Ephesians 4

This weekend at Elevation Church, we had the privilege of hearing from Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA. His sermon was so powerful, that I had to spend the week exploring it on the blog. I hope you are able to gain something from it. If you are inspired by anything you read, please stop by the Elevation Network to hear the message. It plays every four hours all week! 

A Walk Through Ephesians 4:22-32

Ephesians 4:22-32 is the passage that Pastor Mark preached from on Sunday.  He said that this is the passage that he uses most when discussing forgiveness.  In these ten verses, Pastor Mark unpacked so much.  I had to take a day to post what he said.

Verse 22-24  - You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Pastor Mark made an analogy along these lines... When we get dress ourselves, we are trying to reflect our personality through our clothes.  We are clothing ourselves to be who we are.  In the same manner that we physically dress ourselves, we should spiritually clothes ourselves in Christ.  We should act as if we are dressed in Christ, because in a sense, we are!

Verse 25-27 - Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.  In your anger do not sin.  Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.  Do not let the devil have a foothold.

Anger is not a sin.  We all have a right to emotions.  We can be angry.  But, we need to watch our anger, because anger can lead to sin. 

Verse 28 - Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

We need to create new habits.  If we have been sinned against, and our natural response is anger, maybe we need to create a new habit.  Working out.  Serving someone else...  When you are in Christ, you act like Christ.

Verse 29 - Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

If you don't choose forgiveness, you chose bitterness.  If you didn't choose, you chose bitterness.  I will not choose bitterness. End of story!