Relating to One Another

God and our Father. We thank you for this another opportunity to gather together as your people. We thank you that, even in the midst of these challenging times, you have drawn near to us, even when we haven't been able to draw near to one another. We thank you for the ways that have been made available to us to do just that, to draw near to one another. Grant by your grace, that as we do so this morning, we might meet with you. As we dive into your word, we ask that you would grant us clarity of thought. I asked that you would grant me clarity of speech, and that you would grant us willing hearts, so that we might not only hear, but heed your word. We asked these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, as we continue our series looking at the Ephesus family, if you will, we come to the second half or the last portion of Ephesians chapter four, beginning there in verse twenty five. If you remember when we were together last, we looked at the paragraphs before this, beginning at verse seventeen, and we talked about how it was imperative to put verse twenty five or that last paragraph into context and to grab those other verses and the idea from those other verses in order to be able to understand verse twenty five, because if we didn't, we'd run straight to verse twenty five and it would become a lesson in works righteousness and moralism, a set of rules that we need to adhere to, instead of understanding that this is something that grows out of our life in Christ. You remember this also puts the book itself in context, because in the first three chapters of the Book of Ephesians, we have indicatives, or a picture of who we are in Christ, a picture of what God has done on our behalf in us and for us on our behalf through the person and work of Christ. There are no imperatives in the first three chapters of the Book of Ephesians. We aren't told to do anything. We are told who we are because of what Christ has done. And it's only when we then get into the second half of the Book of Ephesians that we find imperatives, things that we are called to do. But those imperatives are connected to the indicatives. We are called to do these things in the second half in light of and because of what Christ has done on our behalf. In the first half. Christ then equips us and prepares us to do those things in the second half. We also looked at the fact that in that first half, in those first three chapters, we have these three big ideas. We have Christ's headship over his body, and then we have unity in Christ's body and the glory that the body gives to its head. We see that in chapter one clearly Christ over his body, and we see that at the end of chapter one. We see that unity in Christ's body clearly at the end of chapter two, and that glory that the body gives to its head clearly at the end of chapter three. And then we have that transition in verse twenty. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we can ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. And so we know there that we've turned the corner, that we've began to look at something different. And notice that at the end of chapter three, to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we can ask or think. So all of these things that are going to be done in the second half, we can count on them being done because of Him who is able to do Why, according to the power at work within us, not according to our own ability or desire to dig deeper and to achieve more, but according to the power that is at work within us, which is why the glory then belongs to him. So with that in mind, we started looking at the second half, and we looked beginning at verse seventeen of chapter four. I want to read that first before we get into verse twenty five. Now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkening, their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. Due to their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have given themselves up to sinu out of degreedy, to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about Him and we're taught in Him as the truth is in Jesus. And then here's what we were called to do. To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and just corrupt through deceitful desires, 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. So that's the principle there, that's what we're called to do, put off the old and to put on the new. But what does that look like in practice, and specifically for our series, what does that look like in the context of interpersonal relationships within the family. And that's where we get to verse twenty five and to our text today. Therefore, remember that therefore points us back to the previous paragraph. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth to his neighbor, for we are members of one another. There's number one, number two verse twenty six. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Give no opportunity to the devil. Here's a third example. 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. Here's a fourth example in twenty nine. 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 and do not grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you will sealed for the day of redemption. And then finally, let all bitterness and wrath, 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 also forgave you. This is not an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination, but it's an application of the principle that we saw in the last section of the chapter burning up in the last section of the chapter, And so the question could be asked this way in light of what God has done in us and for us through the person in work of Christ, in light of this picture that we have of putting off the old and putting on the new, that principle, what does that look like as we apply it in terms of our relationships with one another? And specifically, how do we apply that as we engage with one another in that place where we are who we truly are, which is at home. I Remember we've talked about that before. We can put on We can put on airs when we're out in public, we can be a certain person, you know, when we're at work. But when we're home, we take off the masks. So let's look at these illustrations and see what's underneath them. The first one, therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we're members of one another. It's not therefore put away falsehood. It's therefore having put away falsehood. Since we've put away falsehood, how have we put away falsehood? By putting on Christ? We have put away falsehood. So this is actually an indicative and then an imperative, because we are individuals who, by virtue of belonging to Christ, have put away falsehood, because coming to Christ brings us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Because we've put away falsehood. Now, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor. Why, for we are members of one another. It's interesting. In the first half we have all of these indicatives and we're not told to do anything. In the second half, we finally get to the imperatives, and you would think that what the author would do was just say, Okay, we've done all of that. We know about the Gospel, truth, we know about who we are in Christ. Now let's just get down to it and start doing. That's not what he does in the second half. We also have indicatives, because the indicatives are twice as important as the imperatives. And hear me on this, Saints, we have a natural tendency toward moralism and works righteousness. And as Christians, what we tend to do, even when we're reminded of that natural tendency toward moralism and works righteousness, when we're reminded of the essential nature of the Gospel, here's what we tend to do. We tend to say, oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I get that. Yes, Jesus, the Gospel, Salvation. None of this is possible apart from salvation. Now, rule, rule, rule, rule, rule, every now and then oh yeah, yah yea, yeah, ya yea, yeah, yeah, Jesus, salvation, yeah, the gospel, rule, rule, rule, rule, rule. That's not what Paul does. He doesn't spend the first half of the book going Salvation, the Gospel, Jesus, and then the second half saying rule, rule, rule, rule. Even in the second half. Notice again in verse twenty five, Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor. That is law. Amen, that is law. But then he says four, why for we are members of one another. That goes back to the indicative. So we have indicative, imperative, indicative. What is he speaking about there us being members of one another. Well, if we look back at the first half of the book, I think we answer the question. Go to chapter two and looked beginning at verse fourteen. For he Christ himself is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace and might reconcile us both in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to those who were far off, and peace to those who are near. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ, Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. So now that's the indicative. This is what Christ has done. This is who He has made us. He has reconciled us to himself and to one another, so that we belong to one another. Now, think about what happens in the marriage co where we enter into this one flesh union. So being in Christ, we belong to one another. However, being in marriage, we heighten that union through this one flesh union that we have as husband and wife, and then children as a byproduct of that union. Also heightened that union that we have because of Christ. Now you bring all of that to verse twenty five. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor. Why for we are members one of another because of who Christ is and because of what Christ has done. We don't just belong to one another. We are one another I've used this phrase often to try to get this into people's heads as it relates to marriage. When I think about my wife, and I tell a husband, when you think about your wife, think about this phrase. She's not just mine, She's me. Do you catch that? She's not just mine, she's me. She's not a thing that I possess to do with as I please, She's me. We are members of one another. We are part of a one flesh union. The two of us have become something together that neither of us could have or would have been a part. You catch this, We belong to one another, and think about that in terms of the Church. Yes, we belong to one another. We are part of the body of Christ. You are a member of Christ's body. I am a member of Christ's by we belong to one another. You're not just mine, You're mean as we belong to Christ. So he doesn't just say, here's the point that I'm trying to drive home. The law looks at you and says, don't bear false witness, and in and of yourself you are incapable of keeping that. Let's be clear. Galatians makes it very clear for us. The law is a mirror and a tutor. As a mirror, the law reflects back to us our imperfection, and as a tutor, the law instructs us that we need a savior. And so the law says to you, do not bear false witness, and we think legalism and moralism says, okay, I can do that. I can be better than that person, or I can be better than those people out there. I can even be better than I was yesterday in terms of not bearing false witness, I can do better, be better, try harder. You don't understand the law. The law doesn't require you to do a good job at not bearing false witness. The law requires you to be perfect in truthfulness, as God is perfect in truthfulness, and anything less than perfection in truthfulness is a violation of the law of God that is worthy of death and eternal separation from God in hell. That's what the law requires. And the only reason that you cling to moralism and legalism. The only reason that I cling to moralism and legalism is because I forget what the law actually requires and deceive myself into thinking that I can actually work hard enough to get there. You can't get there from here. You can't get there from here. It's like trying to spend the wrong kind of currency. You know. Imagine, you know, a businessman takes a trip and you know, he goes to to to Nairobi, and when he comes back from Nairobi, you know, he's exchanged his Zambian quacha and I's gone to Nairobi and he's gotten you know, the Nairobi they have a shekel whatever the Nairobi you know currency is. And then he he comes back from Nairobi with that money forgets to exchange it at the airport. He's on his way home, he wants to stop and pick up some some some gifts for his kids or some flowers for his wife. When he comes home and he reaches into his pocket and has this currency from Nairobi, it doesn't matter how much of the currency he has. It won't spend, do you see, It won't spend. It is the wrong currency. And in terms of righteousness, here's what you and I need to understand. Your righteousness is not even the same currency as God's righteousness. So it's not that God's righteousness is a billion quatcha and your righteousness is one. It's that your righteousness is not even the same currency So the problem is not that you don't have enough. The problem is in terms of the righteousness that God requires, you don't have any. So are we just doomed and defeated. No, Christ has fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law of God on our behalf. Because he had the right currency and in more than sufficient amounts. He lays down his life as a ransom for many, takes upon himself our sinfulness, and gives to us, imputes to us his righteousness. He does a currency exchange, so that in Christ we now have the right currency and enough of it, which is why we have to read verse twenty five in light of the first half, which is why he keeps going back there, therefore having put away false sudd Therefore, because you had this exchange that took place, let each one of you speak the truth with neighbor. Why because you have the right currency now through the person in work with Christ, For we are members of one another. Why because of the person in work of Christ, do you see that it's bringing us back to Christ. Look at verse twenty six. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Now again, contextually, we're still in the same place. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. We're going to see later on that this relates to verse thirty, be angry and do not say. It doesn't say don't be angry. Amen doesn't say don't be angry. Anger is merely an emotion. Anger is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility. And sometimes it's correct, it's right and even godly to experience a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility. So the Bible doesn't say you can never be angry. We know anger is not necessarily sinful, because God gets angry. He's angry with the wicked every day. Amen. Romans Chapter one, verse eighteen. For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and un righteousness, some men who by their unrighteous to suppress the truth the wrath of God, which is intense anger. Hell is a place where God will pour out his wrath for eternity. John chapter two, verses thirteen to seventeen, Jesus the god Man, perfect humanity and perfect deity. John two thirteen. The passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting there and making a whip of cords. He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade. His disciples remembered that it was written zeal for your house will consume me. Jesus was angry. He was angry, and so again this is why the text says, be angry, but don't sin. There are things that ought to make us angry. There are things that are vile and disgusting and evil that ought to create righteous indignation in us. But but righteous indignation has to be in its proper place. And where is its proper place. Well, it's proper place is when God's righteousness is that which we are indignant about God's righteousness. Anger that puts me in the place of God is anger that is sinful. Secondly, this anger is expressed in a way that is designed to vindicate God in his righteousness, not to vindicate me. Paul tells us in Romans twelve that we are not to avenge ourselves. We do not vindicate ourselves. We do not avenge ourselves. Anger that is vengeful on my behalf is sinful. Anger. Anger that is misplaced is sinful anger. For example, if I'm on the job and I see something on the job that is disgusting or evil or heinous, and I have righteous indignation because of this thing that I see on the job, but I do not, for whatever reason, express that anger in an appropriate way by addressing whatever this evil is. But instead I hold my anger in. And then I get home and I kick the dog or slap my wife or my kids. Now I have misplaced my anger and I'm in sin Do you see that that's sinful anger because it's misplaced anger or delayed anger. Something happens and I'm rightfully angry about something, but I just swallow it right And what I say is love covers a multitude of sins. But I'm lying why because a week later or a month later, somebody does some small thing to set me off, and I explode on them and let them know that it is because of what happened a month ago. If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. Do you see or anger that's used to control others, Anger that's used to strike fear in others? This is sinful anger. And so this is what the Bible talks about in places like Psalm thirty seven eighty nine. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself. It tends only to evil. For the evil doors show it'll be cut off. But those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. Do you see there? Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. This is a parallelism in the Psalms Refrain from anger and for sake wrath. He's talking about anger that pours itself out in uncontrolled wrath. Fret not yourself. What is this? This is holding on to it, letting it fester, because it tends only to evil when you let it fester and grow into bitterness. For the evil doers shall be cut off, God, God will pour out his wrath on all evil. You don't have to do that. But those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. Do not avenge yourself. All these New Testament principles. Right there in that one, there's two verses of the Psalms Proverbs nine two. A man of wrath stirs up strife, A man of wrath somebody who's characterized by wrath, somebody who has no control over their anger. A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression. Again, you see how these those two lines are parallel. So the idea of a man of wrath is the same thing as one who's given to anger. Being given to anger means that anger controls you. Matthew five twenty one and twenty two. You've heard that it was said to those of old you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. Again, where does murder come from It starts with anger. It starts with anger. Remember the last point that I made. And so when we look at our text, you know, be angry and do not say do not let the sun go down on your eye, don't hold on to it, don't harbor it. And then here's this last one, and we'll connect these to what went before James one, nineteen and twenty. Remember I told you about using anger before I read this text. I want to share this with you here. Here's a classic example of this when we talk about sinful anger and its expression in the home. So your child does something and you explode your child. The veins pop out in your neck. You're slobbering and screaming, and you just grab your child and beat them with anything that you can find. And then afterward you let them know that this happened because you want them to never do this again. Now, what you just did was you exploded on your child in anger because you want them to remember your anger and your wrath the next time they have an opportunity to do whatever that thing is, and you want them to be more afraid of your wrath then they are desirous of whatever that thing is. In which case, you've just joined them in sin and in the ultimate folly. Why James one nineteen and twenty. Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Listen, if I brutalize my children, I'm not talking about spanking here, you know. And if you were paying attention to the conference this week, and you know you listen, listen to the session there on dealing with discipline with our children. This doctor Tripp's message there, I commend it to you highly. That's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about that explosive anger, that violent burst of rage that comes out towards your child, toward your spouse because you want to strike fear in them so that they don't do that thing. Again, here's what you're doing. If your child learns not to do something because they fear you, or your spouse learns not to do something because they fear you, then that's fear of man. And the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. You are guilty of idolatry because you want people. You don't want your children to pursue righteousness. You want them to just not make you angry. You don't want your spouse to be conformed to the image of Christ. You just want them to be afraid to do certain things because you don't like them, which means you do not want to point them to Christ as their only hope and the source of their righteousness. You want to point them away from Christ to fear of you that controls them repent. That is sinful anger, and it is idolatry because you want pleasing you to be the chief and principal motivation of your family members, not pleasing God. That's idolatry. Now let's connect this. Be angry, do not sin, do not let the soun and go down on your anger. This is not disconnected from what came before. This is important because we are members of one another and members of the body of Christ. Do you see that? So even what makes me angry needs to be directed by this truth, and how I express that anger, and to what end I express that anger needs to be controlled by this truth that we are members of Christ and we are members of one another. Verse twenty eight. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Again, these are illustrations to point to the same general principle. And I think this proves the point that I made early. I said that when you look at the one in verse twenty six about anger, you can't divorce it from their verse twenty five and the fact that we belong to one another. I think that argument is strengthened by the fact that here in verse twenty eight when he says, let the thief no longer steal, but instead let him labor. Why just because it's wrong to steal? No, it is absolutely wrong to steal. Right. By the way, notice we're still in the commandments, do not bear false witness. Anger is connected to do not commit murder, because according to Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount, murder comes from anger in the heart. And now this one do not steal. Do you see that he's dealing with the commandments here, But he's connecting the law of God in the Decalogue to the reality of who we are in Christ. From the first half of the Book of Ephesians. He's teaching us how to understand the law, and that it's only kept because we belong to Christ, who is the lawkeeper, and are in union and communion with him. So don't steal, but do labor with your own hands. Why so that you may have something to share with anyone in need. What's the understanding there? We belong to one another. We don't steal from one another. We give to one another. Verse twenty nine. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as it's good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who here we have to connect verse thirty to this. We talked about this before, but I think it bears mentioning again, because taking verse thirty out of context has led to all kind of terrible interpretations of verse thirty. First, there's an and connecting this to verse twenty nine. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. What does this mean? I think you can connect these two ideas. First, the first one is our words. We don't let corrupting talk or corrosive talk literally in the Greek, this is something that is corrosive like acid. Don't let words come out of your mouth that had the effect of corroding and tearing down like acid. You know, there's a saying, and it's pretty much universal. Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. You know this, this saying, this means, yes, this means especially with your mask on, he got these people, so I really need you to give me that, right, okay, all right, thank you so much. All right, right, And and on the one hand, it's something very helpful that we teach children. You know, she said so and so he said so and so, like the world is going to end. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. And to an extent, that is a true and valuable lesson for us to teach to our children. But only to an extent, because here's the reality. There are words, depending on where they come from and who they come from, that can hurt you far worse than any broken bone. There are words that parents can speak to their children day after day, week after week, year after year, that will cripple a child worse than if the parent just took a stick and broke their leg. There are words that husbands can speak to wives, and wives can speak to husbands over time that drip and corode like acid and can do far more damage than any punch, kick, or slap ever could. This is why this text is so important. Do not let these corrosive words come out of your mouths, but words that build up, that edify, that encourage, words that suit and fit the occasion. And then he connects this to and do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Again, how many times have we heard interpretations that don't grieve the Holy Spirit? Your cell phone goes off in church, Ah, you're grieving the spirit. Right. I've been in churches where they ask, you know, for for babies. If babies are making noise, you know, you take them out, so you don't grieve the Holy Spirit. This text has absolutely nothing to do with that, nothing whatsoever, Nothing nothing to do with that. It has nothing to do with what's going on in worship. It has nothing to do with, you know, a a moment that is somehow super spiritual that you at nothing in context, in context, that has everything to do with verse twenty nine, Verse twenty nine is about these corrosive words. But how do we know this? Go back to chapter two again, we read it. We'll read it again beginning of verse nineteen. Remember, in chapter two we're looking at the fact that we have been united with Christ, and by virtual of being united with Christ, we've been united with one another verse nineteen. So then, because again, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. That doesn't just come out of nowhere. The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. Right, So has Paul talked about the Holy Spirit already? Yes, the number of occasions as he talked about the Holy Spirit in context, in the context of building up and tearing down, like in verse twenty nine of chapter four. Yes, he has Chapter two beginning verse nineteen. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow city and citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ, Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, there's your building metaphor, he uses the same building metaphor in verse twenty nine, and then right after the building metaphor in verse twenty nine of chapter four, what do we have don't grieve the Holy Spirit? Well, right after the building metaphor in chapter two, verses nineteen to twenty one, you have the Holy Spirit in verse twenty two in him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Holy Spirit. So if the Holy Spirit is building us into a holy temple and a dwelling place for God, and your words are tearing down and corroding like acid other members of that body whom the Spirit is building together, then it grieves him when you do that. Not when your cell phone rings, not when your baby cries in church, but when your words actively tear down with the Spirit himself is building together. Do you see this? This all has to do with our union and communion and it's belonging to one another. Now, verse thirty one, we'll allude to this so that we make the connection. But we're going to look at verses thirty one and thirty two on their own, because I think this is the most important thing for us to learn in the context of marriage and family. The most important interpersonal skills that we can have. Thirty one. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger, and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Verse thirty two. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. So we're called to forgive. And again we're going to deal with verses thirty one and thirty two on their own. But we're called to forgive. And our forgiveness is based on two things. One our relationship with one another, and two our relationship with God, who forgives us through the person and work of Christ. Now here's what we find. Essentially, this begins and ends with our union and communion in Christ. But let's be honest. How do we normally read this paragraph? Most of us have you've been a Christian any amount of time. You've read through this before, You've read through Ephesians before, and you've read through Ephesians chapter four, verses twenty five to thirty two before. But when we read it, what do we do We moralize it? Do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that. This is good, that's bad. How much do we miss when we do that. Did Paul intend for verses twenty five to thirty two to just be a list of things that you try harder to be moralistic and legalistic about in its context? Absolutely not, absolutely not, especially when you recognize this connection. Look again, beginning at verse seventeen, four one through sixteen is really introducing this second half of the letter. And so you know in four to one, I therefore, a prisoner of right. We've just come out of the first three. We're getting ready to get to the imperatives. What does all of this mean? I, therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, even to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. And then he gives us this sort of theological dissertation on this bond that we have because of the person in work of Christ. Then in verse seventeen of chapter four, now this I say, and testifying the Lord that you must no longer walk as the gentiles do in the futility of their minds. Right. So chapter four, verse one t one. Therefore, I'm urging you to walk in this manner. Chapter four, verse seventeen. I'm merging you to no longer walk like the gentiles. Verse twenty five. We then get these practical illustrations of what that looks like. And now look at chapter five, verse one. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Where does he begin, I'm gonna show you how to walk again the second half. Here are the imperatives. I'm gonna show you how to walk in the truth that I gave you in the first half. Verse seventeen. Don't walk like you used to walk in the futility of your mind. Put that off and put on the new Verse twenty five. Here's what it looks like when you walk in this new reality. And then in chapter five, there's another therefore clause. Notice that therefore clauses right chapter four and verse one. I. Therefore chapter four, verse twenty five, therefore Chapter five, verse one. Therefore, therefore, therefore, therefore, don't disconnect these things, don't rip them apart from one another. If you do, you want to understand them rightly. But in Chapter five, verse one, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. What does that mean. It means that we're not imitators of God as individuals who just have a rule book in front of us to try to follow. We're imitators of God, like those who have been born of God's Spirit, adopted into God's family, united with God through the person and work of Christ, and conformed to the image of God through the ongoing sanctifying work of the Spirit. How radically different is that from someone who's just sitting there with a list of rules trying to do their best to keep them. Make God grant us grace to be freed from this. I have lived in this, as have most of you, and it is frustrating, overwhelming, tiring, and never satisfying because it's chasing a ghost. You can't get there from here. But everything changes when we recognize that we have been purchased by the blood of Christ, that a great exchange has taken place. Our sinfulness has been imputed to Him and His righteousness has been imputed to us. But beyond that legal justification that has happened, we have been adopted by God, united with God, united with Him through the person and work of Christ, who is not only our Master, Lord, Savior, and King, but our elder brother. And that we are being sanctified by the same spirit who justifies and adopts us. Folks, theology matters, and there are a lot of Christians out there who've been duped into believing that we are saved by grace, but we're sanctified by law. It's a lie from the pit. The same grace that saves you sanctifies you. The law can't save you, and the law can't sanctify you. It is the person in work of Christ who sanctifies, and it is our union with Him and our communion with Him that sanctifies, that gives us everything that we need, that works in us to will and to work for is good pleasure. So when we're looking at these in their personal skills and these relationships within the family, we have to look at them within this context. Otherwise we have no hope. Because we belong to Christ, we have all the hope we need. So when I think about my relationship with my wife, when you think about your relationship with your spouse, When we think about our relationships with our children. We have to run back to the Cross, because that is our only true supply and our only real hope. When we're building these interpersonal relationships, when we're trying to figure out how to live with one another in right ways and relate to one another in righteous ways, we run back to the person in work of Christ. And so we do these things like speak the truth. We do these things like avoiding sinful anger. We do these things like speaking appropriate words and avoiding harsh and corrosive words. We do all of these things. Amen, hallelujah, Praise the Lord. We do these things. But we do these things because we've been enabled, empowered, and motivated to do them by the person and work of Christ. By the way, I'll just say this and connect it all together. When you understand this, you understand, for example, why God would forbid us to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. How are we going to build this? If this is what God's calling us to build? If we enter into this one flush union with someone who doesn't even have the right currency, do you see? And if we are willing to do this, then it speaks volumes about what we believe marriage is, and what we believe family is, and about what we believe about God himself. May God granted's grace to trust his word and to live by it. Father, thank you, thank you for this reminder, for this encouragement, for this rebuke. Thank you for pointing us again and again to the person and work of Christ, who is more than enough, and through whom we are and we have more than enough, and without whom we shall never have enough. Grant that we might be found in Him, and that you might be pleased. For we pray it in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen, which