Knowing this,
that our old man was crucified with Christ.
ROMANS 6:6a
Do not lie to one another,
since you have put off
the old man with his deeds,
and have put on the new man
who is renewed in knowledge
according to the image of Him who created him.
COLOSSIANS 3:9-10
Every Monday I so much look forward to teaching a Bible study focusing on anger to 24 men at the Haven of Rest mission in Anderson, South Carolina. Most of these men are humbled before the Lord and are open to true hope from His Word.
They are my heroes.
We frequently study Ephesians 4:26-27, Be angry and do not sin, and do not let the sun go down on your wrath (bitterness), nor give place to the devil.
We see in these verses that there is indeed a command to be angry. This is a reference to our growth in experiencing a holy anger toward sin (including our own sins). The source of this holy anger is Christ Himself through our union with Him.
We are also commanded
to not sin and to not let the sun go down on our bitterness. This means we are not to let our holy anger against sin become personal and then perverted into an unholy bitterness (grudge) against a person.
When this bitterness does happen, we lose our ability to think rationally and, as Ephesians 4:27
warns, we give the devil a toehold into our minds. And the devil is out to slander Christ and to destroy us and those we love around us.
Therefore, the commands in Ephesians 4:26-27 are so crucial.
However, we cannot obey these commands without knowing the truths in Ephesians leading up to those verses.
Let me explain.
Ephesians has six chapters. How many commands are in the last 3 chapters? About 60. A lot. There are three commands in Ephesians 4:26-27 alone.
Now, how many commands are in the first 3 chapters? NONE!
Why is this?
Like all of the other New Testament letters, the first portion of each letter reveals all that God in His grace has done for us and in us.
Oh we must first and foremost know the truths of what God has done for us and in us through His Son before we try to do anything for Him! Otherwise, we will try to obey these commands in our own fleshly strength, which is no strength at all and which always plays into the devil's hands.
So, I love meditating on the truths from Ephesians 1-3. And I also love walking the men at the mission through these chapters to help establish a sure foundation for their lives.
Following is a picture the Lord nurtured me to prepare to communicate
core truths from Ephesians 1-3. This a picture of the gospel in Ephesians 2:1-7 that profoundly describes how God completely changes a person through His beloved Son and His cross and, subsequently, equips a person to obey Ephesians 4:26-27.
