Has anyone seen the Robyn Williams movie, Dead Poets Society? In that movie, Robyn Williams is an English teacher at a posh private school. He is rather eccentric, charismatic, somewhat left of centre. And one of the exercises he uses with the boys is he takes them to the courtyard, and has three of the boys walk around it while the others watch. At first the boys walk at their own gait. But after a while, they begin to walk in step. And so they start marching in unison. And then all the boys watching them clap in unison.
They are marching together and clapping in unison. But of course, in praise and defence of the principle of individuality, and being true to yourself, which is the over-riding moral imperative of western society, Robyn Williams tell them that they need to walk differently from one another. And so they all start doing all of sorts of funny walks.
First they walked together in unison. Then, in individuality, expressing themselves. Uniformity is bad, individuality is good. That’s the message.
Well, our passage today is about the way we walk as Christians. The way we walk as Christians is the way we live. It is a lifestyle. And Christians too have a funny walk to walk. At least it is funny to some people. To borrow a phrase from Monty Python, we have a ‘ministry of funny walks’.
But while the outsiders will think it funny, we will find that as we walk this way together, we will in fact will walk in unison. This way of walking will enable us to fall in step with one another, as we keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25). Let me read Chapter 4 verse 17.
So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord, they you must no longer live [literally, walk] as the Gentiles do. (NIV)
The word for live is really ‘walk’, as you would be able to tell from the ESV. In fact you find this word ‘walk’ in chapter 4 verse 1, and chapter 5 verse 1 also.
Chapter 4 verse 1: We are to live (literally, walk) in a manner worthy of the calling.
Chapter 5 verse 1: We are to live a life of love (literally, we are to walk in love )
And as we’ve just seen in chapter 4 verse 17, we are to keep out of step with the Gentiles. We are not to walk as the Gentiles do. As far as they are concerned, we are to walk out of step with them, in a funny way.
And Paul insists that we walk differently with some strength. Verse 17 again:
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live (literally, walk) as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. (NIV)
Paul in Ephesians gives us several reasons why we must not walk that way. And there are five. All of them are important motives for the new way of walking.
In a sense, the whole of Ephesians 1-3 is the motive. Paul spends 3 chapters telling us about what God has done for us in Christ. That he has redeemed us, predestined us to be adopted as Sons, given us every spiritual blessing in Christ, that he has given us his Spirit. And that in response, in grateful response, we should live , we should walk, in this new way.
Again, there is no one verse that says this. No verse in Ephesians says, ‘Live God’s way to say thank you to God.’ But it is the rationale that underlies Paul’s thinking.
God has done this. So you do this in grateful response. You are this, so be this. God has done this for you, so you do this for God. In technical language, there is the indicative that grounds the imperative.
This structure occurs on the macro level in Ephesians. Chapters 1-3 is what God has done for us. Chapters 4-6 is what we should do in response.
It also occurs on the micro level, in individual verses. Take for example chapter 4 verse 31:
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you. (NIV)
God has forgiven you in Christ. So you forgive each other. You are this, so do this. Again, we see it in chapter 4 verse 25:
Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour, for we are all members of one body. (NIV)
You are members of one body, a great gift and kindness – in fact, it was a mystery beforehand. So now act consistently with it. Put lies away, because lies destroy the body. You are this – one body; so live this way.
Some time ago now, I saw a man interviewed on television. He suffered greatly and was near death. He had been saved by a hospital. So when he left hospital, he made boxes and put them at railway stations to collect loose change. He raised $25,000. He wasn’t a rich man. And with the money he bought the hospital a life saving machine. When he gave the machine to the hospital he was interviewed on TV. When asked ‘Why did you do it?’, he said: ‘Since they saved my life, I spend every waking moment thinking how I can say thank you’.
And how much more us, who’ve been saved from a fate worse than death? How much more should we spend every waking moment thinking how we can love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, the God who loved us before we loved him, and gave his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin?
Another reason Paul gives us is that we should imitate God. That is, we are adopted as children. Therefore, as adopted children, we must begin taking on the family resemblance. We must begin looking like God. And part of growing up in the family is to start work in the family business.
We have some verses with this reasoning. Look at chapter 4 verse 24. We are told to put on the new self, created to be like God. It becomes explicit in chapter 5 verses 1 and 2:
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (NIV)
We see it explicitly in chapter 4 verse 32. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other. Why? just as in Christ God forgave you.
Imitation is the highest form of praise. The phenomenon of the Tribute Band is a good example: Bjorn Again, Beatnix, Oils Aint Oils. They are the band who don’t write their own songs but copy another band. They even try to look like them. And so with us. We want to be like our Father in heaven, and like our big brother, Jesus Christ.
The third reason is related. God is angry with the old lifestyle. The old lifestyle is futile, dark, ignorant, calloused, self indulgent and lustful. And in verse 18, it is a lifestyle ‘separated from the life of God’ We see it again in chapter 5 verse 6. God’s wrath is coming on those who are disobedient. These evil things are the very things for which God is going to judge the world. And those who practice these sinful lifestyles will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But fourth, not only does the Gentile lifestyle not please God. It also wrecks unity. Sin wrecks unity. Let’s just allow lies and anger and lust amongst us, and see what happens to our church. It leads to mistrust, unity, division, and hatred. All of the sins that Paul will speak against destroy the unity that Christ has won for us. We will see that as we look at the individual commands.
This fifth reason is a particularly Christian reason, a Christ-centred reason. We have come to know Christ, literally, we have ‘learned Christ’. So life must change. Everything must change. Christ brings change. He requires putting on and putting off.
But every new walk has it’s particular gait. Every new dance has it’s steps. And there are some particular steps to be learnt in this new walk. No lies but truth (4:25)
Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour, for we are all members of one body. (Ephesians 4:28 NIV)
We are to not lie, and to stop lying to one another. We must tell the truth, because we are all a part of the same body. Nothing else sows mistrust more than lies. If we lie to each other, we will split the church. We are all members of one body, but lying sins against the body. And if you’ve found that you’ve told a lie, go quick and put it right.
‘In your anger do not sin’. Do not let the sun go down while you are angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-7 NIV)
Some anger is good. But not all anger. Jesus was angry and deeply distressed at stubborn hearts. He was so angry he overturned tables. And God is an angry God. He hates wickedness rebellion and sin. So there is a righteous anger, the only proper response to sin and wickedness and injustice. And some translations of this verse say ‘Be angry and do not sin’. It contains a command to be angry.
But God is slow to anger. He has a very long fuse, and he has short lived anger with his children. We need to be like God. We mustn’t lose our temper and fly off the handle at the smallest provocation. We need to have smart anger. We need to be sober minded enough to know whether this situation deserves our anger. And if the situation does deserve our anger, we need to be quick. Do not let the sun go down while you are angry. We mustn’t harbour a resentment or a grudge. So be quick and deal with the anger.
But what happens if you (like me) raise something or get into an argument with your spouse at the end of the day or while you’re going to bed. You are so churned up with anger, and you can’t hide it and shove it deep down, that of course your spouse knows. In my experience, there may be a time when that is unavoidable.
Not every complex marital problem can be dealt with by pillow talk at the end of the day. Complicated things cannot be dealt with when you are too tired to really work it out. In fact, you might need a really wise helper to help you both – a counselor. And sometimes some of us are burning inside and need to talk about it, even though it is at night.
So if you find yourself in that situation, maybe here is the way we can go. Find a way that you can affirm your love and commitment to your spouse, while acknowledging the problem. Stand together against the problem.
But the principle is still the same. Have short anger. Work it out as quick as you can, and be quick to put things right, to make friends, in spite of the problem that cannot be dealt with in one night.
By the way, I don’t think this is saying that demons can get a foothold in Christians. I say that because some Christians talk about the demon or devil of anger, that gets a foothold over someone, and therefore needs to be cast out of Christians if they give the devil a foothold. The way to deal with our anger is not to exorcise it. It is to repent of wrong anger, and act appropriately with righteous anger. That’s how we not give the devil a foothold.
He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need (Ephesians 4:28 NIV).
We are told to stop stealing and start giving. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Stealing is enforced receiving. We are called to freely give. Pay our taxes, pay our copyright, give to those in need, leave work stationary at work. So pay back what you owe to whoever you owe it, and work, so that you can be generous with your money and property. If you’ve stolen, pay it back, and start on a different way of life.
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen (Ephesians 4:29 NIV).
Jesus said we will have to give an account to God for every careless word we have uttered (Matthew 12:33-37). Now, that is scary. There are no off-the-record statements with God. They are all very much on the record, because from the overflow of our hearts our mouths speak, and our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. What can we say but Father, forgive us. I am a man of unclean lips, that lives among a people of unclean lips. Even as Christians, washed in Christ blood and justified by faith, forgiven of our sin and wearing the righteous robe of Christ, we will still have to give an account. So it is right that we have some fear, a little fear, of this calling to account. Not fear that Christ will not forgive us, but of loss and disappointing our Lord when we are called to give an account.
We have the power of life and death in our tongues (Proverbs 12:18). With my tongue I can destroy you, and with my tongue I can heal you (James 3:3-12). I can praise God with my mouth, and I can murder with my mouth, by slandering and gossiping. I can tear you down, and then say, ‘Boy, can’t you take a joke!’. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but NAMES DO HURT.
Moreover, I am not to make sexuality, or sexual sin, the butt of my jokes and language. Sex is precious and honourable, and sexual sin is destructive and damaging. There must not be even a hint of sexual sin, so I will not joke about it. Don’t even mention them, for it is because of such sins that God’s wrath is coming on those who are disobedient. And sometimes, this will mean that we will need to turn off some radio stations, some movies, some TV shows, and toss out some DVDs. It may mean we need to lose some friends who won’t stop this language.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephesians 4:31 NIV).
Forgiveness is such a wonderful gift to give. If someone has wronged you, you are the only human who can forgive it. Sure, there is forgiveness with God, where there is repentance. But only the wronged person can show the mercy of forgiveness to some one on earth. Only they can let go of the grudge and release someone else from the wrong they have done. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than receive. And he knew, for he was the one who said as he was being crucified, ‘Father forgive them, for they know not what they do’. For when you forgive, not only do you release the wrong does, but you release yourself. Sometimes Jesus says to us, ‘forgive if you want to be forgiven’. But here, Paul says, ‘forgive, because God forgave you’.
In our family, Kath is the one who has the courage to go through old clothes. It is very depressing going through old clothes… seeing the ones that don’t fit anymore. I put the whole process off. Kath does it.
Sometimes old clothes are too bad to give to Anglicare, Vinnies or Salvos. They cannot even be turned into rags. They are the singlets growing mould. The threadbare undies which are more hole than cotton. All that can be done is to put them in the garbage bin.
They are the things we are called to put off. We can’t even give them away. Lies. Unkind talk. Stealing. Bitterness. Vengeance and keeping grudges.
Isn’t it great when you can go shopping for new clothes? If you’ve got time and money, you can look at more than just whether the clothes fit you. You can see how they match, how they look. And Paul is saying, ‘look at how these things match, how attractive you are when you put on these things together’. Truthful talk, like a kiss on the lips. Short anger that goes down with the sun. Not stealing but sharing. Helpful not unwholesome talk. Giving the gift of forgiveness, not holding onto grudges. They need to be taken out with garbage. For these ways of walking with preserve good relationships and unity in our church, our community, our country and our world.
Let’s pray.