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Voddie Baucham - Why Church Membership Matters · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Well, this morning, if you will open your Bibles with
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  Speaker 1: me to the book of Ephesians, we will take a
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  Speaker 1: brief excursion in the midst of a hiatus. If you'll remember,
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  Speaker 1: we started with the first six chapters of Daniel and
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  Speaker 1: then paused there and went to the first five chapters
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  Speaker 1: of Revelation, then put a pin there to come back
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  Speaker 1: and finish Daniel. We still have a couple more chapters
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  Speaker 1: left to go in that. But before we go back
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  Speaker 1: and finish our time in Daniel and then get back
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  Speaker 1: to Revelation, we take this break today in view of
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  Speaker 1: our conference to address this issue of membership in the
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  Speaker 1: local body. And to do so from a passage of
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  Speaker 1: Scripture that is very familiar. And as we've said on
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  Speaker 1: many occasions, that is one of the most dangerous statements
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  Speaker 1: that we can ever make, that a passage of Scripture
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  Speaker 1: is is very familiar. Because the more familiar we are
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  Speaker 1: with a text, the more likely we are to make assumptions.
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  Speaker 1: And the more likely we are to make assumptions, the
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  Speaker 1: more likely we are to be very, very wrong. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: How many times do, in our course of reading the Scriptures,
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  Speaker 1: do we come across a passage of Scripture that's very
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  Speaker 1: familiar to you, And you don't even look down as
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  Speaker 1: we read. You're sort of glancing up as we read
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  Speaker 1: and look down as we read. And you're saying it
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  Speaker 1: because it's so familiar to you. But then there are
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  Speaker 1: a couple of words that are different than you remembered.
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  Speaker 1: And then you have to stop and pause and look
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  Speaker 1: back down at your Bible to pick up and make
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  Speaker 1: sure that we're in the right place. Because we're certain
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  Speaker 1: that everybody else has messed up because we have to
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  Speaker 1: have it right in our minds. Amen? Not always the case.
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  Speaker 1: It's never the case. It's always us that's wrong and
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  Speaker 1: not everyone else. In Ephesians chapter 4, we find one
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  Speaker 1: of those passages of Scripture that's familiar. And though there
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  Speaker 1: may be instances within the paragraph that we'll read here,
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  Speaker 1: this last paragraph, where there are words that are different
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  Speaker 1: than you remember, that's not what I mean when I
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  Speaker 1: talk about us being wrong in our familiarity. I believe
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  Speaker 1: that it is the tenor of this text, the purpose
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  Speaker 1: of this text, and the broader context of this passage
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  Speaker 1: of Scripture that we miss because of our familiarity. So
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  Speaker 1: what I want to do is just read it for you.
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  Speaker 1: And as I read it for you, just let it
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  Speaker 1: rest upon you the way it normally does. And then
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  Speaker 1: back up and look at the context and the tone
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  Speaker 1: and the tenor of this passage of Scripture. and how
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  Speaker 1: it relates to the issue of church membership, which we
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  Speaker 1: almost inevitably miss in this paragraph. Ephesians chapter 4, beginning
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  Speaker 1: at verse 25. And if you have the ESV, let's
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  Speaker 1: read this together. Would you stand with me? If you
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  Speaker 1: don't have the ESV, I'm not saying that your Bible
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  Speaker 1: is bad. It just won't work very well if you
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  Speaker 1: read with us. Ephesians chapter 5, chapter 4, I'm sorry,
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  Speaker 1: beginning at verse 25. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let
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  Speaker 1: each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor,
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  Speaker 1: for we are members of one another. Be angry and
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  Speaker 1: do not sin. Do not let the sun go down
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  Speaker 1: on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.
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  Speaker 1: Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor,
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  Speaker 1: doing honest work with his own hands so that he
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  Speaker 1: may have something to share with anyone in need. Let
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  Speaker 1: no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only
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  Speaker 1: such as is good for building up. Assert the occasion
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  Speaker 1: to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy
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  Speaker 1: Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the
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  Speaker 1: day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger
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  Speaker 1: and clamor and slander be put away from you, along
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  Speaker 1: with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving
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  Speaker 1: one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Amen. Please
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  Speaker 1: take your seats. As we read that text, let me
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  Speaker 1: make several observations before we even begin to examine this
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  Speaker 1: passage of Scripture. As we read that text, it's very
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  Speaker 1: familiar to us. But it's familiar to us because we
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  Speaker 1: often apply this text almost exclusively to interpersonal relationships and
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  Speaker 1: not just any interpersonal relationships. But as we read this text,
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  Speaker 1: what immediately came to your mind was, was the relationship
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  Speaker 1: between husband and wife in the home and the relationship
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  Speaker 1: between siblings in the home, you probably didn't immediately think
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  Speaker 1: about the relationship between members of a local congregation. Inevitably,
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  Speaker 1: as we read this text, what we think about is
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  Speaker 1: those relationships that we have with people outside of the
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  Speaker 1: context of the local church. we think about those people
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  Speaker 1: to whom we are most closely related. Because it is
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  Speaker 1: those people, the ones with whom we are most closely related,
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  Speaker 1: that we are most likely to engage with in a
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  Speaker 1: manner where we have to remind ourselves of these truths. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: There's another aspect to this, though, that I believe is
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  Speaker 1: a little bit off because of our familiarity. Again, not
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  Speaker 1: that it's wrong to apply these truths to the way
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  Speaker 1: that we relate as husband and wife or the way
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  Speaker 1: that we relate in the home as brother and sister.
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  Speaker 1: I was reading, by the way, on verse 32. I
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  Speaker 1: was waiting to hear a lot of high-pitched voices as
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  Speaker 1: children heard this all-too-familiar verse. Be kind to one another.
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  Speaker 1: I could just see all over the room kids going, oh,
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  Speaker 1: wait a minute, I know that. Because if you have
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  Speaker 1: children and more than one, you know Ephesians chapter 4
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  Speaker 1: and verse 32. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. All right.
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  Speaker 1: But there's another issue here. As we read that, and
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  Speaker 1: if we just sort of let it rest on our hearing,
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  Speaker 1: it comes across as a list of things that we
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  Speaker 1: must do to be good Christians. Almost just pure law.
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  Speaker 1: Just imperative after imperative after imperative. And I don't know
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  Speaker 1: about you, but when I read a passage like that,
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  Speaker 1: and there are all these imperatives, what it forces me
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  Speaker 1: to do is examine those areas in my life that are,
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  Speaker 1: shall we say, not exactly in line all the time
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  Speaker 1: with what I'm being commanded to do. Or shall I
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  Speaker 1: just be more honest? It shows me my sin. And
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't give me a lot of hope. There are
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  Speaker 1: a couple of ways that you can respond to a
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  Speaker 1: passage like this. When you read a passage like this
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  Speaker 1: and all these imperatives and we hear over and over
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  Speaker 1: and over again the things that we're not doing that
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  Speaker 1: we ought to be doing or the things that we
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  Speaker 1: are doing well wherein we should be encouraged, there are
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  Speaker 1: two responses. The one response is to be absolutely overwhelmed
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  Speaker 1: and crushed under the weight of it. Because we can't
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  Speaker 1: get there from here. Because we always have to be
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  Speaker 1: reminded of this. Because we mess up on this one
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  Speaker 1: over and over and over again. That's one response. And
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  Speaker 1: it can be discouraging. But there's another response I believe
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  Speaker 1: is worse. And that's the response that looks at it
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  Speaker 1: and goes, rich young ruler. Yeah, I did that. I'm good.
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  Speaker 1: That's even worse. That kind of self-righteousness where we actually
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  Speaker 1: believe that there has been a single day in our
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  Speaker 1: life where we have done this to the degree that
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  Speaker 1: it's required of us. That's dangerous. That's self-righteousness. That's as
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  Speaker 1: far away from the truth, I believe, as we can
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  Speaker 1: possibly get. So, we don't want to fall on this
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  Speaker 1: side of the road where we view this exclusively in
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  Speaker 1: our interpersonal relationships outside of church membership nor do we
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  Speaker 1: want to fall on the other side of the road
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  Speaker 1: where we view this exclusively as imperatives and law that
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  Speaker 1: we're supposed to pull up our bootstraps and do just
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  Speaker 1: because we can so how do we look at this
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  Speaker 1: i'm glad you asked we have to put it in
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  Speaker 1: its context And once we put it into its context,
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  Speaker 1: several things will become clear. One, you'll understand what this
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  Speaker 1: has to do with membership of the local church. Two,
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  Speaker 1: you'll understand that it... absolutely applies to those other interpersonal
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  Speaker 1: relationships but not in the way that we think different
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  Speaker 1: starting point and three will understand that this is in
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  Speaker 1: no way just pure law you know the way we
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  Speaker 1: use it with our children Let's put this in context. First, again,
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  Speaker 1: we're familiar with this, the book of Ephesians. The book
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  Speaker 1: of Ephesians is beautiful in many ways and for many reasons,
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  Speaker 1: not least of which is its symmetry, divided right down
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  Speaker 1: the middle. The first three chapters, the last three chapters.
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  Speaker 1: The first three chapters, orthodoxy. The last three chapters, orthopraxy.
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  Speaker 1: The first three chapters, right believing. The last three chapters,
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  Speaker 1: right behaving. The first three chapters, indicatives. The last three chapters, imperatives.
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  Speaker 1: The first three chapters, who we are in Christ. The
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  Speaker 1: last three chapters, how we live in light of and
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  Speaker 1: because of who we are in Christ. And he lets
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  Speaker 1: us know about this division at the end of chapter
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  Speaker 1: 3 and the beginning of chapter 4. Chapter 3 ends
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  Speaker 1: with a doxology and an amen. Amen. Chapter 4 begins
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  Speaker 1: with a therefore clause. So he says at the end
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  Speaker 1: of chapter 3, I'm closing something out. And he says
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  Speaker 1: at the beginning of chapter 4, I'm starting something new.
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  Speaker 1: But we also see this because of the tone and
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  Speaker 1: the tenor of the two halves of the letter. The
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  Speaker 1: first half, again, the indicative half. For those who may
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  Speaker 1: not know what this means, an indicative indicates what something is.
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  Speaker 1: I'm indicating that that is our worship bulletin. That's an indicative.
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  Speaker 1: I'm indicating what it is. That is a worship bulletin.
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  Speaker 1: Pick up the worship bulletin. That's an imperative telling me
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  Speaker 1: something to do. Now, from a theological standpoint, indicatives tell
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  Speaker 1: us who we are in light of the finished work
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ, who we are because of what Christ
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  Speaker 1: has accomplished on our behalf. It is a picture that
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  Speaker 1: points to the reality that we don't always see. And
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  Speaker 1: therefore must be reminded of. That's the indicative side of it.
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  Speaker 1: The imperatives are what we are called, commanded, and enabled
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  Speaker 1: to do because of who we are in Christ. And
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  Speaker 1: if we mix these up, if we don't understand the
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  Speaker 1: difference between the indicative and the imperative... Then we will
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  Speaker 1: look at the indicatives as though they are something that
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  Speaker 1: we are called to accomplish in and of ourselves, which
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  Speaker 1: is works righteousness, which is the absolute opposite of the
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  Speaker 1: truth of the gospel. Or if all we have is
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  Speaker 1: the indicatives and no imperatives, that leads us to a
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  Speaker 1: sort of antinomianism as though Christ's righteousness in us is
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  Speaker 1: not real. bears no fruit, makes no difference, brings about
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  Speaker 1: no change. So both of these are important. An example,
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  Speaker 1: the classic example of finding the indicatives and the imperatives together,
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  Speaker 1: I believe is there in Philippians 2. Philippians 2.12, work
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  Speaker 1: out your own salvation in fear and trembling. It's one
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  Speaker 1: of the scariest passages in the entire Bible. I say
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  Speaker 1: one of because Because there's others that are scarier. I
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  Speaker 1: could give you a list, but I won't. But that's scary.
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  Speaker 1: Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. That's just scary.
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  Speaker 1: It even has fear and trembling in it. And it's
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  Speaker 1: an imperative. So does that mean that the Christian life
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  Speaker 1: is lived like this? What's the next verse? It is
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  Speaker 1: God who works in us both to will and to
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  Speaker 1: work for his good pleasure. There's the indicative. There's the indicative.
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  Speaker 1: And in Ephesians, we find it first half and then
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  Speaker 1: second half. Our text today comes in the second half
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  Speaker 1: of the letter. So in order to understand its significance,
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  Speaker 1: we have to understand a little bit about the first
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  Speaker 1: half of the letter. Bear with me for a moment.
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  Speaker 1: In the first half of the letter, I believe what
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  Speaker 1: we have is a series of three overarching indicatives that
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  Speaker 1: help us understand the entire letter to the Ephesians. At
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  Speaker 1: the end of each chapter, there's a sort of crescendo,
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  Speaker 1: if you will. And we get this picture of the
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  Speaker 1: overarching indicative that's given in that chapter. Look with me,
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  Speaker 1: for example, at the end of chapter 1. In verse 22.
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  Speaker 1: And he put all things under his feet and gave him, Christ,
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  Speaker 1: as head over all things to the church, which is
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  Speaker 1: his body, the fullness of him, Christ... So here's a
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  Speaker 1: picture of Christ's headship over his church. Christ is the
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  Speaker 1: head of his church. That's one of the main overarching
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  Speaker 1: indicatives in the book of Ephesians. Christ is the head
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  Speaker 1: of his church. If you want to understand the imperatives
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  Speaker 1: in the second half, understand this first and foremost. Christ
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  Speaker 1: is the head of his church. Wives, submit to your
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  Speaker 1: own husbands as unto the Lord. Why? Because Christ is
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  Speaker 1: the head of his church. Amen? Look at the end
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  Speaker 1: of chapter 2, beginning of verse 19. So then, you
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  Speaker 1: are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow
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  Speaker 1: citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.
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  Speaker 1: Look at this language, household of God, built with On
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  Speaker 1: the foundation of the apostles and prophets. So we got household, build, foundations.
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  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. Household, build, foundation, cornerstone.
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  Speaker 1: And whom the whole structure being joined together grows into.
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  Speaker 1: Now we go from language about a dwelling where people
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  Speaker 1: live to language about a spiritual dwelling. Being built together
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  Speaker 1: into a dwelling place for God by the spirit. So
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  Speaker 1: we have Christ's headship over his body. Now we see
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  Speaker 1: a picture of unity in Christ's body. One Lord, one faith,
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  Speaker 1: one baptism, one God and Father. That's how chapter 4 begins. Unity, unity, unity, unity.
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  Speaker 1: Christ's head over his body. And the next major indicative
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  Speaker 1: is this unity in Christ's body. That is being brought
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  Speaker 1: about by the Spirit. That's the work that the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: is doing. He is calling out, bringing together, and unifying
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  Speaker 1: Christ's body. And then at the end of chapter 3,
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  Speaker 1: there is this great crescendo that ends it all. Now
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  Speaker 1: to him who is able to do far more abundantly
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  Speaker 1: than all we ask or think, according to the power
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  Speaker 1: at work within us, according to the power at work
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  Speaker 1: within us, according to the power at work within us,
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  Speaker 1: to him be glory in the church and in Christ
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  Speaker 1: Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. There's glory
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  Speaker 1: that the body gives to its head. So we have
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  Speaker 1: Christ and his headship over his body. We have the
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  Speaker 1: unity in Christ's body. And then there is this glory
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  Speaker 1: that the body gives to its head. I believe that
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  Speaker 1: those three main overarching indicatives help to put the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the book of Ephesians in context. And especially our paragraph.
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  Speaker 1: Now go with me to our paragraph beginning in verse 25.
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  Speaker 1: And there's a couple of things that I want to
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  Speaker 1: show you. One, I want you to see this in
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  Speaker 1: light of the indicatives in the first half of the letter.
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  Speaker 1: But I also want you to see that if you're
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  Speaker 1: like me, and as you read here, you missed indicatives
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  Speaker 1: here in the second half. In the first half, it's indicatives, indicatives, indicatives, indicatives.
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  Speaker 1: And you would think in the second half, we just
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  Speaker 1: get imperatives, right? No, we actually get imperatives and more indicatives. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: having put away falsehood, It is a therefore put away falsehood. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: having put away falsehood. Pointing to the paragraph before, there's
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  Speaker 1: a picture there of what has happened to us because
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  Speaker 1: we are in Christ. You have put away falsehood because
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  Speaker 1: you're in Christ. You don't put away falsehood so that
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  Speaker 1: you can be in Christ. If you could put away
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  Speaker 1: falsehood so that you could be in Christ, why would
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  Speaker 1: you need to be in Christ? You have put away
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  Speaker 1: falsehood because you're in Christ. This is indicative. This is
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  Speaker 1: who we are. We are not people of falsehood because
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  Speaker 1: we are in Christ. Old things have passed away. New
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  Speaker 1: things have come. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each
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  Speaker 1: one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for
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  Speaker 1: we are members of one another. There's another indicative. It's
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  Speaker 1: not just speak the truth. Speak the truth. Don't tell lies.
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  Speaker 1: Speak the truth. Don't tell lies. Is that true that
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  Speaker 1: we should speak the truth and not tell lies? Yes, absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: We shouldn't bear false witness. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Don't lie. Can you do that? I can't do that.
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  Speaker 1: I'm a liar. Newsflash, you are too. And if you
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  Speaker 1: just thought, no, I'm not, that was a lie. But
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  Speaker 1: watch what he does here. Therefore, having put away falsehood, okay,
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  Speaker 1: Number one, lying is inconsistent with who you are in Christ. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Lying is inconsistent with the reality of who you are
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  Speaker 1: in Christ. Let each one of you speak the truth
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  Speaker 1: to his neighbor, for we are members of one another,
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  Speaker 1: because we belong to each other. So watch. Remember what
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  Speaker 1: I said about these indicatives? Yes. They tell us who
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  Speaker 1: we are in Christ. They empower us and motivate us.
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  Speaker 1: That's what's just happened here. Who are you? You're one
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  Speaker 1: who's put away falsehood. You've put away falsehood because of
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  Speaker 1: who Christ is in you. Therefore, speak the truth with
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  Speaker 1: your neighbor. Why? Because we are members of one another.
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  Speaker 1: We belong to one another. Newsflash, I have been united
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  Speaker 1: to Christ. And because I've been united to Christ, I've
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  Speaker 1: been united to you as my brother and or sister
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  Speaker 1: in Christ. If I'm united to Christ, number one, I
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  Speaker 1: am no longer a man of falsehood. I've been transformed
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  Speaker 1: into a man who's put away falsehood. But even beyond that,
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  Speaker 1: because you are a member of Christ and also a
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  Speaker 1: member of me as we are both in Christ, To
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  Speaker 1: lie to you is to lie to the one who
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  Speaker 1: bought me. We belong to each other. We belong to
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  Speaker 1: each other. Folks, this is church membership. Now, are there
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  Speaker 1: implications here for family life and so on and so forth? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: there are. But don't put the emphasis on the wrong syllable.
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  Speaker 1: This is not true because it, quote, unquote, works in
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  Speaker 1: family life. This works in family life because it's true.
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  Speaker 1: And note, when I say works in family life, I'm
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  Speaker 1: using that because it works semantically, okay? I'm not using
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  Speaker 1: that pragmatically. If you do this right here, your family
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  Speaker 1: life will be all squared away. Newsflash, if you go
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  Speaker 1: home today and don't lie to each other, you're still
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  Speaker 1: going to be dysfunctional. Amen. There's only ever been one
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  Speaker 1: family that wasn't dysfunctional. That was Adam and Eve, and
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  Speaker 1: they invented dysfunction. We belong to each other. Let each
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  Speaker 1: one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for
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  Speaker 1: we are members of one another. Notice he says, with
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: his neighbor. This is about our membership. Now, this doesn't
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: mean that we can go lying to everyone else with impunity.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: but understand the context. This is about Christ's headship over
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: his body, unity in Christ's body, and the glory that
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the body gives to its head. And it brings glory
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: to Christ when we live with one another in this way.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Then he says, be angry and do not sin. Do
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: not let the sun go down on your anger. We
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: read that and we always apply that to husband and wife.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Don't we? If you can't say amen, you ought to
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: say ouch. We do. We read that and we always
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: apply it to husband and wife. Don't let the sun
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: go down on your anger because husband and wife, you know,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: they sleep in the same room, they sleep in the
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: same bed. So, you know, before you go to bed,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: make sure that if you're angry that, you know, you reconcile.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Don't go to bed angry, okay? Don't go to bed angry.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: That's not a bad idea. It's not what the text says.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Remember the context. This is membership in the body of Christ.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: This is us being united to one another in the church.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: So this is, again, I'm not saying that you ought
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: to go to bed angry with your spouse or that
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: you ought to go to bed, you know, not having
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: dealt with and reconciled with your spouse. I'm not saying
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: that at all. But what I am saying is that
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: the picture that's being painted here is that we don't
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: let the sun go down on our anger between one
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: another as fellow members in a covenant body. It's not
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: just true for you and your wife. That's true for
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: you and me too. And you and him and you
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: and her and you and it's true for us who
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: belong to one another here in the body of Christ.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Why is it? Look at this. Be angry and do
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: not sin. Do not let the sun go down on
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. To
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: do what? To do what? To establish bitterness and distance
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: between us because we don't keep short accounts. Why? Because
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: we belong to one another. Amen? And because we belong
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: to Christ. And because that's not who we are. This
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: is about membership. Membership. This is about how people in
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: a body deal with one another. But you know what
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: we do oftentimes? What we say is, that's fine. I
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: just won't deal with him. I just won't deal with her.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: There's plenty of other people in the church. You ever
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: hurt your pinky toe? I've broken mine on a number
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: of occasions. And you know what? Doesn't matter how big
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: and strong you are. If you break your pinky toe,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: walking is extremely difficult. And all the rest of your body.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: What you say is, that's okay. I'll just put my
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: weight elsewhere. Then what happens? You start getting cramps everywhere.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: in other muscles in your body because you've changed your
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: gait in order to not put weight on your pinky toe.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: And so now your other members are being affected because
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: of that one small part of your body. Do you
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: think for a moment that you as a member of
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: the body of Christ can harbor anger and bitterness toward
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: another member of the body of Christ and just bypass them,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: circumvent them, go somewhere else, and that never resurface as
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: a problem? We belong to one another. This is about
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Christ's headship over his body. This is about the unity
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: in Christ's body and the glory that the body gives
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: to its head. Our desire is that Christ be glorified.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Then look at this one. It's always interesting because this
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: is the one, when we try to make this just
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: about interpersonal relationships, this is the one that gets really difficult.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: It's really hard to kind of, you know, apply this one.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: doing honest work with his own hands, so that he
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: might have something to share with anyone in need. That
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: doesn't fit the marriage thing real well. If this is
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: just about how we do marriage. We're going to get
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: to marriage. And by the way, when we get to
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: marriage in the next chapter, what does he do? He
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: points back to those indicatives in the first half. He
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: points it back to the gospel. He points it back
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: to who we are in Christ. We're going to get
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: to that. Do these things apply in a marriage relationship? Yes,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: they do. But if we try to force that on
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: this text, this one right here doesn't fit. By the way, husband,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: if you're stealing from your wife, you need to... You know,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: you don't get that one a whole lot. You don't
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: get the couple sitting down before the marriage counselor. Mr.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: and Mrs. Jones, how can I help you? He steals
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: my things. Okay, I just have to ask you because
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: it'll make a difference in how we sort of approach this.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: What Which things does he... Okay. Let the thief no
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: longer steal, but rather let him labor. If I'm stealing,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: what am I doing? Stealing is me, illegitimately, making use
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: of something that belongs to you, but it belongs to
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: you because of your labor. So you've labored. And I'm
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: illegitimately benefiting from your labor. by the way you're a
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: member of the body of Christ so whatever you have
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: comes from Christ I am not only benefiting from your
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: labor illegitimately but I'm also saying that God does not
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: know how to distribute goods among his people and I
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: can do better He says, don't do that, but instead
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: labor with your hands. And then there's this phrase, so
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: that you might have something to share with anyone in need.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: What's the opposite of me illegitimately benefiting from the labor
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: of another member of the body of Christ? What's the
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: opposite of that? Me laboring so that I have excess
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: so that when there are other members of the body
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: of Christ, they can benefit from my labor, but not illegitimately,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: very legitimately. Because I'm more than willing to give. Why?
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Because we belong to one another. Do you see how
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: church membership is the only way that these things fit
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: and make sense? It's because we belong to one another.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: It's because of covenant membership. By the way, this does
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: not fit if we're just talking about the universal church.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: David can't borrow my stuff. What about King David? He's gone.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: He's gone. You can't borrow my stuff, okay? Others who
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: have gone on before, those whom I don't know, that
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: this doesn't work there. And it's definitely not just in
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: general with everyone who's out there. The context here forces
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: us to look at it in church membership, but in
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: church membership in a local body where we know one another,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: where we know who members are. This doesn't make sense
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: in another context. This only works if we are supposed
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: to be members of a local church, accountable to a
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: local church, and in covenant with one another. Otherwise, it
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: doesn't work. It doesn't fit. Look at the next part
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: of this. This is another one that we put. Now
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: we get into the siblings. The first part of that,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: we talk about marriage, and then there's that little inconvenient
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: stealing passage. And then we get to talking about siblings.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: So generally, here's where we get to talking to our
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: children about the way they relate to one another, okay?
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: That first part, we take and we go marriage. And
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: then that second part, we kind of go, yeah, don't
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: know what to do with that. And then that last part,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: we go to siblings. Let no corrupting talk come out
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: of your mouths. That corrupting talk, by the way, it's corrosive.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Think about what acid does and how acid corrodes. Let
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: nothing come out of your mouth that corrodes like acid.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: That's very important, by the way. Let no corrupting talk
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: come out of your mouths, but only such as is
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: good for building up. By the way, did we hear
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: some building language earlier? We heard building language in chapter 2.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: The first major indicative is, is Christ who is head
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: over his body. That second major indicative is this unity
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: in the body as the spirit is building the body up.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: So we've heard this building language before. So now don't
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: speak words that are corrosive like acid. Acid destroys. Instead,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: you're to speak words that build. The spirit of God
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: is building the church. As fits the occasion that it
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: may give grace to those who hear. And then here's
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: a verse that's so difficult for us to interpret. What
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: does this mean? And do not grieve the Holy Spirit
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: of God by whom you were sealed for the day
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: of redemption. What does it mean? How do you grieve
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: the Spirit? Really simple when you put it in context.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Who's the one building the body? The Spirit. The Spirit.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: You're speaking words that are like acid destroying what the
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Spirit is building. You're grieving the Spirit in His work
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: of building this body as He redeems us and brings
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: us to Christ, unites us with Christ, and unites us
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: with one another. Of course it's grievous to the Spirit
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: of God when we are tearing down that which He's building. Why? Why?
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Because we belong to one another. We belong to one another.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: This is a beautiful thing. If Christ is my head
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: and yours, and if we are unified because we both
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: belong to Christ, And if it brings much glory to
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: Christ as we're conformed to his image, then as I
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: speak words to you that build you, I am being
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: used by God to accomplish his work of bringing glory
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: and honor to the one who died to redeem both
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: you and me. That's a beautiful thing. This is not
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: just about us enduring each other. This is about us
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: building each other. That my desire for you, that your
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: desire for me would be that the other would be
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: conformed to the image of Christ and that our words
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: would have a building impact in that regard. This is
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: not about manipulating people, by the way. That's not what
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: the text is talking about here. This is what the
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Spirit is doing. This is not about me manipulating you
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: so that you like me more. This is about my
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: desire for Christ. This is about me being transformed. This
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: is about the one who redeemed me being foremost in
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: my heart and in my mind and in my desires.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: And when I know that you belong to him, my
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: greatest desire is as you would bring him much glory,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: that he would have the full reward for which he
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: laid down his life. Finally, let all bitterness and wrath
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: along with all malice. And then here's the verse. Kids,
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: can we say this together? Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. Can
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: I just confess to having blown it on a number
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: of occasions with my own children and my use of this?
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Because I think that's the best way for us to
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: understand how we misuse this verse, which I believe will
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: open our eyes To the whole point of this message.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: Johnny's unconverted. Johnny doesn't know Christ. Johnny and Susie are
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: like oil and water. And it's just constant. And I
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: look at Johnny and I say, Johnny, Ephesians 4.32. And
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Johnny says, head down. Be kind to one another. By
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: the way, Johnny generally is not going to finish the
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: rest of the verse because Johnny doesn't know all the verse.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Johnny just knows to be kind to one another. He
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: puts his head down, be kind to one another. The
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: head down means I failed again. I wasn't kind. I
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: got to do better. I need to do better. I
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: need to be kind to Susie. You know what the
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: problem is with that? Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: forgiving one another as God and Christ also forgave you.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: My ability to forgive is contingent upon my having been forgiven.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: It is a byproduct of what Christ has done in
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: me to tell little Johnny to just be kind to
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: his sister as pure law. It's basically saying, Johnny, you
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: can do in and of yourself that which only Christ
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: can produce through his death, burial, and resurrection. You don't
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: need Jesus to save you. You just need to try harder.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: You know the worst thing that could happen to little Johnny?
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: Is that he succeed. That's the worst thing in the
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: world that could happen to little Johnny. Is that he
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: walk around thinking that he did Ephesians 4.32 as an
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: unconverted child who does not know Christ. So is this
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: off the table? No. How could I do that without
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: doing the thing? It's got to be off the table, Pastor. No,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: it doesn't. Yeah, I mean, it does because I can't.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, what else am I going to do? I
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: don't know. Maybe this. Johnny, Ephesians 4.32, be kind to
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: one another. The rest of it, tenderhearted, forgiving each other
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: as God and Christ also forgave you. Johnny, do you
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: know why you're unforgiving toward your sister? Because you desperately
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: need forgiveness that can only come from God. And you
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: haven't received it. Do you know what your attitude toward
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: your sister ought to remind you of, Johnny? That you
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: need Christ. Christ. that you're not saved and you need
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: to be. Same verse, same reminder, completely different theology. This
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: theology says, Johnny, I want to remind you that you
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: just showed the fruit that you're not saved. The other
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: one says, Johnny, I want to remind you, you're not
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: working quite hard enough because if you were, you would
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: be righteous by your own works apart from Christ. two
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: completely different theologies from the exact same verse. Now, we
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: don't give up on the imperatives. We just root them
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: in the indicatives. And Johnny's got to be reminded of
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: all of this stuff, but every time Johnny's reminded of it,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: And it gets tiring to remind Johnny of it. But
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: every time we remind him of it, what we remind
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: him of is his desperate need for Christ to be
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: formed in him. His desperate need to come to repentance
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: and faith. His desperate need to not be who he is,
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: but to be somebody else. And his inability to become
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: that somebody else. But the fact that he doesn't have
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: to become that somebody else in and of himself. Because
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: Christ died that sinners through their repentance and faith might
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: become new creatures in Christ. And here's the newsflash. It's
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: the same with you and your wife. And it's the
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: same with you and your fellow members. In this body.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: I'm angry with him. I'm angry with her. Forgive. By
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: the way, newsflash, forgiveness doesn't mean that you forget. Human
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: beings were not made to forget. When human beings forget,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: that means they're malfunctioning. You either have Alzheimer's or you
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: took a blow to the head. We weren't made to forget.
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: That's not what forgiveness is. In fact, the beauty of
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: forgiveness is seen more clearly in the fact that we
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: don't forget. You know what forgiveness is? Forgiveness says, oh,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: I remember it, but I relinquish every right that I
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: have to retribution against you. That's forgiveness. That's forgiveness. That's forgiveness.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: And why can we do that? Because we're forgiven. That's why.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: I'm able to do that. I'm empowered to do that.
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: And I'm reminded to do that because I am forgiven
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: in Christ. Otherwise, here's what I'm saying. If it's a believer,
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: here's what I'm saying to the believer. I know Jesus
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: died for that sin. And that's enough for the Father,
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: but it ain't enough for me. I need you to
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: experience the discomfort of my anger and my ire toward
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: you in addition to Christ's death on the cross. Yeah,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: it satisfied the father's wrath, but not mine. That's what
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: you say to a believer whom you won't forgive. By
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: the way, it's not all that better for an unbeliever.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: You know what you say to an unbeliever whom you
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: won't forgive? You are going to die and spend eternity
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: in hell for your sin against a holy and righteous God.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: And that's enough for God, but it's not enough for me.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: You need eternity in hell plus my nasty looks. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that'll fix it. That can't be our response.
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: Because when we're reminded that That God in Christ has
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: forgiven us. Here's what we're reminded of. Whatever you did
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: to me pales in comparison to what was nailed to
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: the cross on my behalf. How dare I not forgive?
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: You see how you connect the indicatives and the imperatives?
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: It's a beautiful thing. These imperatives are still here. They're
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: still here. They haven't gone anywhere. They're still important. But
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: why are they important? Because if we try hard enough,
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: we can do it. No, no, no. They're important because
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: they point us again and again and again to the
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: fact that we are redeemed, that we are united with
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: Christ because of his person and work, and that we're
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: united with one another because of what the Spirit is
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: doing to build the church, and that as we walk
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: in these truths, it brings much glory to our Redeemer.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: That changes everything. Now these imperatives are not a weight
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: on our shoulders. Instead, they are actually cause for praise,
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: for worship of the one who has worked and is
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: working these things in us by his grace and for
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: his glory. in a few moments as we partake of
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: the Lord's Supper, let us all be reminded in the
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ of the
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: forgiveness that we have received, of the union that we
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: have with Christ, and of our union that we have
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: with one another because of these seminal truths. I belong
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: to you. You belong to me because we belong to Christ.