9th August 2009 (Trinity 9)
Ephesians 4:25 - 5:2
A life of love has to be practical, and Paul in his letter to the Ephesians looks at those issues that most affected the community then.
Truth was important. There are a number of cultures today in which truth is not highly valued. It may be more important to say what your listener wants you to say, or to prevent the listener thinking badly of you – so you might promise to deliver a product on a certain day knowing there was no chance that would happen. Even in Christian circles it is often felt more important to be ‘nice’ than to tell the truth. However, true love has to take account of reality, and love that needs to hide the truth is often very superficial.
Unity was important. Truth said without love can destroy unity. Anger that lasts can destroy unity. It is natural – and often right and proper – to be angry about injustice and evil. But Paul advises Christians to deal with anger immediately – divert its energy into something which will not cause hurt or harm, do something constructive. Nursing a grievance is welcoming the devil. Paul returns to this theme in verse 31: rage, malice etc are not compatible with the presence of the Holy Spirit within you.
Instead of giving way to negative, destructive emotions, we are to choose constructive activities. One problem in Ephesus seems to have been stealing. The positive side of that is that it seems even criminals were turning to Christ. The negative side was that they had not learnt to give up their criminal activities! So Paul tells them straight: stop stealing, start earning so that you can give to the needy. Be constructive!
The same principle applied to our speech. ‘Unwholesome talk’ literally is ‘rotten words’ – the word translated ‘unwholesome’ was mostly used to describe rotten or worthless fruit etc. Paul wants to see Christians using their words to build people up in some way. Yet how often do we hear people using their mouths to bring people down, to criticise or to demean. Wouldn’t it be good if Christians were noted for their positive attitudes towards people?
Notice how Paul qualifies this: “only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.” That is not an excuse for keeping quiet when we know that people don’t want to hear a difficult truth. It is a demand for sensitivity: will this benefit them? Or am I merely getting it off my chest? The guiding motive must always be love.
The example for us to follow is Jesus Christ. There were times when he spoke very harsh words, both to his friends and to his enemies. There were times when he was furious. But Jesus never bore a grudge, he never acted from malice or selfishness or from hurt pride. The chief recipients of his wrath were, surprisingly, religious people, people who misused religion for power or wealth, people who were so concerned about right or wrong that they forgot about mercy and forgiveness. The command to be kind, compassionate and forgiving has its origin in God, whose love for all of us is seen in Christ.
Questions:
1) What should our attitude as Christians be to ‘strong language’? To gossip?
2) How in practice can we follow Paul’s instruction not to let the sun go down on our wrath?
3) When might anger lead to sin, and what can be done to prevent it?