Walking Together as a Church, Part 2 | A Strong Foundation for the New Believer

Ephesians 4-6

After we mature together and keep striving together and mature in doctrinal unity, we also then, secondly, repent together in humble sincerity. We repent together in humble sincerity. Middle of the chapter there, Paul says, Ephesians 4:17-19, as we learn together, growing in unity and maturity in the truth, we see the need in our lives for deep repentance.

We see the need for repentance in every area of our lives. Some people describe seeing sin in our lives like peeling the layers of an onion, so we see sin on the surface. We peel those things away and you keep seeing more and more layers. And you’re wondering, how deep does this go? Well it goes all the way to the core of us, the onion. We got to get down there, we got to find everything and repent of it. We want to do that.

So we’re no longer to walk and behave and live as the Gentiles do; summarizes our former manner of living as unbelievers enslaved to sin, verse 20, “That is not the way you learned Christ.” We didn’t learn Christ by continuing in sin and ignorance and callousness and hardness of heart. We didn’t, we didn’t learn Christ that way. We learned Christ, verse 22, first, putting off our old self. We’re to put off, that is to repent. Past tense completed action. “Having put off what belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,” in Christ, coming to Christ, we put that off.

Verse 23, second, we learn Christ by “being renewed in the Spirit of our minds.” It’s a present tense, there, continuing action. So the first thing is something that’s been done. Renewing our minds, being renewed in the spirit of our minds, that’s continuous. How does that happen? Back to the doctrinal unity, right? We continue to grow in doctrinal unity together. We renew our minds.

And finally, number three in verse 24, “We put on the new self. Again, it’s another past tense verb, there, completed action, points to the reality of the new creation in Christ, which is, as it says there, “Created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” So we want to see that come out of us. This pattern of repentance in coming to Christ, initial repentance that brings salvation, putting off the old self, being renewed in our minds, putting on the new self. That then, sets a pattern for our continuing repentance in the progress of salvation. We put off the old, we renew the mind, we put on. That is growth in Christ.

Notice in the next verses that come there. We apply that pattern of repentance to very specific areas of our lives. Paul lists, lists those for us in the rest of chapter, Ephesians 4:25-32. In each of those five examples, he just uses five examples there: telling the truth, verse 25; righteous passions, verses 26 and 27; hardworking generosity in verse 28; the content of our speech in verse 29 and then a heart of graciousness, we could summarize verse 30-32 in that way. In each of those cases, Paul is telling us there what to put off, what to put on, and he’s telling us the spiritual reason why to do that. What to put off, what to put on, and the reason why.

For the sake of time, I just want to take one of those as an illustration. Verse 29, a very common struggle for us is how   do we use our mouths. What comes out of our mouth. It says, verse 29, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that we may give grace to those who hear.” What do we need to put off? Corrupting talk, corrosive speech, speech that tears down, speech that corrupts the atmosphere. It’s all that stuff we used to joke about and talk about, was the subject of all of our conversation as we were worldlings, non-Christians. We’re to put that off.

What do we need to put on? Speech that does the opposite, it builds up, it strengthens, it edifies, it imbues strength and courage, power into other people. I’m not talking about some kind of mystic power, I’m talking about the power of the word of God through the Holy Spirit, in the life of people, coming out of our mouths. And it’s edifying speech that’s fit for the occasion.

What’s the spiritual reason for this putting off and putting on? In order that what comes out of our mouths gives grace to anyone who hears it. Our mouths, like every other part of our body, is to be used as a conduit of grace for other people. Have you ever thought about that? Your body is an instrument, a weapon of righteousness in the hands of God. Your body, every member of it, is to be used for the purpose of other people. It’s to be a conduit of grace that flows to other people.

Some people think, yeah, my body may be used that way, but what goes on here in my mind, that’s just between me, myself and I. Not true. Your imagination, your thinking, your desires, your ambitions, all of that is a gift of God for you, as well. So whether it’s your physical members, or whether it’s your spiritual members, your thinking, all of it, conduit of grace for other people. Paul uses the mouth as one example, the mouth. “Out of the overflow of the mouth, the heart speaks,” right? In other words, we need to see the repentance is not complete until we’re motivated by spiritual concerns. We can’t fight the flesh with the flesh. We can’t fight spiritual sins and issues in our lives with fleshly means. We must be motivated by truth, by righteousness, by spiritual concern.

So we want to love and please the God who gave us our mouths for a good and holy purpose. That’s what drives us to put off corrupting speech, put on edifying speech. We want to bless and love others by what comes out of our mouths, so we want to put off corrupting speech that tears them down, put on edifying speech that tears them up. That’s what true repentance looks like. What to put off, what to put on, a spiritual reason why.

Now that you get that idea, we can, you can go through and take that pattern from verses 22 to 24 and apply that through every example that Paul lists there in verses 25-32. You can see how walking in a manner worthy of our calling means we are people who are always repenting, aren’t we? We’re repenters. We’re those who continue to take sin seriously; continue to put it off, put it on for godly motivations.

So we do that together as Christians in a local church and we do that in humble sincerity. We’re very sincere about it and we’re humble and meek about who we are. We’re humble and meek because we know we’ve not arrived. We gotta long way to go. And such joy in doing this, by the way. We think there’s happiness in sin, and there is not. It’s degrading, it’s sad, it brings us sorrow and sadness. There’s joy in righteousness. So repenting is joy. Repenting, putting off, putting on for the right reason is such joy.

Walking together as a church means we mature together, first, mature together in doctrinal unity. Secondly, we do that together, repenting together in an attitude of humble sincerity. Third thing, number three, we love one another in holy purity. We love one another in holy purity. This is another deep, deep joy, satisfaction for us. Ephesians 5:1-2, Paul says, “Therefore,” coming out of what he just said. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love.”

So we’re going to imitate God as his children. We’re going to do what he does. What does God do? He loves. In fact, why did he send his only begotten Son? Because of love, right. We’re going to imitate God as beloved children. We’re going to “walk in love as Christ loved us, gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” So Christ paid the ultimate price of his life. This, as a sacrificing love, but it’s also a holy love because his love, laid on the altar before God, was a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. When God smelled that sacrifice, so to speak, he was well-pleased because of a holy perfect sacrifice. He’s the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world.

You realize, by the way, it’s impossible for us to fulfill this mandate to walk the worthy walk by livestream? It’s impossible to do this if you’re not attending church. It’s impossible to do this if you’re staying away from other people, if you’re living in isolation from others. Imitating God as beloved children, following Christ’s example of self-sacrificial love, we’ve gotta do that in the company of other people. You don’t love by yourself in your room. You love with other people, in the company of other people.

Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice to save us from our sins. He was a holy offering to purchase a people, holy unto God. So when we imitate God and when we follow Christ, we do that by mortifying the flesh, by turning from all idolatry in order to love God and others in holy purity. To this age of modern idolatry, devoted as it is to self-worship, pandering after the sensual and the pornographic, dedicated to the removal of all restraint, for the liberation of the self, responding to every fleshly impulse, trying to satiate every lust, feeding the consuming fire of covetous greed, resulting in divine wrath and human shame.

Paul writes this to our culture, verse 3, Ephesians chapter 5. “Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not be even named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolator), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”

Listen carefully, that is our culture. That’s what we were saved out of. That’s what we must put off. We must never let these sins be named among us. Sexual sin is the very antithesis of biblical love. Biblical love is others-focused. Sexual sin is self-focused. That’s why Paul tells us the sexually immoral don’t go to heaven. That’s the way the world lives. That’s not the way Christians live.

Sexual sin obviously has no place in the lives of the members of the body of Christ, not even to be named among us, let alone become the subject of public scandal, as we’ve sadly seen far too often in the broader evangelical world. Headlines have been made, being made this last week by yet another so-called evangelical leader falling in public scandal.

 “Therefore,” verse 7, “do not become partakers with them; for at one time, you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.”

Listen, walking in love means the sacrifice of self. It means sacrificing self in order to give the self for the worship of God and the good of others, no longer for the self. Walking in purity means leaving the darkness behind. It means exposing evil deeds. It means living in the light. So works of love, generated by God himself, holy purity, the fruit of light found in all that is good and right and true, those works, old works die in the light. They thrive in the darkness, but they die in the light. So we come to light in order that our works may grow and thrive in the light, works of goodness and righteousness and truth.

Now, we mature together in doctrinal unity, we repent together in humble sincerity, we love one another in holiness and purity, it’s a truth that produces repentance and love and holiness. It’s a truth that thrives in, and then rejoices in the light and that becomes manifest in the way we live publicly.

 So fourth point, we manifest together, number four, we manifest together a practical Christianity, practical Christianity. Ephesians 5:15 says, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore,” verse 17, “do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” How do we do that? This is where truth and virtue come together to produce wise living. Verse 18 says, “Do not get drunk with wine for that’s debauchery, but be filled with the spirit.” Be filled with the Spirit.

Christians, covenanted together in the local church, they no longer numb themselves with wine, no longer numb themselves with the various opiates on offer from the world, whether it’s wine or in our state, marijuana, or worse, whether it’s prescription medication, whether it’s binging in whatever form: food, drink, entertainment, distraction, Christians do not self-medicate. They don’t live under the world’s influence, the world’s constant control.

Instead, Christians are committed to the Spirit’s ministry of teaching and influence and control. Many have noted the parallels between the effects of being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18, and the effects in Colossians 3:16 of letting the word of Christ dwell richly within you. That’s the expression there. It’s worked out in the members of the church by teaching, admonishing one another in all wisdom. This affects the entire culture of the church.

And I’ve got to tell you, we’ve seen over the past five, six years in this church, a culture change. It’s been so beautiful to see what God is doing in this church by the Word, by the Spirit, in changing the way we speak with each other. The way we, the topics of our conversation, the concerns we have expressed in, in attitudes toward one another in, in even asking hard questions sometimes. It’s, it’s a beautiful thing.

This is affecting the, the culture of the church. It sweetens the fellowship. Look at Ephesians 5:19-21. It says there, we’re “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, we’re singing and making melody to the Lord with our hearts.” Verse 20, “we’re giving thanks always and for everything to God the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we’re submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” That is a beautiful culture in a local church. And that is the very product of being filled by the Spirit. That is the very product of letting the word of Christ dwell richly within this church.

A Spirit-filled, Word-saturated church, one that is under the Spirit’s influence and the Word’s power, this does not stay here. It doesn’t stay in the church building. It doesn’t stay cloistered in the walls of this church. It goes outside. The wisdom of God is manifest outside the church as the church shapes all of our lived-out experience, our practical life. Wisdom, you could say, is the true knowledge of God that is lived out with skill and experience. That’s what people see.

And the wisdom of God in Ephesians 5, it starts, you can see different categories there. It starts in the family. It governs the Christian home. So the Spirit of the Word, in the Word directs the relationships within the family, wives submitting to husbands, husbands loving their wives, Ephesians 5:22-33. Kids obeying parents and parents raising their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, Ephesians 6:1-4. God’s wisdom is on display in the Christian home between wives and husbands, between parents and children.

The wisdom of God then moves through the home, from the church, through the home and out into the marketplace as God’s Spirit, by the Word, governs relationships between slave and master, Ephesians 5, 6:5-9. So divine wisdom doesn’t remain tucked away in the church building. It breaks out in the world. When it breaks out into the world, get this, Satan gets rather antsy. He doesn’t like seeing it come out. He loves to see, he doesn’t love the, the church or the truth at all, but if he’s got to have a church preaching truth, he wants to see the church just keep it to themselves, privatize their religion.

Let’s make a radical separation between church and state, such that you keep everything churchy in the church. Don’t bring it out there. Don’t you dare infect our marketplace. Don’t you dare infect our place of ideas. Don’t you dare, keep it out of politics. Satan loves it when we just keep it to ourselves, but he gets really, really antsy when we dare to take it out. That’s what we do.

So we mature together in doctrine as we work out repentance together, as we love one another in holy purity, you know what the wisdom of God does? It shapes everything. It shapes our thinking. It shapes our relationships in the family and in the workplace, calls for really a heads-up attitude when we get out there, doesn’t it? We’re to be on our guard. We’ve got to have our head on the swivel kind of mentality, always watching. The enemy sniper is, is in the wire. Where is he shooting from? That’s the only question. “The devil prowls about like a roaring lion.”

And so, here’s the fifth point: We fight together in godly sobriety. Look at Ephesians 6:10-13. Paul says there, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Paul told Timothy that when we become Christians, we are all enlisted in Christ’s army by virtue of his salvation. So Paul says we are “to share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

So what do soldiers do? They say, goodbye to the world around them. They say, I am now owned by the US Army, or in the case of our friend over here, the US Marine Core. The Marine Core owns you. Christ owns us as good soldiers. We belong to him. So we don’t think like civilians anymore. We don’t grow our hair the way, any way we want to. We don’t wear whatever clothes we want to. We dress in his robes of righteousness. We dress in his armor. We do and march according to his drumbeat. We don’t get entangled in civilian pursuits. We don’t do what the world does around us. Our aim is to please the one who enlisted us as soldiers.

We recognize this is no flesh and blood enemy who fights a flesh and blood war. This is spiritual warfare against an unseen, deadly enemy. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh,” 2 Corinthians 10:4. “For the weapons of warfare are not carnal, they’re not fleshly. They’re mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and we bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

So that’s why every day when we get up, we get dressed for battle. We put on the full armor of God. Paul says there in Ephesians 6:14 and following, “We stand, having fastened on the belt of truth. We put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet, we stand in the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” We have full assurance. We can move freely because the Gospel has saved us. “In all circumstances, we take up the shield of faith, with which we can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” He is the sniper in the wire. He is trying to burn us down with temptations to sin.

“We take the helmet of salvation by which we’re fearless.” We go in there; we don’t fear any mortal wound to our head because we’re covered in salvation. We go with the sword of the spirit wielding the Word of God, slaying spiritual forces, slaying false doctrines, “praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication.” What a privilege it is, isn’t it, that we get to do this together?

We get to mature together in doctrinal unity. We get to repent together in humble sincerity. We get to love one another in holy purity. We get to manifest together a practical Christianity that puts the devil on the run. Then we get to fight together as he tries to fight back. We get to fight together as Christ’s well-equipped army. We suffer together as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. We help our casualties. We pick up the wounded. We bring them to first, to the aid tent and help them get patched up again. There may be even some of us who are granted the privilege of dying together for the testimony of Christ. But short of that, as we suffer as good soldiers of Christ Jesus, we have his promise from John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I’ve overcome the world.” Amen.

Beloved, that’s what makes Grace Church, Grace Church. That’s what makes this such a special place to be. And for you new members who are coming in to join us, we are so glad to have each and every one of you because each and every one of you is a gift of Christ to this church. And for those of you who are just visiting, don’t be just visiting anymore, join with us because we need you to fight this good fight. Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, we thank you so much for the truth of the Book of Ephesians. This is really what has come to define us as we think about ourselves. This is what we want to characterize us through and through. We just pray that you’d help us to be ever and increasingly faithful to you. We can’t do that on our own, we do that, Lord, because of the name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We do that because your grace has been shed upon us. We do that because the power of your Holy Spirit fills us with strength and courage, that we can stand and fight the fight of our day. We ask, dear Father, that you would continue to make us powerful, holy. Help us to fight the good fight. Help us to speak the truth in love. Help us to grow and mature in doctrinal unity, continual repentance, loving one another in holiness and purity, manifesting a practical lived-out Christianity to show your manifold wisdom, put it on display out there in the world. And as we are attacked because we know we will be, let us stand together as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. We love you and thank you in Jesus’ name, Amen.