SERMON OUTLINE

Careful Living in 2010   (Ephesians 5.15)

Putting Off the Lie; Speak Truth      Ephesians 4.25

 “Wherefore putting off the lie speak you truth each man with the neighbor of him, because we are of one another members.”   (Ephesians 4.25 – Literal translation)

Introduction

-Ephesians 4.25 to 6.24 can be divided into four sections each beginning with “therefore” or “finally”. All focus on various behaviors in the Christian life.

4.25 to 32; 5.1-14; 5.15-6.9; 6.10-24

–Three general comments on each of these behaviors

• directed toward Church relationships
• often gives both negative and positive behavior
• often gives a reason for the behavior to encourage it

Who Does Your Speech Represent?

-God cannot lie; God is Light; God is Truth. Titus 1.2;

1 John 1.5; Hebrews 6.18; Romans 2.2

-Devil is a liar, the father of lies; Darkness. John 8.44

-The sin of the world is the result of a lie. Genesis 3.4-5

-Do you claim to be a child of God? Do you speak truth?

1 John 1.6

-Does your speech show you are a child of the Devil? John 8.44

-Your speech reflects on the character of God and the Church. 1 Timothy 3.15

-Lying is not an insignificant behavior but important to God. Revelation 21.8

-Lying is characteristic of the world.

-The Lie represents the false and deceptive system of the world. But we are not of the lie but of the truth. We have put off the lie. Romans 1.25.

Lying and Speaking the Truth

-We lie: deliberately, by saying nothing, by half answers, by avoidance, false promises and excuses,  exaggeration and flattery, careless words.

-Telling the truth is not telling all, brutal honesty, gossip. Ephesians 4.15

Results of Speaking the Truth

-Leads to speaking more truth and spiritual growth

-Fellowship and trust in the church. Unity and maturity.

-Assurance of spiritual life and salvation

-God seeking us. John 4.23-24

Conclusion

Pay the price and speak the truth as a child of the God of truth and who seeks to walk in truth. 3 John 4

SERMON NOTES

Careful Living in 2010   (Ephesians 5.15)

Put Off Lying; Speak Truth         Ephesians 4.25

-In verses 17 to 24, Paul reminds the believers of how their life lacked purpose before they knew Christ. He reminds them of how mindless and ignorant they were and how they were hardened to the truth in their old life. He reminds them of how deceived they were, and how enslaved to lust they were in their sin. / Then he reminds them of how God brought new life to them in Christ and how they were taught the truth in Christ. Because of the transforming work of God in Christ they are now to put off the old behaviors and they are to put on new behaviors. They are to walk in righteousness and true holiness. Beginning in verse 25, Paul teaches them about this new walk in Christ.

-We can easily divide the rest of this letter into four sections, with the first three sections beginning with “Therefore” and the last section with “Finally”. These sections are found at 4.25; 5.1; 5.15, 6.10. Each section teaches about various Christian behaviors.

-Let me make three general observations before we look at the individual behaviors. 1) All of these behaviors are to be practiced by individual believers but are directed to living in relationship with others and particularly living with believers in the Church. Paul has the Church uppermost in his mind in this letter to the Ephesians. As Paul writes in 3.21, “To God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Proper behavior of God’s people in the Church brings glory to God. / We came across this same truth in our study of Philippians on Wednesday. The saints are not to murmur or grumble but are to be examples of love and unity so that God may be glorified in the Church by the lost coming to know Christ through the behavior of His people. 2) Paul often gives both the negative and positive behavior so there is no doubt what he is teaching us. 3) Paul often gives a reason why we should practice the behavior to encourage us in that behavior.

-In the first section, verses 25 to 32, Paul mentions five areas of behavior. Today we will begin with verse 25, put off lying and speak the truth.

-Titus writes, “God cannot lie”. (1.2) John writes that “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1.5) The writer of Hebrews teaches us the “it is impossible for God to lie”. (6.18) The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity is called “the Spirit of truth”. Jesus said said, “Your Word is truth”. In Romans 2.2 we are told that “God’s judgment is based on truth”.

-Our God is the absolute and final standard of truth. He is a God of pure and undiminished light. God has never lied, God cannot lie and God always speaks the truth and judges based on truth.

-By contrast the Devil is a liar and the Father of lies. Jesus said, when the Devil lies he speaks his native language, that he was a liar from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. (John 8.44)

-It was through the lie of the Devil that the human race fell into sin. All the present devastation that is now in the world began with a single lie. The Devil told Eve that if she ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil she would not die, and that if she ate she would be like God. The Devil gave Eve the impression that God was holding back a blessing that she should have so he lied about God’s character. The Devil lied to Eve and Eve listened to the lie and ate of the fruit and gave some to her husband who was with her, and mankind came under the bondage and slavery of sin. (Genesis 3.4-5)

–The point I want to begin with is that if you claim to be a child of God then your life must be marked with speaking truth and not with speaking lies. Your whole life is to be marked with truth and not with falsehood and questionable motives and behaviors. John writes, “If we claim to have fellowship with God yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.” (1 John 1.6)

-In a conversation with the Pharisees in John 8, Jesus said to them, “You belong to your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.” That is the point I want to begin with today. Who you belong to will be expressed in how you speak. If you desire to speak truth and not lies then you belong to the Father of truth and are filled with the Spirit of truth, but if you speak lies then you are of your father the Devil and you desire to lie and deceive as the devil has always done.

-Not only are you to reflect that you belong to the God of truth by speaking truth and not lies but as an individual you represent God to the dark and lying world you live in. And not only do you represent God in this world but you also represent the Church to this world. Does your speech represent a God of truth and a Church of truth to this world? Paul writes, “you know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3.15)

-When Paul begins with this behavior of speaking truth to one another and not lies he is not dealing with a small-insignificant-on-the-fringe sin but with a sin that has serious implications on both the character of God, the Church and on the individual person. For the Christian to speak truth means a great deal.

-Paul begins with lying because lying is the most common characteristic of the life of sin. In today’s society it is normal and acceptable to lie. Lying is almost expected. Effort does not go into telling the truth but in not getting caught in the lie, and not being taken advantage of by the lies of another. We live in a world of lies and deception and illusions. Lies are used to cover up sinful behavior, to hide who and what we really are, and to make ourselves out to be who and what we really aren’t. Lies are covered over and sustained with more lies, until lies become normal and acceptable behavior and are no longer recognized even by the liar as lies. As Isaiah said, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter”. (Isaiah 5.20) Sin began with a lie through the father of lies and the godless world we live in is sustained by lies. Romans 3.4 says, “Let God be true, and every man a liar.”

-God eternally condemns lying along with other sins. Revelation 21.8 says, “But of the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” The liar is grouped in with the abominable, and the murderer, and the immoral, and the idolater. John writes that the liar denies that Jesus is the Christ and is antichrist. (1 John 2.22)

-So in a lying world, Christians are to speak truth. Speaking the truth is to be the characteristic that marks the new life of the Christian in a lying world. Paul has already mentioned in verse 21 that those who know Christ were taught in Jesus, as truth is in Jesus. Then in verse 24 we learn that the “new man is created to be like God in righteousness and holiness of the truth”. Jesus is the truth. (John 14.6) Jesus lives in the realm of truth and those who have new life in Christ are also to walk in the realm of truth. If we are alive in Jesus Christ we must speak the truth. The characteristic that marks the Jesus walk is speaking truth and living the truth.

-We are children of the God of truth and we are possessed by the Spirit of truth and so we are to speak truth and walk in truth. Later in Ephesians 5, Paul will teach us that we are children of light and not of darkness and that the fruit of light is truth. Paul has much to say about our speech as Christians in these chapters that we are studying because it is an expression of our inner life and of who we belong to, and reflects who we represent.

-The old man we once were lived in the realm of deception and lies and falsehood. The realm of the sinner who does not know God is the realm of darkness and lying. If we are now saints, created in Christ Jesus for good works and being conformed to the image of Jesus, then we must no longer lie but speak the truth. We should see lying as serious sin and must always tell the truth because we belong to God and to Jesus and to truth, and not to the lie.

-The way Paul writes this command is very interesting. He writes, “Wherefore putting off the lie, speak truth”. (see bulletin for literal translation) Paul uses the definite article with the singular noun lie. Paul does not write, put off lying, but putting off the lie. The Greek word for lie is “pseudo” which means false, counterfeit, deceptive. Paul is commanding them to put off what is false, deceptive, counterfeit and to speak truth. Paul could easily be thinking of Romans 1.25 which says that this world “exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator”. They once lived in that lie and had forsaken the truth of God but now they have recognized the lie and have returned to the truth. Paul may well be saying to them “having recognized the lie that you used to live in, your false perspective and outlook, your false gods and the empty goals you pursued, and having now put off that lie, you are now to live in the truth.” That is the principle that Paul has been emphasizing all along. If you are a saint then live like a saint and not like a sinner. Here Paul is telling them, “now that you have recognized and put off the lie and have stopped worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator, serve the Creator, bring glory to the Creator, by speaking truth and living in truth”. Putting off the lie, speak truth.

-What are some of the ways that we lie? We le when we deliberately speak what is not true. / Saying nothing when something should be said in order to prevent others from coming to a wrong conclusion is a form of lying. / Giving only half an answer to a question and allowing a wrong assumption is lying. / Hiding the truth by avoidance, by diverting the conversation to another topic is lying. / Making a promise you do not intent to keep is a lie. / The same goes when we give an excuse for not attending something when no excuse really exists. / Exaggeration is a lie. / Flattery can be a form of deception and a lie. / Careless words can lead to a lie. / Paul says we must be very careful how we walk and so we must be very careful how we speak so that we speak the truth and not a lie.

-On the other hand speaking the truth does not mean that we tell others everything we know. Speaking the truth means being honest with others but does not have to be intentionally hurtful and obnoxious and gossip. Ephesians 4.15 tells us that we are to “speak the truth in love”.

-While lying leads to more lying, speaking the truth leads to speaking more truth. When the spirit of the mind is renewed and we put off the lie and begin to speak the truth, the mind is further renewed and spiritual growth takes place.

-Paul says we are to speak to our neighbor because we are members of one another. Paul has the members of the Church in mind as he writes. Lying undermines the fellowship of the Church while speaking truth builds up the Church. The unity of the Church is based on trust and trust is based on speaking the truth to one another. Ephesians 4.15 says, “Speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects of Him, who is the head, even Christ.” Speaking truth to one another in the local church is vital if we are to grow together as a body in unity and maturity.

-Finally, our desire to consistently speak the truth is another assurance that we have new life by the Spirit of truth and therefore eternal life in Christ.

-We are told in the Bible that God seeks those who worship Him in Spirit and truth. Do you want God to seek you? Then learn to worship God in Spirit and practice speaking and living in truth. (John 4.23-24)

-Speaking truth can be very costly in a lying ungodly world but to be a person that God seeks out for Himself we must speak truth. To lie is characteristic of the old man and the Devil, but to speak truth is a reflection of our new life in Christ and of the God of truth that we serve. As John said in his old age, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” (3 John 4) Part of walking in the truth is speaking the truth in love.