Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20100103.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Ephesians: Overcoming Our Insecurities In Christ
Part II: The Believer's Practice Based On His Secure Position In Christ, Ephesians 4:1-6:24
C. Living In Selfless Holiness Toward Fellow Believers
(Ephesians 4:17-32)
  1. Introduction
    1. Growing out of his awareness of his secure position in Christ comes the capacity of the believer to live above the selfishness marked by his sinful pre-salvation days in his relationships with fellow Christians.
    2. Paul developed this idea in Ephesians 4:17-32, giving us rich applications in our relationships as follows:
  2. Living In Selfless Holiness Toward Fellow Believers, Ephesians 4:17-32.
    1. Based on the believer's rich security in Christ as explained in Ephesians 1:1-3:21, Paul solemnly admonished his Christian readers no longer to live in the vanity of thinking of unsaved Gentiles, 4:17.
    2. Paul explained this call, noting that the lost Gentile world had a darkened understanding, that it was alienated from the life of God in its spiritual ignorance and blindness of heart, Ephesians 4:18.
    3. Calloused in this ignorance and blindness, the lost world had given itself over to selfish indulgence in lusts, working all forms of sensuality and impurity with an insatiable lust for such indulgence, Eph . 4:19.
    4. In contrast to such selfishness, the believer is to live in selfless holiness toward other believers, 4:20-32:
      1. Paul noted his readers had learned that Christ had not lived in worldly selfish indulgence, Eph. 4:20-21.
      2. Accordingly, they, too, were to put off their pre-salvation manner of selfish indulgence of the old sin nature, and to be renewed in the spirit of the mind in putting on the new man, created by God in righteousness and holiness, Ephesians 4:22-24. We know from Galatians 5:16-23 that this refers to the practice of relying upon the Holy Spirit to boycott life in the sinful nature and live righteously!
      3. Specific results of this shift from selfish indulgence to selfless holiness in relating to other believers are explained by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:25-32 as follows:
        1. First, in place of selfishly lying to others for one's gain, believers in the Holy Spirit's power should tell the truth to one another, realizing they are spiritual members of one another, Ephesians 4:25.
        2. Second, in place of selfishly letting their anger toward one another fester into hatred, believers were to be angry at wrongs faced from others, but not to sin in letting such anger fester within to where Satan could gain an opportunity to create deep relationship breaches with fellow believers, Eph. 4:26-27; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Ephesians 4:26.
        3. Third, in place of selfishly stealing what belonged to others, the believer was to labor with his own hands to produce income toward purchasing goods that he might have something to give to others rather than to hoard goods unto himself by stealing, Ephesians 4:28.
        4. Fourth, in place of unwholesome speech that harms the feelings of others for selfish gain, the believer was to let no such speech proceed from his mouth, but only that speech which edified in ministering grace to the hearer, Ephesians 4:29. This was apparently a particularly needy realm in the Ephesian Church, so Paul continued to expand his call on this issue in Ephesians 5:30-32: (1) Believers were to stop (present imperative) grieving the Holy Spirit of God whereby they were sealed unto the day of redemption in ceasing to let unedifying speech proceed out of their mouths (according to the context), Ephesians 4:30; U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966 ed., p. 673. (2) Thus, they were to end all "outbursts of anger", "settled feeling of anger," "slander" and "ill will, wickedness", Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 637; Eph. 4:31. (3) In place of such behavior, Paul's readers were to be kind [to say "what is suitable or fitting to a need"], compassionate and gracious ["forgiving" is from the Greek word, charizomai, meaning "to give graciously as a favor"], Ibid.; Ephesians 4:32.
Lesson: Selfless holiness in relating to other Christians rises from a life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit and an awareness of one's great security in Christ that ends every possible reason to be selfish.

Application: (1) May we rely upon the Holy Spirit to live in selfless consideration of other believers. (2) May we realize that we can afford to be selfless in relating to others based on the security of our position in God's infinite love and blessing of us, that we might indeed be selflessly kind to one another!