for one say maybe once
a week. In the meantime study something, volunteer for something or
someone. Do something valuable for God, His church, or society.
C5 No selfishness
C6 No stupid talking—teasing
is OK for a little well, but then it becomes verbal abuse. What we
are to talk about is for edifying, not destroying someone. People die
from bullying. It is serious.
C7 No grieving the Holy
Spirit—What is grieving the Holy Spirit? When I was young, maybe 9
or 10, my Grandma Gane hired a paper hanger. He was a professional.
She had bought a dozen donuts for all of us to enjoy at break time.
While he was papering, I was sneaking donuts. When break time
arrived, Grandma got the donuts out and saw only 1 donut in the box.
She looked at me and said, "O, Lenny." That is right I had
eaten 11 donuts. I felt bad but I had caused Grandma grief. So it is
with the Holy Spirit. He has plans for us and when we disobey, we
grieve Him—not a smart thing to do. "How
often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in
the desert."—Psalms
78:40, HCSB). "But
they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He became their enemy
and fought against them."—Isaiah
63:10, HCSB)
C8 No bitterness—bitterness
is what happens in prolonged disappointment of any type. Have you or
I ever made a promise and did not keep it? That type of action can
lead to bitterness in the person who was promised something. What you
don't listen—really listen—to your spouse when he/she wants to
talk? You are causing bitterness. Bitterness leads to abuse and
acting out from pent up anger.
C9 No wrath—the type of
anger when one is out of control. Go talk a walk. Don't drive just
walk.
C10 No anger.
C11 No clamoring—loud,
insistent, and demanding. This is one way of expressing anger.
C12 No speaking evil—as in
slander, blasphemy, lies, verbal abuse of any kind.
C13 No malice—is deep hatred
with action as in "When
his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than he loved
them, they hated their brother so much that they would not speak to
him in a friendly manner—Genesis
37:4, GNB92.
C14 No unkindness—think of
being kind to animals. Therefore no ill will, causing pain or
discomfort to any, being aware of people's needs. Do be a narcissist.
C15 No hard
heartedness—stubborn to cause and retain ill feelings towards
others. "he
told us to ask you, ‘Please forgive the crime your brothers
committed when they wronged you.' Now please forgive us the wrong
that we, the servants of your father's God, have done.” Joseph
cried when he received this message.
(Genesis 50:17, GNB92).
C16 No more refusing to
forgive—forgiveness is not letting someone get away with punishment
but is turning that punishment over to God, who judges perfectly.
When I forgive some, God may or may not forgive.
B8 Verse 25: Who is our
neighbor? It is any one we meet. In this verse it is especially
referring to members of the church. We are members of one another.
Jesus Christ is the head, and all the believers (the saints) are the
body.
B9 Verse 26: Anger held on to
is unhealthy.
|
Showing the difference
between healthy and unhealthy anger.
Introduction,
anger is a natural and necessary emotion. Anger is anger, it is in
itself neither right nor wrong, healthy nor unhealthy. It is the
expression of anger that makes it healthy or unhealthy. When it is
expressed appropriately within the context of a situation it is a
necessary emotion. Feeling anger is different from expressing
anger, and it is the inappropriate expression of anger that makes
it unhealthy.
Not feeling any anger in a
situation is just as unhealthy as expressing anger in a cageful,
vengeful manner. e.g.: when we see a child being beaten cruelly,
it is natural to feel anger, however this does NOT justify the
inappropriate expression by yelling, screaming or beating the
abuser. This is healthy anger.
Healthy Anger:
Healthy anger is
appropriate to the situation that evokes it. Healthy expression of
anger involves facing what makes you angry and an effort to set
boundaries for yourself by determining what you will do in
response to what makes you angry.
e.g.: When you do
________, I feel ______ , and to protect myself I will _________.
Healthy anger is not used
to punish, is not violent, and is not used to intimidate, control
or manipulate the other person. It is expressed, discussed and
moved through.
Healthy anger is not
stuffed down and ignored. Stuffed anger creates resentment and a
myriad of physical, mental and emotional problems. Healthy anger
is not expressed in passive-aggressive and manipulative ways.
Unhealthy Anger:
Unhealthy Anger is a
component of abusive relationships. This kind of anger or rage is
experienced with great intensity and expressed likewise by
screaming and yelling, physical expressions of anger, violence or
threats of violence, sulking, manipulation, emotional blackmail,
silent smoldering, and anger used to punish.
Rage is a shame-based
expression of anger.
Rage is by definition
abuse. They react to strong emotions with rage, i.e. feelings of
fear, sadness, shame, inadequacy, guilt or loss convert to rage.
They were typically shamed
or punished by their caretakers for expressing emotion when they
were young; i.e.: "Be a man and don't cry", "Nice
girls don't get angry" or "I'll give you something to
cry about".
Raging gives the angry
person a feeling of power - offsetting their shame and feelings of
inadequacy.
Unexpressed anger related
to childhood abuses often results in addictive problems later in
life. To stuff down the feelings of shame, anger, isolation, fear,
sadness and loss the abuse creates.
By pushing feelings down it
is impossible to work through feelings and move past them, keeping
the person trapped in a downward spiral.
|
B10 Verse 27: Give no
opportunity to the devil. From Handfuls on Purpose: "Give
No Place to the Devil
(Ephesians 4:27). The
Devil is always in search of a place in our lives. He knows that if
he can but get his poison into the blood, that the whole man will be
affected. Paul forgave others, "lest Satan should get an
advantage of us" (2Co 2:10-11). The hasty temper and the
unforgiving mood gives Satan a great advantage. "Resist the
Devil and he will flee from you."
B11 Verse 29: What is evil
speech? How do we know? The context states that what we say is to be
for edification. Sometimes truth hurts but must be told.
B12 God does have emotions. He
can be grieved, that is, become sad. What makes God sad? A lack of
faith, disobedience, rebellion, etc.
B13 Verses 31 and 32 are to be
taken together. Verse 31 contains a list of what NOT to do, and verse
32 what we MUST do. God's laws/rules are like that. Somethings please
God and we are to do. The list in verse 31 are things not to do to
one another, instead we are to do the list in verse 32.
A4
Applications
B1 God does define a righteous
life.
B2 God requires us to live a
righteous life.
B3 God gives us specifics
about a righteous life.
B4 By our thinking, doing, and
talking in private and public will reveal our character: Matthew
7:15-20 NRSV "Beware
of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly
are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are
grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 In the same
way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad
fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree
bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut
down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their
fruits.
B5 God requires, so He will
assist by His grace: Romans 12:1-2 NRSV
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of
God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good
and acceptable and perfect.
B6 His grace: 2 Corinthians
12:9-10 NRSV but he
said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made
perfect in weakness." So, I will boast all the more gladly of my
weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10
Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships,
persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I
am weak, then I am strong.
