Not yet reviewed
This transcript was produced automatically and has not been checked by a person yet. Some words — names and places especially — may be wrong. Please treat the video above as the message as preached.
Good morning everyone. We’re all doing good. Okay, we’ll continue our studies from the book of Ephesians and let’s turn our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4 and we’ll read verses 31 till chapter 5 verse 2. The title of the sermon is the same, “Christians walk Christ’s way.”
Ephesians 4, 31 till chapter 5, verse 2. “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 each other, just as God forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” Let’s pray. Father we thank you for this time. Thank you Lord for your word. Thank you God for this privilege that you have given us to come together as your people to declare praises unto you, God, and to have a word-centered fellowship.
Lord, we pray that you, as we come to your word, we pray that you open our eyes, Lord, to your glory and your truth. We pray that we all will submit to the teaching of your word. We pray Father for the ministry of your Spirit in our midst, in our lives. We thank you Lord Jesus Christ and we pray. Amen. We learned that last week that we need to stop certain things and we need to do certain things. We need to put off certain things and we need to put on certain things. And this is what we have briefly looked at last Sunday.
Stop lying and speak the truth. Stop sinning when you’re angry, right? And stop stealing, but work hard. Stop foul language or talk, but speak what builds others. And I want to remind you again, the key verses are our chapter 4 verse 22 and 24. In verse 22 we learn that we need to lay aside the old self. The old nature. And the acts, thoughts, words and desires of that old nature. And in verse 24 we learn that we need to put on the new self, which is after the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness in the truth. And we need to, and the entire context, it begins from chapter 4 verse 1 where Paul calls us to live a life worthy of our calling and part of that worthy living is to put off and put on.
There should be a tangible difference between our old life and the new life. And we need to ask this question to ourselves. Is there that tangible change in our lives? Do you see tangible change in your desires, in your aspirations, in the things that you think, meditate on? And, you know, is there tangible change? You see that process of change, no, the beginning, note the process of change in your life. And the idea is that we should be distinctly different from what we were, right? And only by being distinctly different from the old self, its values and system,
in what we think, what we desire, what we love, the way we act, the things that we speak, you know, we’ll be able to live a life that is worthy of our calling. And believing in Jesus Christ and behaving like Christ is our call. And it is how we display His glory, glory, right, in our lives. This is the basic outline for today’s sermon. Walk in kindness, not with malice, and then walk in love as children of God.
Walk in kindness, not with malice. 31 and 32 again. “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 each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”
Now, Paul continues to encourage the people of God to put off the qualities of the old self. Paul lists here a catalog of vices, which by all means to be avoided. Qualities mentioned here spring from a form of hatred and the list begins with bitterness. How do we define bitterness? Bitterness is a term that denotes growing resentment as our hurt hardens into a settled animosity directed against other people or other person. If there is a settled disposition of resentment.
Right? We cannot think better of others. We cannot think good of others. We will not desire their well-being. Right? And we will not think of others’ sanctification as well. And we should be careful that our anger does not turn into bitterness. Paul reminded us that, “Be angry but do not sin.”
Be angry but do not let that anger turn into bitterness in your hearts. And by this time we have already, you know, if you have given room for bitterness, you are bitter in your heart towards anyone, we have learned last week that by this time we have already given a foothold to the, what, the enemy, the devil, right? And the writer of Hebrews says, “Make sure, make sure that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many.” Causing trouble and defiling many. And if we have given room for bitterness, it causes trouble and defiles the body of Christ. Bitterness is a
deadly venom inside us, which destroys you, which kills you, and also destroys the relationships. Right? And it is also contagious. If you are continuously bitter towards someone, you will also start spreading that bitterness to others. Right? Let's say a brother comes to you or a sister comes to you and talks well about another brother towards whom you are bitter.
Will you be able to stand that? Will you be able to stand that? No. You'll be contagious. It will somehow spill out all your resentment so that person's mind would be contaminated by your bitterness. It is contagious. You will contaminate others' perspective of your offender.
So, like the writer of Hebrews says, let there be no root of bitterness springing up in our hearts. We need to put off this aspect of the old self. And then Paul talks about wrath and anger. Wrath and anger are synonymously used in the Bible. And wrath signifies an indignant outburst of rage.
Wrath comes from another word called heat. And it is forceful, it is vengeful, and it is vindictive anger. And when you talk about anger, it represents a seething and a settled state of hostility. Intense heat and outbursts of rage when there is wrath and anger. And it further deteriorates everything. And there will be pure madness if you are controlled with anger and wrath. If you are burning inside. It's like the word heat suggests that you are burning inside of you with ill feelings. Wrathful feelings. There is always heat in your heart.
And that heat cannot be just contained in your heart. It will come out. It will be felt. It will be felt. Right? Then the author speaks about clamor. Clamor in the original language means a loud scream or shout. Have you ever, did you ever shout when you were angry?
Did you ever yell at people out of frustration? You know, in the Bible, this word can denote a shout of joy, like it was used in Luke chapter 1. A cry of weeping, as we can see that in Revelation chapter 21. And a shout of people back and forth, shouting at people back and forth in a quarrel.
And the context is that. In this context, it is screaming at one another, yelling at one another. It is yelling and it's a form of expression of wrath. And you do it to demand attention to your words. That's clamor. And we need to put off these things. Bitterness, wrath, anger, and clamor, and also slander. Slander is inflammatory words aimed at defaming others' reputation. It is speaking evil of others. It is a form of gossip. And in the present context, next, it can also mean cursing others.
Cursing others. Destroying their reputation, right? Destroying their reputation is like cursing them before others. So we should not be given to slander or gossip. So be careful in your fellowships, in your gathering with other people. Avoid all kinds of slander and gossip. And Paul uses a prepositional phrase here, along with all malice. Along with all malice. You know, malice describes ill will, the inner attitude from which these vices arise. It is a mean-spirited or vicious attitude. Now, people with malice just want to get even. If someone has hurt you, no, you want to take revenge. You want to get it even.
Either by words or actions, you want to get it even. That is malice. That is ill will towards others. Brothers and sisters, I want to ask you this question. Have you given room to these attitudes? These attitudes are vices which we need to get rid of. We should not pamper these qualities in our hearts.
Right? And Paul commands to put away these things. Paul commands to put away these things. We may have grown up with these things. We may have responded to hurt in this manner before we knew Christ. But Paul says all these things, bitterness, wrath, anger, yelling at each other, and slander, malice are unacceptable attitudes in the kingdom of God.
Kingdom of God. And we should decisively remove these things from our lives. This putting off should now characterize our lives. It doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t get bitter. It doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t be hurt. It doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t be angry.
Right? It doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t feel like shouting at others. All this will come. But we should decisively act. Decisively put off these things. That is our calling as Christ’s people. Do you identify yourself as Christ’s people? Brothers and sisters, this is how we ought to behave. We need to put off these things. These are unacceptable in the kingdom of God. This putting off should now characterize our lives. Every time we are tempted to respond in any of these ways, we need to fight it out by the grace of God, because Paul says we are in Christ. Now we are in Christ, we must replace these vices with other qualities that pleases God. And what are they? What are those qualities that Paul mentions here in verse 32?
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other.” Right? These are the qualities that we need to put on. If you are kind and tenderhearted, if you are forgiving each other, then we cannot be bitter. We cannot be wrathful. We cannot yell at others.
Kindness and anger cannot exist together. Tenderheartedness and wrath, bitterness cannot exist together. We have to put off something to put on these things. Right? These qualities should characterize the Christian community. These qualities should describe Christian homes. You may be very good, you know, the way you communicate in the church with other people, but how are you at home with your wife, with your husband, with your children? Do you yell at them? Shout at them? Are you bitter towards them? Do you want to get even with your husband and your wife?
Right? Are you kind and compassionate, tender hearted towards your husband who is failing? Towards your wife who is failing? Towards your children who are still sinners? Failing? What kind of an example do we set before our kids? How this characterized not only should be adorned when we are in the church, but wherever we are, beginning from our home, right?
Kindness is a quality which God himself demonstrates towards his covenant people. Kind in the original language means easy. Easy. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy.” That’s the same word. My yoke is easy. When we are clothed with kindness, right? We’ll be easy on others when they sin against us. We will not hold on to it. We’ll not be burning with no bitterness or anger in our hearts.
When others sin against us, yes, we are hurt. But by the grace of God, we’ll be easy on them. We’ll let it go. We’ll be good to them instead. We’ll pray for our offenders. Not brood over that bit on our beds like we have seen the last Sunday.
We’ll pray for them, we’ll intercede for them. If you are clothed with kindness, do not press yourselves down by the burden of others’ offenses. Be easy on them. Be kind. Let it go. Let it go. You’ll not lose anything. That’s a favor of God on us. Let it go. The next is we need to be tender-hearted. It’s a combination of two words, good and something from inside.
Right? And it figuratively means good sympathy from inside. Good sympathy from inside. The same word was used for Jesus when he had compassion on the crowds. When he looked at the crowd, he had compassion towards them. He had deep sympathy from inside towards them.
Tender-hearted, we’ll be concerned about others. We’ll be — when we are tender-hearted, we will be concerned about how — we’ll be thinking about how they feel. We’ll give them benefit of doubt. Okay, if they have — if they have responded to you in a sinful way, we’ll think, okay, what caused them to behave this way? You’ll not be thinking from your — the vantage point of yourself, but now when you’re tender-hearted, you’ll be thinking from their side. What caused them to think like that, behave like that, and how may I help them in their situation? That’s the idea here. And the — and the New Testament
Commentator, uh, Grant Osborne said something like this: “Rather than nursing a self-centered fixation on how others are treating us, we are to be wholly concerned about how we are treating them. As God and Christ have treated us with incredible and undeserved compassion, we are to do the same with others.”
You know, when you’re hurt, you’ll not think about how others are treating us. You’ll be concerned about how you’re responding to them. Even when they hurt you, you’ll be thinking, am I compassionate towards them? Am I merciful towards them when they are sinning?
The way we need to tune our minds, train our minds. There’s a whole lot of difference from the old self and the new self. Even the people of this world try to resolve things, right? When they are hurt, they try to resolve things.
They sit out, they talk, they try to make peace. But this gives a whole new direction to the way we have to deal with our problems, with people, when they offend us. It’s no longer about you. Dear brothers and sisters, are you really kind? Are you really easy on others? Are you really tenderhearted, forgiving each other? Do you know when we will be able to forgive others truly?
When we are kind and tenderhearted rather than bitter. There will be a, when there will be a wellspring of forgiveness towards our offenders. Do you remember our Lord’s Prayer? One aspect of that model prayer is this. “Forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors.” In other words, forgive our trespasses as we have also forgiven the trespasses of others.
We have already forgiven the trespasses of others. And later in the same passage, you see there in verses 14 and 15, our Lord elaborates on this. He says that, “For if you forgive others of their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”
You see that? Are you easy on others? People? Do you easily forgive your husband, your wife, your brothers and sisters in the church, your colleagues, your in-laws, whatever, whoever that may be. Are you easy on them? Some of us may wonder how often we should forgive others.
Brother, sister, they keep on offending me. How often should I forgive them of their offenses? What did the Lord teach us on that? He said to Peter, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven.” What is 70 times seven?
It’s an idiom. It’s an idiomatic expression for as often as necessary. Whenever the need arises that you should forgive a brother or a sister. No, you should freely forgive them. You should be easy on them. How long? How often? Very often. How many times? Every time. Should I not think of getting even? No, be easy on them. Be easy on them. Why should we do this? Because your heavenly Father has forgiven our sins, your sins, my sins. He has removed them far from us as east as from the west. If God has
to deal with each and every offender of ours, brothers and sisters, we won’t be able to stand like this or sit like this. Entire humanity will just crumble. We are obligated to do this. Brothers and sisters, this is the new way of life.
These qualities should be ours. And Paul gives us a motivation clause for our proper behavior. What is that motivation? “Just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” Why should I forgive? How long should I forgive? How often should I forgive? How long should I bear with that brother, that sister? How long?
How long do you want Christ to bear with you? “Just as God in Christ has forgiven you.” That’s the standard for us. Do we deserve God’s mercies? God’s forgiveness. Think of your offenses against God and how God has freely forgiven us, forgiving us, right?
Remember the psalmist cried to God in the face of his transgression because of his kindness. This is the way God demonstrated his kindness towards his covenant people. In Psalm 25:7, he says, “Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your loving kindness remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord.” The prophets of the old comforted God’s people in the face of their rebellion with these words: “Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting.” And this kindness of God is something which God demonstrated towards us.
Towards us who are unworthy of His grace, undeserving people. In Ephesians 2, verse 7, we have seen that. “So that in the ages to come, He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Kindness is a way of God’s dealing with His covenant people.
Because of God’s loving kindness, he forgave us our sins in Christ Jesus. As a response to his merciful kindness towards us, we as a recipients of that undeserving grace must be kind, tender hearted and forgive others. Brothers and sisters, do not take these words lightly.
Ponder on these things. Reflect on these things. Examine your hearts, your attitudes, your responses. Do not take them for granted. Do not take them for granted. We need to let go of the old way of life, the old way of dealing with things. We need to let go of those things. And by this time we must have already realized that such a life is impossible. I’ve been dealing with the offenses in a different way. There is a strategy that I have developed to deal with the offenses.
I have been responding to the offenses in a particular manner. What to do with that strategy that I have developed? Trash it out. If it does not match with this, trash it. Because our aim is to please God, to imitate Christ, right? Let go of those things. It is utterly impossible with us. We cannot produce these qualities in our lives. In verse 30, we read that the Holy Spirit seals us for the day of redemption. The Spirit who dwells in us will bring forth these qualities in us if we yield to His control.
This doesn't mean that we will not confront people who sin against us. But we will confront them with kindness, with tender heart, and willingness to forgive others. Brothers and sisters, it's better not to confront people when we are not kind, when we are not tender-hearted, when we are not, we are not going to be easy on them, do not even confront them, because you are going to worsen the situation, that relationship.
As we have seen the last time, like the psalmist in Psalm 4, we need to deal with these troubling issues of the heart in the presence of the Lord, so that the Lord would fill us with gladness and joy. We should always meditate on how God forgave us in Christ Jesus, and how God has dealt past, present, and future sins.
Positionally, how God has dealt with those things in Christ Jesus. Our debt against Him is infinite. It’s so vast. It’s so huge. If God tells us, “Dion, remember that night how you sinned against me? Remember that, the way you spoke, remember the way you acted.” What happens if the Lord keeps on reminding me of my sins? And how often do we do that with others? We’ll try to show them how gracious we are, right? “You did that to me, I am like this to you?”
Our debt against God is so huge, but He forgave us. He clothed us with the righteousness of Christ Jesus. He gave us a right standing before Him. He adopted us as His children. He made us the heirs, co-heirs with Christ Jesus. That’s the privilege, that’s the way that God has blessed us. If God can forgive all our trespasses, there is nothing for which we should not forgive others.
No matter how big it is in your mind. You cannot say, “How can I forgive that? How can I forgive that kind of an offense?” There’s nothing, there’s nothing for which we should not forgive others. The next point. Walk in love as children of God. Chapter 5, verse 1.
“Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children.” From all his admonitions in chapter 4, Paul is developing a principle. What is that principle? The principle is that all Christians, all believers, all blood-bought saints of Christ should be imitators of God. Sounds overwhelming?
Putting off everything of the old nature — thoughts, words, actions and desires — and putting on the new attitudes in Christ Jesus, by doing that we are imitating God’s character, which is after righteousness and holiness in truth. According to Paul’s teaching, we were by nature children of wrath. By grace we have been saved, we are adopted as sons, and now we are beloved children, right? What are you imitating? Whom are you imitating? Who is your model or idol?
We may not have good models while we were growing up. We may blame a certain way of behavior to our upbringing. We cannot blame our upbringing for our behavior because now God is dealing with us, is working on us, is lavishing His grace upon us, so we cannot blame our upbringing.
Peter reminds us in 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 18 and 19, that as God’s beloved children, as redeemed by the precious powerful blood of Christ from all the futile ways that we have inherited from the forefathers. Peter reminds us that “as obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
Why should we be holy? Because God who called us, God who saved us, God who is still working on us is holy. He is set apart from everything. There is no one like him. And he has set us apart for himself. So we should exclusively belong to him. We should think and act, speak, behave, live in a manner that is pleasing to him. Because he has purchased us. He has bought us with his precious blood. And he has set us apart for himself.
So your life is not about you. Your life is not about your ego. Your self-respect. You. It’s about God and His purposes. When you have come to Christ, you know, there’s, there’s a new beginning and the, you know, what’s that beginning? Every day, every moment we lay ourselves at the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s a new way of life that we have adopted. If you have forgotten about it, that’s the way we need to live. And as God’s beloved children, how must we live? How else should we imitate God? You know, verse 2, it says “walk in love.” Walk in love. It’s impossible to imitate God in everything.
But Paul is very particular here. We must walk in love. God has given us His Holy Spirit by whom this imitation is possible. To walk worthy of our calling, to walk in love, it’s possible now because we are saved by His grace. His grace is available. His blessed Holy Spirit lives within us.
How does this walking in love look like? In the broader context of the Bible, the true love is always about God. It’s always about God. Which shows up in our relationship with relations with other fellow people. Here’s a summary of that, summary statement of that love in Matthew chapter 22, verses 36 to 40.
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
“And on these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” The great and the foremost commandment is to love God with all our being. He is first in everything, not ourself. How do we gauge whether we truly love God or love ourselves? How do we know that we have given ourselves to this great and foremost commandment, how do we know that? Jesus clarifies that in John chapter 14 verse 15, if you love me commandments.
That’s the tangible sign. That’s the proof that you love God. It’s not shown in the songs that you sing. It is shown, it’s visible, it’s evident by the way you live. Are you obeying His commandments? Even the smallest commandment. Is your life shaped by His word?
Do you take His word seriously? So, there are many commandments that we have seen here. Do not be bitter. Do not be, what else? Be kind, tender-hearted, do not give room to wrath, anger, clamor, slander, right? Do not be angry. All these things. How do you see those commandments?
Is your life shaped by these commandments? So when the situation comes, do you easily get bitter? Do you easily get angry, shout, do you slander? Are you lazy? It says work, steal, do not steal but work hard. Are you lazy? Are you generous?
Do you have something to share with those who are in need? Or do you accumulate things for yourselves? Hoard money for yourselves? How do you see these commandments? How do we know that we love God? How do we know that you are truly committed to God?
It’s when we live by His commandments. If our lives are marked with consistent disobedience, brothers and sisters, we love ourselves. If your life is marked by consistent response towards your offenders, is bitterness. Anger. Resentment. Unforgiveness. Brooding over those things. If that is your consistent response.
Brothers and sisters. The scripture is clear. We do not love God. We love ourselves. If you’re not taking your hurts to the presence of God, like the Psalmist David in Psalm 4, if you’re not crying in the presence of God, if you’re not pouring your heart in the presence of the Lord and dealing with your hurts there, if your heart is not filled with gladness and joy,
brothers and sisters, we are loving ourselves. We are not loving God. We are failing God. We are grieving God. We are grieving the blessed Holy Spirit with whom we are sealed for the day of redemption. Do not think that you will grieve God only when you commit murder. Do not think that you will grieve God only when you commit adultery. Even a slightest bitterness is enough to grieve God.
We have convinced ourselves that having bitterness is okay, it’s fine because that person has hurt me. I should change my face. The way I talk to them, the way I respond to them. We have convinced ourselves. No, I should get even with them. Only then our relationships get better. I’ve convinced myself.
I need to talk. I need to deal with that. I’ve convinced myself. That’s not the way. Yes, we need to talk, but with gentleness and humility, with kindness, with tenderness, with an intention to forgive and let go. Are you obeying God’s commandments? Paul motivates our obedience again by giving the example of Christ.
Christ is our most excellent model of love. Verse 2, “just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma,” just as Christ also loved you. That’s the model that we need to follow. Earlier in this epistle, Paul spoke about Father’s love.
In chapter 2 verse 4, the Father loved us. But here he says that Christ also loved us. You know, when he speaks of Christ’s love or Father’s love, we should not be confused. We should not see Father’s and Christ’s love as different in essence or degree. It is the same love.
It is the same divine love. Father and the Son loves us to the same degree, with the same love. I mean the essence of the Father’s and the Son’s love is the same, but the acts are different. Because Father loved us, He sent us His Son, the eternal Son of God, into this world as a substitution for our sins.
Just as the Father loved us, Christ also loved us from all eternity. And it got eternal decree. In that covenant of redemption, Christ agreed with the Father to be an offering for our sins. And he voluntarily assumed the task to suffer for us.
Like the Father loved us, the Son also loved us from all eternity. He agreed with the Father to be an offering for our sin. He voluntarily assumed the task of being the Lamb that is to be slaughtered for our sins. Even before the foundations of this world were laid.
When the right time had come, Jesus came into this world and took upon himself human nature by being born through a virgin. He lived in this world as a bondservant, not with a reputation as God, but as a servant. He came to serve, not to be served. He never sinned against God, but pleased the Father.
He gave himself up. Again, Father did not coerce him. He voluntarily gave himself for our sins because Christ possesses the same love as the Father. Though acts are different, the love is same. That’s the reason Jesus said in John 10, verse 30, “I and my Father are one.”
Christ’s love is amplified in this. He gave Himself up for us. This is an important statement, brothers and sisters. The initiation is not only from the Father, but also from Christ. Christ Himself took the initiation to die in our place. He willingly went to the cross for us. His sacrifice on our behalf is made explicit in this following phrase. What’s that? “An offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
It was a sacrifice out of love for undeserving people. It was a supreme demonstration of his love. And the sacrifice of Christ was unto God. He did it for the pleasure of the Father. Paul borrows this terminology of the Old Testament sacrificial system. In the Old Testament sacrificial system, if an animal or a grain offering was acceptable to God, it was a pleasing, fragrant aroma to Him.
For Christ's sacrifice is far more greater, is more significant, which satisfied God's justice. We should all have suffered under God's anger for our sins, but Christ died in our place as a substitution for our sins, which means God accepted Christ's sacrifice, which means Christ's sacrifice was a fragrant aroma.
Christ fully paid for our sins in His sacrifice. And the sacrifice of Christ, which finally dealt with the sins of His people, was a fragrant aroma to God. What is the point here? What's the point here? We all should walk in love. And what does it cost us to love others?
Please pay attention here. What does it cost us to love you? Love others. This is not a call to love your children or your dear family members. Right? This is a call to love those who are outside of your family. way. It also applies to our immediate family.
The people that you are called to love may not look very pleasing to your sight. They may not look like you. And some of the people's presence may irritate our natural self. Right? How are you going to love people from different backgrounds and cultures?
I want you all to focus on this phrase in verse 2. The phrase this, “just as Christ also,” “just as Christ also,” it has a comparative and also causative force, which means his love is a model and also the ground for our love. How did Christ love us? He loved undeserving people, unworthy people like us. He loved us to the point that he took the call to be a servant and finally laid his life for our sins on the cross. He took our sins upon himself and he suffered in our place. We all benefited from Christ's sacrificial love. And Christ's sacrificial love was also for
the pleasure of God. So the first point here is, Christ's love is the model for our love. Christ's love is the model for our love. The people around you, in your church, or the members of your family or relatives, may not be deserving people.
They may deserve your wrath. They may deserve your anger. They may deserve to be dealt bad. They may deserve to be, you know, a lesson to be taught. To get even with. But that's not the model for us. The model is this. “Just as Christ loved us.” That's the model for us to deal with everyone.
Everyone. Though some of them may have been taking advantage of you, we should love others despite their undeserving qualities. We should walk in love because God wants us to walk in love. We should forgive others because God wants us to forgive them. We should be easy on them because God wants us to be easy on them because God was easy on us.
It is no longer about your personal preference or your convenience. When we walk in love, we imitate Christ and will be called as disciples. Remember that verse that Jesus said to his disciples, “a new commandment I give to you that you love one another even as I loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
What does this love practically look like? We love others as ourselves. So we speak with true love. We speak the truth in love. We will not sin when we are angry. We will not get bitter. We will not give the devil a foothold.
We will not steal and be lazy, but we will work hard and earn money so that we would be able to share with others who are in need. We will stop foul language, cursing others, yelling at others, shouting at others. But we'll give ourselves, we'll not give ourselves to these things like outbursts of anger, clamor, slander. We will protect the reputation of others and God is greatly pleased when we walk in love and walk worthy of a calling. We do all this for the pleasure of God. God is greatly pleased. Thus we imitate Christ.
The second point in that is Christ's love is also ground for our love. Christ's love is also ground for our love. All this may sound impossible. Yes, it is impossible. Humanly, it is impossible for us. But now, we should remember we are in Christ.
God lavishes us with rich grace, right? God enables us through his grace. He blessed us with his Holy Spirit. And if we choose to live under the control of the Holy Spirit, we will bear the fruit of the Spirit. If we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. That's a condition, that's a commandment, that's a promise. If you walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. But if we walk in the Spirit, if we are under the control of the Holy Spirit, if we daily yield to God's authority, we will bear fruit of the Spirit. Brothers and sisters, bearing fruit doesn't mean, like, you know, sometimes, you know, it doesn't look like no one
day you will be filled no charismatically with the Holy Spirit and you start bearing fruit no. And every day in circumstances, your daily situations, you make choices. You make choices. When your flesh says, “Get bitter,” you make a choice to be easy. You make a choice to be kind. And you depend on God. You cry to God. You pray to God. You seek His help.
What are you bearing there? And if you're consistent in that way you deal, that becomes your quality. You get the point? We should come under the influence of God's word and under his control in earnest prayer daily. Look at this verse in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14 and 15. “For the love of Christ controls us.
Having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. He died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.” I want to press this upon your hearts this morning.
This is the purpose that Christ died for. That we may belong to him. That we no longer live for ourselves but live for him. Notice here Paul says the love of Christ controls us. In a few translations, love of Christ compels us. The word means to exercise a constraining influence over us.
How does it happen? The love of Christ has a compelling influence over our lives. It compels us to act and live in certain way. To desire, to love certain things. To hate certain things. What makes us do that? It's the love of Christ for us. Which compels us, which controls us. Which orders our lives, our desires, our ambitions. To do what? That we may live no longer for ourselves, but for Christ and his purposes.
This love which Christ demonstrated on the cross for unworthy people like us should control our lives, should compel us to live for the one who died and rose again on our behalf. Christ's self-sacrificing love compelled Paul from being a self-seeking person to be a self-giving person.
The love of Christ is so powerful that it exerts tremendous power over those who come to the cross and radically alters their lives to live for God's purposes and His glory. Brothers and sisters, Christ's love not only saves us, but also powerfully influences us to live in a particular way.
We need to look at the cross of Christ and meditate on that sacrifice, that loving sacrifice daily. There should not be a moment in our lives where we are not confronted with that great sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because that love should control us, compel us.
We all agree that our love for God and His people will never be perfect here. We all will fail in some way. But our failure or our incapacity is not an excuse. That’s the reason Christ’s love is the ground for our love. That’s the reason we go to him daily. We need his redeeming grace to be saved from our weaknesses and our failures. Yours. His grace is also an enabling grace. It allows us to do that which is impossible for us.
So when we fail, brothers and sisters, we do not be frustrated. Have you failed this morning with your wife, with your husband? Maybe a word? stignaught of your mouth. You shouldn’t have spoken that way. You failed. Do not be frustrated. We all have grace. God is compassionate and kind. It’s time, when we fail, it’s time to repent, to depend on Him. It’s time to remember that we are not called to live by ourselves.
It’s time to live again in a manner that is pleasing to God. And this section, brothers and sisters, from chapter 4 verses 25 onwards till chapter 5 verse 2 is very practical. It contains almost 13 imperatives, which include commands and prohibitions. In chapters 1, 2, and 3, Paul beautifully expounds the glories of the gospel.
And from chapter 4, Paul applies the gospel’s truth to our everyday life. All these imperatives are essential. They define a walk worthy of our calling. They signify our unity and our picture of imitating God by walking in love. Has this powerful gospel, my brother, my sister, touched your life? Do you see the change wrought by the gospel in your life, and display the beauty of this life-transforming gospel?
What does that life look like? That’s what we have seen from chapter 4 verse 1 onwards. Go back home, reflect on the commandments and the prohibitions in this chapter. Examine your life, your behavior, your responses, the pattern that you have developed in your life, the strategies that you have developed in your life to deal with certain things in your life. Examine them. If they are not consistent with these things, trash them out.
Seek the grace of God and let us walk worthy of a calling. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. Thank you for your word. Father, we ask you to shape our lives through your word. Let these principles, these truths, become convictions in our hearts.
May they control us. May you impress them upon our hearts, Lord. Give us grace to yield to your authority. Show our love to you by obeying your commandments. We thank you, Father. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray. Amen.