Ephesians 4:25-28
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil. 28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Christians in a local church are those who have been bought with the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7) and born again by the Spirit and Word of God (John 3:3-8; 1 Peter 1:23). Salvation radically changes the life of a believer. The Apostle Paul described this change in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when he wrote, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” We are new creatures in Christ. This new life is lived out in community with other Christians. When we gather together, how should the Church behave?
In Ephesians 4:17-24, Paul writes about the reality that believers have put off the old man and put on the new man. We have died to our old way of life and have been raised in Christ to walk in our new life (Romans 6:3-4). In Ephesians 4:25-5:8, he describes the various ways in which this new life manifests itself. He describes how Christians are supposed to live in community together and before a lost world that is watching. He lays out this new life in a series of commands about how believers are to live. There are seven things that believers are called to do in these verses. This week, we will look at the first three.
Truth is an essential quality of the Christian life, which is a reflection of the character of the God we serve. God is a God of truth (Hebrews 6:18) whose “Word is truth” (John 17:17). Jesus Christ is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). The Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of truth” (John 15:26). Further, the Church is to be “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timtohy 3:15). Therefore, believers should be marked by and known by truth. Truthfulness should be an essential part of our character and lifestyle and lying should have no place in our lives as Christians. Our God never lies (Titus 1:2) and neither should we. In fact, the Bible tells us that lying is characteristic of Satan and the lost world (John 8:44). God despises “a lying tongue” (Proverbs 6:17) and “a false witness that speaketh lies” (6:19), so Christians must speak truth because we represent our God and we “are members one of another.” We are part of the same body of Christ and should never lie to one another. If our brain would send false signals to our limbs, our actions and bodies would be in absolute chaos. The body of Christ is the same. Our ability to minister to one another and together depends upon speaking truthfully to one another.
The second thing that Paul instructs believers to do is avoid bitterness. It is inevitable that we will be angry in life. Most of our anger is for selfish reasons. We get angry over people cutting us off in traffic, making us feel less than important, or not doing things our way. Those are all prideful, sinful reasons to be angry. However, there is a such thing as righteous anger. It is perfectly right to be angry when God’s name is blasphemed, His Word is violated, or others are harmed by wicked actions, but, we must never sin in our anger. The way we avoid this is by dealing with our anger immediately. This does not mean acting on our anger immediately. That would be disastrous. Instead, what we should do is recognize the source of our anger (pride, self-preservation, or righteousness) and then not allow that anger to cause us to act in a sinful way. We should immediately bring our anger under control and submit it to the Spirit’s leading and the Word of God. Instead of becoming bitter over someone who has harmed us, we should seek forgiveness and reconciliation. In doing this, we avoid letting the day pass (“the sun go down”) on our anger and we do not give the devil a foothold in our lives to tempt us to sin in our anger. We should do as Jesus said and, “Agree with thine adversary quickly…” (Matthew 5:25) recognizing that “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). Instead, we should forgive, speak truth, and leave vengeance into God’s hands, not take matters into our own (Romans 12:17-21). Anger, just like any emotion, in self-control (a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23) must be brought into subjection to the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
The third call that Paul places on believers in these verses is found in verse 28. Believers are called to live honestly. The transition from the old to the new life is a transition from stealing (living dishonestly) to working (living honestly). “Thou shalt not steal” is the eighth commandment (Exodus 20:15) and 1 Corinthians 6:10 warns us that “thieves, nor covetous,…nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Believers should have the greatest of work ethic. The goal in working to earn a living is so that believers might not only be able to care for themselves and those in their family but also to give to others in need. We serve a God who does all things well (Mark 7:37) and we should try to do everything that we do for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). This includes working honestly at our jobs in giving our employers the best of our ability each day, diligence from men to make sure that their families are provided for, and parents making sure that their children are cared for. This work ethic certainly extends to faithfulness in serving the Lord as well.
With just three instructions, the life of a believer already looks radically different than most people in the world around us. The point is to honor God and live out a life that faithfully represents our Savior that redeemed us. It is also about living our lives in such a way that we are edifying to the body of Christ rather than destructive to those around us. When people look at our lives, are we marked by truthfulness or lying? Are we known for anger and bitterness or self-control and forgiveness? Do we work hard and live honestly? The good news is that although each of us have failed and sinned in all of these ways, we can come to our Savior, seeking His forgiveness and strength to walk as He has called us to.