Motive - Ephesians 4:30-32

This passage in Ephesians 4:30 gives us the wonderful motive behind a spiritual Christian life. We've been looking at these very practical admonitions in Ephesians 4. Paul has been telling us to walk in purity. The old man has been buried and the new man is alive in our hearts. And therefore, our responsibility and our privilege is to walk in newness of life.

Paul told us to put away lying in Ephesians 4:25, and anger in Ephesians 4:26, because these things in Ephesians 4:27 are opportunities for the devil to work. In Ephesians 4:28, stealing. Satan is a thief as well as a liar and a murderer. And in Ephesians 4:29, evil speaking. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Whenever these things are in the lives of Christians, the devil is at work.

Now when the Holy Spirit is at work, instead of there being lying, there's truth. He's the Spirit of truth. Instead of there being anger, there's love. Now we are angry at sin, but we love people. And when the Spirit of God is at work, there is honest labor and a willingness to give as Paul says in Ephesians 4:28. And in Ephesians 4:29, when the Holy Spirit of God is at work, our speech is edifying, it builds up. So much speech tears down.

Back in the book of Proverbs, the tongue is compared to an arrow, and it's also compared to a club. An arrow comes swiftly and silently through the air and hits its target. But a club comes along and beats the target. Now, some words are like arrows, it takes a little while for them to hit their target, to do the damage. But some people's tongues are like clubs, and they break them down.

Over in the book of James, James in chapter 3 compares the tongue to a fire, to a deadly poison. And oh, how much damage the tongue can do. I wonder, do we use this wonderful gift of speech to glorify God and to edify, to build up? You see, God gave to us as his creatures, this marvelous method of communication. We have a tongue. Now animals can make sounds, and animals can make noise, and some animals to a degree can express themselves, but no other creature on all of this wonderful earth that God created, can use its tongue to praise the Lord as we can.

Back in the Garden of Eden, God brought to Adam all of the animals and said, "Adam, you name them." Adam had the gift of speech. No one had to teach him how to speak. He needed no primer, no teacher. He was created with this wonderful faculty of speech with which he could communicate with others and praise the Lord.

Now in Ephesians 4:29, Paul is saying that if we aren't careful, the devil will get a hold of our tongues. This is what spreads wildfire in families. The tongue. There are some home fires that should not be kept burning and this is one of them. The tongue. Oh, that we might use our tongues to glorify God. "Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King." Do you use your time to edify others and to glorify the Lord?

Now in Ephesians 4:30, Paul tells us the real motive for Christian living. "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Now the Holy Spirit of God is a person. The Holy Spirit is not it. Don't you ever refer to the Holy Spirit as it, because the Holy Spirit is a holy person.

Now, the mystery of the Trinity is beyond the understanding of the human mind. I think I may have mentioned before in these studies, what one of my professors said at seminary. "Try to explain the Trinity and you will lose your mind. Try to explain it away, and you will lose your soul." The Trinity is a basic doctrine in the Christian faith, not three gods, one God. But within this wonderful, glorious Godhead, there is God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Now the Father and the Son and the Spirit are equal, yet they are separate. The Trinity is all through the Bible. When our Lord Jesus was baptized, the Father spoke in a voice from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The Spirit came down in a form like a dove and lighted upon the Son of God there in the baptismal waters. The Trinity was revealed there at his baptism.

Now all throughout the Word of God, the doctrine of the Trinity is taught. Jesus Christ is God. He's God in the flesh. The Holy Spirit is God. He is a person. The Holy Spirit has feelings. The Holy Spirit loves. The Holy Spirit has emotions. He has a mind to think with. He has emotions to feel with. He is a real person. And when you were saved, the Spirit of God came to dwell within your body and turned your body into his temple.

Now, Paul is saying that when we sin, we grieve the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God is pictured as a dove in the Bible. And a dove is a bird that is easily grieved. And Paul is saying to us, you have this heavenly dove residing within you, this holy, wonderful person, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost, the Holy Guest. And there he is living within you. And were it not for the Holy Spirit, you would not be saved. For it was the Holy Spirit of God who wrote the Bible that taught you about Jesus. It was the Holy Spirit of God who convicted you of your sins. And it was the Holy Spirit of God who gave to you the gift of faith to trust in the Savior that you might be born again. The Spirit of God wrought within you the miracle of being born again. And the Spirit of God now has sealed you eternally under that day of redemption. Now, don't grieve the Holy Spirit.

Sin in the life of the believer grieves the Holy Spirit. There are several sins against the Holy Spirit that we as believers must avoid. We can grieve the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit of God continues to speak to us, and we continue to disobey, then we quench him. 1 Thessalonians 5:19, "Quench not the Spirit." Now, to quench the Spirit of God doesn't mean he leaves us. Back in Psalm 51, when David was confessing his awful sins, he said, "Take not thy Holy Spirit from me." Now we don't pray that way today, because Jesus said that he would give us the Holy Spirit of God, even the Spirit of truth, who shall abide with you forever. God will not remove this seal. The Holy Spirit of God is the eternal seal, the down payment, the earnest, the witness of our wonderful salvation. And he will not leave us. But we can grieve him and we can quench him, so that he is not allowed to work in our lives.

I once had a pastor friend who used to put it this way: "It is not enough to have the Holy Spirit as resident, he must also be president." I like that. When we are honoring the Lord Jesus Christ and giving him the preeminence, then the Holy Spirit of God works in our lives. For the work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ. "He shall glorify me," said Jesus, "for he shall take of mine and show them unto you." So the Holy Spirit of God takes the Word of God and reveals the Son of God. And when you and I glorify Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God works in our lives.

Now when we start living for ourselves, like Ephesians 4:25, lying, to protect ourselves and to make people think we're more spiritual than we really are. Or anger, Ephesians 4:26. Or stealing, Ephesians 4:28. Or filthy communication out of our mouth, Ephesians 4:29, then we're grieving the Holy Spirit. And if we grieve the Holy Spirit too long, we quench him.

Now, unsaved people resist the Holy Spirit when he convicts them. It's possible to lie to the Holy Spirit. Acts 5. Peter said to Ananias and Sapphira, "Ye have lied to the Holy Spirit." How do we lie to the Holy Spirit? By making people think that we are something that we are not really down inside. Ananias and Sapphira, there in Acts 5, wanted all the members of the church to say, "My, aren't they spiritual? Look how much they've given." But they weren't really giving everything, they were just pretending.

But I wonder sometimes how the Holy Spirit feels when Christians sing in a worship service, "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord." But they won't even go calling. They won't even pick up the telephone and invite someone to a church service. They won't send a get well card to some ill person, someone who's in the hospital. But we say, "I'll go where you want me to go." Or when we sing in our church services, "Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord," and people don't take time to pray. Or sometimes we sing, "Take my life and let me be consecrated, Lord, to Thee." Many a man might just as well sing, "Take my wife and let me be." And that one verse says, "Take my silver and my gold." And yet many people don't tithe. They don't give faithfully to the Lord and the ministry of their local church. They don't support the work of the Lord. This is grieving the Spirit. And it can lead to quenching the Spirit.

Now, Ephesians 4:31-32, Paul lists a few other matters that need to come to our attention in this problem of grieving the Spirit. "Let all bitterness." Can you imagine Christians being bitter? "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice." Oh, can you imagine God warning Christians about bitterness? You know, it's an awful thing that people hold bitter things in their hearts. Bitterness leads to wrath and anger. It's like the water in the teakettle, it keeps boiling and boiling and finally it has to spout out.

Bitterness and wrath and anger, clamor, loud talking, noisy fighting. I trust our Christian homes are not this way. Evil speaking, saying wicked things about people. You know, if we don't know something about someone that's true, we don't have to spread it. Peter says that love covers a multitude of sins. "Let all bitterness and all wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice." Malice is that suspicious, hateful attitude that grows down inside. Malice is glad when somebody else is hurt. Malice says, down inside, "That's exactly what you deserve." Just the opposite of love.

Then positively, in Ephesians 4:32, Paul says, "And be ye kind one to another." My, how wonderful is the gift of kindness. Now, we're saved because of God's kindness. Over in Titus 3:4, Paul writing to Titus tells us about the kindness of God. He says, "But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." Saved us from bitterness. Saved us from malice and anger and evil speaking.

Now, "Be ye kind one to another. Tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." You see, the great example for the Christian to follow is Jesus Christ, not somebody else. We're so prone to look at some other Christian in his weakness and say, "Well, he loses his temper, why can't I?" "He's an officer in the church, and he doesn't give, why should I?" I don't think a man should be an officer in a church if he doesn't give. But we use other people as excuses for our sin. When the Bible tells us to look to Jesus Christ, not for an excuse, but for an example. "Even as God forgave you, forgive others." That's a mighty tall job. Do we forgive others the way God has forgiven us?

How does God forgive us? Graciously, lovingly, forgetfully, completely, forgiving. "As far as the east is from the west, so hath he removed our transgressions from us." "Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another." How much? Peter came to Jesus one day and said, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother? Seven times?" Jesus said, "Not seven times, but seventy times seven." By which he meant, not so many times, but so many you can't count them.

The Lord Jesus Christ knew how to forgive. He came to forgive. "The Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Prodigal son wasted his father's substance, ruined his father's reputation, but when he came home, his father forgave him. You see, the way to get rid of malice and anger and bitterness and evil speaking, the way to clean your heart up is to forgive people. Forgive them. Forgive them from your heart. Love covers a multitude of sins. Forgive them. How? The way God forgave you. How did God forgive you? Graciously, forgivingly, completely, forgiving. Only the Holy Spirit of God working in our lives can do this. If we yield to him.

Shall we pray together? Father, help us to follow Christ as our example. Take out of our hearts bitterness and malice and wrath and evil speaking and clamor. And give us love and kindness and tender hearts toward one another. For Jesus' sake, we pray. Amen.