We could
spend a few weeks on this chapter talking about Gifts from God, many
enumerated herein. We could talk about
those who follow Jesus, the church, being the body of Christ and being
called to unity.
We are one in the Spirit and we are
one in the Lord. We are one in Christ
Jesus.
We sing
those words frequently and they bring us much assurance and encouragement. It is wonderful to know that we have been
equipped with special gifts to help us produce good fruit. It is encouraging to know that we will not
all have the same gifts but we will all have a contributing place in the body
of Christ.
We should
all be encouraged to know that the body of Christ is our family. We don’t need to covet each other’s gifts and
talents and unique abilities. We need to
discover and discern how God has equipped us to contribute and when and where
we need to lean on others in the body of Christ.
Diversity of
gifts and unity in the body are a divine model.
We seldom it right. Sometimes we
get close. Sometimes we get a taste of
what it is to live in a family of faith.
For the
moment, let’s save the larger discussion on Gifts of the Spirit and Unity in
the Body for another time; and let’s dive into growing in grace.
Growing in
grace only begins with salvation. You
receive the free gift and begin this course called discipleship. Once we have begun this course, we are to be
different from the world.
Paul would
say take off the old self—that’s the person conformed to the image of the
world; and put on the new self—that’s the person being made in the image of
God.
To
understand Paul, and even some other parts of the Bible, we need to understand
a paradigm or model that we might call all
ready done/in the process.
Are you made
in the image of God? Are you
being made in the image of Christ Jesus? Are we there
or not? The answer is “yes!”
Has God made
us in the image of himself—which surely includes Jesus—or are we on our way to
being made in that image?
The answer
once again is just “yes.” Yes to
both. We are made in his image and on
the way to being made in his image.
We will see
more of this all ready done/in the process
thinking from Paul as we navigate his letters.
For now, understand that what we will discuss forthwith falls within the
framework of discipleship—following Jesus as those who accept him as our Lord
and Savior and Master.
We are
blessed with salvation, equipped with special gifts, and designed to work as
one body with Christ as the head. Now
what?
We must
no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of
doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love,
we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined
and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is
working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
I love the
phrase, speaking the truth in love. I use it a lot. Frequently, I use it beyond
its original context but within the author’s intent, I think.
We should
consider the original statement and intent.
First, Paul is writing to members of the body of Christ. These are disciples. We are disciples.
He gives
them and us a starting point for growth.
It is truth. We must speak the
truth to each other, not to hurt, but to grow in God’s grace.
Truth spoken
to other believers should have the potential to produce growth.
Now I have
shared with many of you on occasion that in the course of my life I was accused
of being tactful twice; however, you should note that I was acquitted on both
counts. Being just blatantly honest
comes naturally to me.
But the
direction here is to speak the truth in love, and the “in love” part means that
there is potential for growth in another believer.
There is
another condition if we want effectiveness. I meet with
people all the time who come looking for money.
Trust me, I do speak the truth in love with them and I seldom expect
much growth. Why?
Because most
of the time, I am meeting with someone who is not much interested in being a
disciple, much less growing in grace.
Their focus is just fixing the immediate problem and not growth.
Many are
saved. The gift of God is for all and
many have accepted it, but so many do not want to follow Jesus, live by God’s
wisdom, or make any sort of productive changes in their lives.
I speak the truth
in love and fully believe that I am called to do that, but Paul’s counsel is to
a body of believers that want to truly follow Jesus. They want to grow in God’s grace.
If you have
spent any time studying God’s wisdom, then you will note that the fool or the foolish are not much
interested in correction or growth.
This counsel
is for members of the body of Christ who desire to grow in God’s grace. With truth as our foundation, we are much
less vulnerable to what Paul described as the schemes of the world, these
cunning and deceitful ploys to lead us away from God.
While we do
not live under the law for our salvation; that does not mean that there are not
some good guidelines for godly living that we should strive to go by.
In general,
metaphoric terms we are told to put off our old self and put on the new
one.
Here we go
again with this all ready done/in the
process thinking. We know from
Paul’s second letter to Corinth that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed
away; behold, all things have become
new.
In this
letter, Paul is saying that we need to be a part of making this new
creation. We are to put off the old self
and put on the new self. This is growing
in grace and there is a whole lot of participation for us.
We are to
get rid of falsehood and put on truth.
We are to
get rid of vulgar speech and put on encouragement in our speech.
We are to
get rid of corruption and deceit and unclean desires of our hearts and put on
God’s righteousness that we know in Christ Jesus. You might have heard it as put off corruption
and put on incorruption.
We are to
get rid of coarseness and put on gentleness.
We are to
get rid of arrogance and put on humility.
We are to
get rid of words that tear down and put on words that encourage.
We are to
get rid of selfishness and put on unity.
We are to
get rid of futile thinking and put on a renewed mind.
We are to
get rid of darkness and put on light.
We are to
get rid of unsavory pursuits. If you
have been stealing to make a living, stop it.
Get a honest job. OK, let’s keep
with the parallelism here. Get rid of
being a thief as your livelihood and put on employment.
We are to
get rid of bitterness, rage, brawling, slander, and malice in all of its forms
and put on kindness and compassion and forgiveness.
Paul even
throws in an OBTW in his forgiveness counsel, just as Christ has forgiven you.
Take off the
old self and put on the new self. Stop
living in the darkness and live in the light.
Stop living
just for ourselves and bear with one another in love.
It’s not
like once we have been saved that we have no guidelines at all. Paul gives the big metaphors and general
guidance as well as some specifics.
Paul makes a
special note here in the area of anger.
Remember James counsels us to be slow to anger.
Perhaps anger is not something that has to be completely purged from our
system, but we are admonished not to let our anger lead to sin. A little
inductive reasoning might tells us that by itself, anger itself is not a sin.
Anger is an
emotion that we have all surely experienced.
Paul is saying, master you anger so that it does not become your master
for you are being made in the image and likeness of your Master.
Jesus had
some righteous anger. Remember that he turned over tables and made a whip to run off those who
made his Father’s house a den of
thieves. They made it into a commercial zone instead
of a house of prayer and worship.
We should
note that Jesus was not quick to anger. He
had been in the temple when he was 12 and now some 20 years later, he lets
loose his anger.
Our counsel
is not to let anger get the best of us.
We must not let it lead us to sin.
The Message says it this way.
Go ahead
and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for
revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that
kind of foothold in your life.
Other translations say,
“Do not let the sun go down on your anger.”
Going to bed while you are still angry makes for a bad
night’s sleep and is not in keeping with putting on the new self.
You might not be able to resolve the issue that led to the
anger but you can put the anger to bed before you turn in. We must not hold onto anger and weaken our
defenses against evil and the Evil One.
Paul says don’t give the Devil a foothold. Give it a few weeks and we will get to
putting on the full armor of God. We
have to get to and through marriage first in this letter, but for now, do not
call it a night if you are still wrestling with anger.
You may have unresolved issues but don’t let anger govern in
your life.
Remember that you have some help. The Holy Spirit is walking with you all the
time. The body of Christ is your family
and is available to encourage and counsel you.
Within the body of Christ are some with special
gifts—evangelists, pastors, teachers, and many more. Paul’s list here is not an exclusive listing
of all gifts.
The body of Christ is equipped to help you grow in
grace. You are to help others as part of
that body.
So what is it to grow in grace? Let’s start with not letting the sun go down
on our anger. It’s a good model.
Sometimes it saves the day.
But must we apply this model only to anger?
What if we have vulgar language? Should we not do something to improve that
before the day’s end? We may not
eliminate a lifetime’s vocabulary in a single day but we could take a few steps
in that direction.
If you are a
thief or engaged in other criminal activity, that might just be something to
give up before you go to bed tonight. It
might take you more than a day to find an honest job and you can get
unemployment if you quit your thieving job, but you should give it up now
nonetheless.
If we are
mean spirited or malicious or bitter, we need to work on that today. It doesn’t go on our to do list. It is not
something that you do when you get around to it. Don’t let the sun go down on your bitterness.
If you have
been saved by grace and faith and have decided to follow Jesus, put on the new
self before the sun goes down.
We are a new
creation and we get to put on the attributes of that newness every day. First we need to rid ourselves of some old
habits and old ways and even old thinking.
There is a
saying that seems to have been around for almost 500 years without any
certainty on who said it first, but it bears repeating here.
There is no time like the present.
God has made
us in his image and preserved us for all eternity; yet, each and every day we
are called to grow in grace and become more and more like Jesus.
We still
have a lot of work as far as putting on the new self goes. It is a certainty that we will get there
because God as he spoke through his most prolific letter writer says we are
already a new creation.
But we still
have lots to do and there is no time like the present. Let’s do all that we can to put on the new
self today. And as far as those things
that belong to the old self, let’s cast them off before the sun goes down.
Paul gives
us lots of theology in his letters, but in this part of his letter he
challenges to work on our lives. This is
part of discipleship. This is growing in
grace.
our
salvation is not at risk in our conduct and behavior but our conduct and
behavior should stand in stark contrast to most of the world.
Paul says,
“Let’s work on that. Let’s do it
today. There is no time like the
present.”
Don’t let
the sun go down on your anger or anything else that you know you need to work
on that you could do something about today.
I have been
talking a lot about connecting the disconnected, connecting with other
congregations and denominations, and reaching the lost. Let’s take a week and focus on ourselves and
grow in grace.
Let’s work
on ourselves this week whatever that may mean to you.
· Anger
· Vocabulary
· Vindictiveness
· Our worship
· Prayer time
· Patience
· Humility
· Encouragement
· Thinking
· Emotions
If you don’t
know what to work on, you might ask someone within the body of Christ who you
trust to speak the truth in love to you.
Why on earth
would I ever do that? Why would I ask
someone else what I need to work on?
Because you
want to grow in grace. We know that
challenge and support working together produce growth. We want to grow.
Why did
people read Paul’s letters when he consistently challenged them?
Because they
wanted to grow. They knew salvation and
wanted to grow in God’s grace. I think
that we do too.
Let’s take
off those old clothes and put on the new, and let’s do it today. We can at least take some steps in the right
direction today.
Let’s not
let the sun go down on us today until we have grown a little in God’s grace.
There is no
time like the present.
Amen.
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