If there's one thing I come away with every time I read 1 and 2 Kings, it's the idea that we can never take our own godliness for granted. We may be godly at one point in our lives, only to reverse course and become markedly ungodly later on. Only by cultivating and nurturing an attitude of humility can we hope to maintain God-honouring hearts throughout our lives.
Over the last number of months, I've noticed an increasing tendency in myself towards impatience and outrage. I knew that this had the potential to spiral into the realm of spiritual decay. Then I came across Ephesians 4—again. It seemed the perfect antidote to what I was experiencing.
I have spent the last month meditating on verses 20–32. Every day in my devotional times, I start by reading those verses. And I've noticed something. Just by taking the time to think about this passage, my heart has been changing. I have more patience. I have more control over my tongue. I am less prone to outrage. I'm more loving. I feel like a new person. That is the power of the word of God. That is the power of meditating on His word.
As a companion to our last post, I thought that today I would draw your attention to this powerful passage. It contains some profound truths and insights into eschewing our cultural tendencies towards outrage and impatience.
But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus...
(4:20-21)
When we have been Christians for a while, we may be tempted to neglect the "childish" and "elementary" teachings of the Bible in favour of things that are more "mature", and "meaty". And impressive.
But God does not is not impressed with our puny intellect or our abysmal spiritual "maturity".
One of the ways we can maintain humble and God-honouring hearts is to continually revisit the elementary teachings of Jesus. He said, "Unless you become like a child, you will never enter the kingdom of God." [1]
What are some of the first things that we have learned about Christ? About His love? About His fruit of the Spirit? About the transformative power that He applies to our lives when we first become Christians?
Let us remember these things.
Let us remember our former eagerness to be changed by His Holy Spirit.
to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
(4:22)
We don't have to be slaves to our former corruption. Romans 8 tells us that we have been given the hope of the freedom of the glory of the children of God. [2] Through Jesus, we overwhelmingly conquer our former life. We are more than conquerors. [3]
and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
(4:23-24)
When we submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit, He brings with Him a special renewal that enables us to put on this new self that He has provided, just as we might put on a new garment after removing an old one.
This new self has been created after the likeness of God. This is no simple robe. It is interwoven with all the glory of the One who created the universe and beyond.
All that is required for this renewal to take place is a ruthless commitment to obeying the direction of the Holy Spirit. We do not need to find within ourselves the power to obey. He knows that we have not the strength nor the resolve. But we can pray to Him and ask Him to supply all that we need to hear His voice, respond, and step forward in courageous obedience.
God loves nothing better than for His children to throw themselves at His mercy, so that He might show them what is the breadth and length and height and depth of His love. [4]
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
(4:25)
Embracing falsehood is a characteristic of our old self. However, Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life. [5] If we are His, we must necessarily love the truth, for in God there is no lie. [6]
If we have cultivated a life filled with lies, this may feel threatening. But if we have the courage to cast ourselves on the mercy of God, we may very well find that our lies are really prison bars, preventing us from experiencing the glorious freedom that can be ours when we live in the truth.
When we recognize our neighbourly reality, when we recognize that we are members of one another, this enables us to treat each other with dignity at a level that does not result from rule keeping, but from the foundations of our personhood. We treat others with dignity because God has imbued us with dignity. We are each wearers and bearers of the likeness of God.
Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.
(4:26-27)
Be angry and do not sin. What a tall order!
And yet, when we put on the new self, we also put on the fruit of the Spirit, including self control. Exerting self control even in anger can be a beautiful thing.
Being loving, even while we are angry, is more beautiful still.
When we commit to resolving anger before too much time elapses, we circumvent bitterness before it even has a chance to take root. Above all, we are called to forgive, just as Christ has forgiven us. In fact, Jesus says that God will forgive us in the same way that we forgive other people. [7] This is both a promise and warning.
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
(4:28)
I love the transformation apparent in this verse. I love the redeeming idea of hands that formerly stole now being used for honest work; now being used to bring blessing rather than robbery to those they touch.
That is the beauty of putting on the new self. Our own personalities, our own identities do not simply vanish. They are instead cleansed and accentuated. They reach their fullest realization, in Christ!
In Christ, we become the people we were always intended to be.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
(4:29)
The apostle James tells us that the tongue is the most difficult part of our body to control. [8] In fact, he goes one step further to say that only a perfect man will not stumble in what he says. [9] If we are not perfect (and I'm assuming none of us are), we are guaranteed to sin with our tongues.
This admonition, then, is impossible to follow completely. However, this should not be a source for discouragement, but for dependency on Jesus and the Holy Spirit whom He gave to enable us to live increasingly godly lives.
This "corrupting talk" that the Bible speaks of is not simply vulgarity—that is perhaps the easiest problem to address. No, "corrupting talk" is slander. It is gossip. It is contempt for our brothers and sisters.
We are called not to tear down, but to build up. We are called not to a life of contempt and false superiority, but one of love and humility. We are called to make our language so edifying that it refreshes and gives grace to all who hear it.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
(4:30)
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit of promise has sealed us as a pledge of our eternal inheritance. [10] He comes to live in our hearts when we become Christians, and is a witness of our love and obedience to our Heavenly Father.
He intercedes for us, and acts on our behalf in the throne room of heaven. [11]
He loves us, and wants nothing but the best for us.
When we settle for less than the lavish abundance that God has planned for us, the Holy Spirit also grieves at the things we are missing. He grieves when we hurt each other. He grieves when we act with dishonour towards Christ.
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, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
(4:31-32)
So let us come before the throne of heaven in humility. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts, and to show us how our actions may be causing Him grief.
Let us throw ourselves at His mercy, and ask Him to once more transform, renew, refresh, and remake us. We have a glorious inheritance waiting for us. Let us put on the new self, created in God's image, in true righteousness and holiness.
NOTES
[1] See Matthew 18:3.
[2] See Romans 8:24, 21.
[3] See Romans 8:37.
[4] See Ephesians 3:18.
[5] See John 14:6.
[6] See 1 John 2:21.
[7] See Matthew 6:14-15.
[8] See James 3:4-9.
[9] See James 3:2.
[10] See Ephesians 1:13.
[11] See Romans 8:26.
