The Spirit's House Rules

 Okay, brothers and sisters, friends, guests, would you please grab a Bible and open with me to Ephesians chapter four, Ephesians chapter four. We'll begin reading at verse 25 down through verse 32, the very end of chapter four in Ephesians. And, um, I believe it's in on page 1,161 in the Bibles, in the chairs in front of you.

If you wanna turn there, it's important to have a copy of God's word open in order to see the words as we study it together. And I wonder if on this Pentecost Sunday you recognize what the significance of Pentecost is. It's a funny word that we hear once a year in the church, perhaps on days like this, but Pentecost remember.

It was the time when everybody came in for the Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem, and as Peter began to preach, everybody began to hear the gospel in their own native tongue. It was an amazing and remarkable fulfillment of what God, uh, Christ had promised In John 1416. In John 1426, he said that, I will leave you in Greek.

It's this funny phrase, an Allah paratas, another comforter, and indeed the Holy Spirit, which. Temporarily in dwell believers in the Old Testament now permanently comes to Indwell believers. In the new beginning at Pentecost, it was, you might think of it this way, the reversal of the curse of Babel. Once tongues were divided at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11.

Now they come back together in Acts chapter two. And so as you look at Ephesians chapter four, would you stand with me this morning for the reading of God's Word?

Therefore having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor. For we are members, one of another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal. But rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. The grass withers and the flowers fade. That God's word friend stands forever. And this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Please. Father, would you now take your word and by your Holy Spirit, would you change us by it through the preaching of your word, these ordinary means of grace.

Father, would you show us the beauty of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ? And would you help those of us who don't yet believe, would you help us to place our faith in him? Would you help those of us who do to run again to your table in celebration with faith and repentance for all that you've done for us?

And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. 1115 Bayou Woods was my college address and I lived with four guys, Jason Petty, Seth Davis, Chris Bailey, Fulton Wood, and we had to learn for the first time what it was like to live outside the confines of the comfort of a dorm and outside the easy access to a dining hall.

And so we made house rules. Some of you have certainly done this also. We made house rules because our mamas weren't around anymore, and we had to figure out how to live together, and so we had to figure out, put the dishes up after you eat your meals. Your mama's not here anymore. We had to learn how to do our laundry.

When they were gonna do their laundry, how it was gonna work. We had to figure out who was gonna mow the yard in our house. We had to figure out, how do you clean the house? Do do you need that dust at? What do you need to do? How do we do this? How do we live together? And so we made house rules. And one time I came home from class and I got to my house and I saw in my front yard my tennis shoes hanging from a tree branch and all of my laundry.

Was beautifully displayed for the entire neighborhood because that was one of the house rules. We said, listen, we don't put your stuff back in your room. That's your mama's job in this house. We're gonna warn you one time to put your stuff up, and if you don't, then we get to put it in the front yard. Oh, and in some ways, Paul is saying to the Ephesians, Hey friends, there are house rules.

You're a Christian.

Your mama's not around anymore. You've been given something far greater, namely the Holy Spirit. And he expects of us to live in a way that reflects his character and his beauty and his grace. And in Ephesians chapter four, Paul teaches us that in this new display of what the House rules are, we have become a new humanity.

And in light of Jesus's finished work for us. And dwelt now by his Holy Spirit, we are called to live and lead a new life, completely abandoned and sold out for him. And so Paul, in this passage in verses 25 through 32, tells us the house rules. He tells us, first of all, why are there house rules? And secondly, he gives us just a sample of what those house rules are.

Are you with me? So first. Why does Paul give us, in Ephesians 4 25 through 32, these house rules, these list of commands. He gives us 11 imperatives. 11. Do these things together. Notice the gospel logic of Paul's exhortation. He doesn't just say, Hey, stop lying. Straighten up. Stop stealing. Stop being angry.

Instead, he grounds every one of these commands. This is so important. Please hear me because some of you have been so beat up by the Bible in your past. Simply go and live this way as though that somehow committed you to God. He's infinitely holy. Even your best days fall short of what he requires of us.

But he says, look, put away falsehood. Why? He tells us, because we're members of one another. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Why Paul is such a good pastor, so as not to give an opportunity to the devil. Do you see the whys? Let the thief no longer steal but work? Why? So that you may share with those in need.

He could have just given us the commands, but no, he tells us why. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths. Why? That it may give grace to those who hear, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Why? Because you were sealed. For the day of redemption, forgive one another. Why? Because God in Christ forgave you.

These are not house rules for rules sake. These are the ways that we together in this local church, yes, in this place. In this place, the way that we learn to love each other, and we become a snapshot of a counter-cultural community for the common good of Tulsa Metro and Oso and Sapulpa, and wherever it is that you live.

And before we dive into what these house rules are, we have to have a little family talk about what John Calvin calls the third use of the law. Now I'm gonna geek out on you just for a little bit, and some of you're like, oh yes, I love it. And now those of you're like, what? But hang with me. In the Old Testament, we are given the moral law and Martin Luther, who is a early um, Protestant reformer, he said that there are two uses of the law.

Namely that we are to see the law as a mirror of our own heart of where we fall short. And also it is a sign that points us to Jesus. And John Calvin came along 25 years later. He never met Martin Luther, but was incredibly indebted to him. And John Calvin said, there's actually a third use of the moral law, which is summarized in the 10 Commandments.

And he said that third use is, if I can give you this analogy, it is to be a fence. It is to be lived out, and they are to be obeyed. It's not just appoint you to Jesus or to reflect your own need for grace by showing you what you cannot measure up to, but it is also the path for in which you are to live.

You are to obey the law, not because by it you earn some kind of righteousness before Jesus because Jesus has already achieved the perfect righteousness that is yours when you place your faith in him. But these become in John Calvin's. Theology The house rules for Christians to live out because they are the path of light and of life.

John Calvin says it like this, the law is to the flesh like a whip is to a horse to urge it on. But to the spiritual man, it is like a lamp unto his feet to show him the way. So the law cannot justify us. Christ alone does that, but the law shows us the path. Of life and the blessings that the Lord wants us to experience.

He gives these things to us because he's a good father and he expects us to walk in them. Not perfectly, but truly and increasingly as you're conformed more and more and more into the image of Christ and the motive of our obedience of friends is not fear because we are fighting a battle that we cannot lose because it's been won for us in Christ.

The motive for us is a PR tremendous sense of gratitude and hope because we are loved by a God who rescued us. Hallelujah. And we have been forgiven, we have been reconciled, and we become agents of renewal in his world as he redeems it. Now, if I can be very honest with you.

I sometimes become suspicious, even as a minister that my heavenly father doesn't really have my good in mind and a pastor friend of mine. Help me understand this. This pastor friend of mine wrote every time I deliberately disobey a command of God, it is because I am in that moment doubtful as to God's true intentions in giving me that command.

Does he really have my best intentions at heart or is he withholding something from me that I would be better off having such questions, whether consciously or unconsciously for every one of us light underneath every one of our acts of disobedient. This pastor writes, however, the gospel changes our view of God and of his commandments, and that it helps us to see the heart of the person from whom these commandments come.

When I begin with a train of thought in the gospel, I realize that if God loved me enough to sacrifice his son's life for me, then he must be guided by that same love when he speaks his commandments to me. Viewing God's commands and prohibitions in this light, I can see them for what they really are.

They're friendly signposts from a heavenly father who is seeking to love me through each directive so that I might experience his very fullness forever. And when controlling my thoughts as described above, the gospel cures me of my suspicion of God. And thereby disposing me to walk more trustingly on the path of obedience to his commands.

In other words, God has given you those commands despite your suspicion of him because he loves you and he expects you to walk in them. The law is not a threat. It has been fulfilled in Christ. The law, therefore, is to us a gift. That's why David can say of the true Israelite. In Psalm chapter one, do you remember this?

He says He meditates on the law day and night. Why? Because when you obey God's law, the moral law, you are learning more and more about God's holy character and he's working that character out in and through you by his Holy Spirit. Even when he asks things of you that you may think at the time are not for your good, the father says to you, oh, repent of your suspicion, of my goodness.

He says to you, because they're given to you in love. So I wanna walk through these imperatives together, and I just wanna have a really frank family talk. Do we live like this saved by grace? We should be running to delight in his law to obey it because Jesus Christ is the one who has given his very life for us that we should obey it in gratitude.

Having looked at why the law now, what are the house rules? Why the house rules and what are they? Alright, there's 11 of 'em. We'll go through 'em fast. You ready? Number one, speak the truth. God's covenant people speak the truth. Verse 25, Paul begins, therefore, having put away falsehood, let us let each one of you speak the truth.

There's the imperative with his neighbor. For we are members of one another. The new humanity in Christ is marked by truth telling. Why? Because we are members of one another. The church. Is a body together and spreading falsehood is like injecting deceit into the central nervous system of a body, of a community, of the church.

And so we learn to tell the truth. We learn to trust each other. We live in a culture where lies are so often justified. Half truths, marketing and spin, bending the truth. But we as Christians are the ones who tell the truth. Even when it costs us something. The first recorded lie in scripture, of course, is in Genesis chapter three and the serpent deceives Eve.

He says, God didn't say you'll surely die, and this lie fractures all of humanity's trust in God and each other. It was the first time humanity began to be suspicious of God's law. And Adam and Eve once naked and unashamed. Now they hide and they blame shift, and then deceit becomes woven into the fabric of fallen humanity.

Brother Deceives, brothers, nations battle against nation. If you ever wonder why Jesus is described as the way and the truth and the life, he never speaks deceitfully. His words Pierce, yes, but heal. When tempted by Satan, the father of lies, Jesus responds with the truth of his word. When he was on trial, he could have just said one word and the legion of angels could have come down and rescued him, but he restrained him himself.

He spoke the truth all the way through. He never once lied. He is absorbing the curse. He is reversing the curse because he is the way. And the truth and the life. And notice this truthfulness Paul says, is not just about avoiding lies. It's about actively speaking truth to one another. This means honesty.

Even when it hurts or it's hard, is what we ought to do. As believers listen in community groups, it is easy for us just to skip across like a rock across a pond. And our relationships, but we are called to hold each other accountable and love each other, and that can only happen when there's deep trust built and the level of our conversations begin to be deeper and deeper and deeper and more truth filled in our conversations in our life together.

It doesn't mean that it needs to be heavy all the time, doesn't need to be always serious, of course, but it means that there's a group of people in your life that love you so much that they're not afraid to tell you the truth. One of the greatest gifts that you can have. Are friendships at the level where they can be fiercely honest with you and you never doubt their love for you?

Do you have those kind of friends? Would you pray for those kind of friends? And would you be that kind of friend? Why should we speak the truth and love? Because Christ says we're members of one another. We belong to each other. And when we lie, we do what Augustine said. Curva in say we curve in on ourselves.

Thinking that we're buying ourself freedom, we're becoming more and more deformed. Not only do we speak the truth in love, but it says in verse 26 and 27 that we are to be angry and not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil, even a righteous anger. Anger is not sinful.

Righteous anger has its good place. You wanna be angry about injustice. It's part of the fuel for your prayers and for your action to love and serve the world and to use your gifts. But right, but anger, even righteous anger can quickly become an over desire and give birth to sin. It can fest into bitterness.

It can explode into rage. And so that's why Paul says, don't let the sun go down on your anger. That's a metaphor. That means deal with your anger quickly. And resolve it as expediently as you possibly can. Don't let it take root. Don't nurse your anger. If you're angry at a brother who is sinned against you, you are holding that against them.

Oh, my friends, it will just breed bitterness. And what divides churches and organizations and institutions more than anything else is a lack of trust in one another because they allowed their anger and their bitterness and their frustration to be nursed over years because they were afraid of conflict.

Do not let the sun go down on your anger. And if you have a brother or sister with whom you need to reconcile, do everything you can to run to them and to say, we need to talk and do it in love, because Christ has first loved us. Sinclair Ferguson says that the devil's strategy is division and nothing divides like unresolved anger.

And the Holy Spirit by contrast is the great reconciler. He brings us together. The spirit brings peace, not division, and he heals our festering wounds. Would you confess those this morning? Would you come to the Lord's table confessing the anger that you're nursing against someone else? Ann Lamont one time said that bitterness is like eating rat poison and waiting for the other person to die.

The biblical roots of this first. A display of sin comes in Genesis chapter four. When Cain burning with jealousy kills his brother, anger festers into murder and God warns him. Sin is crouching at the door, but you must rule over it, and Cain refuses and violence and enters the world. You ever wonder why Jesus experienced the hardness of the human heart when he looked out and he cried out against the injustice against him.

In the temple, he was angry, but he never sinned. He was slow to anger. He's described as abounding, steadfast love on the cross. Jesus absorbs the wrath of our anger, and he responds not with vengeance, but with father. Forgive them for they know not what they do. He absorbs our anger and he reverses the curse by taking it upon himself.

The source of the world's anger and animosity on the cross pain, our debt. And he says, father, forgive them. What a savior. Third, no longer steal, but rather work. Look at verse 28. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

This is more than just stop stealing. The gospel redeems, even the hands that once stole. There's a famous part of, uh, lay mis if you've read the book, M Les. There's a famous, uh, part where Jean Val Jean is taken into the Bishop's home. Do you remember this part of, of the movie? Perhaps if you've seen the movie or read the book?

It's a turning point of Victor Hugo's book because Jean Valon is hardened criminal who was imprisoned because he stole a loaf of bread to care for his sister's child. He is in prison for 19 years, I think. 19. He comes out and he takes haven. I see some of the TU students. Thank you. 19. Uh uh, he takes haven in the bishop's palace and he's overcome with his old ways and he steals the silver of the bishop and he leaves and he's caught by the police and they drag him back.

They take him back to the bishop's house and he knows here he is fixing to go back into hard labor and be condemned. And Bishop Muriel once gave him food. Says to him, oh, Jean Val John, oh, I'm so glad you're back. You forgot the candlesticks. And he takes the candlesticks. Do you remember this point? And he gives the candlesticks to Jean, Val John, this thief, and Jean Val John is undone with grace and Victor Hugo says that there was a man who walked into the alley and in the shadows of the alley, he knelt down him For the first time in his life, he prayed because he knew he had experienced grace.

And the hands that once stole now become hands that give. And so Jean Val John leads his life to become a businessman that supports many people, including Claudette. And then he later becomes the mayor and is respected and renowned and oh, what the gospel can do to hands that once stole, we are not to steal.

Just to stop stealing. You're to stop stealing because you were to work with your hands. You're to do good work. You're to stand on your own two feet. It is good to work. It was always part of the garden even before the fall. And as those who work, why is it that you're supposed to work? You're supposed to work so that you may share notice.

It doesn't say so that you may hoard, so that you may have whatever it is that you want. It's so that you may share. There one of you, uh, uh, got great joy as you, um, uh, one Sunday when we were back at the gym. I remember. One of you gave me a pair of slacks and I wore those slacks one Sunday. And I remember you kinda looked at me, I could tell you were looking at me going, huh?

I've seen those slacks before. And, uh, and we shared, we share clothes. And then it was, you know, and then another week somebody had get, you know, want a sports coat that I gave em for my house. And I, there it is, you know, we share, we share little things like that. We share the number of hand-me-downs that have been passed around this church is staggering.

And it's a great gift to young families to have hand-me-downs. Lauren and I are at the place now in our life where we no longer get hand-me-downs from my brothers, where our kids are all too old. They're all about the same size these days, but for many, many years it was an incredible gift to have. So one of, one of the little things you can do for your community group, it's just to share clothes with people who have young children because it is hard.

It is hard. You share. The reason you work so hard is so that you can share. I wonder. If you have the joy of so doing, John Calvin comments at the hand, which was previously active in mischief and wrong, is now engaged in good works for the benefit of others. In his commentary on Ephesians, this is what the gospel does.

Next, he says, verse 29, use edifying speech. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace. To those who hear this is a high standard. It's not, don't just use corrupting talk, but it is used language that builds other people up.

The word corrupting in Greek is the word for rotten, and the word for building up is. Like a mason, building a home. It is building each other up. That's what we're called to do. We're called to be a haven because some of you just have incredibly difficult weeks over the course of your week. And when you come to Trinity to worship, it is the safest place in the world for you.

And we really pray that it becomes that. If it's not already. We want it to be a safe place for you and all of your struggles with sin, and we want you to hear words from brothers and sisters that aren't fake. They're genuine because. If I were to ask you who's the biggest sinner in the room, I would see every hand in this room go up because we know our own need for grace runs so deep, and so therefore, we can use edifying words.

And this takes real discipline to know how to speak the truth and love and how to build one another up. But indeed, Jesus is called the word why? Because he is the embodiment of edifying words that build up. Adam and Eve's words turn defensive in the garden. They blame shift, and just like a scalpel can be used to destroy and to heal.

So also words can be used to tear down and they can be used to build up. Some of you in your marriage know there are words you have said that you wish you could take back, and you're still rebuilding trust as a couple, because there were words that came out of your mouth and you couldn't quite grab them before they slipped out.

The Holy Spirit is there to help us do that and to run to repentance because not letting corrupting talk come out of your mouth is not just having a good vocabulary and saying things that build each other up. It's also concomitantly repenting. Whenever you do say the wrong thing, that is also how you build up.

Because repentance is like the mortar of the masonry of our words. It is what holds up and builds up. If you use perfect words and never repent, it's like a building that has no mortar between the bricks. Repentance is the way that you make things stronger, and so, oh, friends, if you've said things that are harsh for which you need to ask forgiveness of a brother or sister, then run and repentance.

Those words of repentance themselves are a demonstration of edifying speech. Have you seen this in your own life? He goes on verse 30, we're almost done. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. To grieve the Holy Spirit here means to live in a way that is contrary to your new identity in Jesus.

It is to say, thank you for the gift you've given me, but now I'm gonna go live my own way. And though the Holy Spirit can never leave you if you're a Christian. He can. He is a person. He can be grieved.

The Holy Spirit indwells us and is sensitive to our conduct. He grieves over sin, not because he's weak or because he's overly sensitive, but because he is holy and loving and the Spirit is the one who has sealed us and he has marked us as God's own guaranteeing our inheritance. And in verses 31 and 32, the last of these 11 imperatives, these 11 commands, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. I learned this week that Nathan Duke, who's getting ready for camp right now for the students, Nathan Duke's, I asked Nathan, what is your favorite? Bible verse and he said, Ephesians 4 32. He said, be kind one to another.

Tenderhearted, forgiven one another as God and Christ has forgiven you. It was, that was his fav. That's his favorite verse. He memorized it as a young child when he was at his church and he is always church. Be kind. What a novel concept

and how strategic kindness is in our world. That is so divided by tribes, isn't it? To be kind and to lead the world in knowing how to practice civil discourse even when you disagree. Oh, friends, there are things about which we disagree in this church, and I think that is actually healthy for us.

Therefore, to learn how to communicate and talk and even be surprised by people's various positions, whether it's political positions or it's, you know, whatever. we want to be a church where people learn how to communicate with each other, love each other. Somebody one time, um, I, I won't say who, but when somebody was coming to the church and they said, you know, I couldn't figure out, I couldn't figure out if this church homeschooled private school or public school.

And that's when I knew I wanted to come to this church. 'cause all three are respected and loved and honored, and cared for, and invested in. And we wanna be people who learn how to be kind to each other and edify, let there be no malice. Let there be no gossip or clamor or winker. And one of the ways that we do that is we have men of integrity who lead this church.

And so as you pray that we would embody this together, pray for the men of this church, the elders and the deacons, to always embody this themselves because you can never overcompensate. For the importance of leadership, men full of integrity, able to demonstrate these very characteristics that verses 25 through 33 and 32 demonstrate.

So before we go to the table in our homes, are you speaking the truth and love? Are you hiding behind half truths? Are you quick to forgive or do you harbor bitterness? In your workplaces, are you working with integrity? Not just to provide for yourself, but to bless others? In your conversations, do your words build others up, or do they tear them down?

Family questions in our conflicts, do we deal with each other quickly? Do we deal with our anger or do we seek reconciliation? Do we assume the best about the other, or do we give the devil a foothold? And in our hearts, do we trust that the commands that God gives us are commands that are good for us, that they are loving?

Or are we suspicious believing the ancient lie, that God is somehow holding something good for us? Listen, I. Where Adam lived, uh, lied and hid Christ, the truth stands revealed where Cain's anger destroyed. Jesus' love heals and reconciles where Adam grasped and took the fruit. Christ empties himself to give.

Where Babel divided us with words, Christ builds us up and unites us as his people with words of grace. Unifying us by his spirit where enmity, bitterness and unforgiveness reigned. Christ brings forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace. And at the cross he bore our punishment for all of these things so that we may continue to walk in repentance of all of these commands that he has given to us and to do so in joy of knowing that we are fighting a battle that we cannot lose because it's already been won for us by Christ.

Hallelujah. With gratitude and with joy. See the house rules. They may be different than the House rules at 1115 by you Woods, and they are beautiful and O Trinity, they are the house rules for us. As we come to this table, let us walk in them because they're given to you in love. Let's pray. Father, we know that these rules are.

Just a sample of a summary of your moral law. Not exhaustive, but we do pray that you would help us to be a people who are able to put away falsehood, who do not let the sun go down on our anger, who are able no longer to steal but to work so that we may share that we would not have corrupting talk come out of our mouths, but that we may give grace to all those who hear.

Would you help us not to grieve your spirit for we are sealed for the day of redemption? Would you help us to forgive one another? Because you and your son have forgiven us. Father, help this church to be marked by the good news that grace changes everything and help one manifestation of that to be that.

We continue to walk in repentance as we pursue the obedience to your commands. And so we come to this table with joy, knowing that you accept us and love us, and are shaping us into the new humanity for the good of this city. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Sermon transcript is computer generated.