Sunday, July 21, 2024 Summer Session 8

I'm sorry to cut short your profitable discussions, but we're going to go ahead and kind of review as much as we can about what we were able to study and answer in our groups, but you'll notice sometimes when you're reading through the Bible, sometimes, especially when you're reading through the New Testament, sometimes even in the Old, you're going to see that there is a quote in the text, and either a latter prophet is quoting a former prophet or an apostle, Jesus himself is going to be quoting another passage in the Bible, and you can go look it up for yourself.

Your translation and your typeset in your Bibles will note that in various ways. If you're reading something like the New American Standard, they're going to have a quote in all caps. Other translations may just have, they're just going to have it in quotes.

If you're using a Bible app, you may have a footnote that hyperlinks you to the other passage, but in any case, pay attention to that and look at your footnotes, look at the cross-reference, and it's an opportunity to learn how the latter prophets interpreted the former, how Jesus interpreted the Old Testament, and how the apostles interpreted the Old Testament, and how they understood the words of Christ.

You know, one of the major topics of disagreement amongst Christians is how to interpret the Bible, and yet the Bible is filled with examples of how to interpret the Bible, so it seems like God knew that we would need some help, and we have so many examples of how the Bible is interpreted within the Bible that I believe that we can find unity and have a close approximation of, oh, this is how we should be reading the Bible because we have so many examples.

Paul’s Use of Old Testament Quotations in Ephesians 4

So when we see Paul at this point, as he's talking about the need for renewal, given the fact that we must mature and grow up in Christ because of our calling to be at one together, he's talking about this renewal, he's talking about a contrast between the old ways, the old man, you know, that way of identifying ourselves according to our selfish desires.

No longer walk in the way that the Gentiles walked, you know, don't make your old way of living your identity and be loyal to something that was forged in your own self-interests, but now you have a new life in Christ, we should be identifying in Christ, he's the measure of maturity after all, we saw that in the previous section of Ephesians 4.

And so in the process of him talking about how we're to relate to one another, not lying to each other, and not being angry and bitter with one another, it's of interest that he quotes from the Old Testament book of Zechariah, everyone's favorite, you know, go-to book,.

Right?

And then he also quotes from Psalm 4, and this is an opportunity for us to learn how is it that Paul the Apostle, in following Jesus, is taking up Old Testament passages and applying them to the way that Christians love each other, the way that Christians live in peace and unity together.

So this is a great opportunity. When we think about the questions in the group project, obviously we're told in Ephesians 4 very clearly, therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another, be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.

So obviously we're told that we are to put away lying. But connected to our discussion about how to interpret the Bible and how to interpret the Old Testament, do we ever find people lying in the Bible and then being rewarded for it?

We do, we do. What do we do with that, you know? So we get the sense that lying is not always wrong. What examples can we think of in the Bible where someone lied and God said, good job? Rahab lied and God spared her life, the life of her household.

The only section of the wall of Jericho that didn't come tumbling down was the section of the wall she lived in. Yes, that's right, she was an ancestor of Jesus. So, any other examples that we can think of?

So you know? Okay. So, when did Miriam lie? Very good, very good. So, Jochebed, Moses' mother, and Miriam engaged in deception to keep Moses alive. Yeah, very good. What a great idea, keeping Moses alive.

Worked out well. But that's connected to another story earlier in Exodus, isn't it? The Hebrew midwives, exactly. Where they were instructed to drown all the Hebrew baby boys in the Nile River, but they did not go along with the tyrant and they lied to him.

And God blessed them with families of their own, and they were greatly rewarded for that. Anybody want to propose a marginal case? How about Abram, when he went down to Egypt during a famine and lied about Sarah, or Sarai as her name was at the time?

Many times we look at that passage and without any clear-cut way to go, we say, well, that's the example of Abram not trusting in the Lord, and we see how flawed he was, thus emphasizing the grace of God in dealing with Abram in the first place.

And while I certainly see the point, the Lord blessed Abram greatly. Abram went down there, lied about Sarai, saved both his life and her life, and came up out of Egypt having plundered Egypt. A little bit of a foreshadowing of what was going to happen in Exodus.

So, these are examples, but remember that when we think about the ninth commandment, that God obviously is in agreement with his character, where he says, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

The midwives and Abram and Rahab having switched sides and so on, they weren't lying to their neighbor, they were lying to those with whom they were at war. Corrie ten Boom was at war with the Nazis, and so she lied to them and kept many Jews alive.

Many other examples of righteous lying. But this brings home the point of the text. You only lie to people you are at war with. This is why we teach our children not to lie to us as their parents. You're not at war with me, right?

Please don't be at war with me. Tell me the truth because we are to be at peace. I love you. I provide for you. I care about you. If you lie to me, it is because you are declaring war on me, right? So, that's why lying doesn't really apply within church life.

We are members of one another. We are one in Christ Jesus. We are growing together and trying to speak truth to one another in love to help build one another up in Christ. If we were to lie to one another, we are actually saying that we are at war with each other in the church.

That is just not the case. That's why, although we do find lying in some cases as good, not in the context of the local church. But building on what we see there in verse 25, verse 26 says, Be angry and do not sin.

Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. So, here's the topic of lying. Here's the topic of being really angry. Now, Paul naturally moves from these themes of lying and being angry.

Lying to your brother and being angry at your brother to talking about the devil. Is he just making a wild leap in the dark here? What's the connection between lying and anger and the devil? Devil is the father of lies and Jesus says in addition to that he was a what from the.

Beginning?

Murderer from the beginning. We think of the story of Cain. Cain is an example of a son of the devil. Cain was of the devil.

Why?

Because his deeds were evil and he slew his brother because his deeds were righteous. We have Jesus speaking to the Jewish religious leaders and he tells them, You think you have Abram as your father?

The devil is your father. You are sons of the devil because you lie and because you seek to murder me. He was a liar. He's the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. And Jesus cautions, he warns, he prohibits us from continuing in anger at our brother and harboring anger in our hearts.

And calling those that we are supposed to be in membership with and to love and murdering them with our words, raka, fool, so on and so forth. He warns against all of that because doing so would give place to the devil.

Now, that's just some basic observations and we're going to look at Zechariah 8 and Psalm 4 briefly this morning and try to understand why is it that Paul is quoting these two passages in relation to this topic.

But just think, this is our big discussion question. Just verses 25, 26, and 27 here in Ephesians 4, if just these three verses were obeyed, how would disagreements within a church be affected? Ah, we'll come to church this morning.

We have a little passage out of Acts 15 that shows a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas. Still going to have disagreements, but it's not going to be like that, right? It's not going to be a kind of disagreement or a kind of conflict that's full of sin.

Godly disagreement, I think, would still exist. But it would be godly, right? It wouldn't be filled up with sin where we're kind of resetting the default to the old man. Remember that personal conflict, and this is simplified in the Scriptures as well, personal conflict is always like a Western.

It's a problem. Here comes the tense music. And there's a problem between this person and this other person. What's going to happen? Well, you have a problem with somebody. You might just say, let's meet out in the street at high noon.

Settle this. Exchange shots and fire in a very public way. But a lot of people don't choose that. They prefer to go round up a posse. I need to get a whole bunch of people agreeing with me before we go settle this, but this time we'll have a bunch of people with me agreeing with me.

We can try to settle at high noon in the middle of the street. We can try to go get a posse. Maybe we just get out of Dodge. And in that case, there's an important thing that doesn't happen, and it usually doesn't happen in the Westerns because if it did, it wouldn't make for a good movie.

What should happen at some point along the way should be these two people talking with each other, even if they disagree, they can shake hands and walk away. Even if you go ahead and leave Dodge, it's okay.

As long as you've shaken hands and talked about it and understand why, there needs to be a change. Maybe half the people in the town need to go start a new town somewhere because they have a different philosophy, but it should be something where there's the handshake and the agreement and so on.

Sometimes a disagreement will be very public, like with Paul and Barnabas. Everybody knew about it. But there needs to be some opportunity at some point for there to be a coming together in agreement and to understand why there's a lack of unity in this particular situation.

Now, in our acronym of renewal, verse 17 tells us to repent from futility, verses 18 -19 tells us to expose what is foul, verses 20 -24 tells us to naturalize faithfulness. This is who we are in Christ, let's be that.

And then verses 25 -27 to eliminate feuding. Nothing so entrenches the conflict like deception and going to bed angry. It kind of entrenches it, keeps it going. But we are to speak truth with one another.

This has been a theme all along in Ephesians 4. There is the futility of mind contrasted with being renewed in mind in verses 17 -23. There's the contrast between ignorance and learning in verses 20 -21.

There's the contrast between deceit and truth in verses 22 -24. So it's unsurprising yet to find another contrast between lying and speaking truth. In verse 25, this is a growing theme in Paul's discussion about unity.

The clear reasoning for Paul's prohibition against lying is simply this, we are members of one another. That's the reason. Did we need another one? One together in Christ, growing up in Christ, put away lying, we are members of one another.

And that reason has a theological basis already dealt with in Ephesians 2 -3, the beginning of chapter 4. We are one in Christ, therefore let's not lie to one another. Now he quotes Zechariah 8 -16. So let's go back there and take a look at what's going on there in Zechariah.

Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi. These were the prophets that served after the Jews under the leadership of Ezra returned from exile in Persia. It was Babylon, then it was taken over by the empire of the Medes and the Persians.

And the Jews returned and they had some jobs to do. They needed to rebuild the temple, they needed to rebuild Jerusalem, and they needed to be instructed towards that hope. And so prophets were involved.

And Zechariah and Haggai were there while things were being rebuilt, and Malachi was there after everything had been rebuilt, and they had some things to say. Well, Zechariah, in chapter 8, in verse 16, we read what Paul quotes.

These are the things you shall do. Speak each man the truth to his neighbor. Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace. Well, that's sage advice. What a good policy. Let's put that in our handbook.

But there's a context to this verse, and you can grab hold of that if you read the first three verses of the chapter and the last three verses of the chapter. Let's take a look at that. Zechariah 8, verses 1 through 3.

Again, the word of the Lord of hosts came saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am zealous for Zion with great zeal. With great fervor I am zealous for her. Thus says the Lord, I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. Now, Jerusalem is already there. The people are already there. They're already worshiping the Lord. The prophets are preaching.

The priests are doing the sacrifices and so on. And God is saying, I'm going to come there, and I'm going to dwell there. I'm going to come tabernacle amongst you. Well, John 1 tells us, the word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us.

Jesus came. And we're told in the New Testament that these prophecies about Zion are none other than the heavenly Jerusalem. And to come to Jesus, you come to Zion. You come to spiritual Jerusalem. And time and again, we have the apostles and Jesus quoting passages from the Old Testament saying, This is fulfilled in the new covenant.

So this is the new covenant Jerusalem in view, not the old covenant Jerusalem. By contrast, we can read about in Galatians 4 and Hebrews 12 and so on. Now, the last three verses of Zechariah 8 help us.

In verse 22, it says, well, let's go. Verse 21, it says, The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord and seek the Lord of hosts. I myself will go also.

Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. The promise is that the nations will come into Jerusalem. Yes, that's good news. How do they get there?

How do they how do they show up in Jerusalem? What says verse 23, Thus says the Lord of hosts in those days, 10 men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man. Saying, let us go with you, we have heard that God is with you.

Now, who is the Jewish man that takes people from all the nations into Jerusalem? Any candidates? Yeah, that's Jesus. That's Jesus. He's the Jewish man. And he does bring people from every nation into Jerusalem.

And we have a lot of examples of the fulfillment of that passage. So the context of Zechariah 8 is about what? It's not about a reinvigoration of an old covenant Jerusalem of blood sacrifices and dying priests.

This is about the vision of a new covenant Jerusalem. And so when Paul is in Ephesians 4, and his focus has been upon Christ and are growing up in him and so on, and it's time for him to talk about putting away lying.

He could have quoted Exodus 20, verse 16, the ninth commandment, which is part of the old covenant. But he goes beyond it, above it. Because remember, Exodus 20, 16, part of the old covenant is, do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

So it's a prohibition, but there's no active component. The old covenant essentially is the Hippocratic oath. First, do no harm. And this is how you be a good neighbor. Do no harm. When Jesus comes, he says, you have heard it said to you, but I say to you, you have heard it said, but I say to you, he brings a kind of righteousness that is a fulfilling, a satisfying fulfillment and in superiority to the old covenant.

Where he says, a new commandment I give to you, as I have loved you, so you ought to love one another. From the absence of harm to the presence of good. And in this case, Paul is making from a new covenant prophetic passage to a new covenant context.

He's saying, putting away lying, here's the positive thing we ought to do. Let us each speak truth with his neighbor.

Why?

Because we are members of one another. How are we members of one another? There's a bunch of Gentiles, a bunch of Jews, and they're all over the place from different cities and distances and so on. How is it that we're members?

Because we all belong in the same city. We're all members of the same city. We're all part of the heavenly Jerusalem. And remember the vision that we have in Revelation 21. When the angel shows John the bride, he shows him a city.

The bride is not living in a city. The bride is a city. And we're called living stones. The city itself is shaped like a temple because we are the new covenant temple. So we are members of one another, so let us not lie to one another.

Let us speak truth to one another. And we've already talked about that concept of speaking the truth to one another in love, exhorting one another and encouraging one another in Christ, building each other up in Christ by his word.

Anger, the Devil, and Resolving Conflict Before Bed

His other quote is in verse 26, be angry and do not sin. And that comes from Psalm 4, verse 4. So let's take a look at Psalm 4, verse 4. You know, as we follow, just think about the disciples following Jesus around.

Follow me, he says, I will make you fishers of men. And then he walks around saying, verily, verily, verily, verily. Truly, truly, truly, truly. Jesus being the word of God made flesh. He says in the Greek, amen, amen, and then starts talking.

Jesus amens what he says before he says it. We amen it afterwards. He amened it before. And he always was speaking truth, speaking truth, speaking truth. Well, following Jesus, that should be our way as well.

Now, Psalm 4, verse 4 says, be angry and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed and be still. And then there's the notation of Selah, where it's the opportunity to meditate within your heart and be still.

Very fitting place for Selah if there ever was one. So what's the problem? Why is it that David or somebody who is singing the psalm might be angry? In what way may they be tempted to sin? What is it that they need to meditate about in the dark at night when they're trying to sleep and it's really hard to get to sleep?

Well, look at verse 1. Hear me when I call, O God, of my righteousness. You have relieved me in my distress. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. Meaning, I really need an answer from you, God. You have in the past relieved me in my distress because I know how faithful you are.

It's time again. I'm back again. More distress. Now, here's why he's angry, verse 2. How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood?

You may not be able to relate, but he's frustrated with the condition of man, the way the world is. Frustrated with the people around him and the things they say about him. Verse 3, but know that the Lord has set apart for himself him who is godly.

The Lord will hear when I call to him. So there's the reality of men being sinful and saying wrong things about me and slandering me and so on. However, there's also the reality of God being good and protecting and keeping, ruling and reigning.

Then he says, verse 4, be angry, do not sin. He's preaching to himself. Meditate within your heart and your bed and be still. So like in Psalm 42 and 43, so also here, the psalmist is preaching to himself.

As Martin Lloyd-Jones said, stop listening to yourself and start preaching to yourself. Take up the word of God and apply it to yourself. So he says, here's what you've got to do. Okay, yeah, be angry, but do not sin.

Meditate within your heart, on your bed, and be still. And the idea is that he needs to have resolution on this before he goes to sleep. He says, verse 5, offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord.

So here's what you've got to do. You need to be loyal to the Lord and trust in him. Just stick with him. There are many who say, who will show us any good? Every political commentator. They were complaining about society back then too.

Well, there's an answer to that, right? And it's not a presidential candidate. Who will show us any good? Here's the answer. Lord, Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us. That's who will show us good.

You have put gladness in my heart. More than in the season that their grain and wine increased, I will both lie down in peace and sleep. For you alone, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety. So here's the resolution.

Here's the resolution. When there is conflict with men, the answer is the goodness and faithfulness of God. When I can't go to sleep because of so and so and what they said, I can turn to the Lord, trust in him, and let this whole anxiety and anger be resolved by my trust in how good and how powerful and how strong he is.

Now, how does that square with Ephesians 4? Well, when it says be angry and do not sin, Paul begins to exposit that commandment from Psalm 4 by saying, by clarifying, do not let the sun go down on your wrath.

Meaning, let's get this resolved before you go to sleep. Because that's what the Psalm was saying, right? Before I go to sleep, before I can rest in peace, I get this resolved by looking to the Lord. And so, Paul does a good job of rightly explaining and summarizing the rest of Psalm 4.

And then attaches this clarification, nor give place to the devil. So, Paul connects lying and the wrath of man with giving a place or an opportunity for the devil. Let's put it a different way. He connects lying and the wrath of man as providing a workplace with tools for the devil.

Let him set up shop. All you need is to let the sun go down on your wrath and to be working in deceptive means and deceptive approaches with others that you should be in good membership with. And all you have to do is have that put together and you've given the devil a workshop in your life to do his business.

The father of lies, who is a murderer from the beginning, is, remember, also called what? He is an accuser of the brethren. Do you remember that? It's a really serious question in Romans 8. Who is he who condemns?

Oh, you can answer that from the Bible.

It's the devil.

It's not Christ. He's at the right hand of the father. He's our righteousness. Who is he who condemns? Who is the accuser of the brethren? That would be the devil. And when do we get into a really, really self-righteous, prideful, accusing, condemning tone?

When the sun went down on our wrath and we haven't been completely honest and the devil has a workshop in our life. This is not to say that there isn't a need for rebuke. This is not to say that there is not a need for someone to be told, hey, that was sinful or that's an error.

That can be done very lovingly, speaking the truth in love. There is the need for some kind of godly confrontation. That is very true. However, it doesn't look like this. That's different. The psalm does not command anger.

It does not forbid anger, but grounds anger in faith. Faith in a good and sovereign Lord. There are some things that should make us angry. Because we love Jesus. Because we love the Lord. Because we are the Lord's people.

There are some things that should make us angry, but that anger should never, ever, ever be cut loose of its anchor in the sovereignty and goodness of God. Otherwise, it becomes bitterness and fear. The wrath of man does not achieve the righteousness of God, James 1 tells us.

And James tells us that the devil must be resisted. So, let me encourage you in one particular thing. Jesus, when he was dealing with the anxious nature of his audience, those who might fear and thus be riled up in one way or another, fearing man or fearing death.

In Matthew 6, he said, look, live one day at a time. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Don't borrow trouble from tomorrow. Tomorrow has enough trouble of its own.

Yes, of course, we plan in faith and dependence upon the Lord. But we don't trust those plans. We trust the Lord. We live one day at a time and don't let the day end on unresolved anger and fear and bitterness.

Do you remember the question that Peter had for Jesus about how often do I have to forgive people? And you remember that it was put into the context of if he comes and sins against you seven times in what time period?

One day. One day at a time. Don't let those issues build up day after day after day and become like this, this weight that you drag around and has and lets the devil keep on having that workshop in your life.

Alright, well, only one more week for our time together in Ephesians 4. Looking forward to it.

Yes.

Applying the Text to Church Disagreements and Public Reconciliation

Okay, great. I would say to the degree that the disagreement was private or public. That's how Jesus handles it. And that's how the apostles handle it. So, it's a good thing that we have all these little churches everywhere so we can worship and like faith and practice and not go against our convictions and sin.

And the world will know that we are his disciples by the love that we have for one another. So, we need to act in love with those that we may not be able to agree with enough to be in covenant with. But just because we're not in covenant local fellowship doesn't mean that we're opposed in animosity and enmity with each other.

That's not the reason. And so, if there's been a public disagreement of some kind where it was very, very obvious, then the reconciliation and repentance needs to be obvious as well. For the name of Christ.

Right?

It's about his name, not our name. So, I'd say, in general, that's the rule of thumb. Alright, let me close with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for the day. We thank you for the wisdom of your word, the beauty of it, and the glory of it.

We pray that you would help us to love one another. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.