Spiritual Disciplines

As we go through the book of Ephesians, today's title is Spiritual Disciplines. Spiritual Disciplines is the title today, and as we explore the rest of chapter 4, you may think on the onset, "Oh, this is the easy part of the book." The first half was the deep doctrinal truths, and now we get to the practical application. You know, this is easy to understand. I challenge you to think a little bit deeper with me because it is actually a little bit easier to understand the deep doctrinal truths as opposed to understanding and applying them. So living out our faith authentically is where we're at in this practical side of the book of Ephesians.

And so if you are growing up spiritually, look with me real fast in verse 14. If you're growing up as a result, okay, of all of what Paul has said doctrinally, and then having received gifts from Christ as a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried around by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we are to, here it is, grow up in all aspects. And so if you are truly growing up spiritually, then people have noticed an improvement in your personal behavior. And so Christlikeness is evidence of your salvation. Christlikeness is the change in your character and especially an increased tenderness of heart. At the end of the passage, you'll see this phrase, a tenderness of heart.

So if you're the same person as who you were five years ago, as opposed to today, then I would say, hey, take a close look at your growth in Christ and make sure that you are really submissive to the Scriptures, you're submitting yourself to the Scriptures, and you're applying yourselves to not only understand the Word of God. You know that if you just get it intellectually, that knowledge puffs up. We don't want to be prideful Christians. We want to be humble Christians who are actually molded by the Word of God. And that takes effort, your personal spiritual discipline, to be able to apply the Scriptures to your life. Only you can do that.

And so Ephesians chapter 4, verses 24 to 32 gives a list of things. It's not a complete list of how you can be more like Christ. In verse 24, it says, "To put on the new self." So here's the spiritual discipline of putting on the new self, okay, which is in the likeness of God, which has been created in righteousness and holiness and truth. So those three things there are most important. If you're going to put on the new self, righteousness and holiness and truth should be at the forefront of your mind.

And then in verse 25, "Therefore, laying aside falsehood." So there's the spiritual discipline that I want to capitalize on today is the putting on and the putting off. Those two phrases, "put on and put off." That's the spiritual discipline that I want you to take home today is the main truth of this text, "Put off the sinful things and put on the Christlike things." "So therefore, laying aside falsehood." That would be the first thing that's mentioned here. "Speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another." Be angry. So you're putting on a form of anger here. "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. 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 the one who has need." "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth." You see how you're putting aside or you're laying aside anything that is unwholesome or unhealthy. "But only such a word which is good for edification." So you're putting on these good words, "according to the need of the moment, so that you will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness," see, put that aside, "let all wrath and anger and clamor and slander," put that aside. Okay, put that away. "Be put away from you, along with all malice, and then put on tenderness and kindness." Verse 32 says, "To be kind to one another, tender-hearted and forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has forgiven you."

And so the spiritual discipline of putting on the right things and putting off the wrong things is important for us to be able to keep at the forefront of our mind every single day. We live in a day to where we try and sync with the world and get in sync with the world. And syncretic Christianity is hypocrisy, and it's tempting for Christians to act one way on Sunday and embrace worldliness throughout the week. It's tempting to act like your colleagues at work and not be a Christian. It's tempting to think like the world. It's tempting to fill your mind and your heart with the things of the world and be of the world. That's a temptation, and so we need to run from that. So this is a spiritual discipline for you to spiritually grow.

The Ephesians have learned this spiritual growth strategy of putting off sin and putting on righteousness. Paul affirmed this as well to the Galatians who had been saved, that they have clothed themselves with Christ. Turn with me to Galatians, chapter 3, verses 26 and 27. I want you to see the same spiritual concept that Paul is teaching the Ephesians being taught to the Galatians. Galatians, chapter 3, verses 26 and 27.

This idea of putting off and putting on. Put off the sin and put on righteousness. It's illustrated by taking off dirty clothes. Do you guys do that? Do you guys take off your dirty clothes? Yeah. And do you put on clean clothes? Well, that's about as easy as it gets. And this simple spiritual growth strategy was taught by Paul to the Galatian church as well. So read with me in Galatians 3:26–27. "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with righteousness." Clothed. You're clothing yourself. You're putting on Christ. You're putting on Christlikeness. And that is to say you're taking off unkindness. You're taking off sinfulness. You're taking off anger and clamor and bitterness and unforgiveness. You're taking off all of these things and setting them aside like old dirty garments. Take them off and put on Christ. It's an illustration of clothing. It is the simple spiritual growth strategy prescribed for the Galatians. And taking off and putting on clothing was also prescribed, get this, to the Colossians. Turn to Colossians chapter 3, verses 8 to 14 and read it in more detail.

Colossians chapter 3, verses 8 to 14 talks about the same idea of putting off or putting aside things that are sinful and putting on the things that are righteous and holy and true. In Colossians chapter 3, verse 8 it says, "But now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abuse of speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you lay aside," like clothes here, "lay aside the old self with its evil practices and have put on the new self who is being renewed in a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him, a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew and circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free man, but Christ is all and in all. So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on," okay, so you put aside in verse 8 anger and wrath, malice, and slander and abuse of speech and lying. And now in verse 12 you're being told to put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, and gentleness, patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other. "Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also you should, and beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity."

These things that we put on — I encourage you, implore you, and beg you to go back this afternoon and make a list. Those of you who love spreadsheets are bankers in here. Make a list of these things that you are to put on and to put off. And then if you're really brave, ask your spouse to give you a grade on how well you're doing to really ask yourselves the questions. "How am I doing with this spiritual growth list?" is rather revealing. And so this idea of putting off all these old things and putting on the new things is Paul's spiritual growth strategy for the believers, and it's still good for us today.

Let me ask you a question. Do you struggle every single day with sanctification? Do you struggle with this? Are you still living in the flesh? Well, that's normal. You know, some early Christians who have been converted recently may argue that by putting on kindness, they feel like they're being fake, by putting on gentleness, they feel like they're not being real, and by putting on this Christlike attitude it is not really truly genuine from the heart, and therefore perhaps they excuse themselves from putting on Christlike character. Hey, listen, first of all, number one, you're arguing against God. He said to put on kindness like clothing. Put it on and wear it until it gets comfortable on you. Put it on and practice these things until it becomes real. Conform your body to Christ. Conform your character to Christ. You are to work this thing. It's not easy. We're to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness. First Timothy chapter 4, verse 7 says to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. These are spiritual disciplines. The strategy of putting off the old character and putting on the new character is like getting your favorite pair of jeans.

Do they feel that good and were they that comfortable when you first bought them? No. It takes a little bit of time to get them worn in. The same thing with our clothing. We really have to work at this thing. And so God's design for the spiritual growth strategy for you is gradual. It is not normal. Godly character is not normal. Godly character is not natural. If you're going to act like the natural man, then you'll be angry and you'll be malicious and you'll be unkind. Godly character is not natural. You need a supernatural makeover from the inside out. And that comes with doing your part, putting on Christ. Putting on Christ's likeness. Someone is ugly to you, you're kind back. That's being filled with the Spirit. We're commanded to conform. Be conformed. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind and your heart in Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

So this is important to realize that this is a spiritual discipline. It doesn't come naturally. God's character is not natural. We must work at this thing. And so God's design is not only gradual, it's also a discipline. So you have to discipline yourself to do these things. And I know that we're all here in America and we want everything now. You can't have it now, you don't want it. No longer do we work for things gradually and work our way up and save for things and buy them with cash. We live on this whole credit system and it's an American worldview. Get out of our American worldview and get into a biblical worldview. Set some goals for yourself. Identify where you need to grow. Put that before you in prayer. Write it on your mirror, whatever it takes. Put a sticky note in front of where you brush your teeth. Say, "I'm going to work on this. I'm going to pray for this. I'm going to aim at this and I'm going to remove the sinful character that I've had for so long and I'm going to put on the exact opposite of that like clothing."

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 3 says, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification." This is God's will for your life. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 makes it clear that sanctification is not optional. You know, I could imagine that the new converts in Ephesus and the new converts in Galatia and the new converts over in Colossae were probably walking around saying something like this to themselves. Don't do what's wrong. Don't do what's right. Don't do wrong. Do what's right. Don't do wrong. Do what's right. You've got to convince yourself. You've got to retrain the brain. Don't you? You've got to conform this heart to the likeness of Christ. My own self-advisory system sounds like this. It's never right to do wrong.

I tell myself that all the time. It's never right to do wrong, because the inclinations of our evil hearts oftentimes will deceive us and we will desire to do what's wrong, but it's never right to do wrong. And so I tell myself that and it's hard, it's really, really hard at a stoplight that says no U-turn when I want to make a U-turn. But in all areas of life, it's never right to do wrong.

And so this idea of putting off what's wrong is simply implementing the spiritual growth and the skill set of being wise in the Word of God, removing sinfulness and replacing it with righteousness. Now that the Ephesians have grasped how to crucify the old flesh that was born in Adam and embrace new life in Christ, Paul then presses forward here in the text with five ways to continue to grow in your sanctification.

And so now for the take-home truths of today's message, five things for you to be able to grow in your sanctification. We see in the text, number one, always tell the truth. In verse 25, if you want to go back to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 25, "Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members with one another." This is very simply said as point number one, always tell the truth. Exodus chapter 20, verse 16 covered that, "In the commandments you shall not bear false witness." In Revelation chapter 21, verse 8, "Liars go to hell."

Turn with me if you would. I want you to see it for yourself. Revelation chapter 21 and verse 8, this is superbly interesting to me because sometimes we want to put different weights on sins and we think, "Oh, a little white lie is not bad. A real bad lie is really bad." You know, we want to kind of make ourselves feel good at someone else's expense and compare ourselves to others. But man, in Revelation chapter 21, verse 8, liars are put into a list here that kind of removes all of that and makes sin to be sin. Revelation 21:8 says, "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters," wow, if you put that in a list and look up every single one of those, you'd be shocked at how depraved each one of these practices really are. But then, "liars" is right there at the tail end of this list. "All liars, their part will be in the lake of fire that burns with brimstone, which is the second death." Perhaps this is where the phrase "liar, liar, pants on fire" came from. Yes, that's pretty staggering to me. But we should speak the truth. Always tell the truth.

Children in the worship center, no matter how difficult it is, no matter how much you incriminate yourself to your parents, always tell the truth. "The truth will set you free," John 8:31–32. God will protect you when you tell the truth, but He'll expose you when you lie. Numbers 32:23 says, "Be sure your sin will find you out." So no lie can truly be covered up. It's going to come to the surface. It'll be exposed. That's the truth for all of us. And so in Ephesians 4:15, we should be ones who speak the truth in love.

So number one, always tell the truth. Number two in the text, we see it in verses 26 and 27, "Manage your anger." Manage your anger well. In verses 26 and 27, "Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your anger. Do not give the devil opportunity." Now if you want to coincide this word anger in verse 26 with verse 31, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you," you will see what you perhaps see as a contradiction in Scripture. At first it's saying, "Be angry," so put it on. But then it tells you not to be angry, so put it off.

How do you reconcile that? Well, it's pretty simple. If you are going to remain angry at your sinful shortcomings, you're going to be angry and hate sin, put it away, then that is true love for Christ. In Romans chapter 12, verse 9 it says, "To hate evil." It says, "Love must be without hypocrisy. Hate evil and cling to what is good." And so put on this righteous anger and be wholly discontent with sin, right? Don't let the sun go down if you've got unresolved issues in your life. Be angry at your sin enough to deal with it. Take care of business.

And at the same time, an anger that would perhaps cause you to sin, perhaps looking back and stewing on some past wrongs — you put that aside so that you are not going to sin. Put it off. Verse 31, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you." Just put away the bad anger and put on the righteous anger. So if you go back to truth number one, you're going to tell the truth, put on the truth and put off lies. Number two, in managing your anger, you're going to increase your righteous anger. So put on righteous anger and put off the sinful anger. So hate what is evil and cling to what is good, Romans 12:9. And we also should put off the unrighteous anger. Be quick to listen and slow to anger, James 1:19. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

Point number three in your take-home truths is be a worker and a giver. This is an area for which Christians must grow. Read with me in verse 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 is in need." Perhaps you're stuck in the middle of this verse and you're like, "Well, I'm not a thief, I'm not stealing and I'm working." Maybe you're there, but you're not really generous. So perhaps this is a spiritual growth point for you to labor, not only for a living, but also labor to meet needs in Christ. And so put on giving and put off being selfish. We need to take what we have and meet needs around us, and there's one truth that's guaranteed from the Scriptures in that. You will be generous. God will replenish whatever you have given.

In verses 29 and 30, we see point number four, a point for which we all really, truly have to work on taming. Point number four is think before you speak. Very simply said, think before you speak. In verses 29 and 30, it says, "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such word as is good for edification or the upbuilding of the person." So you're actually thinking about what is going to build up the person whom you're talking to. And then it's according to the need of the moment. And so live in the now and talk about what's needed to be talked about now. Where's that person at spiritually now? Talk about that. Talk about their next step in Christ. Talk about their spiritual growth. Find out where they're at in Christ. Ask them, "How's your soul?"

Ask them, "How's your thoughts floating around in your mind? Are they spiritual or are they evil? How are you doing upstairs?" Talk to people and really talk about what is needed to edify them, to help them, and encourage them. And then it'll give grace to those who hear. If you divide this verse up into A, B, C, and D, you'll see thinking before speaking about what is wholesome or healthy — A, and then B is uplifting. And then C, what is needed. And then D, it's seasoned with grace. And so I think that a lot of us should relearn how to speak as if we were in grade school and focus our words, aim our words, not be flippant with our words.

You know, somebody could be right in front of you with a desperate need. And if you are just running off about yesterday's football game or race or what you want to do about your life, you have completely missed an opportunity to minister to a deep need. You could leave someone who is right in front of you with a gaping hole in their heart. Their heart can be aching. They could be needing fellowship with the brethren. They could be needing prayer. They could be needing someone to talk to. They could be really truly right in front of you. Somebody could have you right there to meet a spiritual need. And if you are not aiming, you're speaking in this way, you'll completely be unused as a potential ministry opportunity. And so put on uplifting conversation and put off unhelpful comments, unhelpful conversation. Put that off. If it doesn't need to be said, then do not say it. You're only going to exhaust your hearers anyway.

Choose your words wisely. We only have this short life to live and it's going to pass soon. These days are short. We don't have a whole lot of time with one another. And the idea of the supremacy of Christ can dominate your heart and mind and what is truly in your heart is going to come out your mouth. And so if you want to fix what you're speaking about, I highly suggest more Bible study. I highly suggest a study on the deity of Christ. I highly suggest immersing yourself in the Word of God and getting that lodged so deeply inside of your heart so that when your mouth speaks, you're saying what's on your heart and Christ is truly on your heart and mind. And so thinking before you speak is a spiritual discipline. We all really need to truly learn that. And this is a way to be conformed to Christ.

And the fifth and last point is found in verses 31 and 32. It says to be tender-hearted. Be tender-hearted. I said already that godly character is not natural. And it's easy to be hard-hearted. It's easy to be negative. It's easy to be a fault finder. It's easy to find what's wrong in this world. It's everywhere. And it's easy to project all of that on an innocent one right in front of you. But to maintain a tender heart before Christ and before one another is very important.

In verses 31 and 32 it says, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you." Listen, if you saturate your mind in all of the things that are going wrong in this world, you're not managing your mind and your heart well according to the Word of God. If you saturate your mind in even a worse subject — in all that's going wrong in Christendom today — you won't be thinking on the things of Christ. It'll bring you down in that low state of heart, that low heart, that achy heart. That disposition will not be the kind of heart that God would be able to really, truly use to minister to others.

And many of you know that — I say this humbly, but I think that it's a point to be able to lift up Justin Peters in his ministry. He deals with a lot of negative stuff in ministry, but the way that he has counteracted all of that negativity is he has read through the entire Bible and posted that on YouTube. And so if you follow him, you have seen for a long season he saturated his entire mind and heart with Scripture. And so I really commend him for that spiritual discipline, for reading through the Bible an entire year audibly and posting that online. We need to do that because the Word of God will wash and clean our heart and it'll make it tender. And it's easy to become hard-hearted because we all live subject to evil and sin. And if we saturate ourselves with those... Listen, is there more right going on or more wrong going on in this world?

So this is a spiritual discipline to choose to think and speak and act and dwell in the right. It's a narrow road we live on here. And so that'll keep you tender-hearted. So put away the hard-hearted issues. Put that aside. Understand that, be wise and move on. Be future-focused. Be focused on the mission. We're called to move forward as Christians. The Great Commission is going forward. It's not dwelling in the past. And it's not stirring up old wounds and adding up all that's going wrong in the world today. So verse 31 is to put away the hard-hearted issues. Verse 32, put on tender-heartedness. That's not going to happen naturally. It's going to happen to where you saturate yourself with the Word of God and to put on tender-heartedness and to put off these things like slanderous heart attitudes. If your heart is accusing and defending itself and is malicious on the inside, you've got to put that aside and you've got to tell yourself to stop dwelling on that but dwell on Christ.

And so, number one, always tell the truth. Number two, manage your anger. Number three, be a worker and a giver. Number four, think before you speak. Number five, be tender-hearted. Now if you're growing in your faith in all of these aspects, remember, grow gradually here and don't put too much pressure on yourself, okay? If you're growing up in all aspects, I'll say this, then those who are close to you can compare your life now to a year or two ago and see progress. I know that Timothy had to be told by his spiritual mentor, Paul, to let your progress be evident to all.

Now I know Timothy, being a timid little guy, wanted to hide in the shadows. He's like, "Man, I don't want to be in public with nothing." But he had to be told not to let his youth be a stumbling block. Don't let anybody speak poorly about you as a young man. But instead, let your progress be evident to all. Live out loud. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Don't be ashamed of the Word of God. Speak up, say what's right, do what's right. Be in the light, Timothy. And so in 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 15, his progress was certainly a public thing, not a private thing. So he had to be transparent and he had to actually say, "I have grown from this to this." He had to actually be transparent with the congregation of which he was a shepherd. And say to the Ephesian church, "I've grown. My progress has grown from here to here and here to here and here to here. When Paul picked me up, I was here, but now I'm here and I want to be here." You see, spiritual conversations, spiritual growth conversations — his progress had to be evident to all. That means he had to talk to people about that. He had to be on display daily growing. His spiritual growth was evident.

Now if we're going to put this into practice, perhaps you can think of it as a left hand and a right hand to put off things and to put on things. Put off sinfulness, put on righteousness. Put away what's wrong, put on what's right. Put away the darkness in our life and put on the light of Christ, which equals less punishment, more rewards, less sadness and more happiness, less of the world and more of the Word.

How do you do this? That's all fine and well, Casey. How? Well, I think James 4:7–8 says it very clearly: "Resist the devil." Just resist. Do your part. God will equip you to achieve His will. Sanctification is God's will for your life. So as you resist the devil and put away these sinful things, and then verse 8, "Draw near to God." Resist the devil, verse 7; verse 8, "Draw near to God." It's a spiritual one-two punch that's going to help you grow in your faith. It's your job to work hard on these areas. God has given us, most of us, brothers in the Lord, sisters in the Lord to help us in these areas to be able to apply these things.

And so, any way that I fall short when it comes to being a Christian, a man of God, I am all ears. I want you to be able to share in love the truth with me so that I can refine my life. We all have blind spots. Amen? And I want to be able to grow in my faith. I want to be on display daily with you guys. And I want you guys to be humble and transparent in that area as well. This is where I'm at. Well, great, you know where you're at.

The apostle John said to his listeners in 1 John chapter 2 that the spiritual growth strategy is to, first of all, be born again. Okay, you have to go from being dead to being alive. You have to be born. You have to be a Christian, so be born again. And then from becoming a baby, you become a child in the faith. And then from a child in the faith, you become a youth in the faith. This is his language in 1 John 2. And then from a youth in the faith, you become a father in the faith. So you see the spiritual growth metaphors there in that you go from death to life when you're born, when you repent of your sin and place your faith and trust in Christ and His substitutionary death on the cross for the sins that you have committed and the punishment that you deserve. When you place your faith and trust in Christ, He regenerates your heart, you're saved. In fact, really, truly, He regenerates you and then you confess. But that's a proof of sound doctrine.

So number one, to be born again. Number two is that you become a child. You start growing. You go from a baby to a child. And a child is still dependent upon someone telling him or her what to do, on how to live, on how to grow. And then a child grows into becoming a youth, which is characterized by strength. And so the strength of overcoming the sin in your life is characterized by this youthful stage. And then as you continue to grow in your faith, you become a father, which is a reproducer. You are actually now able to know and apply and teach these truths.

Ezra 7:10 said it like this. "Ezra purposed in his heart to study the law of the Lord." Okay, you've got to know it first. And then to practice it. So he studied it and he figured out how to conform his life to the Word of God. He studied and then he practiced it. And then once he got these truths under control in his own life, he had something to share, to teach. Study, practice, teach. Those are the three words in Ezra 7:10. And so if you want to get on a spiritual growth strategy and set before yourself some goals, get rid of all this sinful stuff. Start really studying the Word of God, putting it into practice, and then aim at pushing forward. Don't just be satisfied with sanctifying your own life. Not until you can actually teach what you know, do you really know it. So now be ones who are aiming at being able to teach the Word of God with others. Have something to share in Christ.

Let's pray together. Lord, thank You so much for these simple yet really challenging truths. May we truly look at this as if we are looking in the mirror. And I pray, Father, that You would shine a light on the areas that we need to grow and do better. We all can do better in these areas. Dear Jesus, I pray that You would help us to be renewed and to put off the old self and to put on the new self and lay aside falsehood and to put on the truth. And I'm reminded, dear Jesus, that You are the way, the truth, and the life. Help us, dear Jesus, to continue to put off the lies, put on the truth. And then as well, manage our anger well. Help us, dear Jesus, to manage our emotions well and to be workers and givers. Help us, dear Jesus, I pray that You would help us not only to do these things, but also to think before we speak, to put the person that's in front of us first. To be ones who are helpful in that area. I pray, Lord, as well that You would, in this process, make us tender-hearted and gentle. Help us, dear Jesus, not to be abrupt and rough and pointed and sharp with people, but patient and kind and meek and mild. Lord, knock off the rough edges of our character. Smooth us out, dear Jesus, with some sandpaper.

These spiritual growth — implementing spiritual growth, Lord — often causes some regrets. Help us to repent in those areas. It often causes some pain. Help us to embrace the pain to be able to grow. It often causes a struggle at first, but then the victory of being more conformed in Christ produces a joy that surpasses all understanding. And so help us to embrace this spiritual growth strategy, Lord, to continue in Christ and make You completely glorified and pleasing with us. Lord, we love You and it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.