“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. 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. 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 of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 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.” (Ephesians 4:25-32 ESV)
In America we have such a distorted view of things, at times, even within the gatherings of the church. For evil is now being called good, and good is being called evil. And lies are regarded as kind and loving while speaking the truth is regarded as judgmental and negative, and something to be avoided at all costs, so as not to offend other people. But the Scriptures teach that lies are bad and they are evil and that speaking the truth, if it is spoken in love, and with good (especially biblical) purpose, is loving and kind.
Now some places in the Scriptures we will read of “fits of anger” in the lists of sins we are to not practice, but then here it says to “be angry and do not sin.” So, it appears to me that the emotion of anger, if not from a source of sin itself, is not sin. For anger can motivate us to see what is wrong and to question as to why we are angry, and it may help us, sometimes, to change things that need to be changed and to address issues that need to be addressed and dealt with that may previously have been neglected.
Anger can also serve a useful purpose of pointing us to things stored up in our hearts that need to be cleansed out of our hearts and replaced with the opposite of what is leading us to anger. So not all anger is bad. What really makes it bad is how we express it, and how we deal with it, and what we do with it. Do we let it help us to make positive changes in our lives? Or do we take out our anger on other people? And then do we stuff the anger back inside us so that we keep getting angry over the same stuff, unresolved?
And to give no opportunity for the devil is not just in relation to anger, although it is certainly related to anger. But to give no opportunity for the devil involves us daily denying self, dying to sin, and following our Lord in obedience to his commands. It involves us daily studying the Scriptures in their appropriate context and us listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit and us doing whatever it is that God has called us to do. And it engages us removing from our lives all temptations to sin and all open doors to sin.
For I love how the Scriptures teach us who believe in Jesus Christ, not only that sin must be put out of our lives, but that righteousness, holy living, moral purity, honesty, integrity, and faithfulness, etc., are to be put into our lives in their place. For if we just stop sinning, but we don’t put on Christ and his righteousness, and we don’t walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, then we are just thieves between jobs, and the evil we once did we will do again, and again, until we become somebody else and we replace that evil with the good that is of God and is empowered by God.
[Matt 5:27-30; Matt 7:21-23; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; Gal 5:16-24; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-11; 1 Thes 4:1-8; 1 Tim 4:7; Titus 2:11-14; Heb 12:1-17; 1 Pet 1:14; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
And then if we read on into Ephesians 5:1-21 we realize that all of this taught us in chapter 4 is not merely recommendations or suggestions for how we are supposed to live as followers of Christ. For it states clearly to us that if sin is what we practice, we have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. And yes, this was in specific reference to sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness (idolatry), but many passages of Scripture teach the same with many more sins added to the list.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
So, on the basis of what all these Scriptures teach us on this subject, if we go back and read Ephesians 4:30, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption,” this is not saying that we can still commit all these sins we are being instructed to stop doing, and still be sealed for the day of redemption. For all these above Scriptures negate that notion. And that is why we are being warned not to grieve the Holy Spirit, because if sin is what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life.
Draw Me Close To You
Donnie McClurkin
Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend
You are my desire
And no one else will do
'Cause nothing else can take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find a way
Bring me back to You
Bring me back, oh Jesus
You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnwBixzuNo
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