Sunday, July 28, 2024 Summer Session 9

The Practical Instructions Flowing from Salvation in Christ

Time and again is expressed in terms of who Jesus Christ is, how he saves us, how he sanctifies us, how he brings us together. And so, here in these last few verses, we are seeing some very practical instructions, but they flow out of an extended focus on the nature of our salvation.

We certainly would agree with the sentiments we read about not stealing and being careful about what we say, but these are not strategies to win friends and influence people. These are not, you know, good practical ideas that are effective.

These are flowing out of what it means to be Christians, what it means to be born again, what it means to be in union with Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit. So, when we look at the ways in which we are to treat one another in these verses 28 and 29 and verses 31 and 32, you'll notice that there is a contrast.

There are ways to not treat one another, and then there are ways to treat one another. So, let's list some of those ways. How are we to treat one another according to this passage? With careful with our words, that's right, how we speak to one another.

So, it matters how we work, and it matters what we use our words for. And you mentioned something about there is an aim towards others, that working, being diligent, has an impact on others in a couple of ways.

One, we're not burdening others by our lack of work, and not only that, we're relieving the burdens of others by working diligently and having something to share. What about verses 31 and 32? What do we find there about how to treat one another?

Yes, so love and forgive others as you desire to be forgiven in the way in which the Lord has loved us. So, we are given some very clear direction, I think, in these instructions, very practical instructions in verses 28 and 29, and a follow-on really about getting rid of bitterness, getting rid of unforgiveness, and being kind, and loving, and forgiving of one another in light of who Jesus Christ is, and what he has done for us.

Now, right in the heart of all these instructions about how to relate to one another, verse 30 talks about how we are to relate to the Holy Spirit. That seems significant. So, how are we to relate to the Holy Spirit in verse 30?

What stands out? Do not grieve. It's just a simple prohibition, but I want to explore that more when we get into our study. But having that in the middle of these instructions about how to treat one another, I think, is of vital importance.

That in our treatment of one another, always at the center, always at the heart of how we're treating one another, is ultimately how we are relating to God. We are not making men our focus. We're not making people our focus to be the bellwether of our behavior.

But at the heart of it, we're thinking about the Holy Spirit. We're thinking about God. Now, verses 28 and 29 are structured similarly. They both start off with a prohibition. Don't do this. And then proceeds into a, rather than doing that, don't do that, but rather do this.

And then there is a motivation, a reasoning for those two commands. Don't do this, rather do that. Here's the reason why. So, that tripartite structure you find in verse 28 and verse 29. But even though they have similar structures and thus similar aims, and we can recognize that their aims are ultimately, how do we do good to one another?

Talking about the stealing, don't steal, but rather labor. And then the other one, don't essentially revile one another. Don't be profane in your speech to one another, but edify one another. What do their differences mean when you put those both together, physical and spiritual?

Yes, Joe? Well, loving, remember that loving, the definition for love is a righteous and sacrificial devotion. I'm going to be for you in the right way, even if it costs me. And in this sense, it's not always going to be pleasant.

Love is not always pleasant, but love is always kind. It is a kind thing to sacrifice your own comfort, your own comfort zone, to sacrifice and put at risk your own image in other people's eyes, to go get in front of somebody who's doing the wrong thing, and try to deter them from disaster.

Yeah, very good. Yeah, love is not always nice, but it is kind. And it's helpful for us to have those delineations in our definitions. The pagan world tends towards the equivocation of all language. Orwell spoke of that in Newspeak, the dumbing down of all language and just to a few handful of words.

But Scripture, we find in Scripture, a delight in a variety of terms and specific terms and detailed terms, as God reveals his wisdom to us in his words. So, thankful for that. So, as we see in this passage, there is a concern, both for the physical and for the spiritual, that it's not simply a matter of the ethereal, spiritual inner man that we are to be concerned with, but also the outer man.

And this would be very countercultural to the times in which Paul lived, who were very focused on the spiritual, but not caring very much what you did with the physical. Popular philosophy of the time being the Stoics and the Epicureans, following in the footsteps of Plato, would say, the body is all corrupt and bad.

There's nothing good about the body whatsoever, which is why it was such a folly to the Gentiles to hear about the resurrection from the dead. You're saying it's a good thing that the body is raised from the dead?

No, salvation means you escape the body. And that was a very Greek, Platonic thought. But here, we see that there is a concern in Christianity, in the following after Christ, a concern both for the physical and the spiritual, that Jesus makes disciples of the whole person, not just part of the person.

So we need to carefully withdraw from any kind of confessionalism that we've brought on in past Baptist life of, Jesus is king in my heart. Jesus is Lord of my heart. Actually, he's Lord of everything, including your body, and how you steward that.

And that's a theme as well in Scripture in the New Testament. So when we read through verses 28 through 32, there are different tenses used in describing our treatment of one another, why we relate to each other in the way that we do.

There are considerations of what has already taken place. There are considerations of the needs that are presently around us. And there is considerations of the future hope that we have. So I put that question there in group project number two.

Do you see where there are past elements, present elements and future elements in the text? Maybe you can shout out some of those as you've seen them. What do you find? So we have the Christ has forgiven us, we have the accomplished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross.

And then we have the promise of grace continuing to be imparted to us, both now and in the future. What else? Yes, so that's past tense. We have been sealed for the day of redemption. Notice that the day of redemption is looking forward to something as well.

There's a past and future very closely brought together, something that Ephesians 1 details for us, but referenced here in summary form. So the day of redemption, the looking forward, is something that there's a coming day where we will be raised from the dead.

Jesus said it in John, that all that the Father has given to him, by no means he will, by no means cast them out, and that he will raise them up at the last day. And they are all sealed by the Holy Spirit.

And so we have that future hope ahead of us. So there's the present needs of the saints to be edified and to be to be helped in their various burdens. But we have the past blessings of being sealed and forgiven, the future blessing of the day of redemption.

Working for Fruitfulness by Laboring and Speaking Well

Now, as we look at our outline, we're going to work through our last bit of our acronym there on point number three, that given that Christ has called us to unity, he also calls us to maturity. As our unity has to be dynamic in growing up into him, which means that we need renewal.

And we've worked our way through the first portion of that acronym. And now we're on the letter W there in verses 28 to 29. And verses 28 to 29 encourage us to work for fruitfulness. We should work for fruitfulness.

There is a need to labor in a couple of different ways for the sake of each other. We've already noted that the two verses are similar in thought structure, a prohibition, followed by an exhortation, followed by a motivation.

But as we look at verse 28, we see the theme of We've already looked at lying in the previous verses, as Joe mentioned, but also verse 28, let him who stole steal no longer. The verb is parsed in such a way to, to evoke a habit.

This is the way of living that someone is just making their way through the world by stealing. And that this needs to come to an end. Stealing. Now, a particular act of theft is wrong, of course, but the the focus here is on the lifestyle, just though just a way of making one's way through the world.

And so the exhortation is that the prohibition is saying this needs to end, this way of life of, of stealing to make things work. This needs to be replaced rather with labor. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor.

Labor or working with the hands is the Christian counterpoint to stealing. We see that there's, there's two different ways. There can be the way of stealing or the way of diligence and labor. And like fashion, laid alongside that contrast is the theme of corrupt words.

Verse 29, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification. The idea of corrupt words are words that are worthless, or in other words, they are throwaway words.

The word picture is the apple that is too rotten for any nutritious value left. It just, this is a throwaway apple, or this is a throwaway word. It's just rotten. It has no edifying value left in it. And so it needs to be thrown away.

So these words, corrupt words cannot and do not edify being neither good or necessary. Notice those qualifiers, the good and necessary words. We are reminded that in a multitude of words, sin is not lacking.

We are reminded how tough it is to tame the tongue. We are reminded to be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, recognizing that the wrath of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. So Christians are to work hard in laboring and work hard in speaking well, offering good and edifying words.

Notice the two motivations. One, working hard and laboring so that he may have something to give to him who has need. And then notice the labor, the consideration of our words so that we may impart grace to the hearers.

So in both cases, our attention is not upon the self. If my attention is completely upon my self and what I deserve and the expectations and so on, I will be tempted to steal. I'm not being paid what I deserve or I've been wronged so many times.

So it's time to get mine. Right? There's a focus upon the self. If I'm focused upon the self, then it's most important what I think, how I see things. And I'm not considering others and how I might edify them and be gracious to them.

So in both cases, there is a concern for the other. Right? And this is fundamentally to be understood in the light of Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us. What does love look like? By this we know love that he lay down his life for the brethren.

So we ought to lay down our lives for one another. So I think it's a little surprising to see, for lack of a better translation, thieving and cussing as issues that Christians ought to stop. Perhaps he's like, well, don't they already know that?

Don't these saints already know that they should stop all their thieving and cussing? If they have to be told, I bet they're not Christians at all. Classic Reformed Baptist conclusion. You know, if they have problems, then they're not Christians.

So there has to be a distinction. There has to be a distinction. And there is a tone of patience here. And notice what happens. In the discipling of the nations, which includes Cretans, includes Cretans, includes people from all over with a variety of cultural expectations and things that are not godly, not Christ-like, nations have to be discipled to observe all that Christ has commanded us.

And so there comes the need to say, look, those who steal need to steal no longer. And those who are profane don't need to use those worthless throwaway words anymore. Let's consider one another, how we might share with one another.

Notice that if the person who had a habit of stealing changes to a habit of labor and is diligent, then all of a sudden they have a surplus to give to those who are in need, who might have been tempted to steal, but now are being helped.

You see how that goes? The person who might have been very profane and rude and blasphemous with their language changes the way in which they speak, thinking about the good of others, and so edifying them and encouraging them to also be gracious in their speech.

There's an idea here that we've already looked at in Ephesians 4, where each part of the body is seeking to edify and to help grow every other part. But when we think about these themes of, let's say, stealing and thieving and cussing, who might need to be reminded of that most?

If we were to just simply think in broader categories. Children and slaves. Children and slaves need to be reminded of that. When you read through Proverbs chapter 1, or you read through Titus chapter 2 in the description of the encounters of masters and slaves.

Instructions to a son in Proverbs 1, instructions to slaves concerning their masters in Titus 2. Instructions to church members who are fresh out of the patronage system in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. These three passages.

Solomon speaks to his son and says, don't run with bands that go and steal. We still have that today. People gather together and go into a store and they just rob it blind and go running off and then sell it other places.

And then they call it justice and righteousness. Solomon says, that's a good way to die. Son, don't do that. In Titus chapter 2, there's instructions as part of the Christian household speaking to slaves and saying to them, don't steal from your masters.

Well, what was the temptation there? Well, he's got way more than I do, and I'm not given enough for what I do. And, you know, I deserve this. And then there's the tendency to steal. One of the most common complaints amongst entrepreneurs and small business owners is that their employees steal from them.

Right. That's still an issue. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, the historical background of Thessalonica, in which there was a system of patrons and clients, that the patrons, if they were idolatrous and their clients became Christians.

Well, the patron would want their client to continue to worship the false gods that the patron wants them to worship. And when the client says, no, I've got to worship Jesus Christ alone, then the patron says, well, there goes your house.

There goes your steady income. And then those who are suffering for Christ should not then look to the church and say, well, then you're my new patron, you pay me. Right. That's where we get the instruction in 2 Thessalonians 3 to say, those who do not work, do not eat.

Right. And so with all that in mind, when we look at this instruction, we see that it's more than refraining. These are not simply negative commands, not simply prohibitions, but there are positive commands attached to it.

So often in the Old Testament is thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not. When Jesus comes, he says, you have heard it said, thou shalt not. But I say unto you, do. Love others as I have loved you.

And here are the ways that that what that looks like. Now, in verse 30, in verse 30, we have an encouragement to aim for the finish. So be the A for our acronym, to aim for the finish. Verse 30 says, do not grieve and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Now that the carry on language here of Paul is common, but I think he really does see a connection between. How we treat one another. And what this means for the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, we ought to be thinking about, I don't want to steal from others because that would grieve the Holy Spirit.

I want to labor diligently and be available to to to be generous to others because. This would please the Holy Spirit, that would be the idea. I don't want to blaspheme and profane other people and and and destroy them with my words, attack them with my words in a hateful way.

Because that would grieve the Holy Spirit. But I want to consider how to speak in a good, necessary way to edify others because that would please the Holy Spirit. And like manner, what follows on after that in verses 31 and 32, when we think about bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice.

That all of these attitude, these heart feelings towards others, especially to other Christians whom we are to be one with in Christ. That this would especially grieve the Holy Spirit. But what would be what would be pleasing to the Holy Spirit, especially after looking at Ephesians chapter one, chapter four, verses one through six.

What would be pleasing to the spirit is that we would be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave us. So keeping that in mind, when we look at verse 30, you know, we've we've been encouraged to consider our neighbors in the previous passage.

Don't lie to one another since you are members of one another. You met your neighbors in the New Jerusalem, so don't don't lie to them. But even more so, should we not consider the Holy Spirit who has sealed us for the day of redemption?

We have something something to look forward to. We are all heading some direction together. But our oneness in Christ as eternally planned by the Father and presently experienced in the Spirit. Remember that this is prior to our treatment of one another.

The grace of God is prior to our treatment to one another. The role of the Spirit is is the prerequisite for our treatment of one another. I should be thinking of the Lord first. I should be thinking of God first.

I should be thinking of the Spirit first. And here here's how it gets practical. When it comes to unity in the church, when it comes to our consideration of one another and our membership with one another, rather than be consumed, rather than have anxiety about who might be upset or who might get upset in the church.

If our purpose is to not upset the Holy Spirit, how would that shift the idea? How would that shift our focus? Of course, we're concerned about one another. We don't want to stumble one another. We want to bless one another.

But if the focus is time and again, well, I don't want to say this or do this or because that might upset so and so. And, you know, when so and so gets upset and then we're on into bitterness and man focus and so on.

But if our if our goal together is that we would not upset the Holy Spirit and grieve the Holy Spirit, what a unifying effect that would have. And we're more concerned about him and and how he feels about it.

And I'm using man shaped words to talk about God, but that's the way the Bible is written. Um, we're not saying that the Holy Spirit is emotional and easily upset. We're not saying that. It's a man shaped word.

But we are to be concerned primarily about how the Holy Spirit would think about our situation, how the Holy Spirit would consider our motivations, our actions, our considerations of one another. And this is a more thorough going and deep unity because, after all, man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart.

So now we're not simply taking into consideration how we appear and how I sound, but what I truly mean and how I truly am in my interactions with one another, because we're considering the Holy Spirit first.

When we're thinking of him, we think of the finish. And there's nothing that so clarifies the strain of the moment, like the joy of the finish line. Right? Why am I doing this? Why am I going through this?

There's nothing so clarifying in that moment other than the finish line. And that's what we should think of. We're reminded of that in Romans chapter eight, which begins with, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, those who follow a certain who are born of the Holy Spirit, those who are in the Spirit, please God, not those who are in the flesh.

And then the promises of the Holy Spirit and the looking forward to our resurrection from the dead in Romans eight. First John chapter two, verse 28 through chapter three, verse three speaks about the anointing of the Holy Spirit that we have and as well are looking forward to the return of Christ, where we will be like him as we see him just as he is.

Forgiveness in Light of God’s Forgiveness in Christ

So aim for the finish. And then finally, lovingly forgive, lovingly forgive, verses 31 through 32. Again, listen to this. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind to one another, tenderhearted and forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

The key word of verse 31 is all, all. This litany of the old man to be put off is in perfect contrast to the new man to be put on. But verse 31 details for us all the various aspects of unforgiveness.

The deep kind of unforgiveness and the shallow kind of unforgiveness, the silent unforgiveness and the loud unforgiveness, the past unforgiveness and the present unforgiveness, those roiling feelings of unforgiveness and those festering plans of unforgiveness, all of it.

How many times have I sat with a fellow saint and they share with me, oh, yes, I've forgiven, but they're full of all manner of unforgiveness yet. All forms of unforgiveness need to be exchanged for what?

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. And as soon as our protest rises in our spirit that this is totally unreasonable and my situation is unique, we read, even as God in Christ forgave you.

At which point we are left without excuse. We are utterly disarmed of any protest as we were reminded in Jesus' instructions concerning the model prayer. How can we think that we're forgiven if we don't forgive?

How is that even possible? Indeed, it is the forgiveness of God in Christ that disarms us of all of our bitterness and unforgiveness. And I think that in reflection on this renewal that we have in Christ, the focus is on Christ all the way through.

This is the renewal that is promised to us and secured for us by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, his ascension and his gift of the Holy Spirit. And that this is what brings about the maturity that is described for us in verses 7 through 16, is this renewing work of Christ in our lives.

This is what brings around the maturity that is so necessary for our unity together in Christ. May the Lord bless us as we continue in these themes. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time that you've given to us.

I pray that it has been pleasing to you and I pray that you would take these truths of your word, help us to meditate on them and help us to rejoice in them. And I pray that you would have your way in us and that there would be a unity in our church that brings you glory and testifies clearly of the saving work of Jesus Christ.

We pray these things in his name. Amen.