Ephesians 4: 25-32 Five Sins To Particularly Watch Out For

In the previous verses, Paul had said that we no longer belong to the old corruption of sin.  We belong to the new creation in Christ, and we need to take off the graveclothes of our old life.  Now, Paul lists five specific sins we particularly need to avoid and tells us why:

Lying:  "A lie is a statement that is contrary to fact, spoken with the intent to deceive ... Satan is a liar, and he wants us to believe that God is a liar.  Whenever we speak truth, the Spirit of God works, but whenever we tell a lie, Satan goes to work ... those whose lives are controlled by lies -- they love lies and they make lies -- are lost forever.  The Christian's life is controlled by truth."

Anger:  "Anger is an emotional arousal caused by something that displeases us.  In itself, anger is not a sin, because even God can be angry ... It is difficult for us to practice a truly holy anger or righteous indignation because our emotions are tainted by sin, and we do not have the same knowledge God has in all matters ... the believer should be angry at sin but loving toward people ... It is possible to be angry and not sin, but if we do sin, we must settle the matter quickly and not let the sun go down on our wrath ... The fire of anger, if not quenched by loving forgiveness, will spread and defile and destroy the work of God..."

Stealing:  "Just as Satan is a liar and a murderer, he is also a thief ... We should tell the truth because we are members of one another.  We should control our anger lest we give place to the devil.  We should work and not steal so that we might be able to help those in need ... We work that we might be able to help others ... A lazy Christian robs himself, others, and God ... Every Jewish rabbi was taught a trade, for said the rabbis, 'If you do not teach your son a trade, you teach him to be a thief.'"

Corrupt speech:  "The mouth and the heart are connected ... We expect a change in speech when a person becomes a Christian... Change the heart and you change the speech ...  Our words do not have to be dirty to be worthless.  Sometimes we go along with the crowd and try to impress people with the fact that we are not as puritanical as they think.  The appetites of the old life sometimes how up when we permit filthy communications out of the mouth...  The remedy is to make sure the heart is full of blessing."

Bitterness:  These verses warn us against several sins of the attitude ... Bitterness refers to a settled hostility that poisons the whole inner man.  Somebody does something we do not like, so we harbor ill will against him ... Bitterness leads to wrath ... Paul gave three reasons why we must avoid bitterness.  First, it grieves the Holy Spirit.  Second, it grieves God the Son.  Third, it grieves God the Father... the basic cause of a bitter attitude:  We cannot forgive people.  An unforgiving spirit is the devil's playground, and before long it becomes the Christian's playground.  If somebody hurts us, either deliberately or unintentionally, and we do not forgive him, then we begin to develop bitterness within, which hardens the heart ... we are only hurting ourselves.  Bitterness in the heart makes us treat others the way Satan treats them, when we should treat others the way God has treated us."

Father, keep me ever vigilant about these five sins particularly, so that I will not allow them to grow in my heart, hardening it and possibly leading to problems in the body of Christ.

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Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford