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August 09, 2009
“How to Behave in the 21st Century”
Ephesians 4:25 – 5:7
Sunday, August 9, 2009
There is an interesting Scene in one of the Austin Powers movies in which Austin (portrayed by Mike Myers) looks into the camera to address the audience and says “Oh, Behave!, then proceeds to dance naked through a hotel lobby. I think that scene may serve as a metaphor for our age. In our time we are expected to behave according to some social or moral standards, but our examples, even those who demand that we behave don’t seem to know how to behave themselves and they seem less able to instruct us as to how to behave.
As we find ourselves in an age of increasing technology and as our abilities to infringe in greater ways on each other’s rights increases, the self appointed gurus of manners and morality seem to unable to keep up with their tasks.
If you look at television morning shows you will find “authorities” telling you about cell phone etiquette. Now added to the task are guidelines for how and when to “twitter”or “Tweet”. (I remember when “Tweety” was a little yellow bird constantly besieged by a black and white cat).
The television news people have been informing us about teenagers who have sent improper pictures over the internet and via phone messages. Some of these photographs are of themselves, but we are being warned that the posting and sending of such photographs of people under the age of 18 is illegal. We are in an age where many are having a difficult time understanding what is right and what is wrong.
And since we Christians live in our world as well as in our church, some of the confusion of manners and morals of our age are bound to creep into the lives of those of us who profess to be Christians. So I thought that this morning we should look at this passage in which the apostle Paul sets out some moral directives for the Christians who lived in Ephesus.
Ephesus in the first century was a city in the Roman Empire on the western edge of what is now Turkey. It was also a port city. And it was the location of many pagan temples, most notable of which was the temple of Artemis, a fertility Goddess. When you add these 3 elements together you get a city well involved in the excesses of the day.
It was a violent place. There are remains of cemetery for gladiators in the location of the old city. The sport of man fighting man and man fighting beast was a part of the city. It was a city full of merchants from everywhere, so it was a place where the truth was often sacrificed for profit. And as the home of the temple of a fertility Goddess, it was a place preoccupied with all sorts of sexual thoughts and acts.
And then into this wild city came the Gospel of Jesus. The Apostle Paul came there preaching the Gospel of Jesus and some of the folks of Ephesus believed in God.
Now although the city of Ephesus was in many ways much different from our place and time, in some ways it was not all that much different. Most of our vices are indulged in in a vicarious manner rather than hands-on, but the vices are much the same.
In verse 25 Paul deals with those who had gotten used to telling lies as they bought and sold things. He told them to put away falsehood. In the Greek it reads “Put away the Lie.” Stop lying. The reason for this is “we are members of one another”.
Christians are not to lie to each other because they are members of the same family, they have all been adopted into the family of God.
But Christians are also not to lie to those who are not Christians because we are also connected to them through Christ. Even though they might not know and do not believe in Jesus, God still loves them, so we are connected to unbelievers through the love of Christ. We love Him and He loves them, even though they don’t know it.
In a city with as much violence in it as Ephesus, there was bound to be a lot of anger. On that subject Paul wrote, “Be angry, but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.” Some of us get angry more quickly than others. Some of us get rid of it more quickly and easily than others. But we all get angry. And that is not all bad. Some Christians are surprised by this verse that permits and may even require anger. There is much in our world that should provoke our anger because it makes God angry. The abuse of Children, sexual or otherwise, makes God angry. The impoverishment of widows and orphans makes God angry.
If we are to behave like God’s people, we should be angry at the things That anger Him. But we need to remember that God’s anger is usually mixed with sadness when his loved ones are made to suffer. But before you go around thinking that your anger is God-like, let me ask you, “what makes you angry?” Do you become angry when you are cheated, lied to, or treated disrespectfully? These are all about you. Do you get angry when someone else is harmed? Do you get angry when children are harmed or abused? Do you get angry when some one else is insulted? I suspect that for most of us, our anger arises mostly when we are affected not when others are the victims. In other words, we don’t get angry when God wants us to and gives us permission to, we reserve our anger for occasions when we ought to be forgiving those who have offended us as Christ did.
Even when we are angry, we are not to nurture our anger, to allow it to grow and fester. We are not to keep our anger longer than the day. Get rid of it before sunset. To hold on to anger can give Satan a foothold in your life.
In the wild-west seaport town of first century Ephesus, there were those who earned their living by thievery, stealing from others by one method or another. Some of those thieves came to believe in Jesus. Paul commanded them to stop their thieving and to engage in honest work to support themselves. But Paul also added another reason for them to work. “so as to have something to share with the needy”.
Now I would guess that for the most part, none of us would be considered to be thieves, but how do you spend the results of your labor? Entirely on yourselves and your families? Do you save something to share with the needy? We are to work not just for ourselves but for the needy.
In verse 29 Paul wrote “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths.” There are many varieties of evil talk. There is dirty language or dirty jokes, there is mindless and needless profanity, there are words that make people think poorly of others. All of these tear down the work of God, they tear down people, they can divide God’s holy community. Rather Christians are to use language and words that build up people, that help people to be better people, that strengthen God’s Holy community. Your words should be a conduit of God’s grace for others.
I want to skip down a few verses to 5:3 = “But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not be even mentioned among you, as is proper among saints.” There are two main categories of sins dealt with here, sexual sins and greed.
What God forbids in the sexual realm is easy to determine. He forbids sexual intercourse in all cases except in a heterosexual marriage relationship. He also forbids the viewing or reading about such illicit acts as they can lead to the violation of his commandments and as they can cause us to have warped views of ourselves and others.
What God forbids in the area of Greed is any thing that causes you to keep more than you need or to defraud others.
In the 21st century our contemporaries have not changed the kinds of forbidden acts that are practiced. Sin is pretty much the same as it has always been. But by using our post-modern technology and our connections to other parts of the world, sexual sins have been promoted via pornography to constitute one of the largest world wide industries. This industry is destroying lives and relationships daily. And God wants us to stay away from it. He also wants us to help those who struggle in it or against it.
Lana Johnston (one of our members) belongs to the Stewart Cooperative house at Purdue. They are organizing a porn awareness night on campus for the students in September. The deacons have made a donation for this event. In a few weeks, you will also be given an opportunity to help. Lana will be here during the coffee hour to receive donations.
In our day Greed has a greater potential. We have seen it destroy good business and industries. Our modern technology allows the greedy to defraud entire nations. Beware of greed. God hates it.
After all of this forbidding, I am happy to turn to verses 32 - 5:2. These give us the positive expression of God’s desires for us. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved Children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Oftentimes I struggle to come up with titles for my sermons. For this one I came up with a title and a subtitle. The title is “how to behave in the 21st century. The subtitle is “the 10 commandments are still in effect”.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at August 9, 2009 02:26 PM