Jettison The Junk | Ephesians 4:25-32 | May 26 | Derek Neider

Speaker [00:00:07] H ey, if you need a Bible today we're in Ephesians chapter four. Get your hand up. If you need a Bible, Ephesians chapter four, we're going to start in verse 25. So once you get there, go ahead and stand up with me. If you're able to and will read the Word of God together. Once you're there, say Amen out loud. Amen. Okay. The Bible says in verse 25, therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor. For we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion. That it may give grace to those who hear and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption, that all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor, like, here's the list and slander be put away from you. And he's like, oh yeah, and also along with all malice. And then verse 32, so good. You should highlight it, underline it, memorize it, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as yeah, that's good? Let's say it all together aloud as God in Christ forgave you. Father, we're so thankful today, God. We're thankful. We're thankful that we're your sons and daughters. We're thankful that you've given us your word. We're thankful, God, for the flourishing life. God, we're thankful for the flourishing life.

Speaker [00:02:01] God. We're grateful for the renewal, the transformation, the change. You've been so good to pull us up out of the darkness of out of the miry clay, and to set our feet upon a rock God, to cleanse us and make us whole. I pray, father, please, that your spirit, God, we. We give permission for your spirit to permeate our whole being today. God, we're not going to throw up a block or a roadblock. We're not going to resist. We're not going to have no fly zones for you. Father, we want you to touch every part of our being. In Jesus name. Amen. You can have a seat today. You know, we have a clutter epidemic. We have a clutter epidemic in the US. And. Right. Some of you are like, pastor, how do you get a picture of my garage? For real. But this is interesting, right? Over 80% of Americans are grappling with stress and anxiety directly linked to clutter in their living spaces. So with that, in addition to that, an average American home, has a staggering 300,000 objects within it. Isn't that crazy? The average home. Like, I know you're, like, going through all the different things that you belong. The average home has 300,000 different objects in it. And that leads to this next thing. Annually, Americans invest $2.7 billion in storage units. So. So like when you hit the 300,000 mark and you're like, man, I got no more space, and I cluttered it all up. I need something else. What do you do while you go get a storage unit? Studies indicate a direct correlation between a cluttered home and elevated cortisol levels, resulting in heightened anxiety and disturbance in sleep patterns. Some of you have been really stressed out and you've not been sleeping well, and it might be because your garage looks like that. 54% of people expressed feeling overwhelmed by the clutter in their lives.

Speaker [00:04:13] And this is really interesting. 78% of individuals who live cluttered lives and admit to having no clear idea how to tackle or manage the excess of the belongings that are contributing to their clutter. So, in other words, they feel like this guy, this guy in this picture, right, who clearly has been sent on a mission by his wife, you know, some of you, you're like, man, Memorial Day, I'm going to chill tomorrow. I'm going to hang, catch some rays, lay in the pool, and your wife's like, no, you're cleaning the garage. That's like, didn't you hear the message that pastor gave? So homeboy here was, you know, directed by his wife. And, you know, he's not really into it because he's barefoot, right? He's not even he is not planning on being in the garage for a very long time. And not only is he not planning on being there for a very long time, he's not interested in cleaning it up. He's on his phone and you'll notice that he hasn't even closed the door back into the house. So. So you know what his hope is, is that his wife is going to think that while he's out there, he's doing something and it's going to be better. But the truth is, in 20 minutes, he's going to be right back in the house. And, you know, because when you're dealing with a mess like that, when you're dealing with a mess like that, it is hard to know where to start. And when you have clutter like that, what ends up happening is you start to think, man, I've got I have no space for anything else. And if that persists over the course of time, pretty soon as you go out and try to clean things up, you discover things that you never really realized you even had.

Speaker [00:05:53] Or you forget things that were really valuable because they're buried under a whole bunch of stuff. Now, if this is your life and I know you're might be a little stressed out right now because you're. That's what clutter does. I'm going to solve the problem for you with one word, okay? And it's not it's not like burn it or, you know, anything like that. The one word is generosity. The one word is generosity. Here. Here is my help. For those of you who are battery battling a cluttered life, clean it up, give it away, and invest in a church plant. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. It's pretty simple. I got a great plan for you. Clean it up, give it away, and invest in one of our church plants. As you do that, what you'll discover is there's going to be value where you saw no value. There's going to be purpose where there was no purpose, there's going to be blessings for other people. When you thought that that thing that you've had for 15 years that you forgot that you had couldn't bless anybody. But really, you know, I know you're thinking, man, where's the connect to today's message? Well, let me give it to you. Not only can our lives be cluttered on the outside, sometimes they're cluttered on the inside. Not only are our lives sometimes cluttered on the outside, they can also be cluttered on the inside. I'm talking today about how sometimes we clutter our lives on the inside with toxic behavior, toxic attitudes, toxic feelings, and toxic thoughts. Sometimes we let those things dominate us so much. Sometimes we cram ourselves so full of things that are unhealthy for us on the inside, whether it's our thinking or our behaving, or our attitude towards others or our feelings that you know what happens? We are bursting at the seams with everything that's bad and we have no space any longer for those things that are good.

Speaker [00:07:51] In fact, under the weight of all of the burden of toxicity, sometimes we forget what it is that we have. In Jesus Christ. And you know, we can pull it off because you can live the cleanest, most minimalistic life on the outside, but be completely loaded down with unhealthy baggage on the inside. And, you know, you can feel like that guy. You can feel like that guy who's in this big, cluttered mess and you just don't know where to start. You've been dealing with thoughts and feelings and attitudes on the inside that have been owning you, that have been dominating you, that have been running your life, that have been dictating to you how you treat other people. And sometimes, over the course of time, we become so accustomed to cohabitating with those things that we can't even imagine how that mountain is going to be cast into the sea. We can't even imagine where to begin to clean the mess up. I want to remind us today that gospel power, gospel power is intended to press through your life all the way through your life to impact your attitudes, your feelings, your thoughts, and your behaviors. Now, that might seem obvious to you today, but the truth is this sometimes, sometimes when we're in that place and we've been cohabitating with something on the inside that we know we shouldn't cohabitate with, and God's been calling us to give it up. Sometimes you know, what God hits is resistance. Sometimes God hits a roadblock. Sometimes we throw a block on God. Sometimes, you know the way that we live our lives. It's like. It's like. Yeah, you know what, God, I'm all good for salvation. And being filled with your spirit and the promise of everlasting life and the community of God's people.

Speaker [00:09:43] But don't touch that. Like, don't touch that. You got there's a no fly zone over certain areas of your life. And the gospel. Remember, the gospel is intended to impact our whole life, that we would live in a place where it's like everything is given to God in an open handed way. Uncluttering your life from destructive behaviors and attitudes means dumping them means dumping. You guys know, like I'm kind of a bottom line person. And so I'm just going to tell you straight today, it means dumping them and replacing them with the right ones. Through the power of the gospel and the new nature God has given you in Christ. Amen. You're right. This section's in. Amen. This section is part of the name in this section is not altogether so sure today, but. But, you know, sometimes, sometimes we can be in a place where it's like, well, you know, the, the, the, the heart is willing, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. I don't even know how to do that. Or you might be thinking, today, I don't have what it takes. I don't have what it takes to make that change, to transform in such a way where things that I become accustomed to living with, you know, are no longer a part of my life. And I just want to remind you today, based on what Paul has been saying in the book of Ephesians, you are wealthy in Christ. You have everything that you need. You have the power of the gospel. You have the power of the Holy Spirit. And listen, not only that, you have the new nature that Christ has placed within you. I think today you know, this may, as we read this, may come off like, oh, it's going to be another list of things for me to do.

Speaker [00:11:28] And the truth is, God wants to bring radical change to our lives. Today, I look at these verses and what I see is I see awakening. I look at these verses and I see spiritual refreshment. I look at these verses and I see a fresh work of God's Spirit. I see joy heaped up for you in the heavenly places. If you will just say yes to this, because you guys know what it's like. Like when you got a mess on your hands and you take the time to clean it up, you know, you step back and it's like, man, you feel uncluttered, you feel unburdened. You feel like that thing that was old is now brand new. And so today, I want to encourage you. There are blessings for you. There's transformation for you. There's renewal for you. There's awakening for you. There is joy for you. Today, as we choose to let gospel power permeate our lives. Now Paul goes through a list, which is something Paul is accustomed to doing. I'm not going to number how many things Paul says, because you'll start counting and checking the clock to see if, like, the number is decreasing proportionately to the time. So you're on it. You're on a ride today with me. All right. The first thing that Paul says is this choose honesty instead of dishonesty. The title of the message is Jettison the junk. Or, you know, say in your own terms, it might be dump the dysfunction. Like, whatever it is, Paul starts out with choosing honesty instead of dishonesty. Verse 25, he says it like this. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members. One of another, Paul, says, put away falsehood.

Speaker [00:13:17] Paul. Paul essentially is saying, don't lie anymore. When I say lie, I'm talking about boldface lies. I'm talking about everyday, ordinary run of the mill lies. I'm talking about little white lies. You guys know how we are. We have gradients for mistruths, and we're like, yeah, you know what, pastor? I would never. I would never just, like, flat out lie to anybody. But, you know, I might I might kind of lie. I might tell, you know, a half truth. I might tell a white lie. And based on the Scripture, listen, there's only one category. It is either true or false. It is either honesty or dishonesty. This includes shaping the truth and leaving out important details, giving one side, leading people to a false conclusion because you've given them an incomplete understanding. This is called deception. Now you might be thinking today, you know, we're Christians. We don't do that. This is where I pause and just watch you watch you respond. Really interesting study in the University of Massachusetts. They discovered 60% of people can't go ten minutes without lying. I know, that's crazy, Every week they said Americans tell at least 11 lives. The University of Duke did some research. They had an MRI scanning brains while people were lying. And what they discovered was that as the lying increased, the amygdala activity decreased. And so just simply to say it became easier for people, as people were more accustomed to telling lies, there was less compunction, less conviction, less response of their, of their conscience. And it became easier for them to lie. And you guys know, sometimes, listen, if we become habitual liars, we can find ourselves in a place where we actually believe the lies that we've been telling other people.

Speaker [00:15:32] So have you ever have you ever interface with somebody like that where it's like you're trying to get to the truth, you're trying to bring things up out into the light, and you discover that the person who has been habitually lying is actually in a place where they believe the lies themselves that they have been telling. So the answer here, the solution, how do we declutter ourselves from that is simple just speak the truth. Be a person that's honest. Be honest in absolutely everything. If you don't have all the facts, keep a lid on it. Right. If you don't have all the facts, don't give a false impression. As if you're able to say that you know everything when you really don't. Telling the truth in the small things is an indicator of your integrity, of your love for others, and of your trust in God. Let me just say it again. Telling the truth in the small things is an indicator of your integrity, of your love for others and of your trust in God. Jesus said it like this. He said, in Luke 16:10, one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. And so the exortation of Scripture is really simple. Hey, in the small things, be faithful. Be faithful to tell the truth in the small things. Because when you're faithful in that you, you'll be faithful to tell the truth in the larger things. And then Paul also gives us the reason why we should do this. He says in the church, it's because we're members of one another. I don't know about you guys, but don't you get tired of being lied to out in the world? Don't you get tired of, of manipulation and falsehood and fake news? And it's like everyone has a lie to tell out in the world.

Speaker [00:17:25] That's why this should be an oasis. That's why we should be able to count on one another, to tell the truth, to be honest. Because how we speak has an impact on one another. Paul is saying this. He's like, you're not disconnected. It's not that you can compartmentalize your dishonesty or your manipulation in a way where it's not going to impact other people. Paul's like, we are one body. We're members of one another. When we don't tell the truth, it impacts and influences everybody. 20mg of arsenic, you know, a very, very small amount is enough to kill a person. And that is what lies do. They spread like poison in the body of Christ. So number one today, cleaning up the clutter, jettisoning the junk, dumping the dysfunction. Choose honesty instead of dishonesty. The second thing is this extinguish anger. Instead of letting it burn, extinguish anger instead of letting it burn. Paul says, I like this. Verse 26 be angry. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. And these are all interconnected and give no opportunity to the devil. I think it's interesting that Paul clearly isn't saying that anger in and of itself is a sin because he says, be angry and do not sin. And I'm sure you've heard the distinction before between righteous anger and unrighteous anger. There are things that, as Christians, we should be angry about. And if we're not angry about some things, then there's a problem on the inside with us. You know, when people are exploited. When you see the innocent or the weak exploited, that that should bother you. You should be angry about that. When you see children taken advantage of, if you can read a story about a child being taken advantage of and feel no sense of righteous anger in your lives, there is a problem.

Speaker [00:19:41] When you see God misrepresented. Like this was what Jesus was dealing with with the scribes and Pharisees, the Herodians, the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin. Remember, they were they were performing. They were acting like they were connected well to God, and that they could lead other people to God. But the truth was, they weren't. Jesus called them blind leaders, and he was angry that there was a group of people that were presenting themselves as people that could direct others to God, and they weren't. They were blind people leading other blind people. Jesus says into a ditch. When you and I see that it should anger us, we should have a righteous anger when it comes to sin. And I don't just mean other people sin, I mean our own sin. You know, sometimes Christians, you know, in response to things that we we have the right to have a righteous anger over. Sometimes, however, we can let that anger get the best of us. We cannot contain that. We cannot. We get to a place sometimes where that anger is not rightly placed and like a fire, if there aren't boundaries, it can lead us to sin. We can identify a situation that we're angry about, and if we're not careful, that anger can consume us. So now, not only are we angry at the situation, but we're angry at people, and we are disrespectful and hateful and malevolent to people. We've allowed that fire to consume us in such a way that now we are in sin against others. And that's just an interesting place to be. To be in a place where, on the one hand, it started with a righteous anger, and now you're subsidizing an unrighteous anger in your life and thinking that you're okay doing so.

Speaker [00:21:36] We can be angry at many things. Unfortunately, sometimes we find ourselves in a place we can be angry at many things, but be at peace with our own sin. That's a problem that is just reflecting on, this and thinking about the whole scene with Covid and politics. You know, the last four years have been absolutely wild and and there have been a lot of things, a lot of things that have happened in our society that I would say we have maybe a right to have some righteous anger towards. But I've also noticed in the church that when that righteous anger turns into unrighteous anger, Christians attitudes towards people and even other Christians can become sinful. That anger can be carried over into slander or malice or misrepresentation or gossip or division. And, you know, I'm simply saying to you today that that all of that, all of that will clutter up your life. You can find yourself, like I said, where you're angry about all these things, and pretty soon you're at peace with your own sin in your life. You're at peace with the gossip and the malevolence and the misrepresentation and the division. And I want to encourage you today to be a peace breaker. It's my favorite song right there. Thank you. I want you to. And I know you're thinking. Wait a minute, pastor, that's not biblical because we're supposed to be peacemakers. Jesus said, be peacemakers. You know, blessed are those who are peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Today I'm saying to you, if you have made peace with your sin, you need to be a peace breaker. You need to identify those areas where maybe anger has consumed you, and it has changed your attitude towards other people so that it's ungodly and you need to address it.

Speaker [00:23:31] Paul gives us a great way to do that. He says, don't let the sun go down on your anger. I think Paul was speaking literally like, yeah, hey, don't let the don't let the day end. This is a great practice for husbands and wives. Don't go to sleep angry with each other. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath. In other words, Paul is saying, don't nurse it. Don't nurse your anger. Don't pet your anger. Don't care for your anger. Don't coddle your anger. Don't justify your anger. Make a break. Put it where it belongs. Put it in check. Because if you don't, it will give an opportunity to the devil. The devil is always ready to blow the breath of life. On the smoldering embers of your anger. And what you and I need to do is we need to extinguish our anger by pouring the water of life upon it. Amen. The third thing Paul says is essentially this. Work hard to be generous instead of ripping people off. Work hard to be generous instead of ripping people off. Verse 28 let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Paul, Paul's just, you know, addressing the church. Hey, clean it up, clean it up. You're wealthy. You have Christ, you have a new nature. There's a flourishing life that God has for you. And so for those of you who've been living the lazy life and ripping other people off, cut it out, dump that dysfunction, jettison the junk, and start working honestly with your own hands so that you can be generous towards other. Let the thief steal no longer.

Speaker [00:25:18] You know, I was just thinking about how rampant identity theft is in our culture today. And if you've ever been, you know, hit by identity theft, you know, you feel victimized, you feel like your life has been intruded upon. You feel vulnerable, like this stuff is happening all the time. Online scams, professional stealing your identity. And. And I hate it. I think, man, there are people out there who are literally ripping others off. Others who have worked hard, others who've worked honestly, you know, older people who have been saving up in their 401 K's or their Roth IRAs, and they're just trying to finish life out, and all of a sudden they find themselves caught in this scam because somebody was so disrespectful and dishonoring and despised them and was choosing to live some lazy life, you know, willing to hurt other people. But, you know, Paul's not talking just about that. He's saying, be honest in your work, in the workplace. Don't rip people off in the workplace. Don't rip your boss off. Don't rip the industry off. When it comes to your friends and your family members, make sure that you are working hard, providing with your own hands, and not stealing from others. I want to remind us today honest, hard work is a blessing, not a curse. Honest, hard work is a blessing because, you know, sometimes you hear preachers say, you know what, man? Adam and Eve, those losers. You know, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have to work. We wouldn't have to sweat, you know, by our brow to till the soil or or to make a trade or whatever the case is. And it's like, well, you know, wait a minute. Work existed before the curse.

Speaker [00:27:19] Work existed before the fall. You know, God invited Adam and Eve to be his ambassadors, to be his representatives, to be his image bearers, to tend the garden. Right? There was purpose. There was meaning in the honest effort and work of their hands. And you know that that's the case, man. When you work hard, when you work hard, you know the value of that because of how it makes you feel. It honors God, it blesses you and it blesses other people. But it's so interesting here. The reason that Paul gives that we should work honestly with our own hands isn't for our own advancement. It's not so that we can have some some killer nest egg built up so that we can cruise the world. Some of you are cruisers, you know, so we can cruise the Caribbean or cruise Alaska or cruise Europe. I'm not really a big cruise or myself, you know, like, like 5000 Europeans swimming in the same pool on a boat is not just is not, you know, it's a great ministry opportunity, don't get me wrong, you know, but it's just not super like, you know, I don't know, it's not an incentive for me. The incentive Paul gives this is crazy. The incentive Paul gives is this work hard, do honest work. Cut. Cut out your your thievery. Cut out your thievery so you can be generous to help somebody in need. Like does not, does not blow you away a little bit. When's the last time you applied for a job? And the guy's like, hey, or the girls, like, why do you want this job? And you're like, hey, man, I just want to make some money so I can help people in need. Like, raise your hand if you did that in your last interview.

Speaker [00:29:02] That's exactly what I thought. Okay. And it was the same response as the first service. Because often times when we're thinking about working, we're thinking about subsidizing for ourselves, not for other people. What an awesome flip of the framework, you know, to thank God I want to work hard. God, I want to I want to be honest in my labor. God, I want to build up resources. So. Everyone can know what a generous, amazing, awesome, loving God I have as I choose to live a life of generosity. If you want to, I'm just saying this is this is special for you guys because the first service didn't get it. If you if you want to clean, if you want to really clean your life up, choose generosity. Choose generosity. You know, take the things that have been burdening you and and weighing you down. You know, sometimes we spend so much money, time and thought on how we're going to sustain all the stuff that we have. And pretty soon what happens is our possessions end up possessing us like they own us. They dominate our time. They dominate our attention. They dominate our thinking, they dominate our ambitions, they dominate our dreaming. And generosity is the solution because it's like, yeah, you know what? God pour in? Because as you pour in, I'm pouring out. I'm pouring out for the purpose of the gospel. I'm pouring out so I can lay treasure up in heaven. I'm pouring out so that I'm not the rich young ruler who is so into worshiping my stuff that I have no consideration for what it is that you have to say to me. Generosity is a solution to so much. The fourth thing Paul gives to us that'll help us clean up our lives is speak in a way that builds up instead of tears down, speak in a way that builds up instead of tears down.

Speaker [00:31:04] Verse 29 let no corrupting, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only as such as is good for building up. This is like so solid as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear. Paul says, speak in a way that builds up instead of tears down. Like don't let corrupt talk. The word there in Greek is sap ros. It was used of trees when they rotted or fruit when they rotted. You know, rotten talk, rotten destructive talk. You know, sometimes we can be so quick to respond. Paul is saying, hey, put put a pause on it and spend some time in prayer. Don't be reactive, don't be explosive, and don't say whatever comes to your mind, because for the most part, the first thing that comes to your mind is probably not something you should say. And so put it on pause, right? Put it on pause. Spend time in prayer. Align the words that you are going to speak with the Word of God, and make sure that before you talk, you are conveying God's heart. I think this is so important is husbands and wives. You know how we talk to each other and you know your spouse is or should be your best friend. And so sometimes there's a lot of freedom that we take in what we say to one another, but that does not give us the right to speak in a way that that tears our spouse down. You know, where it's like you're in the heat of the moment. This has never happened to you before. You're in, you're in the heat of the moment and you're all fired up and you're like, hey, she should know this about me anyway, you know, because I'm Latin and us Latin people, we are we are predisposed to being fired up.

Speaker [00:32:54] And so this is the way it rolls in my home. And it's like, well, remember, your home is his home and he's the center of the home, not you. Right? He is the center of the home. And ultimately, our effort in our marriage relationship is to convey Christ to our spouse, to convey Christ to our spouse. Look, moms and dads, remember that in those moments where your children get on your nerves. That's the young section over there in the back. Those moments where your kids, you know, they get they get on your nerves, right? Hey, listen, Johnny, I've told you 100 times. Clean your stinking room. You know, or whatever the case may be. And you hit that same wall time and time again, and you're ready to blow. You've just had it. You've had enough. And so instead of praying and pausing and really thinking through what to say and what not to say, you're explosive in that moment. And I'm just saying, once the words go out of your mouth, you can't get them back. Once the words go out of your mouth, you can't get them back. And the word thank God there's forgiveness. Hey, thank thank God. As parents, we can own our sin to our children. Thank God that that we can be an example of asking for forgiveness when we've said things we shouldn't say. And we're grown up enough to say, hey, you know what? I'm sorry I said that. I shouldn't have said that. Can you please forgive me those words? God can. God can heal. Make no mistake about it. But, man, those words still have an impact. They still have an impact. God help us. God help us to put a lid on it. God help us.

Speaker [00:34:38] And not to like not to keep, a volcano or a ticking time bomb ready to go off, but to choose to speak in a way that builds people up, that strengthens people, you know, that imparts grace to the hearer. Paul is not saying, hey, you know, you can just just say nice things to people and never deal with the hard stuff. That's not what he's saying. He certainly is saying, you know, as you build people up, you have to say the hard things, but say the hard things the right way and with the right heart, because the truth is and he says this in verse 30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Topic for another time. Interesting juxtaposition of this phrase in the list of things Paul is talking about. I think Paul is connecting it to this statement about how we speak to people. Because remember, you have been sealed with the spirit, the Holy Spirit cohabitate your being. And when you mis treat people with your words, not only does it hurt them, but it hurts the Spirit of God. It grieves the Spirit of God. Though the word grieve is very personal. It means sorrow or pain or distress. The fifth and final thing here today that Paul gives to us so that we can live a flourishing life filled with joy is forgive people instead of living in bitterness, forgive people instead of living in bitterness. Paul's words, verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And then verse 32, be kind to one another. Ten tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.

Speaker [00:36:23] I think the key thing that Paul is focusing on here in the negative list is bitterness. It's bitterness. You say, well, what is bitterness? Bitterness is is an embittered and resentful spirit which refuses to forgive or be reconciled. Bitterness is an embittered and resentful spirit that refuses to forgive or to be reconciled, for whatever reason that may be. A bitter heart is a heart that has chosen to hold on to something instead of letting it go. A bitter heart has chosen the pathway of unforgiveness and dismissiveness instead of pursuing reconciliation and forgiveness in broken relationships. And I'm just saying to you, brothers and sisters, if you think that you can compartmentalize that in such a way, if you think that you can compartmentalize your bitterness in such a way that it will not impact the rest of your life, you are sorely mistaken. You're sorely mistaken. Sometimes, you know, especially in the Western world, we're all about chopping things up and dividing things and putting them in categories. And it's like, yeah, I've got that messed up relationship and that guy's a total jerk. And he victimized me and used me and and you know, he doesn't deserve my forgiveness. And all those things may be true, right? I mean, except to he doesn't deserve my forgiveness. You may have been exploited. You may have been victimized. You may have been wronged. You know, in that place, sometimes you think. And you know what, God, you're telling me to forgive. But where were you in the midst of all of this? Where were you in the midst of my hurt? In the midst of my pain, in the midst of my sorrow when I was getting run over God, it seems like you were absent.

Speaker [00:38:17] And so listen, today, all of those experiences may be true, but what isn't true is that God was absent from you in the midst of. God was where he was always at. He was present with you. He is the God who loves you and cares for you. He is the God who has sustained you and strengthened you. He is the God who has upheld you with his righteous right hand. And he is the God, the same God. He is the same God. He. He is the same God. He is the same God who is able to supply to you what you need to do. The miraculous. Because forgiveness and reconciliation when you're wronged takes a work of God's Holy Spirit. It takes a work of God's Holy Spirit, but is something that's necessary for the author. To the book of Hebrews said this, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble. Check this out and buy it. Many become defiled. Many become defiled. It's a root. And you think that you can contain the root. And the truth is, it impacts everything else in your life. I think the list that Paul gives is a list that expresses what bitterness ultimately leads to. It leads to wrath. It leads to anger. It leads to clamor. That word refers to people who raise their voices in a quarrel, in argument, to the place where they're even screaming at each other. It leads to slander. That means to destroy people's reputations, and it leads to malice, which is ill will, wishing, plotting evil or harm towards people. So bitterness will lead you down that road, where there will be wrath and anger and clamor and slander and malice.

Speaker [00:40:15] And Paul says, hey, dump the dysfunction, dump that, and choose instead kindness, tender heartedness and forgiveness. Kindness means kindness is not some sloppy emotion. That's how Paul is talking about. He's talking about being motivated towards others in a way where you're always seeking their good. Your your goal, your desire. You know, the motivation that you have for other people isn't their downfall. Like when someone who's offended you, you know, falls on their face. You're not like, well, yeah, that punk had that coming, you know, has a feel, right? And there you are, like in your mind, standing over them and giving them a piece of your mind. That's not kindness. Kindness is desiring good even for those who have offended you. Paul says, be tender hearted, not hard hearted. Hard hearted means angry or malevolent or unfeeling. It also means dismissive and indifferent. And Paul is saying, you know how it gets. You get bitter towards somebody and you can just like, cut them off from your life, send them sailing into the next world. You know, never hopefully, to see them ever again. And Paul, Paul is addressing this. Right. Because that dismissiveness is not love. That indifference is not love. It's not being tenderhearted towards somebody. And, you know, there are times where where we and in our lives, you're like, who's we? You're all by yourself on this stage. My wife and I, in our lives, like we we have been run over. We've had hard times. We have been taken advantage of. And in those moments, it's like, what are we going to choose to do? Are we going to choose to love? Are we going to choose to to have a heart that's tender, like we know it's not right when we're indifferent to somebody.

Speaker [00:42:08] And so God help us. Help us to lean in so that we're wanting someone's. We're wanting good for somebody, but also our heart is tender towards them and that we're willing to forgive. The word forgive here in the original language is charidzomai and charid is where we get our English word grace from. And so what Paul is saying here is this don't become hard hearted. You know, don't don't hold on to it, brothers and sisters. Don't hold on to it. Let it go. Let it go is an act of grace. That's what grace is. Grace is giving something to somebody that they don't deserve. It is choosing not to hold on to that thing. Because I'm telling you, the harder you hold onto it, the harder it will hold onto you, the harder it will hold onto you. And you can't compartmentalize that. You know you can't keep that in a spot. It will defile you. You say, I don't know, how do I do that? How in the world could I forgive in such a way? What Paul says as God in Christ has forgiven you? That's the cross. That's the cross. God in Christ graciously choosing not to hold on to our sins simply because we have chosen to have faith in His Son and to follow him. That forgiveness today. Aren't you thankful for? For the forgiveness of God? Aren't you thankful? Aren't you grateful today? He's not in heaven. Like keeping a list, checking it twice, knowing that you've been naughty and rarely nice. You know, he's like, aren't you grateful today that he's not compiling a list? But that list was hung, that hung on the cross and that you have been forgiven, as undeserving as I am and you are.

Speaker [00:44:07] And what Paul is saying, Paul is saying, just as God in Christ has forgiven you, you ought to forgive others. You know, Moses was leading. I'll close with this today. Moses was leading the children of Israel out of Egypt, and they went through the parted sea. They came to the other side, and there was a body of water that was there. And the 2 million people were thirsty. And so they dip the cup in, they tasted the water and it was bitter. It was toxic. It was unhealthy. It wasn't good for them to drink. And the people were like, what the heck, man? Moses, you brought us all the way out of Egypt to this place, and now we're going to die in the desert. And the Bible says that God showed Moses a tree. God showed Moses a tree. And you know, what Moses did is he took the tree and he put it in the water, as they were called. Marah. That's Hebrew for bitter. He took the tree and he threw the tree in the bitter waters. And when the tree was thrown in the bitter waters, the water became sweet. The water became sweet for the people to drink. And I'm saying to you and to me today, in our unforgiveness and in our bitterness, God has shown us the tree. God has shown us the tree. He's shown us the cross of His Son. He's reminded us that it is the power of the cross of Jesus Christ that is able to take the bitter waters of your heart and cause them to be sweet. God is able to work a miracle so that there is flourishing in your life, and a sweetness that flows from you to other people.

Speaker [00:45:52] Don't cohabitate with your bitterness. Don't let that root of bitterness that you think that you can contain and control. Don't let that root of bitterness exist any longer. Do what you need to do with the root. Yank it out and look to the cross, and allow the power of the cross of Christ to make the bitter waters of your heart sweet for the glory of God, for the joy of your life, and for the blessing of others.