“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. 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.
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, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”
I need to start out today, reminding you that I have as much need to be admonished concerning this subject as anyone who sits in front of me, or may read this sermon later.
When I come honestly before God and allow Him to bring to my mind the attitudes and behaviors still present in me, and occasionally demonstrated by me, that undoubtedly grieve His Spirit who lives in me, I find two responses taking place within me as He shines His all-revealing light. Shame, because I am not my own, I have been bought with a price, and my actions sometimes deny that wonderful truth; and a deep sense of relief and gratitude, because that same Holy Spirit in me assures me that yes, even this, is covered by grace. He will continue to lead me and teach me and change me, because that is the on-going work of sanctification.
Interestingly, I had a conversation just last evening with a brother of mine (the evening before I wrote this sermon), not realizing that I was going to be addressing this subject as I sat down to study today (the following morning).
We were discussing the tendency of worldly attitudes and actions to creep back into the lifestyle when a believer neglects the Word and the fellowship of other believers.
This wasn’t said then, but frankly, I think it might be more accurate to describe it not as a creeping, but a rushing.
I appreciated the words of MacKintosh on this, as he addressed the erroneous thinking on the part of many Christians, that sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in making the old man better; turning him into something fit for Heaven. This false doctrine makes them content and gives them a false sense of security that the person they used to be is behind them and they are somehow better than before.
He wrote:
“Is the reader a true believer? If so, has he found any improvement in his old nature? Is it a single whit better now than it was when he first started on his Christian course? He may, and should through grace, be able to subdue it more thoroughly; but it is nothing better. If it be not mortified, it is just as ready to spring up and show itself in all its vileness as ever. "The flesh" in a believer is in no wise better than "the flesh" in an unbeliever. And if the Christian does not bear in mind that self must be judged, he will soon learn by bitter experience that his old nature is as bad as ever; and, moreover, that it will be the very same to the end.”
So when a true believer in Christ becomes conscious of the flesh rearing its ugly head in his life, whether it be manifest in his behavior, or something passing through his own secret thoughts and contemplations, he should of course take it into captivity; subdue it, as MacKintosh said; confess it in prayer, and give himself to the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work.
But the believer can, at that same time, rejoice that he has a Savior. Because that same Holy Spirit of Christ whom we are admonished not to grieve, is the One dwelling in us to minister His grace and mercy and compassion on us and continue the work of cleansing us from all unrighteousness.
Now having said all that, and as we come to these verses of study today, I want you to be mindful as we enter into it, that the ‘flesh’ is not something we can blame our sin on as though it’s not really a part of us, and the Holy Spirit is not some divine fire extinguisher that puts out the little fires in our life as we go along, and all of this somehow takes place outside the realm of our personal involvement or responsibility.
“Oh, I’m a Christian now, and all my sin is forgiven, and I’m on my way to Heaven, and the flesh makes me sin once in a while, but the Father forgives and the Holy
Spirit cleanses, and I go on merrily, kickin’ down the cobblestones, lookin’ for fun and feeling groovy.”
No, as my good friend and brother Ken Black in Del Norte, Colorado once said to me, “With eternal security comes eternal accountability”
The believer does have a responsibility; he is a participant in this sanctifying process, and there is an accountability he is held to, concerning his behavior and his witness to the world, and his relationship with his brothers.
And proof of this claim is right here in these verses, 28-32 of Ephesians 4.
So let’s approach our study today having laid this foundation, and reminding ourselves that Paul has come to this place by way of illustrating the church as a body and its members, contrasting the darkness of the world with the light and truth that we have in Christ, and teaching us that our new self has been made in the likeness of God. Therefore we are to walk according to what we have learned and not according to what we were saved from. And here are some practical examples:
THE USE OF OUR MEMBERS: FOR HURTING, OR HELPING
We’ll step up and look at the details in a moment. But standing back and looking at this painting as a whole, the characteristic that jumps out at me is that Paul’s admonition concerns the two most potentially constructive, or destructive members of the body.
First he tells us to control our hands, then to control our mouths. Now let’s step up closer.
HANDS
Now isn’t this interesting? Paul finds it necessary to tell Christians to stop stealing.
Note that he does not say, ‘don’t steal’. He says, ‘Let him who steals steal no more’.
Well, I suppose it is not inconceivable that a Christian can also be a kleptomaniac; in need of counseling and therapy and certainly prayer.
But I think it’s safe to assume that the true believer has the witness of the Spirit in his heart that stealing is wrong. And if he isn’t sensitive enough to the Spirit’s convicting power, at the very least he has the eighth commandment to tell him what God thinks of stealing (Deut. 5:19).
But I think there is much more to what Paul is redressing here, than simply the stealthy removal of someone’s property.
It would be so much easier on us, wouldn’t it, if the eighth commandment was only meant to address the reprehensible sneak thief? Everyone but the thief himself thinks he’s disgusting; and I’d not be surprised if a thief, when he falls victim to theft, feels the same way about the vermin that stole from him.
When I was a police officer the most fun part of my job was dragging a burglar out of a house. To me, burglary, which is entering any inhabited structure for the purpose of depriving the owner of his personal property, is one of the vilest kind of crimes. It leaves the victim feeling violated. That sanctuary that is their home has been entered by a stranger and afterwards some part of the safety it represented is gone. No matter what was taken, the greatest loss is that of privacy and security.
When I lock my doors and windows I want even the cockroaches to stay out. I have to believe others feel the same way about their home; therefore, I detest burglary.
But I have to believe that the ten commandments God gave were specifically given, because they applied to all of mankind, no one excluded.
And since not all are stealers of physical things, we have to look harder for the message.
I wondered how many kinds of things could be stolen, so I came up with as many as I could off the top of my head:
Money, material goods, time, ideas, credit (glory), reputation, affection, service, self-esteem; you may be able to think of more.
So much could be said about stealing and what stealing is, this could turn into a seminar.
I took down Joy Davidman’s commentary on the ten commandments, titled, “Smoke On The Mountain”, just to see what she said about “Thou shall not steal”, and her primary focus seemed to be on the tendency of worldly thinking to punish the poor for stealing, but commending the rich for what it calls ‘shrewd business’.
She alluded to the incongruity of Roman law, that crucified poor thieves, but “…assigned a successful politician a province to be looted for his personal advantage” (Smoke On The Mountain” Westminster Press 1953 pg 98)
She finally made the point that stealing in whatever form, is best defined as the desire and effort to get something for nothing. I agree with her, but I’d like to go further and say that I believe God’s displeasure with stealing, again, of any kind, is based on the fact that it is an expression of self-pride, self-will, and unbelief.
It says, “I am more important than you” It says, “I can take what I want at everyone else’s expense and it’s alright because it’s me taking it” It says, “God can’t provide for me adequately, so I must do for myself”.
Let’s see where Paul is going with this.
Not stealing is not the opposite of stealing.
The person who does not steal is not to be commended just because he does not steal. Unless we lived in a society where everyone, with only one exception, stole as a lifestyle. Then that one person who was an exception would be commendable. But if the rest of us stole as a matter of daily course, we wouldn’t be likely to commend him, would we?
No, the opposite of stealing, is giving. The opposite of using our hands to deprive, is not leaving them hanging at our sides. It is using them to do good. In honest labor, earning and accumulating, so that we might have something to give.
Listen again:
“…but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need.”
Folks, nothing we have is attributable to our own strengths and talents. People think so. It’s an attitude that was expressed very effectively by James Stewart’s character in the movie, “Shenandoah”. He was the patriarch of a large Southern family, running a very successful plantation when the Civil War broke out.
Early in the movie the family sat down for dinner, and as they all bowed their heads, this is what he prayed:
“Lord, we cleared this land, we plowed it, sowed it, and harvested it. It wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be eating it if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you just the same anyway for this food we are about to eat. Amen”
Spoken or unspoken, I think that may be the attitude of far too many hearts, even Christian ones.
But the truth is that the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the very air we breathe, are a fresh gift from God every day, for every man woman or child, saved or unsaved. Nothing is ours; nothing.
Job said it all: “Naked I came into this world from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there.” It was a declaration made, not in bitterness, but in righteousness. We’re told in the previous verse that he was worshiping. (Job 1:20,21)
So not stealing is not the opposite of stealing, and not giving is still stealing.
What does a Christian, made in the likeness of God and renewed in the spirit of his mind, do with his hands?
He labors to attain, so that he might give to the one in need.
As brand new Christians, only doing what came out of their newly regenerated hearts automatically because of the Sprit of Christ in them, the Jerusalem church, right after the day of Pentecost, demonstrated for us this principle that Paul is telling us we must put into practice now that we are Christians.
Listen to Acts 2:44,45
“And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.”
Now I’m not advocating we all go out and sell everything and move as a group to the mountains and start a commune.
They were in a situation different than our present day and our culture. In fact, if we ever found ourselves in the same political and socio-economical climate they were in, we may very well do the same thing.
But we are still to be moved and led by the same Spirit they were, in being willing and ready as He leads, to share what we have with those in need. So strong is the emphasis on this, that Paul says our primary purpose in laboring should be so that we might have something to give to those in need.
PRIMARY. We have it the other way around, don’t we? “Well, I have to put food on the table, pay the rent, pay the bills, put some away for college, and retirement, and a little for entertainment…then tithe (so often considered optional)…then if I very strongly feel the Lord leading me to, and someone in need trips on my doorstep, I’ll dig into my pocket and see what’s there for him”.
Not so, says Paul…says the Holy Spirit… Work to have so that you might provide, for God provides for you.
MOUTH
This one too, might strike us a little odd on the surface, to hear Paul say ‘stop using unwholesome communications’.
Well, gee… As an unbeliever I cussed a blue streak, but Jesus changed my heart and now I want to be a good witness for Him; so why is it necessary to tell Christians not to use bad language.
“unwholesome” Only time it’s used in the New Testament. Means ‘rotten’, ‘worthless’, and comes from a root word that simply means ‘corrupt’.
Now I agree that we might not get many new visitors to the church if we go around telling lewd jokes and shouting cuss words. But then, it might turn them off if they see the pastor’s wife standing out front, spitting tobacco juice on the sidewalk too.
And I can remember people being offended at my mother, as pastor’s wife, just because she attended church while she was obviously pregnant. We could start with using bad language and get as legalistic as you’d care to go.
So something tells me there’s more in the mind of Paul than using unacceptable language; although I’m certain it includes that also.
Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.”
And Jesus, Himself, said, “…the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matt 12:34) and “Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man” (Matt 15:11)
We can be assured that Paul did not only have foul language in mind with this exhortation, by reading his own list in verse 31.
Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, malice.
Now just incase that word ‘clamor’ sounds strange to your ears, it means shouting, outcry.
Unwholesome communication, Christian, is any communication, however well-intentioned we might deceive ourselves into thinking it is, that fails to edify, brings discord, expresses refusal to forgive ~ or demonstrates un-forgiveness ~ manifests sustained anger, does damage to another’s reputation, which is a form of murder, or is meant to bring harm, whether physical, or just a rift in relationships.
How many churches have split or folded; how many families have been destroyed; how many local churches that are still functioning on some worldly level are rendered entirely ineffective for Kingdom work and growth, because of unwholesome conversation that runs so rampant throughout, that the Spirit has long since departed from their midst?
What is it’s root? This unwholesome talk? Well, it all comes back to the same thing we discussed earlier. Self-pride, self-will, and unbelief.
You’ll always find those things at the bottom of what displeases God. “I can say what I want and it’s right simply because I’m saying it”. “I will say what I want because I want to, and you’ll just have to deal with it.”
And implied, especially in gossip…
“God isn’t able to take care of the situation that displeases me; He is unable to change the heart of the person who has upset me; He won’t fix the problem; so I’ll just whine about it until the situation changes one way or another”. Unbelief.
Remember, we are members of one another as surely as members of the body are joined, and inseparable without severe harm.
Therefore his admonition to do the very things that cannot be done by stealing hands or slandering mouths.
‘be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other’
Act now with your members, in cooperation with the new man who is made in God’s own image. Do not deny with your members, the character of the One to whom you have been joined.
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, for you have been sealed for the day of redemption.
Let’s talk about that word ‘sealed’ in closing.
It has to do with placing a seal of ownership or protection. Of preserving something away from prying eyes or hands until the proper authority takes claim.
For instance, a waxed seal over an official envelope, pressed down with a signet that bears the emblem of the authority with the ultimate power to open it.
Christian, if you are a true believer, born from above and made in the image of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, and you are God’s own possession. He has preserved you unto the day of the redemption of your body, and He indwells you as an earnest; an assurance; of that coming day.
He is gentle, and compassionate, and merciful, and forgiving. He is a Person. He can be grieved.
James Packer, in his book, “Your Father Loves You“, paints this picture for us:
“It is as if the Spirit stands behind us, throwing light over our shoulder on to Jesus who stands facing us. The Spirit’s message to us is never, "Look at me; listen to me; come to me; get to know me", but always, "Look at him, and see his glory; listen to him and hear his word; go to him and have life; get to know him and taste his gift of joy and peace." The Spirit, we might say, is the matchmaker, the celestial marriage broker, whose role it is to bring us and Christ together and ensure that we stay together.”
May God give us divine enlightenment and sensitivity to this gentle, beautiful third Person of the Trinity in us, and the grace to be aware of His presence always, and the Christ-like desire to honor and bless Him, and let Him use us to love the brethren accordingly.
Labor honestly to attain so that you might give. Let your speech be kind and tender-hearted and forgiving. Grieve not the Holy Spirit, who has sealed you for the day of redemption.
Train your members to manifest the new man, and thus be a faithful demonstration of Him who indwells you. Please pray this for me also.
