Sermon Text: Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
26 “In your anger do not sin” : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children
2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Morning Message:
Have you ever heard the statement: there is no free lunch? It is usually made to emphasize that there is nothing that is truly free. Many times we are met with things or situations that appear to be free, but usually when we dig a little deeper, we find that there are hidden costs. In this age of smart phones and computers we are inundated with offers that label themselves as free. If you are like me, you have been tempted many times to click onto a site that offers something that you would like to have and now suddenly it seems to be free. Let me tell you from experience, don’t do it. Unfortunately, we learn the hard way that nothing is truly free; there are always strings and hidden costs attached. Even in real life, completely removed from our gadgets, we find out that nothing is truly free, there is always something that needs to be done in return for what we get. When I worked for SUPERVALU, they had hot dog day once a month in the summertime for employees. All the free hotdogs and sides that you could eat at lunch time. There was a hidden price: the expectation that you would put up with everything else in the workplace, and when you complained about anything, even at contract time, things like hotdog days always seemed to be brought up.
Salvation is free! There is nothing that you can do to earn it; you can only obtain it through repentance and faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. There is no cost for eternal life; it is free of charge. If you accept Jesus today and die tomorrow, you will be in heaven for eternity. Do you feel a but coming? Living as a Christian is not free! What I mean by that is, as Christians we are expected to live a Christian life. How do we do that? We must walk in the way of love. On the surface that does not seem very hard to do; it seems like a small thing to ask of those who belong to the family of God. It is possible, but let me assure you that there is no free lunch, and it takes work and sacrifice to live out this faith. I want to illustrate this today with the text from Ephesians. This text is not hard to understand if we want to understand it.
First, we are told that we must put off falsehood and speak truthfully. Christians must be truthful people. I think that this statement is very easy to understand, but truthfulness is not easy. Our trustworthiness in the world is very important. If we ever want anyone to believe in the God that we serve, it is important that we are consistently believable. This takes discipline and practice in our personal lives. If we are willing to be dishonest in small matters of life, we will find that eventually this will leak into bigger issues.
Second, we are warned about our anger. Everyone gets angry. If you notice in the text it does not say that anger is a sin, it says do not sin when you are angry and do not stay in your anger past sunset. How we react when we are angry is where sin comes into the picture. Counting to ten sounds much too simple but surprisingly it works. We sin when we lash out and retaliate when we are angry or when we hold on to our anger and let it fester into rage. This gives the devil a foothold in our lives and weakens us to his temptation to sin.
Third, we are told that we must stop stealing. That’s just too easy, right? For most this is not a problem, at least not on the surface. Any kind of dishonesty is stealing. Anything that you do that takes advantage of others and costs them something is stealing. Taking advantage of everything that God has blessed you with and giving nothing back and not offering to help others is stealing. Please pay attention to the next sentence. You must work, doing something useful with your hands, so that you may have something to share with those in need. I want you to hear me right on this. Christians are called, if you are able, to work. Not only is there no free lunch for us, we are not supposed to be looking for one.
Fourth, do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths. Only speak things that are helpful and build up others. Unwholesome speech is anything that is harmful to the physical or mental health of someone, or it can be something that is morally harmful. The language that we use is important. The words that we speak as representatives of Jesus are important. There should be no such thing as a vulgar Christian. No one will want to be around such a person nor will they listen to anything that you might have to say. The world has enough harmful language that tears people apart; we should never add to that pain with our words.
Fifth, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Think about what your actions and words do to God. I know, nothing can hurt God, right? Think about this for a moment, the God who saved you and sacrificed His Son so that you might have eternal life, and the very people He died for so that they might live a wholesome, and better life, acts or talks like this. God is not human, but God is love, and a loving God feels grief when his people act this way. Do you know what grief is? A cause of sharp or piercing distress or sorrow. How do you feel when the people you love disappoint you?
Sixth, we are called to be kind and compassionate to each other, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave us. You are called to walk in the way of love. Salvation is free, the Christian life is not.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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