SERMON OUTLINE

Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit  Ephesians 4.30

And do not grieve the Spirit the Holy of God, by whom you were sealed for a day of redemption.

Introduction

Verse 30 is general principle with a direct connection to verse 29 and a general connection to the larger theme of Ephesians – living a new life by the Holy Spirit.

Six Holy Spirit Terms

1) Baptism with/in the Spirit = Sealing with the Spirit. God putting the Holy Spirit inside of us, joining us to the body of Christ and guaranteeing our future salvation

2) Walk in the Spirit by obedience (Galatians 5.16); Grieve the Spirit by sin/worldliness/neglect. Quench the Spirit by disobedience (1 Thessalonians 5.19).

3) Filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5.18). Walking in the Spirit after repentance, confession, submission.

What Grieves the Holy Spirit?

1) All sin big or small. Imaginations, attitudes, actions …

2) The flesh and worldliness. What fills your life?

3) Not trusting in God and neglect.

4) Quenching the Spirit from fear, pride, self-preservation

-A betrayal of love and relationship more than law

Results of Grieving the Holy Spirit

-Lose of the sense of God’s love, joy, peace, assurance and intimacy with God as Father. No power over the flesh. Conviction of sin.

-The danger of continuing to grieve the Holy Spirit. The dependence on substitutes instead of the real thing.

Conclusion

An examination before God and a willingness to change our ways.

SERMON NOTES

Careful Living in 2010  (Ephesians 5.15)

Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit               Ephesians 4.29-30

-We have been studying together various commands that describe how we are to walk/live as a Christian. As Christians we are to walk in truth and speak the truth. We are not to hold grudges. We are not to steal but to work and give to others. We are to use words to build others up and not to tear them down. We are to get rid of all bitterness and live in a spirit of kindness and forgiveness toward others. In the midst of these various ethical commands, Paul wrote verse 30. This verse is more of a general principle than a specific command on how to live. Let’s spend some time together on verse 30.

-Let us first ask ourselves some questions. “Why did God direct Paul to put this verse where he put it?” “Is it connected with the verses around it?” “What does this verse teach us when placed in this context?” Paul writes logically, connecting thoughts together, so we can assume that this verse is logically connected to the verses around it. There is both a direct connection and a general connection to the surrounding verses.

-One of the major ministries of the Holy Spirit since the beginning of time has been to make known God’s revelation to His prophets and to have them record truth as the Word of God. Peter plainly says, “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”. God is the author of Scripture through the Holy Spirit. Not only has the Holy Spirit been predominate in the revelation and recording of Scripture but His ministry is also to apply Scripture to men and women and transform them through its teaching. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit would come after Him, He would testify about Jesus and would guide the disciples into all truth. The Holy Spirit has always used the tremendous gift of language that God gave to mankind to reveal God, to glorify God, and to build men and women up to become like God. It is logical for Paul to write, “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God” after commanding the Ephesians to not let any unwholesome talk come out of their mouths and to use their words to build others up. Christians are to follow the example of the Holy Spirit in their use of words. To use words in anger and bitterness and lies and lust and greed, grieves the Holy Spirit of God whose purpose is to lift up the Glory of God and to build up God’s people with words. That is the direct connection of verse 30 to verse 29, to which it connects with “and”. Words are to be used to reveal God to others and to build others up in God and when they are not used in that way they grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

-It is not only sinful words that grieve the Holy Sprit of God but the other sins mentioned in the surrounding verses also grieve the Holy Spirit. 

-There is also a general connection to these verses as well. In this command Paul reminds us once again of two important truths he wants us to know.

1) In this command not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God Paul reminds us that the goal of the Christian life is to live a holy life that brings Glory to God. In the Greek the adjective “Holy” is emphasized by using the definite article. Literally the sentence reads, “Do not grieve the Spirit, the Holy, of God” (see bulletin). We are to live holy lives that will please the Holy Spirit and bring Glory to God.

2) Paul reminds us in this statement that the Christian life is more than ethical behavior. Our new behavior is motivated by the Holy Spirit in us. Paul has already emphasized our union with the death and resurrection of Christ that leads to new life in the Holy Spirit and here he reminds us once again of the source of this new life. We are to co-operate with the Holy Spirit of God in living a new holy life, we are not to grieve Him.

-Now I want to share with you six different Holy Spirit terms and explain how they interrelate. The first two terms are “Baptism in/with the Holy Spirit” and “sealed by the Spirit”. Both of these terms are used to describe the same work of God in those who are born again. These two terms describe God’s work of putting the Holy Spirit inside of us to make us spiritually alive. Baptism in/with the Holy Spirit is about our incorporation into the Church, being placed into the body of Christ. Sealing by the Spirit is God’s personal guarantee to us of our complete redemption, the witness of the Spirit mentioned in 1 John 4.24. These two terms describe the same activity of God coming to dwell in us by the Holy Spirit, at the same time joining us to other believers in the body of Christ, and giving us personal assurance of salvation in Christ.

-If the Holy Spirit does not live inside of you, you have not been born-again and you do not belong to God, and you are not going to heaven. (Romans 8.9) You must know that the Holy Spirit lives in you. The Holy Spirit living in you is God’s seal, God’s guarantee, to you of a full salvation on that day when you will stand before God.

-Following the Baptism with the Holy Spirit/the Sealing of the Spirit, we continually have three choices before us. These three choices are described by three terms, walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5.16), grieve the Spirit, or quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5.19). To walk in the Spirit means that we are following the Spirit’s leading in obedience to the Word of God. To grieve the Holy Spirit means we choose to follow sin and the flesh instead of the Holy Spirit. To quench the Holy Spirit means that we refuse to respond to the promptings and influences of the Holy Spirit, perhaps out of fear or pride or self preservation. Two of these choices lead us away from the Spirit’s rule and one keeps us under the Spirit’s rule and blessing.

-The last term is filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5.18). To be filled with the Spirit means that we are walking in the Spirit. If we have grieved or quenched the Holy Spirit we need to repent from the sin that grieved or quenched the Holy Spirit. We need to confess that sin to God and be forgiven. And then we need to submit ourselves without reservation to God and once again walk in the authority of the Spirit. To walk under the authority and influence of the Holy Spirit should be the continual choice and experience of the Christian.

–What grieves the Holy Spirit of God?

1) All sin, big and small grieves the Holy Spirit. Sinful imaginations, fantasies and thoughts that we dwell on grieve the Holy Spirit. Sinful attitudes, sinful motives, sinful words, sinful actions. God the Holy Spirit knows us thoroughly. What we can hide from others we can never hide from God. We must be living in holiness and love or we grieve the Holy Spirit.

2) All works of the flesh and worldliness grieve the Holy Spirit. When we seek to satisfy our own desires without considering God’s will and those around us we sin and grieve the Holy Spirit. When we conform to the goals and expectations of the sinful world around us we grieve the Holy Spirit of God. What we watch on TV, listen to on radio or mp3, entertain ourselves with, can grieve the Holy Spirit.

-Would you watch that show if Jesus was watching TV with you? Let me remind you that God is living inside of you and is with you always.

3) Our failure to realize the Holy Spirit’s presence in us and to rely on Him. In 2 Kings 1.1-4 we read of king Ahaziah who had fallen through the lattice of his upper room and injured himself. He sent messengers to Baal-Zebub the god of Ekron to see if he would recover. God send Elijah to meet these messengers and ask them “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to consult Baal-Zebub, the God of Ekron”. Therefore this is what the Lord says: “You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!” God often rebuked His people for relying on their armies or foreign armies to deliver them and not coming to Him for help. God rebuked His people for going to Egypt to find help instead of coming to Him. On the other hand God rewarded those who trusted Him in impossible situations. Faith pleases God, but ignoring God and relying on our own resources instead of God, grieves the Holy Spirit. How often we ignore the Holy Spirit and go about our busy lives trusting in our own strength and resources? This too grieves the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah 2.13 says, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

4) When we quench the Holy Spirit’s promptings and nudges we also grieve the Holy Spirit of God who seeks to lead us into holiness and into fruitful service by prompting and influencing us.

-When we think of grieving the Holy Spirit we should think more in terms of a betrayal of love than the breaking of a commandment. By God’s grace we have been brought into relationship with God and God has pledged Himself to us by coming to live inside of us through the Holy Spirit. When we sin against God as a Christian we are betraying a relationship and not just breaking a law. Too many of us still live by law and not by love. The Holy Spirit is a holy person, a loving person, and any sin and unloving act is a betrayal against His person. As Christians we are not asked to walk in perfect conformity to law but to walk in a relationship of love to God. Walking in relationship to God is a much more powerful motive for living a holy and loving life than law. Love is the fulfillment of the law. We grieve the Holy Spirit when we violate the pledge of exclusive love we made to God when we called Jesus our Lord.

-What are the results of grieving the Holy Spirit of God? Once God has sealed us by coming to live inside of us, He will never leave us. But when we grieve the Holy Spirit, He withdraws the manifestations of His presence from us.

1) We lose the sense of God’s love for us

2) We lose the joy of our salvation

3) We lose the peace of God

4) We lose the assurance of justification and God’s acceptance

5) We lose the intimacy of “Abba Father” that comes by the Holy Spirit

6) We are given over to the sinful power of the flesh

7) We come under the conviction of sin

-We may continue to confess God’s love, joy, peace, and assurance but we no longer know the experience of these things. It is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit of God and to continue in that state for a long time, going through the motions of being a Christian while no longer walking in the Spirit and the fullness of the Christian life. When that happens we begin to rely on substitutes to replace the missing love and peace and joy of the Holy Spirit. The world is quick to offer substitutes to fill the void left when we grieve the Holy Spirit of God. We may live for many years without the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and not be aware of it, feeling empty and lonely because the substitutes do not quite satisfy. We are left wondering if the teachings of the Bible are more speculative theory than experienced reality.

-The problem is not with the Bible’s claims but with us. We have wandered from the real life of God of walking in the Spirit by preferring our sin, the world, and ourselves and grieving the Holy Spirit of God.

-I fear that as God’s people we are more regularly grieving the Holy Spirit than walking in the fullness of the Spirit. We must all examine ourselves to see how we are grieving the Holy Spirit of God.

-How many of us will actually take a chunk of time alone and get quiet before God this week and ask Him to examine our lives to see where we are grieving the Holy Spirit? After the examination comes the choice to change our ways or to continue in them without the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in us.

-How many of us have stopped climbing toward the summit of the mountain to meet with God? Perhaps this morning God is calling you to get hiking again, to be filled with the Spirit again, to learn to walk more regularly in the Spirit.