What Should we be Speaking
Truthfully About?
Speaking the Truth in Love
-
What Should We Speak About?
Ephesians 4:17 – 5:20
Psalm 8
18/05/2014
Response
cards – really important!!
Intro
– the Peril of Godlessness
Recently I was driving at around sunset and
I pulled out in front of a car that didn’t have it’s headlights on. Thankfully it was in a 50 zone and the car
was far enough back that the driver could slow down and we didn’t have a
crash. But a lack of light when you’re
driving can be dangerous. About 20
seconds later another car pulled out behind us – this one had it’s lights on,
including a set of spotties. Spotlights
are great when you’re driving in the country to help light up the road and
roadside for a great distance, but in the city they’re plain dangerous. The light shines in people’s mirrors or
through the windscreen of oncoming cars and it can blind those drivers making
things pretty dangerous for them. It’s
nice for the person in the car with spotties to be able to see better, it’s not
OK for them to be putting other people in danger.
The absence of light is dangerous. The unwise use of light is also dangerous.
The Bible very often uses light as picture
of truth. Scriptures like Psalm 119 and
John 1 would be well known to you.
Just like we don’t want to drive without
light, we never want to live without truth – that’s a recipe for danger. Similarly, we never want to use truth in a
way that might serve our needs but put other people in danger. We want to be speaking truth so that it
builds people up and helps them to live in a way that glorifies God and blesses
other people.
So how do we speak truth well? We do it in love.
We build our relationships in such a way
that we are able to speak truthfully to each other even when it hurts, for the
sake of helping one another grow to be like Christ.
We also care enough to want to speak
skilfully. We seek out the practical
advice from God’s Word about how and when we should speak truthfully to one
another to build people up rather than tear them down.
That’s what we’ve spent the last few weeks
in Ephesians 4 discussing.
We now come to the end of this topic. We’ve talked about:
- Who should speak truth in love?
People who are growing in the depth of their love for God and each
other.
- Why should we speak truth in love?
So that together we may grow up into Christ. That is, so that we will experience the
Unity with God and each other that Christ’s death and resurrection has won
for us.
- When should we speak truth in love?
When we are ready to speak and they are ready to listen.
- How should we speak truth in love?
As people speaking the very words of God to each other.
- What truth should we speak about in
love? That’s today’s question! It’s what Paul goes on to do for the
Ephesians, having established the need to do so in the preceding verses.
Ephesians
4:17-25
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord,
No beating around the bush here! Truth spoken in love is still expressed with
the appropriate authority and seriousness.
What is Paul
that you must no longer live as the Gentiles
do, in the futility of their thinking.
Stop and think about this for a minute. This is Christian husbands and wives being
told that they must no longer live in the same way their unbelieving spouses or
children live. This is Christian converts
being told they can no longer live the way they were brought up to live. This are people being told they can no longer
live the way their friends or workmates live.
Paul is about to get very specific about the kinds of differences that
will result from our changed thinking as we have received and believed the
truth of God.
Let me give you a few things that he talks
about over the next chapter or so:
- Christians should not lie.
Others may think lying is the best way to get what they want or
protect themselves from what they don’t want, but a Christian knows that
lying dishonours God and hurts people.
- Christians should not get drunk.
Others may turn to substances to escape their pain or to
manufacture joy but a Christian knows that there is a better refuge and a
deeper joy.
- Christians should not steal.
Others may think that stealing in some circumstances is OK but for
a Christian to steal is to distrust God’s provision for them and to reject
God’s intention that they share with others not steal from others.
- Christians should not speak obscenity,
foolishness or vulgarity. Others may think it funny,
or do it to have a go at someone or to vent their anger. Christians love what God loves and want
to speak only that which honours God and is useful to build others up. Good joking around is fun, but how often
do people stray into foolishness or vulgarity in order to get a
laugh? The world might say that
getting a laugh and making people feel happy is worth a bit of vulgarity,
that’s not how a Christian thinks.
- Christians should not be sexually
immoral, this
dishonours the body given to us by God.
Other people may consider their bodies as their own to do with as
they please. Christians have been
purchased by the blood of Christ – we are set apart for Him.
So there’s just a sampling of what gets
talked about in the second half of the letter to the Ephesians. Paul wants to speak truthfully and lovingly
about how a Christian must live differently to those who do not follow
Jesus. He wants to describe what the
journey to living in the fullness of Christ looks like – it’s to increasingly
say “no” to these kinds of things and “yes” to Christ.
And he says that our speaking the truth to
each other in love has an important role to play in helping us to do that.
18 They are darkened in their
understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that
is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all
sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in
every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
20
You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely
you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in
Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life,
to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23
to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on
the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his
neighbour, for we are all members of one body.
So we’re meant to be living as new creatures
unlike the old ones. Let me give you a
picture that might help you really grasp what is being talked about here.
In Romans 1 there is a very similar passage
that talks about the way people in general have rebelled against God.
Romans
1:21-25
21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave
thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were
darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like
mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to
sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They
exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things
rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
The progression –
- Knew God but did not glorify or thank Him
- Thinking became futile and hearts darkened
- Worshiped and served created things instead of the Creator
- Gave themselves over to wickedness
This is the opposite to the progression
described in Romans 12, Ephesians 4 and many other passages that describe the
Christian life:
- Did not know God but God revealed Himself to us in Christ
- Our minds were enlightened and our hearts changed so that we,
- Worshipped and served the Creator instead of created things and
therefore
- Gave ourselves over to righteousness
Think of it like this….
Solar
System analogy!
Our lives are meant to revolve around
something! What you worship will
determine what your life is like.
I’m excited that while I’m away you’ll be
studying a selection of Psalms together.
There are so many Psalms - like Psalm 8 – which express so beautifully
the glory of God and how it changes our experience of life.
That’s why after speaking very clearly about
what the life of a Christian should and should not be like, Paul brings this
section of the letter to a conclusion with:
Ephesians
5:19-20
19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and
make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God
the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What we worship determines how we live. Notice this isn’t the same thing as
worshipping at home with a CD playing – we are to “speak to one another” in these ways – musically and without music.
Conclusion:
So let’s get very practical – what will
these two alternative lifestyles look like for you?
You could have such a passion for the glory
of God that it orders your whole life.
You can’t wait to gather together with God’s people on Sunday to sing
out together your praise to Him, to share His wonders with each other and give
thanks together for what He’s done for us.
You’ll love speaking about God in your conversations with other
believers as you have fellowship on Sundays and when you gather in homes and other
places during the week. You’ll love
speaking about God whenever you have opportunity with those who don’t yet know
Him. You’ll pray constantly because God
is always in your mind and your heart longs to be living with an awareness of
His presence and in obedience to His will.
You’ll believe that He is so powerful and so good that He will answer
your prayers in the best possible way.
You will care most about the things He cares for and hate the things He
hates.
The alternative is not so good.
You could become indifferent to the glory of
God and follow the pattern of this world instead. You would rather sleep in or play or watch
sport or even watch church on TV than gather with God’s people to glorify
Him. Playing it safe with people will
become more important than speaking of God to them. You will not feel inspired to pray except if
God can serve some need you have, and then you wonder why He feels so
distant. You will find ways to get what
you want in life that don’t fit with God’s ways. Somehow they don’t seem to satisfy yet you
begin to believe that this is as good as life gets. You stray further and further from God and
your heart becomes resigned to the fact that this is who you are. Your definition of right and wrong bears
little resemblance to God’s. If it’s
true that God will judge everyone according to His standards, you know that
you’re in trouble. Let’s hope He doesn’t
really exist.
You might think that I’m overplaying the
importance of gathering together to glorify God. I’m just trying to get more people attending
church more regularly. I want to feel
more successful as your Pastor by being able to say we’ve got so many people
attending on Sundays and so many people in home groups etc.
If you’re thinking that, I want to say that you’re
following the futile way of thinking of our culture. You’ve taken on board our love of
individualism. We don’t want to feel
responsible to anyone. We want to be
free to do our own thing. We don’t need
other people.
That is completely contradictory to what the
Bible teaches.
Hebrews
3:12-13
12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart
that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another
daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by
sin’s deceitfulness.
Hebrews
10:24-25
And let us consider how we may spur one another
on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting
together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one
another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
How is it that we best encourage one another
in the hardest times of life? King David
had it right:
Psalm
34:1-3
1 I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 My soul will boast in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.
Friends that’s what we want to make sure we
do together as well as we possibly can.
If you have ever been going through a tough time and have stood in a congregation
to sing “It is Well” or “Blessed be the Name of the Lord” or “How Great Thou
Art” or “Burdens are Lifted at Calvary” or “How Great is Our God” etc. then
you’ll know what David means here.
(maybe
ask for other suggestions!)
(This is why we don’t ever want our PA
system to be louder than our congregation – we need to speak to each other in our singing! There’s a place for worshipping individually
but in church we need to do it together.)
If you’ve ever had someone ask how you’re
going who has detected there’s something not quite right in your response of
“yeah, I’m fine”. Someone who took some
time to listen and pray with you in such a way that you found yourself being
reminded of the love and faithfulness of God then you’ll know what David was
talking about here.
There are times when our lives start to
revolve around our problems and we need to be reminded that our problems are
not worthy of God’s place.
There are times when our lives start to
revolve around our pleasures and we need to be reminded that our pleasures are
not worthy of God’s place.
There are times when our lives revolve
around our fears and we need to be reminded that… our fears are not worthy of
God’s place.
Nothing is worthy of God’s place. Our ambitions. Earthly relationships. The opinions of others. Possessions.
Whatever.
Every week we get together to glorify God
and give thanks to Him and we need that reminder because other things are
always trying to steal His place in our lives.
That’s why the book of Hebrews said “Don’t let your heart turn away from
God. Watch out for sin’s
deceitfulness. Think about how you’re
getting together to spur each other on”.
Today I want to give you an opportunity to
think about your own commitment to helping us to be a church that glorifies God
together. I want to give you the chance
to consider your own participation with the people who make up your church
family – are you speaking to them in ways that glorify God and thank Him? In ways that show that God is at the centre
of our lives together? In our singing
and in our speech?
What can we do to help you with that?
If God is not being sufficiently glorified
in our gatherings, other things will take His place. Any church that has lost sight of the glory
of God and instead seeks to please people or champion certain causes etc soon
loses it’s way and ends up as Romans 1 says - not only producing deeds of
wickedness themselves but approving of others who do so. Haven’t we seen that happen?
Response
Cards – how will you help and
how can we help you?
So, What
do We Speak Truthfully About in Love?
We speak about the glory of God, our worship
of Him and what is appropriate for those who worship Him as opposed to the
deeds that result from hearts and minds darkened by idolatry. To speak clearly is the only loving course,
because those paths lead either to our welcome into His eternal home or the
suffering of His eternal wrath, not just for ourselves but for those who watch
our lives.
May God grant all of us to have people in
our lives who help us to steer clear of the seductions of the Romans 1 path and
to recognise it quickly when we have allowed our hearts to turn away from the
Living God.
Prayer – courage to examine our own lives and
courage to go to those who have lost sight of God’s glory.
