|
LET ALL BITTERNESS AND WRATH AND
ANGER AND CLAMOR AND SLANDER BE PUT AWAY FROM YOU:
pasa pikria kai thumos kai orge kai krauge kai blasphemia artheto
(3SAPM) aph' humon: (Psalms
64:3;
Romans 3:14;
Colossians 3:8,19;
James 3:14,15)
(26;
Proverbs 14:17;
19:12;
Ecclesiastes 7:9;
2 Corinthians 12:20;
Galatians 5:20;
Colossians 3:8;
2 Timothy 2:23;
Titus 1:7;
James 1:19;
3:14-18;
4:1,2)
(2 Samuel
19:43;
20:1,2;
Proverbs 29:9,22;
Acts 19:28,29;
21:30;
22:22,23;
1 Timothy 3:3;
1 Timothy 6:4,5)
(Leviticus
19:16;
2 Samuel 19:27;
Psalms 15:3;
50:20;
101:5;
140:11;
Proverbs 6:19;
10:18;
Proverbs 18:8;
25:23;
26:20;
Jeremiah 6:28;
9:4;
Romans 1:29,30;
1 Timothy 3:11;
5:13;
2 Timothy 3:3;
Titus 2:3;
3:2;
James 4:11;
1 Peter 2:1;
2 Peter 2:10,11;
Jude 1:8-10;
Revelation 12:10)
All (3956)
(pas) means all without exception.
Let all
bitterness...be put away
(far away) - We need to be
very careful to not nurse a grudge for it can grow into a root of bitterness
(listen to a pithy [pun intended] discussion by Mark Bearden on the relation between
unforgiveness and bitterness -
Mp3 Download)
(Right click - select "Save Target As" and save to your computer or
Ipod as you will probably want to listen to it more than once.)
Bitterness
(4088)
(pikría
from pikrós from pik- = to cut,
prick) (Click
word study on
pikría) originally meant pointed or
sharp, e.g., of arrows then more generally of what is “sharp” or
“penetrating” to the senses, a bitter, pungent taste or smell and then
what is “painful” to the feelings.
Pikria was
used literally to describe plants that produced inedible or poisonous
fruit. Greeks defined this word as long-standing resentment, as the
spirit which refuses to be reconciled. So many of us have a way of
nursing our wrath to keep it warm, of brooding over the insults and the
injuries which we have received.
In the NT
pikria is used in a metaphorical sense to describe animosity,
resentfulness, harshness or an openly-expressed emotional hostility
against an enemy. Pikria defines 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, which is the explosion
on the outside of the feelings on the inside.
Pikria in this verse denotes that fretted and
irritable state of mind that keeps a man in perpetual animosity, that
inclines him to harsh and uncharitable opinions of men and things, that
makes him sour, crabby, repulsive in his general demeanor, that brings a
scowl over his face and infuses the words of his tongue with venom.
(from John Eadie's commentary on Ephesians).
In the first use
of pikria in the OT (Septuagint
- LXX) Moses
records...
And when they came to Marah, they
could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter
(pikria); therefore it was named Marah. (Ex 15:23)
Bitterness
reflects a smoldering resentment, a brooding grudge–filled attitude, an
unwillingness to forgive or a harsh feeling. Bitterness is the opposite
of sweetness and kindness (cf. husbands toward wives in
Colossians 3:19 - see note).
It harbors resentment and keeps score of wrongs (cf
1Cor 13:5)
Pikría or
bitterness is It is the spirit of irritability that keeps a
person in perpetual animosity, making him sour and venomous. Bitterness
applies to the bitterness of spirit to which men give vent by bitter
words.
Barclay
adds that
"the Greeks defined (pikría )
as long-standing resentment, as the spirit which refuses to be
reconciled. So many of us have a way of nursing our wrath to keep it
warm, of brooding over the insults and the injuries which we have
received. Every Christian might well pray that God would teach him how
to forget." (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press)
Eadie says
that pikria is...
A figurative term denoting that
fretted and irritable state of mind that keeps a man in perpetual
animosity, that inclines him to harsh and uncharitable opinions of men
and things, that makes him sour, crabby and repulsive in his general
demeanor, that brings a scowl over his face & infuses venom into the
words of his tongue.
Newell adds
that their
"Bitterness is ever ready!
What fearful folly for a race speaking thus to imagine that by "being
baptized, " and "joining the church" they are ready to "go to heaven, "
and be in the holy company on high, with the meek and lowly Son of God
and the holy angels, -and all this without a thought of being forgiven,
washed, born again!" (Romans
3: Devotional and Expositional)
Wiersbe has
this practical comment on "bitterness" to which even believers
can fall prey (although here in Ro 3:14, the reference is of course
referring to an unsaved individual):
"An unforgiving spirit is the devil’s
playground and before long it becomes the Christian’s battleground. 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 should be tenderhearted and kind, but instead we are
hardhearted and bitter. Actually, we are not hurting the person who hurt
us; 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. In His gracious kindness, God has forgiven us,
and we should forgive others. We do not forgive for our sake (though we
do get a blessing from it) or even for their sake, but for Jesus’ sake.
Learning how to forgive and forget is one of the secrets of a happy
Christian life." (Wiersbe,
W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)
In Acts Peter
confronts Simon the sorcerer declaring
"I see that you (Simon) are in the
gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity" (Acts
8:23). (Comment: Note in Acts 8:13 "Simon himself
believed" but his subsequent actions and Peter's assessment make it
clear that this was not belief unto salvation but was intellectual
and/or a belief only in the signs and wonders)
Wrath
(2372)
(thumos from thúo = move impetuously, particularly as the
air or wind, a violent motion or passion of the mind; move violently,
rush along) describes passion (as if breathing hard) and so speaks of an
agitated, vehement anger that rushes along relentlessly. Thumos
describes a tumultuous welling up of the whole spirit; a mighty emotion
which seizes and moves the whole inner man.
As noted above the
root meaning has to do with moving rapidly and was used of a man’s
breathing violently while pursuing an enemy in great rage. Thumos
is a blaze of sudden anger which is quickly kindled and just as quickly
dies. The Greeks likened it to a fire amongst straw, which quickly
blazed and just as quickly burned itself out. It is used by the
writer of Hebrews to describe Pharaoh’s murderous fury at Moses (Heb
11:27; cf. Ex 10:28). It is used by Luke to describe the fury of the
Jews in the synagogue at Nazareth who wanted to throw Jesus off a diff
(Lu 4:28,29). It is used of the pagan Ephesians who resented Paul’s
preaching the gospel and especially his claim that their idols “made
with hands [were] no gods at all” (Acts 19:26-28). On the final day of
judgment God’s indignation will explode like a consuming fire upon all
rebellious mankind. It is one of the deeds of the flesh (Gal 5:20), and
it is not acceptable behavior for Christians here in Ephesians
4:31!
William Barclay writes
that...
"The Greeks defined thumos as
the kind of anger which is like the flame which comes from straw; it
quickly blazes up and just as quickly subsides. On the other hand, they
described ogre as anger which has become habitual...Orge
is anger which has become inveterate; it is long-lasting, slow-burning
anger, which refuses to be pacified and nurses its wrath to keep it
warm...To the Christian the burst of temper and the long-lived anger are
both alike forbidden." (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press
Anger
(3709)
(orge
from orgaô = to
teem, to swell) (Click
word study on
orge) refers to to an inner, deep
resentment that seethes and smolders. Orge as used of God refers to His
constant and controlled indignation toward sin, while thumos
(which originally referred to violent movements of air, water, etc., and
consequently came to mean “well up” or “boil up”) refers more to a
passionate outburst of rage. Thumos type anger represents an
agitated, vehement anger that rushes along relentlessly. The root
meaning has to do with moving rapidly and was used of a man’s breathing
violently while pursuing an enemy in great rage! Orge is more
subtle, deep flowing anger.
><> ><> ><>
ANGER CAN SPREAD:
In the spring of 1894, the Baltimore Orioles came to Boston to play a
routine baseball game. But what happened that day was anything but
routine. The Orioles’ John McGraw got into a fight with the Boston third
baseman. Within minutes all the players from both teams had joined in
the brawl. The warfare quickly spread to the grandstands. Among the fans
the conflict went from bad to worse. Someone set fire to the stands and
the entire ballpark burned to the ground. Not only that, but the fire
spread to 107 other Boston buildings as well.
ANGER CAN BE
FATAL: The 18th-century British physician John Hunter, who was a pioneer
in the field of surgery and served as surgeon to King George III,
suffered from angina. Discovering that his attacks were often brought on
by anger, Hunter lamented, “My life is at the mercy of any scoundrel who
chooses to put me in a passion.” These words proved prophetic, for at a
meeting of the board of St. George’s Hospital in London, Hunter got into
a heated argument with other board members, walked out, and dropped dead
in the next room. (Today in the Word)
ANOTHER EXAMPLE:
National park ranger in British Columbia who has a two sets of huge
antlers, as wide as a man’s reach; ;locked together. Evidently two bull
moose began fighting, their antlers locked, and they could not get free.
They died due to anger.
A lady once came
to Billy Sunday and tried to rationalize her angry outbursts. “There’s
nothing wrong with losing my temper,” She said. “I blow up, and then
it’s all over.” “So does a shotgun,” Sunday replied, “and look at the
damage it leaves behind!” Getting angry can sometimes be like leaping
into a wonderfully responsive sports car, gunning the motor, taking off
at high speed and then discovering the brakes are out of order.
WAGES OF
UNCONTROLLED ANGER: Jim Taylor in CURRENTS tells the following story
about his friend, Ralph Milton: One morning Ralph woke up at five
o’clock to a noise that sounded like someone repairing boilers on his
roof. Still in his pajamas, he went into the back yard to investigate.
He found a woodpecker on the TV antenna, “pounding its little brains out
on the metal pole.” Angry at the little creature who ruined his sleep,
Ralph picked up a rock and threw it. The rock sailed over the house, and
he heard a distant crash as it hit the car. In utter disgust, Ralph took
a vicious kick at a clod of dirt, only to remember -- too late -- that
he was still in his bare feet. Uncontrolled anger, as Ralph leaned, can
sometimes be its own reward.
TEMPERING ANGER: Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, was
angered by an army officer who accused him of favoritism. Stanton
complained to Lincoln, who suggested that Stanton write the officer a
sharp letter. Stanton did, and showed the strongly worded missive to the
president. “What are you going to do with it?” Lincoln inquired.
Surprised, Stanton replied, “Send it.” Lincoln shook his head. “You
don’t want to send that letter,” he said. “Put it in the stove. That’s
what I do when I have written a letter while I am angry. It’s a good
letter and you had a good time writing it and feel better. Now burn it,
and write another.”
><> ><> ><>
Anger is never
without a reason, but seldom with a good one. - Benjamin Franklin
Whatever is begun
in anger ends in shame. - B. Franklin
><> ><> ><>
An author for
Reader's Digest writes how he studied the Amish people in preparation
for an article on them. In his observation at the school yard, he noted
that the children never screamed or yelled. This amazed him. He spoke to
the schoolmaster. He remarked how he had not once heard an Amish child
yell, and asked why the schoolmaster thought that was so. The
schoolmaster replied, "Well, have you ever heard an Amish adult yell?" -
Reader's Digest.
><> ><> ><>
Bruce Goodrich was
being initiated into the cadet corps at Texas A & M University. One
night, Bruce was forced to run until he dropped -- but he never got up.
Bruce Goodrich died before he even entered college.
A short time after the tragedy, Bruce's father wrote this letter to the
administration, faculty, student body, and the corps of cadets: "I would
like to take this opportunity to express the appreciation of my family
for the great outpouring of concern and sympathy from Texas A & M
University and the college community over the loss of our son Bruce. We
were deeply touched by the tribute paid to him in the battalion. We were
particularly pleased to note that his Christian witness did not go
unnoticed during his brief time on campus."
Mr. Goodrich went on: "I hope it will be some comfort to know that we
harbor no ill will in the matter. We know our God makes no mistakes.
Bruce had an appointment with his Lord and is now secure in his
celestial home. When the question is asked, 'Why did this happen?'
perhaps one answer will be, 'So that many will consider where they will
spend eternity.'" Our Daily Bread, March 22, 1994
><> ><> ><>
Clamor
(2906)
(krauge from krázo = clamor or cry = a word like "croak" ~
suggests a rough and guttural sound and is based on the croaking of
ravens. So to croak or cry out with a loud and raucous voice describes
donkey in Job 6:5 in the
LXX
and childbirth in Isa 26:17, a war cry in Jos 6:16) in this context
refers to the shout or outcry of strife and reflects the public outburst
that reveals loss of control. It is the cry of strife. It is a a loud
and confused noise, especially of shouting. Webster says it is "noisy
shouting" and describes those who "become loudly insistent" making a
vehement protest or demand. Clamor and slander are the outward
manifestations of the foregoing vices.
Slander
(988)
(blasphemia from blapto = hinder, injure, hurt + pheme
= report, rumor, fame from phemí = to speak) refers to verbal abuse
against someone which denotes the very worst type of slander. It is
speech which seeks to wound someone's reputation by evil reports, evil
speaking. It is a more enduring manifestation of inward anger, that
shows itself in reviling. It refers to an attempt to belittle and cause
someone to fall into disrepute or receive a bad reputation.
Blasphemia is the ongoing defamation of someone that rises from a
bitter heart.
Put away
(142)
(airo) means to lift up something, such as an anchor of a ship to
that the ship could set sail (see Acts 27:13). It is used figuratively
here to picture taking up and carrying away (removing) these evil works
just mentioned along with malice. It means to make a clean sweep of
these vices!
ALONG WITH ALL MALICE: sun pase
kakia:
(Genesis
4:8;
27:41;
37:4,21;
Leviticus 19:17,18;
2 Samuel 13:22;
Proverbs 10:12;
26:24,25;
Ecclesiastes 7:9;
Romans 1:29;
1 Corinthians 5:8;
14:20;
Colossians 3:8;
Titus 3:3;
1 John 3:12,15)
All (3956)
(pas) means all without exception.
Malice
(2549)
(kakia)
(Click
word study on
kakia) is the general term for evil
that is the root of all vices. Kakis is synonymous with the
quality of wickedness and thus in a moral sense means depravity, vice or
baseness. It is the opposite of
arete (note)
and all virtue and therefore lacks social value.
John Eadie
writes that kakia
is a generic term that seems to signify "badhardiness" and is the root
of all the previous vices.
In reference to behavior kakia
conveys the idea of a mean-spirited or vicious attitude or disposition
as indicated by words such as malice, ill-will, hatefulness, and
dislike. It is an attitude of wickedness as an evil habit of one's mind.
Kakia is used in NT to describe the wickedness which comes from within a
person. Malice desires to hurt another and rejoices in it!
Trench says that kakia
is
“that peculiar form of evil which
manifests itself in a malignant interpretation of the actions of others,
an attributing of them all to the worst motive”
Webster says that "malice"
is a desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another and implies a
deep-seated often unexplainable desire to see another suffer.
One Greek scholar terms malice
“the vicious character generally.”
Malice is not only a moral
deficiency but destroys fellowship. To varying degrees, the unsaved
spend their life maliciously.
In Romans Paul describes those who
have refused to acknowledge God and are given over by God to a depraved
mind as
"being filled with all
unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips." (see note
Romans 1:29).
><> ><> ><>
Wayne Barber writes that...
In
Ephesians 4:31-32
Paul contrasts the two garments. We are in a flow now that continues
through the rest of the book. How we are to walk? How we are to live
this new life? He gives us a contrast. One is a cesspool, the other a
wellspring. One I would rather not speak about, the other one is an
artisan well. It is something that never ends in its supply and
provision to others.
Paul shows us the cesspool of the old self and the
wellspring of the new self, the new garment. He lets us see what is
underneath everything that is going on in our life. We can either tap
into the cesspool, the old stagnant, rotten, putrid type of thing, or we
can tap into the wellspring of Jesus Christ. Which garment are you going
to put on?
Let’s look in
Ephesians 4:31 at the cesspool of the old garment.
"Let all
bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from
you [put off like taking off a garment],
along
with all malice."
Now Paul does something here that really throws
me. Normally when Peter or Paul make a list, the first thing they
mention is the most important thing. It tends to be the subject, whereas
the rest of it seems to modify that subject. In Galatians 5:22 he says,
"The fruit of
the
Spirit is love."
Then all the things that follow are
just manifestations of that love. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul says in the last
days men will be lovers of self and then he gives 19 different
characteristics of a lover of self.
However, here in Ephesians 4:31 he
reverses it. Let me show you what I mean. The last word,
malice
is the catch-all word. Malice is the "house" that all these words live
in. I think it would be best to start there. He does the same thing in
verse 32 putting the source at the end, and he puts the symptoms in the
front.
Let me show you what malice
means.
Look at 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 where we
find
malice,
the essence of all that
flesh
is. It is the word
kakia
the word for inherent unrighteousness. It is a viciousness that comes
along with the old garment. All these are relationship words. The
signal that we are spiritual and have on the new garment is going
to be in our relationships. Over and over and over we see
this.
Well, here we go again. In
1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul exhorts,
"Clean out the old leaven."
Do you know what leaven is? It is
yeast. I don’t know much about cooking, but I do know that when you put
yeast into things, it causes it to rise up. Yeast causes something to
happen. You see, the moment I put on the old garment, immediately a
viciousness begins to set in. Immediately I am out to get you.
Immediately I am going to manipulate you. Immediately something I am
going to do, say, or whatever is going to divide me and you because I am
not interested in you anymore. I am interested in me. That is the old
garment. That is kakia. That is inherent unrighteousness. It
comes along with the old garment. It is in that cesspool when we put
that thing on and we won’t bow before the Lord Jesus.
So Paul writes...
"Clean out the old
leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened.
For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us therefore
celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice
and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth.
That gives you an idea of what the
kakia is. It is the thing that stirs something up in your life.
Look in Acts 8:22. Here is a man who
wanted to purchase the Spirit of God. His name was Simon. Simon Peter
really lays this guy out. Let's begin with verse 20.
"But Peter said to
him, ‘May your silver perish with
you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!
You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right
before
God.’"
Now watch out! Peter says, "Your
heart is not right before God." It is an attitude you have
towards God.
You put on the old garment and say,
"God, I don’t want You ruling my life." Can a Christian do that? You
better believe they can! We make choices all day long whether or not to
let Him rule us versus whether or not we are going to take over rule
ourselves.
Luke goes on to record Peter's
words...
"Therefore repent of this
wickedness [kakia] of
yours,
and pray the Lord that if possible, the intention of your heart
may be forgiven you."
There it is. The intention of your
heart is not right.
So we are seeing this old garment is
an attitude and it is going to affect the lifestyle. The attitude is
rooted into that old cesspool. What is going to come out of it is
nothing that is good. It is going to do nothing but tear relationships
down. It does nothing to build relationships up.
Look in Acts 14:1-2, and I will show
you one more place where a form of the word is used, not the word itself
but a form of it. It says,
"And it came about that in Iconium
they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a
manner that a great multitude believed, both of Jews and of Greeks. But
the Jews who
disbelieved
stirred up the minds of the Gentiles, and embittered (kakoo =
verb form related to kakia) them against the brethren."
The word "embittered" is a
form of that word kakia.
You see, when you put on that old
garment, you want others to agree with you. You are going to find
somebody else who is negative. You are going to find somebody else who
doesn’t want to think about others but wants to think of themselves.
What do you do? You begin to embitter others towards the brethren. In
other words, you are no longer preserving the unity of the Spirit. What
you are doing is dividing by your very attitude, which comes right out
of the old cesspool of self.
BITTERNESS
First of all, out of that kakia,
out of that old garment, out of that malice, is a word called
"bitterness."
Now we know that bitterness is when
you have been injured by somebody. You are not bitter unless you have
been affected wrongly by somebody. The word for "bitterness" is the word
pikria. It refers to something that is acidic, that will
literally eat you alive.
You know that the problem with many
of us as Christians is not what we are eating, but it’s what is eating
us! That is what bitterness does. Somebody has offended you. It always
starts with being personally injured or personally hurt. You know, if it
weren’t for people, we could live the Christian life!
But because there are people, we are
going to be offended. You are going to be offended by me if I am not
wearing the right garment. If it is not the right one, it is going to
say what it shouldn’t have said. It is going to act in a way that it
shouldn’t have acted. It is going to offend you. We are the church and
we have got to remember that every one of us has those moments when we
chose not to wear the new garment. And that is also why we need to be
forgiving to each other. Now, if you didn’t have any sin in your life,
throw the first stone.
Bitterness is something that
comes from a personal injury. Somebody has hurt you. You have heard what
somebody said about you and it dug deep into your life. You didn’t put
on the garment of Christ, which would be strengthening you in the inner
man with something that you didn’t have before, forgiveness and
unconditional love. You have put on that old garment which is rooted
into the cesspool of old self and what you get out of it is bitterness.
Let me show you just one Scripture,
Hebrews 12:15. You know, I have constantly warned all of us what will
happen if we give the devil an opportunity. I don’t mean he gets inside
of us, but he gets inside the body of Christ by using people, not the
body physically but the body spiritually, the church. He uses people
inside. You see, there used to be a day when people would come to
church, go out and be persecuted. The devil would fight them outside the
walls. Now he is going to church, folks. When we give him an
opportunity, look out. Look at what it will do.
"See to it that no one comes short of
the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes
trouble, and
by it many be defiled"
What is the grace of God? It is the
transforming power of God in your life and in my life. When I put on the
new garment, that is His grace working within me, transforming me. Now,
I am different than I used to be.
Bitterness is usually a
reaction that you have to some injury that somebody else caused you, but
it is a wrong reaction. You put on the wrong garment. You dipped into
the wrong place. You went back to the "cesspool of self" instead of
coming to the "wellspring of Jesus Christ".
WRATH
Let’s look at the word "wrath."
There are several words here for "anger" and "wrath." We are going to
see "anger" in the next section. I need to explain them to you.
As a matter of fact, let’s put them together right now.
"Wrath" (in this verse) is the
Greek word thumos. It is when you explode. Have you ever done
that?
I can remember when I was in church
recreation. I lost a basketball game one night because of a stupid
referee. I mean a stupid, brain dead referee. We lost a championship in
overtime. Stupid referee. I remember how mad I got. I was the Minister
of Activities, and I took the basketball and threw it against the end
wall so hard that it went all the way to the other end of the court.
Take a basketball and see how hard it is to throw it to make it go that
far. Everybody walked out of the building kind of like, "Whew!" I went
into the fireside room of that activities building, slammed the door and
sat down. I was ready to take on half the city because of stupid
referees. Everybody left. My assistant turned the light off on me and
left me sitting there in the darkness. That is wrath, thumos. I
wasn’t just mad. I exploded! That is what thumos is.
As a matter of fact, did you know
that the seven bowls of God’s judgment called the bowls of wrath are
called thumos? Folks, we haven’t seen anything until those seven
last bowls of judgment fall on this earth. Then those who are here will
realize the anger of a holy God towards sin. Without mercy He is going
to pour out those bowls of wrath on this earth.
ANGER
But there is another word. He goes on
and says "anger" which is
orge which
means you are angry, but you may not necessarily have shown it yet. Oh,
you are capable of blowing up, but you haven’t blown up yet. You see,
this is why we get so judgmental. Some people carry it and hold it
pretty well for a long period of time. So we think they are really
godly. Are you kidding me? Look at the other things in their life. You
see, anger can be disguised. It can be covered over. Thumos, is
bursting out, the outburst. Orge, is the actual anger itself.
CLAMOR
Then he gives the word "clamor."
This is when you get loud. This is the word for loud. It says there was
an uproar over in Acts. In Hebrews it says He cried out before the
Father. The word is a loud, loud cry. This is when you are getting a
little noisy with the way you feel in that cesspool.
SLANDER
Then he uses the word "slander."
Now that is not the same word Peter uses in I Peter 2:1. There it means
to speak against. Here in Ephesians the word is blasphemia. It
means abusive language. When you start cursing somebody on the highway,
you’ve have just nailed it. You’ve got on the wrong garment. Watch out.
You see, all these are tied intricately together. Either way you go it
is the same thing. You are injured somehow inside and now that acid has
built up inside you. You are ready to just absolutely stamp out anybody
that gets in your path. That comes from that cesspool of self. Think
about that. The Holy Spirit will prick your heart and say,
"I want you to make
this
choice."
You say,
"No, I won’t do
it."
Do you realize what you have just
done? You have just put that old sick cesspool garment on (you've
grieved, quenched, resisted the Spirit). Everything that comes out of it
is going to defile any relationship you have all day. That is why you
have to continuously say,
"Oh, God. I’ve put the wrong
one
on. I confess it. I am repenting."
What do I mean by repenting?
You turn around and put the right one on. Listen, folks, we have to see
that there is a performance or a perfection level.
Spirituality is not an arrival.
It is a pursuit.
So often we misunderstand
relationships. We think because we are putting on the right garment,
everybody else ought to be judged by us. Friend, as soon as you think
that way, you have just put the wrong garment back on! Who in the world
are we to point a finger at anybody? Does being spiritual mean that you
have a quiet time every morning at 5:00? Is that spirituality? Are you
spiritual because you passed out tracts last year? Are you spiritual
because you have witnessed to everything that has moved on the downtown
streets? Does that mean that you are spiritual? I doubt it. Every one of
us are guilty of putting that wrong garment on. That is why when we see
a brother who has the wrong one on, it ought to lead us to bleed for him
because we know what he has just done. We have done it ourselves (Ephesians 4:31-32: A Brand New Way of Life
- 5) |
