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Ephesians 4:17-5:2
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!—21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self,1 which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 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. 29 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. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you have a bible, I invite you to turn to Ephesians chapter 5 or sorry. Ephesians chapter 4. I'm getting ahead of myself. The text there is also there in your worship guide. I actually have it beginning in verse 17 there, because I want all of that in front of you, but we are going to begin reading at verse 25.
Joel Brooks:Ephesians 4 25. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the 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 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.
Joel Brooks: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 and Christ forgave you. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Joel Brooks:This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. If you would, pray with me. Father, I pray that through your spirit, you would give us tender hearts. Tender hearts to receive the the word that you would have for us this morning.
Joel Brooks:I pray that your children in this place would begin acting like the children that you have called us to be. We would know all the joys and every blessing that you would have for us in being your child, and I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Alright.
Joel Brooks:So a lot of sugar cookies and eggnog have been consumed since the last time we were in Ephesians. So there's a good chance that your minds, and possibly your bodies are feeling a little sluggish right now, a little soft. And, what I want us to do is, I wanna just kinda bring us back up to speed, but then we're gonna hit the ground running. I don't know about you, but when it comes to this time of year, I am so sick of desserts and, appetizers, and you just you just kinda wanna eat something of substance. And, that's my hope.
Joel Brooks:As I'll get us up to speed, and then we're just gonna dig right in and have something of a normal meal for us today. So if you remember, the last three chapters in Ephesians, the first three chapters, Paul has been telling us, describing all that God has done for us. Everything He's done just because He wanted to, just through His sheer grace, and so God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. He has adopted us to be His children. He has forgiven us through the blood of His Son.
Joel Brooks:He has made peace with us. He has sealed us with His Spirit. He has raised us up in Christ. He has given us new life. He has given us the gift of the church.
Joel Brooks:We do nothing in the first three chapters of Ephesians. God does it all, and that's the gospel. That's the gospel. It's by grace that we have been saved, and the only thing that we contributed to our salvation was our sin. That's that's our great contribution to the Gospel, was we provided the sin that needed to be forgiven by God.
Joel Brooks:And so Paul has painstakingly gone through the gospel, these first three chapters. And now we come to chapter 4, and he begins to change his focus a bit here. Now that he's laid the groundwork for everything that God has done for us and everything that we have in him, he now begins to tell us how we are now supposed to live. How do we live in response to God's grace? And And it's important to remember the order of this.
Joel Brooks:We do not become children of God by now doing all of these good things. No. It's now that we have been declared children of God, and he has given us new life, now out of that, we begin doing these good works. Once again, this is the gospel. The order of these events is crucial, and that's what we looked at the last time that I was preaching through Ephesians, which was over a month ago.
Joel Brooks:Christianity, if you remember I said, is not about putting on a new morality. It's about putting on a new self. We actually become different people, born again, given new life, and now that we have this new self, our actions, these godly actions flow from it. So the first word that we read in our scripture, this morning, verse 25, is therefore. I know it's cheesy, but it's kind of Bible reading 101, but any time you come up on the word therefore, you ask what it is Therefore.
Joel Brooks:That's right. You ask what it is there for. And Paul uses this word therefore to remind us of chapters 1 through 3, that therefore is now in light of everything that God has done for us, in light of the gospel, in light of being made children of God, therefore, and now he says we are to live this way. And so Paul tells us how we should live, and he begins by saying things like putting aside all falsehood, And then he goes to how we need to tell truth. We need to not steal.
Joel Brooks:And then in verse, or chapter 5, he begins to talk about sexual immorality and not coveting and not committing idolatry. And he has all this list of these things that we are to be doing, and he began realizing as Paul is going through this, he's not just pulling out all these different virtues at random. He's not just pulling out all these rules just at the top of his head. He's actually going mostly by the Ten Commandments here. This is Paul's version of the Ten Commandments.
Joel Brooks:It's He's expounding on them for us. And, what He does is, unlike in Exodus and Deuteronomy, where you have the 10 Commandments listed, and they are full of the you shall nots. You know, you shall not commit murder. You know, you shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal.
Joel Brooks:You shall not bear false witness. It's all those you shall nots. Paul says those too, but then he says, the you shalls. He adds to them. He says, not only are you not supposed to do these things, but you actually are supposed to be doing this.
Joel Brooks:And that's how he expands on the 10 Commandments here. Now, the image that I want you to have in your mind is an image that Paul has already laid before us. The you shall nots is your old self. That's your old clothing, if you will. It's your dirty rags that you are taking off, and that you shalls are your new clothing that you're putting on, and you're now dressing appropriately as a child of God.
Joel Brooks:You're taking off your old life and all the actions that were a part of it, and now you are dressing like a child of the king, and a child of the king wears these things that he will lay out before us. And so what I want us to do is just simply walk through this section, verse by verse. So once again, verse 25. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. So the first piece of clothing, if you will, that we are supposed to put off is falsehood, and then put on is honesty.
Joel Brooks:And it seems fitting that Paul would choose this. He would start here because, there really can't be any true authentic relationships within the church, if we can't be honest with one another. Good relationships are built on honesty. Now years ago, I had a conversation with a professor at Regent College, which is a Christian university in Vancouver. And this professor, he mentioned how, there was a business school in China that sent their students over, who were in their master's level program, sent them over to Regent College for 1 semester.
Joel Brooks:And I was like, why in the world would they do that? And he said, well, to study Bible and Christianity. Why would business majors in China be sent to your school to study that? He goes, because they understand the word economy, and economics, and all good economics. They have their roots in biblical Christianity.
Joel Brooks:I'm like, what are you talking about? So I began to do research, and he and, of course, he explained it to me as well, but the word economy was first used in the 15th century by monks. And it was used to describe a father who managed his household well, a father who had family devotions. And so a man who had family devotions with his wife and with his children was a man who had good economy, Practiced good economy. And later that word came to be used with business dealings, because if you wanted to do business with somebody, you needed somebody you could trust.
Joel Brooks:And so you would find a man who practiced good economy. That's a good Christian man. You could take him at his word. That man's word is his bond. You can have a good business transaction with him.
Joel Brooks:And so thus, the word economy growed into its meaning now. And Paul is saying that, and for the church, if we wanna have a good working relationship with one another, there has to be trust. Our word has to be our bond. If we tell somebody we are going to be there, we need to be there. If we tell somebody we are going to do something, we need to do it.
Joel Brooks:If you sign up for something, follow through. I remember, you know, doing college ministry. You would always have college students, you know, they would sign up for things, whatever things, and, you know, they could sign up for a mission trip, you know, and then a couple weeks before the mission trip, they would say, I know that you were counting on me to do this. I know you've already bought the tickets for me to do this, but I really think that the Lord is leading me in this other direction, which is always some better opportunity that arose. I was like, that is not the Lord.
Joel Brooks:Let me tell you what the Lord is leading you to do. Keep your word. That's pretty clear cut that we know that the Lord wants you to keep your word. That that other thing you felt is indigestion or something. It's it's not the word of the Lord.
Joel Brooks:We need to be a people who tell the truth, and the reason is, because we're a reflection of Jesus, who is the truth. Now, Paul's gonna get to this later, but I do kinda wanna go ahead and say this now, that this does not give you permission to go around and just start blasting people with that's not what Paul's talking about here. That's just being a jerk. Right? If you go around and you do that, you're you're being a jerk.
Joel Brooks:So if somebody asks you, you know, what do you think of my haircut? Say, I love your adventurous spirit. You know, just you you you don't have to, like, blast them there. Alright? Or if, you know, do I look fat when I wear this?
Joel Brooks:Just walk away. You know, just, he's not giving you a license here to to appoint yourself as the one who has to tell everybody the whole truth and be a jerk. Truth here is given in love, and it's given in humility. Verse 26. Be angry, and do not sin.
Joel Brooks:Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Now, this is interesting, and it actually might have rubbed you the wrong way at first, but Paul actually commands anger. Says, be angry. Some of you are like, finally, something I'm good at. I mean, like, he just like he tells me, be angry.
Joel Brooks:But but he's not saying be angry in the with all the ways that you associate. You know, all the things you associate with anger, that's not what He's saying. He's not saying, you know, be rude, yell, scream, you know, hit a wall, do whatever like that. That's not the anger that he is talking about because he adds, do not sin. Be angry and do not sin.
Joel Brooks:So he's commanding a righteous anger here. Now, years ago, I heard Tim Keller, he preached an entire sermon on anger that was really helpful. And, he said that we get angry when something that we love gets threatened. We get angry when something that we love gets threatened. Love and anger are actually very close related.
Joel Brooks:If if you say you never get angry, for 1, you're lying. And 2, if you never really get angry, it means you don't love anything. Because anger comes when something that you love gets threatened. What you need to do is when you get angry, you need to ask the question. What is it here that I love that's being threatened?
Joel Brooks:That's how you know if this is a righteous anger or an unrighteous anger. What is it that I love that's being threatened? Is it maybe you're angry because your marriage is being threatened? Well, that could be a righteous anger. Or if you're angry because you see the poor being trampled on, well, that could be a righteous anger.
Joel Brooks:You're angry because someone's safety is being threatened. That could be a righteous anger, but more often than not, we get angry because our pride is threatened. We get angry because our sense of control over a situation is being threatened. That's an unrighteous anger. And so we need to be asking that question.
Joel Brooks:What is it that I love that's being threatened? And when you ask that question, what it's also doing is it's slowing you down to where you become slow to anger. You don't just jump right into anger, but this is a thoughtful anger that you step into. And once again, as God's children, we are to reflect Him in the way that He is angry with us. And, thank the Lord for Exodus 34, in which we read, the Lord is merciful and gracious.
Joel Brooks:He is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Paul then says, we are not to let the sun go down on our anger. In other words, let the day of your anger be the day of your reconciliation. The day of your anger needs to become the day of your reconciliation, at least the day you seek reconciliation. You can't let anger fester, is what he's saying.
Joel Brooks:You can't fester into a grudge. That's how you're gonna give opportunity to the devil, is if you begin to nurse that grudge, and we love to nurse a grudge and stroke a wound and cherish sweet thoughts of revenge. We love to lay in our bed at night, and we all do this, thinking of the words that we're going to say to so and so. Given the chance, oh, I just want to say this this this this. And we we love to imagine these scenarios in which we get to go to a person and unleash on them.
Joel Brooks:Paul's saying no. No. We don't nurse a grudge. God gives you the emotion of anger. It's a God given emotion.
Joel Brooks:He gives it to you in order to stir you to action, in order that you might seek immediate reconciliation. That's what he's producing this in you. Paul says that if you don't do this, if you hold onto a grudge, you're going to give the devil an opportunity. And the opportunity the devil's gonna take is to destroy you, and to rob you of all joy. Verse 28.
Joel Brooks: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. So Paul, here, he explains us the why of work. Why do we work? And I know a lot of people here, you work very hard, and Paul wants to tell you why you should be doing this. And he says we we don't work hard like the world works hard in order to get.
Joel Brooks:We don't work in order to get. As children of God, we work in order to give. We work in order to share with those who are in need. In other words, you need to think of work the way you think of all of the Christian life. It needs to be a reflection of the gospel.
Joel Brooks:So just as you came to Jesus, poor and needy, and it was through His hard work, all the work that He has done, that you are now blessed. Now, we work hard in order that we might bless others in need. The way we work becomes a reflection of the gospel. So when we are generous towards the poor, who cannot provide for themselves, we are showing them both who Jesus is, we're showing them the gospel and how God loves them. In addition to just giving to the poor, I do think another application of this is to parents who work hard in order to provide for their children.
Joel Brooks:So parents, whether you stay at home, you work inside the home, or whether you work outside the home, what you are doing is working in order to give or to share for your children who cannot provide for themselves, who are completely dependent upon Your grace. And that's a godly thing. And your children are gonna watch you, parents, as you work, and the way you work, and the way you provide for them, can be a wonderful reflection of the gospel. But, your children will also notice that if you work, not just to provide for them, but in order to accumulate more and more things, more wealth, or more power, you will also be teaching them idolatry. So the way that we provide our children, work and provide our children, can either teach them the gospel, or it could teach them idolatry.
Joel Brooks:And Paul says, demonstrate the gospel and the way that we work. Verse 29. 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 the first verse that I ever memorized, because my mom asked me to, which should tell you something. When when I was a little boy, I used to love going around destroying things, and not because I was particularly evil.
Joel Brooks:It's because I was a boy. All right? It's just, all boys are evil. It's just what we do. We go around and we destroy things.
Joel Brooks:Anyone here who has boys understands that. They destroy everything. It's why mothers, for all the history of time, all around the world, have said to their children, this is why we don't have nice things. Alright? Because boys destroy them.
Joel Brooks:And so every Christmas, if if you're a parent of boys, you have this dilemma. It's like, do I buy the cheap plastic toys that will then be destroyed within a week? Or do I buy the substantial toys made out of, you know, wood or metal that will then be used into a weapon that will destroy everything else that I have for the next year. And and those are your 2 options. It's one of those two things.
Joel Brooks:But boys destroy things. When I grew up, I learned to no longer destroy things, but to instead build things, And I really enjoy building things now, but building takes much more time. It's a lot harder. It takes more wisdom. Tearing things apart is easy.
Joel Brooks:Building things is hard. Paul here is telling us, don't be little boys. Grow up. Be a man. Build.
Joel Brooks:It's so easy to just tear things down. Just gotta swing away. Just unleash your word. Just tear down, It takes a lot of wisdom and patience to really build up. Build up.
Joel Brooks:Use your words wisely. Be patient. Slow to anger. Be an instrument of grace. Now, anybody who uses social media needs to print this out and either put it on your phone, or put it on your computer, so you always see it.
Joel Brooks:Because I am continually shocked by the hateful and hurtful words that are posted by Christians. With with seeming joy in posting it. You know, you voted for this person, you're a jerk. You voted for this guy. You have no ethical leg to stand on, and we just, like, we put these things out there, and we're just easily tearing down, tearing down, tearing down, but let your words be gracious.
Joel Brooks:I love the language that Paul uses here when he talks about using words that build up words that fit the occasion. The image here is kind of like a, it's like a carpenter trying to build something, build a support into something, and trying just the right finding, just the right thing that fits in order to support it and to make it whole. And Paul is saying, in in every situation, we can find just the right word to fit the occasion. To fit in, and it brings strength to that structure, rather than tearing it down. So people are either gonna walk away from conversations with you, either having been built up or tore down.
Joel Brooks:So let your words be filled with grace. I remember a number of years ago, I was, still in college ministry. I had invited my old preaching professor, to come and to speak, and and he did. Doctor Robert Smith came and he appreciated UCF, probably like 11 or 12 years ago. After he spoke, he called me up sometime after midnight.
Joel Brooks:I'm not exactly sure when. He woke me up, and he said, Brother Brooks, I need to talk with you, as soon as you can. I said, what what do you mean? He's like, I I As soon as you can meet, I need to meet with you. And I'm going, oh my gosh.
Joel Brooks:So we met hours before the sun came up. I met him at Beeson Divinity School, and, he had unlocked the place. I'd gone up into his office, and I am terrified. Alright. I mean, this is my old preaching professor, and I'm just thinking the guy is, if it's this urgent, he's gonna rebuke me, like, oh my goodness, and he could.
Joel Brooks:I'm thinking of all the things he could say, the things that I have taught poorly or wrong, maybe some harsh words I've said, the way I've screwed up this part of the ministry. Like, there's all these bad things that He could say that would be true, and I'm bracing myself for it. And so I get in the office, and I'm sitting across from him. And for 10 to 15 minutes, he's quiet with his hands folded and his eyes closed. 10 to 15 minutes.
Joel Brooks:That is a that's an eternity of silence. And I'm just going through all these scenarios, and and I'm seeing he's weeping. I'm getting ready for it to be unleashed. And then he spoke such life into me. I've never really been blessed until that moment.
Joel Brooks:Now, he could have, once again, tore me to shreds, but instead He found just the right word that fit the occasion. Knew just what what to say, and he put in, and I came out a much, much stronger person after that moment. Every conversation we have is an occasion in which you find just the right word to fit in to give a person strength, or he could be a boy and just knock things down. It's time for us to grow up as the children of God. Verse 30.
Joel Brooks: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. Now for a long time, I was confused about verse 30 here, when Paul says that we are not to grieve the holy spirit. I mean, we use that phrase a lot, don't grieve the holy spirit, but I was confused as to why I was here.
Joel Brooks:First, my first confusion is this. This is largely, or actually it's completely in a context about how we are relating to one another. And then all of a sudden, this don't grieve the Holy Spirit. That was odd. And the second is this.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't give the positive after it. Remember the pattern we've been seeing so far in this, is that there is a do not do this, but instead do this. Don't speak falsehood, but instead, you know, tell the truth. Do not steal, but instead, work in order that you might share. Alright.
Joel Brooks:So there's the negative, and then there's the positive. But here, there's only the negative. Do not grieve the holy spirit. So that always puzzled me. The answer as to why, began, really for me, as I began understanding the context in which he said this, both here and from the quotation in Isaiah 63.
Joel Brooks:Isaiah uses the phrase, grieved the Holy Spirit. In Isaiah 63, and he uses it to describe the Israelites, And after they had been liberated from Egypt, and they were on their way to the promised land, they grieved the Holy Spirit through all their grumbling, through all their murmuring, because they refuse to act like the people of God. They refuse to be a light unto the world. And I think this is why Paul says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit here. He's not saying it in just some kind of general sense.
Joel Brooks:Don't grieve the holy spirit like, you know, in general. This is very specific to this situation here. It's it's it's as we relate to one another, we can grieve the Holy Spirit. Because if you are a fellow brother or sister in Christ, then you have the Holy Spirit inside you. And if I slander you, if I am unkind to you, I am unkind to the spirit of God who is inside of you, and I grieve him.
Joel Brooks:And he's also grieved in me who is doing those actions. So that's why I think Paul brought this up here. So the negative, do not grieve the Holy Spirit is, don't do any of the things we've been talking about here, and the positive is this. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. That's the opposite of grieving the holy spirit.
Joel Brooks:Being kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Now, grieve is a strong word. It means to hurt. It means to to bring sorrow, to bring a heaviness, a burden on somebody, So our lack of kindness hurts the spirit of God. When we seek to tear people down with our words, the Holy Spirit feels sorrow.
Joel Brooks:When we hold on to a grudge, this makes the Holy Spirit's heart, if you will, feel heavy. He's grieved. Your brother and your sister, they're a child of the king. They have the Holy spirit inside of them. Treat them as such.
Joel Brooks:So Paul's whole point to all of this is that we're a redeemed people. We once were dead, but now we've been given life. We once were orphans, but now we are children of God, and now we need to act like children of God. That's that's what he says in chapter 5 verse 1, be imitators of God as beloved children. We're in God's family, and now we need to act like it.
Joel Brooks:And so when you think of heaven and all the joys and all the blessings in heaven and how all sorrow has gone away. There are no longer any words of hurt or bitterness. There's no more grudges being held, but there's only truth and life and love. When you picture that, what God is saying is now in the church, Heaven is breaking through. These things need to be breaking through now into the world, through the church.
Joel Brooks:Now, Paul summarizes everything in the first two verses of chapter 5. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. So we're to walk in love just as Christ loved us. Paul's summary of the law, if you will, is very similar to Jesus's summary of the law. The whole law is fulfilled in love your neighbor as yourself.
Joel Brooks:The law, as it does as it relates to one another. Love your neighbor as yourself. So we're to walk in love just as Christ loved us, and then Paul reminds us once again of the cross and the sacrifice of Christ, as really being the basis of all of our love. You know, when Jesus was on the cross, He experienced all the things that we associate with hell. When you go through the Bible and you read all the descriptions of hell, you know, a place of torture, a place of abandonment and isolation, a place of darkness, a place of fire and thirst, all all of these things.
Joel Brooks:Jesus experienced all of those on the cross, save 1. So he experienced the abandonment, because his friends abandoned him, and he felt isolation. He was even forsaken by his own father. We see that. He experienced the darkness because the sun turned dark as night midday.
Joel Brooks:He experienced the fire and the thirst. He he cried out from the cross, I thirst. And he's not talking about a physical thirst there. He's been denied living water. He's burning up from the inside, and he cries out, I thirst.
Joel Brooks:And we could go on. He has all all the descriptions of hell you see him experiencing, save 1, and is this. Hell is described as a place where there is the gnashing of teeth. The gnashing of teeth. The gnashing of teeth is when you spew venom at somebody.
Joel Brooks:When you refuse to forgive is when you lash out against people in anger. But instead, on the cross, Jesus says, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. So Jesus, literally in the middle of hell, is still a man of love, an immense love towards us. And Paul is, he's pointing to this, remember the sacrifice of Christ.
Joel Brooks:If the same spirit of Christ is now inside of you, you should act that way. I don't care what people have said to you. I don't care what people have said. Christ in the midst of hell showed love and his spirit is inside of you. Act like his children.
Joel Brooks:The times that we forget to do this, we forget the gospel. You know, it pains me to say this, but the most malicious, slanderous, hurtful, bitter words that I've ever received, all of them have come from people within the church. It's just painful. The church shouldn't be that way. We shouldn't be this way to one another.
Joel Brooks:We expect that from the world, but not in here. Not in here. We walk as children of the light, and the moment that we forget to show grace in our words, in our actions, and to be kind, and patient, and tender hearted, tender hearted. The moment we don't do those things, what we're saying is, at that moment, we do not believe the gospel. We're certainly not demonstrating the gospel, but the reason we are acting that way is because at least in that moment, we don't believe the gospel.
Joel Brooks:And we need to stop and pause and pray, and ask the Lord to change our hearts. I pray that this year, 2018, one of the things we commit to as a church is that we would speak words of life, words of edification for the building up, that the words that we tell one another would be gracious, full of grace and full of life. Now what I want us to do before I close this in prayer, I just wanna set up the time that we're gonna have afterwards. We're gonna sing a couple of songs, and if you wanna sing, that's great. Sing.
Joel Brooks:If you wanna take time to pray, I encourage you to pray. There might be some things that you need to repent of. Maybe the Lord's brought up some hurtful things that you have said. Maybe some grudges that you're holding onto. Take that time to lay these things down.
Joel Brooks:Perhaps he's telling you right now, like, you know, you need to really commit to be a person who speech is seasoned with grace this year. There are certain people I want you to speak life and truth to. Take time to commit to do that. And then there's just to thank the Lord for making you a new person. And so we could do that afterwards.
Joel Brooks:If you wanna come up here and pray, you can use the stage as an altar. We've got cushions. You're welcome to use those and kneel on them. Or if you wanna stay seated while other people stand and sing, you can do that. But just take this time to to deal with the Lord.
Joel Brooks:And let me pray for us. Lord, you are so so so kind to us, and I pray we would never get over your kindness in your mercy, and I pray it would melt our hearts of stone. For some of us, the hearts of stone we have towards one another. And Lord, I pray that your spirit would kindle within us a new life and a new love, not just for you, but for all of your children. For our brothers and sisters here in this room, may we speak such truth and life in one another that this year, we build each other up to become the people that you want us to be.
Joel Brooks:All for your glory, Jesus, And we pray this in your name.