The Christian's Walk

Ephesians 4:17-32 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Christian’s Walk

¹⁷ So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, ¹⁸ being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; ¹⁹ and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. ²⁰ But you did not learn Christ in this way, ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, ²² that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, ²³ and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

²⁵ Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. ²⁶ Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷ and do not give the devil an opportunity. ²⁸ He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. ²⁹ Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. ³⁰ 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, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

We need to keep in mind as we read Paul’s letters that they are written to the church. Paul is giving instruction and exhortation to believers not to unbelievers. We then, when we read these letters, should not expect that the world will live according to what is written here. Paul differentiates the practices and lifestyle of believers from the world. It is the Christian walk he is describing. We, as believers, are to live up to Godly standards, not the worldly standards of our culture. Paul says the unbeliever walks in the futility of their mind, they are hardened and callous, causing them to practice every kind of impurity, sensuality and greediness. These are the normal and expectable (not acceptable) practices and actions of the world.

As believers we are not to live to that standard, nor should we even measure ourselves by it. In Amos 7:8 God says: "Behold I am about to put a plumb line In the midst of My people …  God’s plumb line is the standard we are to measure ourselves by. A plumb line is secured at the top, not at the bottom. Our standards for living must also be secured in God’s standards not the worldly standards of our culture and society.  Paul says that as believers, followers of Christ:     ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, ²² that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, ²³ and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.        Our lives are to reflect the light and truth, the likeness of God and Christ.

How does that look? Paul says:  Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. In Matthew 5:37, Jesus says: let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Falsehood, deceit and lying is wrong, whether it is based on trying to manipulate others for our own gain or we are trying to say what we believe others want us to say, lying, deceit is wrong. In reality it is much easier to tell the truth than a lie. With the truth there is no need to keep track of and remember what you’ve said previously. A lie on the other hand requires that we continue to sustain that false story. Sir Walter Scott said it well. “Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive!”

Paul continues then saying:  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.   First then, we need to understand that anger is not a sin. It is an emotion. God created us as emotional, feeling beings. Anger is a normal and natural emotion which we all feel. The sin comes in our response to our anger. First it says do not let the sun go down on your anger. As an emotional response anger should last only a moment. When we hold onto our anger we give the devil an opportunity. We give him an opportunity to tempt us to sin in our anger. Paul describes the sins that anger leads to. They are:  bitterness, wrath, clamor, slander and malice. These Paul says we are to put away. We are to:  Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

The world will tell us that we are justified in our anger. Just as in the way it will try to justify it’s own sinful responses to temptations. The argument that we are created by God in a certain way so we cannot help how we feel and what we do is not valid for believers.

 James 1:13-15 says:        Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. ¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. ¹⁵ Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.      

1 Corinthians 10:13 says:     No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Jesus is our way out. Hebrews 4:15 says:     For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus lived as a man, in a body of flesh. He felt things we feel and had the same emotions we have, “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

That’s the standard we as believers are called to. Our only hope though, the only way we can measure up to God’s plumb line, is to secure it on the cross of Christ.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit thank You for giving us a way out of temptation, away to measure up to Your heavenly standards rather than the earthly standards of our culture and the world. Thank You for the cross of Christ, through which You have granted the victory. Thank You for renewing us through Your Holy Spirit which enables and empowers us to walk this Christian walk.    Amen.