WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.060 chapter 4 and we'll start at verse 17 and we'll go all the way down to chapter 5 verse 2. 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:16.179 So Ephesians 4 17. So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:21.300 as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding 00:00:21.300 --> 00:00:26.820 and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of 00:00:26.820 --> 00:00:33.179 their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to 00:00:33.179 --> 00:00:39.579 indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more. You however did not come to know 00:00:39.579 --> 00:00:44.900 Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that 00:00:44.900 --> 00:00:51.219 is in Jesus. You were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self which 00:00:51.219 --> 00:00:56.799 has been corrupted by its deceitful desires to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:03.759 on the new self created to be like God in true holiness and righteousness. Therefore each of 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:09.859 you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor for we are all members of one body. 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:16.379 In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the 00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:22.799 devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work doing something useful 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:28.599 with his own hands that he may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome 00:01:28.599 --> 00:01:33.439 talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:39.179 needs that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you 00:01:39.179 --> 00:01:45.539 were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander along 00:01:45.540 --> 00:01:51.880 with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other just as in 00:01:51.880 --> 00:01:58.900 Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love 00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:06.200 just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:08.780 May God bless the reading of his word. 00:02:13.939 --> 00:02:19.039 So as I was preparing for today by looking through the text I was reminded how easy it is for us to 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:25.500 misjudge something that's right in front of us. So I was reminded years ago, you believe this or not 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:31.500 but it's true, I used to work in a funeral home and on one particularly wet day I was attending a grave site 00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:37.520 and there was a group of men over to one side of the cemetery on this wet day trying to use a cloud 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:43.500 of cigarette smoke as an umbrella apparently and all of a sudden one of them slipped on the wet 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:49.599 limestone and upended himself 180 degrees. So being the closest person to the group I walked over to 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:53.539 see if everything was okay and without missing a beat one of the man's friends said, 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:55.740 yeah he's grand sure he only landed on his head. 00:02:55.740 --> 00:03:02.780 So it's a funny story but when I reflect on it now I often wonder if the man's friends appreciated 00:03:02.780 --> 00:03:08.719 the severity of how that situation could have developed. So this guy slipped, took a blow to his 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:15.060 head, the sensitive part in his body and the first response of his friends was to make a joke out of it. 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:22.600 Now when we look at logically I don't think a head injury or a potential head injury is something we 00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:29.019 necessarily joke about but I think there are times when we can all misjudge a situation where we can 00:03:29.019 --> 00:03:35.199 see a situation or look at something or read something, we can misinterpret it and therefore 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:40.799 we can apply it in a way that's counterproductive or even dangerous. So when we look at the text this 00:03:40.799 --> 00:03:46.240 morning my prayer is that first of all as we look at what it means to live this new life in Christ 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:52.560 that we wouldn't misjudge that, that we'd take it for what the text says it is, that I would preach the 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:59.420 full counsel of God as I do so and that the Holy Spirit would quicken the meaning of the text to our hearts 00:03:59.420 --> 00:04:04.240 and our minds. So rather than telling you all the background of the text we're just going to dive right 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:09.040 in and as we go along I'll explain. I'm not going to read out every verse as we go, I'm just going to allude 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:15.219 to most of it so you can just follow along in your own Bible. Verse 17 says, so I tell you this 00:04:15.219 --> 00:04:21.219 and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their 00:04:21.219 --> 00:04:27.620 thinking. The most interesting thing about that verse is Paul's audience so he's written here 00:04:27.620 --> 00:04:34.240 addressing the readers of the text not to live like Gentiles and the text is written to Gentiles. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:39.740 So if you have a King James or a New King James it'll say the other Gentiles are the rest of the 00:04:39.740 --> 00:04:45.160 Gentiles but the point is the same. He's talking to a group of Gentiles not non-Jews and he's saying 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:52.780 no longer live like Gentiles. So it really captures this point that if you are in Jesus Christ you don't 00:04:52.780 --> 00:04:59.840 belong to the Gentile world, you belong to the family of God. So back in chapter 2 Paul wrote that 00:04:59.840 --> 00:05:04.100 while the Gentiles had been separated from Christ and excluded from the promises of God, 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:09.680 because of the work of Christ on the cross you who were once far away have been brought near. 00:05:10.620 --> 00:05:15.180 God spoke through the prophet Hosea and said I will say to those called not my people, 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:21.780 you are my people and they will say you are my God. And in Romans 8 that we looked at this morning 00:05:21.780 --> 00:05:27.600 we're told that by the Spirit we have been made children of God and therefore we are co-heirs with 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:33.939 Christ in his kingdom. Belonging to the family of God according to Paul isn't a question of having 00:05:33.939 --> 00:05:39.259 the right skin color, it's not a question of having the right social class, it's not a question of 00:05:39.259 --> 00:05:45.439 having the right education or the right upbringing. If you come to God through Jesus by the power of 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:52.279 his Spirit regardless of where you come from you are part of God's family. So with that in mind Paul 00:05:52.279 --> 00:05:59.019 moves on and he exhorts the believer to no longer live as the Gentiles do. In verses 18 to 19 we're told 00:05:59.019 --> 00:06:05.899 exactly how they live. We're told that they have hard hearts, they've lost all sensitivity, they live 00:06:05.899 --> 00:06:11.879 for sensuality, they embrace every kind of impurity and they continually lust for more. 00:06:13.159 --> 00:06:17.759 It's not a great list really is it? It's not the most encouraging thing you read in your New Testament. 00:06:18.299 --> 00:06:23.279 In his usual direct way Paul is describing the opposite of godly living. What each of these 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:29.219 descriptions has in common is something very simple. They all involve focusing not on other people 00:06:29.219 --> 00:06:34.479 but focusing on yourself and making an idol out of the things that you want in your life. 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:38.799 So if you think about it, if I have no sensitivity I don't care about other people. 00:06:39.419 --> 00:06:45.779 If I'm concerned with sensuality I only want what brings me pleasure. If I desire every kind of impurity 00:06:45.779 --> 00:06:51.439 I'm completely taken up by what's bad for me and if I continually lust for more it's the sole reason 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:58.259 for my being. Not serving God, not serving other people, just myself. And now I want to make this 00:06:58.259 --> 00:07:04.660 clear. Paul isn't describing every unbeliever out there. There are unbelievers who do good work for 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:09.779 their fellow man and they seek out opportunities for service. So this isn't, if you like, a list of 00:07:09.779 --> 00:07:16.480 things of how not to get to heaven. It's simply a description of the opposite expectation that God has of us 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:23.060 when we come to Christ and we are filled with his spirit. When Paul instructs us to no longer live 00:07:23.060 --> 00:07:29.860 as the Gentiles do, he's reminding us of the expectation that God has of us. When we say we 00:07:29.860 --> 00:07:37.740 follow Jesus, we cannot also follow our baser fleshly instincts. To borrow the language of 1 John 2, 00:07:38.220 --> 00:07:44.140 we cannot chase after the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, 00:07:44.139 --> 00:07:51.180 and call ourselves children of God. If we do chase after those things, friends, we don't know God 00:07:51.180 --> 00:07:57.459 and God doesn't know us. So okay, thanks for that, Paul. I'm nice and encouraged now. We can get on with 00:07:57.459 --> 00:08:03.319 the rest of the day. But how do we really know whether or not we are God's people? Well, in verse 20, 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:10.300 we read that we did not come to know Christ in that way. In what way? Obsessed with how God can be a 00:08:10.300 --> 00:08:16.960 ticket to material and fleshly pleasure, and also at the same time, a ticket to heaven. On the contrary, 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:23.240 in verses 21 through 24, Paul makes three key assumptions about those who are genuine believers 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:30.379 in Jesus Christ. Verse 21, that we have heard about Christ, that is, we have been exposed to the gospel 00:08:30.379 --> 00:08:36.539 message, and that we have responded to it in faith. Verse 22, that we have put off our old selves, 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:41.819 in that we have rejected those selfish passions that defined our lives prior to our response to 00:08:41.819 --> 00:08:48.559 the gospel message. And verses 23 to 24, that through a change of mind guided by God's Holy Spirit, 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:54.139 we have put on our new self and refocused our priorities away from the selfish and towards the 00:08:54.139 --> 00:09:00.659 serving. Now, I'm probably preaching to the choir, and all of that is very familiar ground for most of 00:09:00.659 --> 00:09:05.679 you, but I just want to focus on the last point as being the most crucial one. Paul has used this 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:14.479 analogy of putting on and putting off, or in other words, undressing and redressing. You see, once 00:09:14.479 --> 00:09:18.699 you've taken off your clothes, the generally accepted principle in our society is you can't just walk 00:09:18.699 --> 00:09:24.219 around with nothing on. You have to put something on. When you take off your old self, Paul is saying, 00:09:24.459 --> 00:09:29.639 you put on something else, and that something else is the righteousness of God that comes through 00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:36.539 Christ, empowered by his Spirit. You know, the church doesn't like much to talk about repentance 00:09:36.539 --> 00:09:42.319 these days, and I think part of the reason for that is, for centuries, the church did such a terrible 00:09:42.319 --> 00:09:48.559 job of explaining what repentance really is. But Paul has really very simply laid out what it is in 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:53.960 this text. He's given a very simple definition of it. Literally, repentance, metanoia in Greek, 00:09:53.960 --> 00:10:01.100 means to change your mind. Or, as it says in verse 23, to be made new in the attitude of your minds. 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:08.000 In Romans 12, a familiar passage to all of us, verses 1 and 2, Paul urges us not to be conformed 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:13.720 to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we might prove what the will 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:20.580 of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. And Jesus himself said, if we hold to his 00:10:20.580 --> 00:10:26.460 teachings, then we really are his disciples. And that this truth would set us free from the slavery 00:10:26.460 --> 00:10:32.180 to sin. And I want to make this very clear. All of this isn't just to be penitent for the sake of it. 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:37.860 You know, it's not to be walking around with glum faces and sour attitudes because we're depriving 00:10:37.860 --> 00:10:43.600 ourselves of our fleshly pleasures. Because we don't judge our Christianity by how miserable that we look. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:49.440 You know, that's what the Pharisees did. They fasted, and they put on sackcloth and ashes, and they went 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:55.080 around praying loudly and fasting and saying, look at me, I'm so godly, look how miserable I am. That 00:10:55.080 --> 00:11:02.140 proves how godly I am. That's not it at all. We're not called to be dour disciples. We repent, and we 00:11:02.140 --> 00:11:09.680 change our minds, and we make a Christ-centered U-turn. Because as Paul says in verse 24, we were 00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:17.560 created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Friends, that's not a cause for misery. 00:11:17.559 --> 00:11:24.319 That's the source for the greatest joy that you can imagine. We are created to be like God in true 00:11:24.319 --> 00:11:30.459 holiness and righteousness, and by coming to Christ and receiving the Spirit of God, we are set free, 00:11:30.599 --> 00:11:36.739 and we become the righteousness of God. It's not something we do righteousness. It's who we become 00:11:36.739 --> 00:11:43.819 by the work of Jesus on the cross. Then you have the opposite of the dour disciples, the ones who tell 00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:47.900 you, and we all know these people, the ones who tell you that Christianity is some kind of spiritual 00:11:47.900 --> 00:11:54.460 formula, some kind of pattern for success. They'll tell you that if you follow the instructions in the 00:11:54.460 --> 00:12:00.860 Bible, then you receive all sorts of material blessing. So in exchange for following Jesus, 00:12:01.460 --> 00:12:06.580 God will give you health, God will give you wealth, and God will give you happiness and success, 00:12:06.580 --> 00:12:12.180 because God wants to give you, in the words of one quote-unquote preacher, your best life now. 00:12:13.100 --> 00:12:18.460 I didn't do the accent. I'm sure you're all thankful for that. So much has been devoted to 00:12:18.460 --> 00:12:23.420 debunking that particular strain of spiritual sickness. I'm not even going to address it. I'm 00:12:23.420 --> 00:12:32.840 just going to say this. It misses the point completely. We prove our faith in Christ not by how much 00:12:32.840 --> 00:12:40.000 treasure we have. We prove our faith in Christ by how much we treasure Christ. Christianity isn't 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:47.480 about what we get out of God, friends. Christianity is what God gets out of us, a new creation made in 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:54.879 his image. We were created, Paul says, to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 00:12:54.879 --> 00:13:03.960 So those are the principles. What about the practice? Well, in verses 25 through 29, Paul 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:09.379 gives us some good guidance for specific situations, and I'd love to be able to exposit them all 00:13:09.379 --> 00:13:13.460 thoroughly and fully, but I'm sure you all want to get out of here before the sun sets this evening. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:18.259 So instead, I'll just quickly explain each one, and then at the end, I'll underline why they're 00:13:18.259 --> 00:13:25.539 important. So verse 25, one example Paul gives, not simply telling the truth, but being truthful. 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:34.559 Live a life without deceit. Represent who you are in a true and a real fashion. As the Lord himself 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:44.779 said, simply let your yes be yes and your no be no. Verses 26 through 27. Anger itself is not 00:13:44.779 --> 00:13:52.600 necessarily sinful. The fact that the apostle tells us here not to sin in our anger implies there is 00:13:52.600 --> 00:14:01.220 a time and a place to be angry. In other words, be angry at appropriate things. Don't be angry because 00:14:01.220 --> 00:14:06.519 you wanted to watch the soccer match, and now your toddler is throwing a tantrum, and you have to assume 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:11.899 your parental responsibilities instead of watching 22 overpaid prima donnas pretend to be hurt for half an 00:14:11.899 --> 00:14:22.039 hour. Be angry at sin. Don't become a sinner as you get angry at it, but when people sin, pray for them. 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:29.379 Witness faithfully to them the gospel of Jesus Christ about how they can be set free from slavery to sin. 00:14:30.659 --> 00:14:38.220 Even witness to the prima donnas. They need it too. Verse 28, and this one's easy. If you're a thief, 00:14:38.220 --> 00:14:45.259 stop stealing. Stop robbing other people of their labors, and start laboring yourself. 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:52.639 Don't do it because you should provide for yourself, although you should, but because it gives you the 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:59.800 opportunity to share what you have with those who are in need. Everything you have that you earned 00:14:59.800 --> 00:15:04.899 through your own efforts that God has graciously allowed you to keep is an opportunity or a potential 00:15:04.899 --> 00:15:14.139 for blessing somebody who is less fortunate than yourself. Verse 29, unwholesome talk. That word 00:15:14.139 --> 00:15:21.579 unwholesome, it's the Greek sapros. It's the same word translated as bad when Jesus talks about good 00:15:21.579 --> 00:15:26.539 fruit and bad fruit in the Sermon on the Mount. So in other words, he's not necessarily talking about 00:15:26.539 --> 00:15:31.639 swearing or curse words, although that certainly comes under it. What he's talking about is letting your 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:38.360 words match your status as a child of Christ. So when the world looks at you, it should see a Christian, 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:44.120 but when the world listens to you, it should hear a Christian. Your actions and your words should match 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:49.600 up and demonstrate that you have been redeemed. You have been made new by the Spirit of Christ. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:56.000 Now, can you see the contrast from the beginning when Paul talked about the unbelieving Gentile? 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:03.120 These acts of righteous behavior are all fundamentally relational. In other words, they involve relationship 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:08.679 with other people. To do each of these things, these examples that Paul has given, requires you to focus 00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:14.980 your attention and your energy on another person. And that means Paul has framed the lifestyle that 00:16:14.980 --> 00:16:22.539 defines this new life in Christ as one which fundamentally focuses on other people. He even says it in verse 25, 00:16:22.539 --> 00:16:28.419 Speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. Verse 28, Let the thief no longer 00:16:28.419 --> 00:16:34.099 steal, but rather let him work so that he has something to share with those who are in need. Verse 29, 00:16:34.459 --> 00:16:38.419 Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up others 00:16:38.419 --> 00:16:46.079 according to their needs, that it might benefit those who listen. So having come 180 degrees from the 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:51.780 beginning of the text, we find that we are not to live lives of self-centeredness, seeking only to 00:16:51.780 --> 00:16:58.780 gratify our own sense of pleasure, gain or success, but we are to live lives, this new life in Christ, 00:16:58.920 --> 00:17:04.500 into which we have been set free in order to focus on other people. Connor was here a few weeks ago 00:17:04.500 --> 00:17:09.740 talking about being filled with the Spirit and what that means, I understand, and he went through each of 00:17:09.740 --> 00:17:14.940 the relationships that Paul has given as an example, each of the relationships that God created 00:17:14.940 --> 00:17:20.700 to model out the love he has for us, husbands and wives, children and parents, slaves and masters. 00:17:21.120 --> 00:17:25.539 Those are all fundamental examples of how you demonstrate that you're filled with the Spirit. 00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:32.120 It's the same thing here. All Paul is saying is, if you are filled with the Spirit, you focus on others. 00:17:33.019 --> 00:17:39.240 As Jesus said, if you love me, you love my children. The two greatest commandments are these, 00:17:39.299 --> 00:17:44.680 that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and love your brother 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:53.600 your neighbor as yourself. So we've walked the hard yards through the text, and we scale the side 00:17:53.600 --> 00:17:59.539 of the hill, and now we come to the peak of the passage. We've come to one of the most misunderstood, 00:18:00.840 --> 00:18:05.880 misinterpreted, and misapplied verses in the entire Bible, verse 30. 00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:19.060 Rather than telling you what that doesn't mean, which could easily take me over an hour, 00:18:19.900 --> 00:18:25.440 I'll simply try and stay positive, and I'll explain its true meaning. So if you follow the logic, 00:18:25.600 --> 00:18:30.020 Paul started off this passage by describing the behaviors that Christians should avoid, 00:18:30.019 --> 00:18:36.339 and then he moved on to describing the assumptions about true Christians, before finally giving some 00:18:36.339 --> 00:18:42.940 practical guidance on what this new life looks like. And finally, Paul lands on this exhortation 00:18:42.940 --> 00:18:50.519 not to grieve the Holy Spirit. This is really the crescendo of Paul's symphony on the new life in 00:18:50.519 --> 00:18:56.400 Christ. It's the summation of everything that's gone before up to this point, and it simply means this. 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:03.640 If you claim to follow Jesus Christ, and yet do not submit to him in obedience, then you grieve 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:09.580 the Holy Spirit. That's all it means. It doesn't mean some over-spiritualized, you know, otherworldly, 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:15.580 ghostly kind of thing. It simply means if you love Jesus, you obey his commandments. If you read Isaiah 00:19:15.580 --> 00:19:20.400 63, and you don't have to turn to it, I'll just read it out to you, you find the same phrase, grieving the 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:26.960 Spirit. So describing God saving the Israelites out of Egypt, the prophet writes in verses 9 and 10 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:34.820 of Isaiah 63, in all their distress, he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved 00:19:34.820 --> 00:19:40.900 them. In his love and mercy, he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. 00:19:40.900 --> 00:19:50.280 Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy, and he himself 00:19:50.280 --> 00:19:58.800 fought against them. This is serious stuff. To disobey the commands of a holy and righteous God 00:19:58.800 --> 00:20:07.420 is to grieve his Spirit. And to grieve his Spirit is to walk in rebellion against him. But Paul isn't 00:20:07.420 --> 00:20:13.240 just talking about the individual here, and this is the broader point. Remember the examples he gave 00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:18.039 for righteous living, how each one of them involves a relationship, or focusing on somebody else? 00:20:18.779 --> 00:20:24.660 Well, he follows that up with reference to the Holy Spirit as a seal of redemption. And then he 00:20:24.660 --> 00:20:30.900 repeats, verse 31, those actions and attitudes which have effects on other people, bitterness, rage, 00:20:30.900 --> 00:20:36.840 anger, brawling, slander, malice. And he gives the remedy to grieving the Holy Spirit, in verse 32, 00:20:37.420 --> 00:20:46.360 as kindness, compassion, and forgiveness for one another. In chapter 1 of Ephesians, the Holy Spirit 00:20:46.360 --> 00:20:52.940 is described as the guarantor of our inheritance. In 1 Corinthians 12, we're told that to each one 00:20:52.940 --> 00:20:59.240 has been given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. The Holy Spirit is the common bond 00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:05.740 between all believers in Jesus Christ, uniting them in faith and purpose. Friends, there's another 00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:12.519 element to grieving the Holy Spirit. We grieve his Spirit when we don't practice love for each other, 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:19.960 for our brothers and sisters in the church. Let me illustrate by way of an example, and then we'll 00:21:19.960 --> 00:21:27.240 start to come to a close. When I was a young lad about a quarter century ago, two and a half feet and a full 00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:35.299 beard ago, my little sister and I fought constantly. We just, we were completely different. We couldn't get on the 00:21:35.299 --> 00:21:41.059 same wavelength about anything. We were constantly arguing and tearing strips out of each other. And I remember 00:21:41.059 --> 00:21:47.319 my mother telling us on more than one occasion, just how sad that made her. The fact that we weren't loving 00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:54.259 each other, and that we weren't modeling out the love that she and my father had for us to each other, was grieving her 00:21:54.259 --> 00:22:03.920 spirit. And that's what it means, to grieve the Spirit. Well, two years ago next month, my sister took her own life. 00:22:05.859 --> 00:22:12.599 So I don't get to see her anymore. I don't get to model out love to her anymore. I don't get to demonstrate 00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:21.140 the love that my parents had for us to her anymore. And we were made family by blood. But friends, each of us 00:22:21.140 --> 00:22:28.440 in this room who follows Jesus is made family by the blood of Christ. And we're sealed by the Holy Spirit 00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:35.280 of God. When we meet together, we should grasp onto the love of God, the love that sent his son to die 00:22:35.280 --> 00:22:41.900 for our sins, and meet each other with our arms stretched out and welcoming, just as Jesus stretched his arms on 00:22:41.900 --> 00:22:54.320 the cross at Calvary. We love God when we love one another. And we serve God when we serve one another. But Dan, 00:22:54.519 --> 00:23:00.660 some might say, you don't know my relationship with other people in this church. You know, they're all so different to me, 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:05.860 and we have nothing in common, and many of them are from other countries, and they don't speak the same language as me, 00:23:05.859 --> 00:23:11.519 and they're kind of funny looking, and they kind of smell, and, and, and, and. But, you know, listen to this. 00:23:11.699 --> 00:23:20.599 If Jesus didn't subject himself to the full wrath of the Father, just so you and I can put up our heels, 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:25.519 and kick back, and live the rest of our lives aimlessly in some kind of splendid isolation, 00:23:26.740 --> 00:23:30.379 he did it so that we would be co-heirs to his kingdom. 00:23:30.380 --> 00:23:36.000 That we would be united to one another by the common bond of his Holy Spirit, 00:23:36.580 --> 00:23:42.180 and that in that unity, we would live lives that glorify him, and edify one another. 00:23:44.060 --> 00:23:48.320 As we finish, verses 1 and 2 of chapter 5 tell us, 00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:54.540 when we walk in love with one another, and we live sacrificially for one another, 00:23:54.539 --> 00:24:02.740 we follow Christ's example. Just as his sacrifice on the cross was a fragrant offering to God, 00:24:02.859 --> 00:24:08.240 Paul says, when we walk in love with one another, friends, we perform the greatest act of worship. 00:24:09.099 --> 00:24:13.779 I love worshipping with music, I'm sure we all do, but that's one element of worship, 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:20.339 to truly worship, as Paul says again in Romans 12, is to present your body as a living sacrifice, 00:24:20.339 --> 00:24:24.899 holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 00:24:25.639 --> 00:24:31.399 The truest act of worship is when we walk together in love, and serve one another in love. 00:24:32.919 --> 00:24:40.079 There is no sweeter fragrance to the Father than when his children follow the Son in obedience, 00:24:41.019 --> 00:24:45.980 and by the power of his Holy Spirit, we walk together in love. 00:24:46.859 --> 00:24:47.599 Let's pray. 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:54.339 Father, thank you for the freedom that you have given us to meet together here, 00:24:54.459 --> 00:24:58.299 free from harassment, free from persecution. 00:24:59.299 --> 00:25:01.839 We give you glory and praise for that freedom, Father. 00:25:02.740 --> 00:25:09.699 And thank you for effectually calling each one of us into the freedom of the glory of your children, 00:25:10.099 --> 00:25:11.179 as Romans 8 puts it. 00:25:12.519 --> 00:25:15.339 Grant that we would recognize what is right in front of us, 00:25:15.339 --> 00:25:22.899 that we have been saved, we have been created to be righteous and holy, 00:25:23.199 --> 00:25:24.679 as you are righteous and holy. 00:25:25.799 --> 00:25:28.980 Quicken the meaning, Lord, of this text to our minds, 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:33.939 and press our understanding to our hearts and to our souls. 00:25:33.940 --> 00:25:39.900 Send people into our lives, Lord, to whom we can be faithful witnesses of your gospel. 00:25:40.360 --> 00:25:44.620 And even in this local congregation in Carrigaline and my own in Middleton, Lord, 00:25:45.019 --> 00:25:48.160 may we be presented with opportunities to serve one another. 00:25:49.559 --> 00:25:54.600 Remind us daily, Lord, of the love that sent your Son to die on the cross, 00:25:54.599 --> 00:26:03.459 and help us to remember that love as we seek to proclaim the good news of your gospel to other people. 00:26:04.599 --> 00:26:07.559 Wherever anybody is at this morning, Lord, please meet them. 00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:11.639 Where people are feeling downcast this morning, 00:26:12.339 --> 00:26:14.199 where people are feeling alone, 00:26:14.459 --> 00:26:19.459 where people are feeling that they don't have anybody around them to lend them assistance, 00:26:19.460 --> 00:26:23.819 please be the comforter to them that your word describes you as. 00:26:25.100 --> 00:26:29.140 Please speak immediacy into their lives through your word, 00:26:29.860 --> 00:26:32.279 and through other people who you send to them. 00:26:33.380 --> 00:26:37.000 Father, may we all recognize that we all need each other. 00:26:38.039 --> 00:26:40.900 May we all recognize that we depend on you, 00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:45.000 that your spirit alone is the source of our strength. 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:47.500 May we acknowledge this truth, 00:26:47.500 --> 00:26:51.319 and as we leave here today and go out into the workplace, 00:26:51.819 --> 00:26:53.220 or to the school, or to the home, 00:26:53.400 --> 00:26:54.920 or wherever we're after the week, Father, 00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:57.140 may we remember that, 00:26:58.119 --> 00:27:01.339 and may we walk deeply in love for one another. 00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:04.880 And may not our will be done, Lord, 00:27:05.059 --> 00:27:09.140 but may your perfect and good and acceptable and pleasing will be done. 00:27:09.779 --> 00:27:11.579 In Jesus' name, Amen. 00:27:13.019 --> 00:27:15.539 I believe we're going to sing one last time, 00:27:15.539 --> 00:27:17.339 and we're going to sing that wonderful song, 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:18.440 Speak, O Lord, 00:27:18.940 --> 00:27:23.019 where we meditate on the quickening of God's word to our hearts.