From Sparks to Fires: How Truth Extinguishes Anger (Eph 4:25-27)

Good morning, and welcome to the broadcast service of Dillingham Moravian Church.

My name is Pastor Simon, and we're thankful that God has led you to study the

Bible with us this morning.

According to Anchorage Daily News, federal officials have issued an economic

disaster declaration in response to wildfires that scorched the interior of Alaska this summer.

The lightning-sparked fires flared to life in mid-June and burned for weeks

along the Park's Highway between Healy and Fairbanks, destroying at least 86

structures, including 16 primary residences.

Local businesses took a hit as prolonged highway delays and smoke-filled skies

led to lost income from interrupted summer tourism.

And in Denali Borough, fires destroyed 90 structures, including 42 homes or

cabins, officials said.

Fires in the Fairbanks North Star Borough prompted lengthy parks highway closures.

Fires in both regions led to lengthy evacuation notices that covered hundreds of people.

I'm sharing this article with you to explain that

fire is extremely destructive and deadly And it only takes a spark to ignite

a fire that can do untold damage There is also another type of fire that is

deadly and destructive And that is anger Yet fire does not start by itself It needs a spark,

something to ignite it And that ignition source is sin perpetuated by others

One of the key sources for igniting anger is lies.

And we, as followers of the way of Christ, are called to put aside falsehood

and anger and all other aspects of the old way of life and put on the new person

that we are called to be in Christ.

Let's pray. Father, we come before you and we thank you for the awesome privilege

it is to be able to be in your presence, to be able to hear from your word, teach us,

guide us through the word of God.

Lord, we thank you that we get to hear from you.

And Lord, we pray that as we listen, as we study your word,

May it be you speaking to us. May it be you communicating and teaching us what you want us to know.

Grant us your spirit so that we may be able to understand and apply what you are teaching us today.

In your precious son's name, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

Well, turn with me this morning to Ephesians 4, verse 25 to 27.

Ephesians 4:25–27

Ephesians 4, verse 25-27 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth,

Ephesians 4:25–27

each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

Be angry, and yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger,

and do not give the devil an opportunity.

Here at Dillingham Moravian Church, we have been studying Paul's letter to the

Ephesians. The theme of this letter is the unity of God displayed in Christ's church.

Previously, in Ephesians chapter 4, Paul taught us that we did not learn Christ

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

in the way of life that we were once enslaved to as people of the Satan-controlled world.

God also taught us three steps or ways in which we can live in the new life of Christ.

The first step was that we as believers in Christ are to lay aside,

like old clothes that we'll never use again, our former conduct that belonged

to the old person that we once were before we were saved in Christ.

Secondly, the spiritual character of our whole mental and moral beings are to

be continually renewed to be like Christ as we surrender to Christ's power by

keeping our minds set on Christ.

And lastly, we are to live in our new life by intentionally believing the sovereign

truth of God's word, that by Christ and in Christ, we have been made into new

creations that are holy and righteous before God.

In our passage today, there are two main biblical principles I want to bring your attention to.

The first principle that God is teaching us today is that as Christians,

we are to put aside falsehood and speak God's truth to each other.

When John Wesley was crossing the ocean to America, he was on ship with a group of Moravians.

While on the ship, there was a horrendous storm that threatened to destroy the vessel.

While Wesley admitted that he was panicking, the Moravians were calmly singing

biblical hymns together. Not only were the Moravians calmed by God's word, but also Wesley was.

And the impact of this event was so great on Wesley that later,

through the Moravians instructing the truth of God's word to him,

Wesley put his faith in Christ as his only Lord and Savior.

Wesley's encounter with the word of God through the Moravians radically altered

Wesley's ministry for the glory of God.

And this concept of speaking the truth of God's word or singing it to each other

in the body of Christ for incredible impact for Christ's kingdom is what Paul

taught about in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 25.

Ephesians 4:25

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you,

with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

Paul started off this verse with, therefore, laying aside falsehood.

The question we need to ask here, what is this therefore about?

To answer this question, we need to look back in chapter 4 to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 21 to 24,

Ephesians 4:21–24

where Paul wrote, If indeed you heard and were taught in him,

just as truth is in Jesus, to lay aside in reference to your former conduct, the old man,

which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man,

which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Paul's point in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 21 to 24,

Ephesians 4:21–24

was that since the believers had heard and were taught in Christ through the

apostle Paul and other Bible teachers,

they were to lay aside the sin-corrupted old man that they once were living

as and put on the new person which has been created in the likeness of God.

And in his righteousness and holiness of the truth, by renewing their minds with the word of God.

Since Christians are to put off the old man of sin and live according to the

righteousness and holiness of God's truth, Paul instructed the Ephesians to

lay aside falsehood, to speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor,

for we are members of one another.

One commentator explained, this verse forbids lying, literally,

putting off the lie, speak truth.

The verb put off is the same one used in verse 22.

This concept of putting off is the same as the illustration I used previously

regarding taking off clothing and then giving them away or getting rid of them,

putting them in the garbage, never to be put back on again.

This is so super important because Paul had previously commanded that we were

given a new life in Christ, and now we were to go and live that life.

I want you to see that Paul contrasts lying Which is in the negative With the

positive of speaking truth to each other.

It's also essential for us to understand that Paul was quoting where God through

Zechariah prophesied about when God himself would dwell with his people.

Let's look at Zechariah 8, verse 14 to 16.

Zechariah 8:14–16

Zechariah 8, verse 14 to 16. For thus says Yahweh of hosts, just as I purpose

Zechariah 8:14–16

to bring about evil to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath,

says Yahweh of hosts, and I have not relented.

So I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear.

These are the things which you should do. And here it is. Speak the truth to one another.

Judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates.

The context of this passage is that God will one day dwell amidst his people in Jerusalem.

Children will again play in the streets, and old men and women will sit outside in peace.

And even though Israel had previously done evil, God will have compassion upon

them and not treat them with wrath as he did in the past.

And thus God commands his people

to live in a radically different way from that which they did before.

That Jerusalem was no longer to be characterized by lies, but rather by the

truth of God. spoken to one another.

Back in Ephesians chapter 4, Paul was emphasizing the same idea as Ezekiel's prophecy,

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

that as the people of God, we have God and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us,

and we are to live with the same truth that God was commanding Israel.

That will be accomplished in the end times.

Paul was instructing that the Ephesians and all Christians speak God's truth To each other Why?

Because we're all Members of the same body When we lie We hurt that member.

Not the liars directed towards. But we also hurt all the other body parts who

are part of the larger body of Christ, the church.

We're all connected with sinew, bone, with veins and other parts.

We are so indistinguishable from each other. And when we hurt one, we hurt them all.

Paul in Romans 12, verse four through five wrote this,

for just as we have many members in one body and all members do not have the

same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

So how can we as believers today speak truth to one another in Christ's church?

There are a few different ways in which we can communicate the truth of God

to each other in the body of Christ.

The first way that we can share the truth of Christ with each other is congregationally.

What I mean by this is that pastors and elders and church leaders are to infuse

the teaching of the Word of God in every service and study time.

Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, verse 13, Until I come,

1 Timothy 4:13

give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.

In regard to congregations, this is by far the most important way that the spoken

truth of God's word is to be communicated.

Secondly, we are to encourage each other with the word of God.

Biblical encouragement is not just saying nice things to each other,

but speaking scripture and or the concept of scripture to each other.

The author of Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 taught,

Hebrews 10:24

And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,

Not forsaking our own assembling together As is the habit of some But encouraging

one another All the more as you see the day drawing near,

Encouragement using God's truth Also can refer to singing Paul in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 19,

Ephesians 5:19

Instructed the Ephesians Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual

songs Singing and making melody with your heart the Lord,

This includes our time of worship, in service, Bible study, at homes,

or in the steam, when we praise God together with hymns or biblically founded songs.

And thirdly, we are to lovingly and humbly, with the desire to see reconciliation,

correct each other using the truth of God's word.

And I say humbly and lovingly because without using those character qualities,

We are not speaking God's word in a way that will allow openness in the other

believer So that the Holy Spirit can convict that brother or sister in Christ.

Jesus in Matthew 18, verse 15 taught, Now if your brother sins,

Matthew 18:15

go and show him his fault.

Between you and him alone, if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

Part of this reconciliation process is not just pointing out the sin in another Christian,

but also pointing them to what Scripture says on where they went wrong and how

they are to joyfully trust and obey Christ again.

So far, we've been taught by God that Christians are to speak the word of God

to each other in the body of Christ.

God, through Paul, has also taught the believers in Ephesus and us that we can

be angry and yet are not to sin.

Most of you have heard by now of the school shooting in Minneapolis a few weeks

ago of the 23-year-old man who shot into a Catholic church when the Catholic school was having Mass.

The young man killed two children and wounded 18 others.

Hearts and prayers still go out to the Lord for the families and community of these children.

Now, although there seems to be theories coming in, the news as to why this

man would commit this evil.

I do know that to commit such an atrocity in the young man's heart,

his heart must have been filled with anger that led to fury and violence.

Paul warned the Ephesians about the deadly fury of anger in Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 4:26–27

4 verse 26 to 27 Be angry and yet do not sin.

Do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not give the devil an opportunity.

I want you to see here that Paul was explaining to the Ephesians about the dangers of anger.

Which he was referring to as the emotion of anger.

The word that Paul used for anger meant the state of being intensely provoked, the angry mood.

I'm showing you this word because there was a difference between having the

emotion of anger and then acting out that anger.

The reason why I say this is because the Ephesian believers in Christ had a

lot to contend with in Ephesian and Ephesus.

And it's understandable that they would have to deal with the emotion of anger.

There was a period of time in Ephesus where the spread of the gospel was going

so well that people were burning all their magic books and destroying their

idols and tokens of the goddess Artemis and other gods.

Now there is no action without reaction, and thus those who made money on the

magic books and the making of silver idols were extremely angry with the Christians

who decided to try to attack the believers in that city.

The event in Acts where the whole city was in an uproar And the disciples had

to stop Paul from addressing the crowds Was just the beginning of this persecution.

Therefore the Ephesians Christians could have been angry At the evil persecution

of God's saints in that city Why?

Because God is angry at these evils There also was the division going on in

the church In Ephesus between the Jewish Christians and the non-Jewish Christians

with lies and falsehoods told against each other,

and possibly other sins happening amongst the Christians.

And thus Paul communicated that while it's right to be angry against sin.

Paul warned them to not let the emotion of anger change into angry thoughts

that are settled in our minds and their minds, which then would lead to anger in action.

Both the settled thoughts of anger and the outbursts of anger are sin and would

open them up to an opportunity for Satan,

consume them with more and more evil that very well could end up in revenge and violence.

Paul also communicated that the believers in Christ were not to let the sun go down on their anger,

meaning that if a believer sleeps or goes to sleep with an angry mind,

They will mull and obsess on that anger all night And then that anger will become

fury And fury is devastating to all around it Like a forest fire,

a spark of anger can be devastating If it's not properly managed and then put

out Because if it gets away from you, it will consume everything.

I want to show you another scripture that deals with this issue of being angry and yet not sinning.

David in Psalm 4, verse 4 declared, Tremble and do not sin.

Psalms 4:4

Ponder in your heart upon your bed and be still. Selah.

In Psalm 4, David was generally addressing his enemies, but primarily Absalom, his son.

Absalom was angry at David.

Amnon, who was David's oldest son, raped Absalom's sister Tamar,

who was also David's daughter.

David would do nothing politically against his firstborn, Amnon.

So Absalom took revenge on Amnon and had him killed.

Then Absalom fled the country, and David would not see Absalom for five years,

even with a couple of attempts by advisors to bring Absalom back.

And when Absalom was brought back, Absalom started planning to take over the

kingdom from his father.

In Psalm 4, David was pleading with his son, be angry, but do not sin.

David was saying, my son, I know you're angry with me and you have every right

to be, but do not let the emotion of anger cause you to sin against God and

attack God's people and his anointed king.

Because once you let your emotions take hold of your heart, they will control

you and you will turn against the Lord and his wrath will be upon you.

Please do not do this, my son.

The word that the psalmist used for tremble meant to tremble with anger, to be angry.

Yet I want you to notice that David gave a solution to the problem of unmanaged anger.

David told Absalom to go to a private place like his room and meditate and be still before God.

The word used for meditate meant to command or to say to yourself.

The idea in Psalm 4, verse 4, is that we are to preach to ourselves the truth

Psalms 4:4

of God's word, of who God is, who we are in relation to God,

and then command ourselves to follow God's word.

We command ourselves to believe God, trust him, and rely on his joy as our strength.

We command ourselves to give control over the situation to the Lord and give

up vengeance into the hands of God and let him take care of it.

We command or preach to ourselves the truth of God's forgiveness of us.

And in response to God's forgiveness, we were to let go of the hurt and desire

for recompense and absolve that person of their guilt towards us and let it go.

Remember, Christ is our example.

He gave up or laid down his rights to pay our debt of blood so that we owed to him.

So that God's wrath against those who believe in Christ may be appeased forever.

I'm sharing these insights from Psalm 4 because in order to be able to take

Paul's command in Ephesians 4 and not sin in regard to anger,

we must be still before the Lord,

allow His Word to speak to us, and then speak or preach God's Word back to us as well.

It is God's Word that calms and comforts and eases a hurting and angry soul.

It is God's word that teaches us how to obey God in every general situation.

There are so many voices in our lives pulling us in so many directions.

Voices in our culture, from the media, from our peers, from Satan and our sinful flesh.

Especially from the media, every side has their different take on the facts on any situation.

It is very hard to know exactly what the truth is, but the word of God is the truth.

God is saying to us as believers to know the word of God and then preach to

ourselves God's truth and then command ourselves to obey God.

We're not to let any other voice tell us how to live, but God's voice through his word.

We do not think clearly and make godly choices when we let our emotions, like anger, control us.

What David and Paul was explaining was that if we are angry,

it is essential to preach to ourselves the truth of God right away and then

go to a private place to meditate and be still before God.

If we go to bed angry, we will wake up furious.

I know, because it's happened to me before. And if we stay in a place where

we are continually reminded about the issue, we will be angry about that issue

and continue to dwell upon the injustice or evil that has been occurring.

And then what will happen? We'll become more and more angry,

and that anger will give the devil the foothold he wants in our heart and mind,

and then evil things will happen through us.

That is why it's so essential to be still. Preaching and commanding ourselves

to trust and obey God's word cannot be done unless we are still.

Psalm 46 verse 10 says, be still and know that I am God.

Psalms 46:10

And although Psalm 46 is most likely in the context of the end times where God

commands his people not to run

or stop fighting him and trust that he is there to fight for his people,

it also means that in the midst of injustice and hatred or people having done

unloving things towards us.

We, you and I, are to trust in calmness that God is the Lord,

that He is in control, that we are not, and that He is with us.

And we're not to run from Him. We're to stay with Him.

We're to let God be God over us because we are not. It is not just about physical

stillness, although definitely that can help.

It's about spiritual and mental stillness in the midst of challenging times.

We can be still in the internal recesses of our mind, heart,

and soul because we're absolutely convinced that God is God and that He is with us.

What has God been teaching us today?

In our passage today, God through Paul commands us that as part of Christ's

church, we're not to speak lies and falsehood against each other,

but rather to speak the truth of God's word to each other.

Secondly, Paul warns us as Christians not to let our emotion of anger change

into the self-focused angry thoughts and actions which are sin and will open

us up to Satan and consume us with evil.

God has also taught us that as believers in Christ, we're not to let the sun

go down on our anger, because if we go to sleep with an angry mind,

there's a high probability that we will wake up furious and ready to commit sin.

This is a challenging passage of scripture But oh,

such a freeing one When we get caught up

in unforgiveness and hatred And vengeance for lies

told against us We are being enslaved in a cycle that never stops It'll create

a monster out of us I also want to strongly encourage us to not speak lies Or

entertain gossip or slander against one another Because lies are definitely

a fire that will destroy everything in its wake,

Instead, in the love of Christ, speak the truths of God to each other so that

we can all be built up in the image of God. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your word.

May you teach us. May your Holy Spirit work in us.

And may the truths that were imparted today grow in our hearts and bear fruit for your eternal glory.

Thank you. May we walk according to your ways.

With your Spirit as we trust in your Son, Jesus Christ. In your precious Son's

name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

I'll leave you with 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23-24. Now may the God of peace

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24

himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body

be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it.

Have a wonderful Sunday. May the Lord bless you. Thank you.