By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
August 11, 2024
Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Ephesians 4:25–5:2 (ESV)
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. 1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Over the past few weeks I have been getting deeper into the grammar of scripture. For some of you this might be a bore, but it is something I need to do. I need to do it because we live in an era of history where scripture can be twisted and used to justify many things. Sometimes, as we read scripture, we can place emphasis on certain words or phrases and change the understanding of what a verse could mean. When we do this we might consider one thing to be a command written in the holy, authoritative scriptures, when in reality it could be a description, instead of the command. I apologize, but this week we might go a bit deep. We need to go deep because today’s passage is incredible. It speaks right to the very heart of our collective experiences.
“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”
We will begin with “put away.” And as we begin I want us to really let these words soak deep into your inner being. Visualize and imagine what these words that Paul wrote to the people of Ephesus would have been thinking. These people live in a city. They live in a central hub of religious aberrance. They were the central location of the Hellenistic cult of Artemis. This goddess that represented life and the expansion of life.
Paul tells them put away falsehood. This idea of put away is to take off, to shed, and lay aside something. Earlier in this chapter in verse twenty-two, he says, “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.” This is a continuation of this line of thinking. The idea is an emergence. Disposing of the old, discarding that which is dirty, and putting on something new and fresh.
He is saying, not commanding but describing our new life, we take off the old. We take of the deceit, the corrupt, the falsehood. We leave that behind. Laying on the floor as we get into the shower, and we emerge refreshed and clothe ourselves with truth.
We remove one to put on the other. We put away falsehood. This is a very important concept. One that we need to fully grasp. When Paul speaks of falsehood he links it to idolatry, and John links it to the eschatological judgment when the beast is tossed into the lake of fire. This is something we need to take seriously.
Jesus also speaks of this same thing in the gospel. In John chapter 8, Jesus is facing opposition and he says that they are from their father the devil who is the father of lies. Falsehood is deception, it is everything that is opposed to God. And anything that opposes God is as Paul says idolatry.
This is where we will begin to squirm a bit. We are to shed the falsehood, discard it like the rags they are. This is where the first imperative, or commanding verb comes in. We put the falsehood away and we then, speak the truth with our neighbor.
Speak is not that interesting other than it is the first command in this passage, but it is more than just saying words. The reason Jesus said those that opposed him were of their father the devil was because they said words with their mouths, but their actions did not resemble the words that they spoke. Hypocrisy is deceit. If your words and your actions do not match you are living falsehood, and are participating in the rebellion against God.
We are to have nothing to do with falsehood, but we are to speak the truth with our neighbor.
I hope this causes us to gasp a bit. I hope it prompts us to consider and even examine our lives for a moment. I hope we like Pilate at the trial of Jesus ask ourselves, “What is truth.”
We often give Pilate a bad rap for this question, but it is one of the most honest words uttered in scripture. What is truth? Post modern philosophy asks this question, they speak of finding our own truth. We as Christians do not like this terminology, because we believe we know the truth. But I want us to take a step back, and consider it. What is truth?
When we look up the word that Paul uses in this context it speaks of honesty, dependability, uprightness, and reality. The reason Paul uses this word is because it is the word that was used in the Greek translations of the Old Testament for the Hebrew word emet. This word was used in the law and it speaks of the truth of a process or cause. I found this to be interesting, if it speaks of the process it points to something deeper than surface obedience to a rule, it goes to the root. We can be right and still be wrong. We can be right and still miss the point of a command of God if we do not take into consideration the deeper teaching, or the wider implications of why.
Truth is always truth. It does not matter if you are A Muslim or Christian, Hindu or Atheist. Truth is truth. This is why we struggle with the idea of post modern philosophy, when they say find your own truth. We think that that line of thinking threatens our core belief that as to the truth of the gospel, but it comes along side and highlights the reality of the gospel.
What do these philosophers mean when they say find your truth? The key to the statement is not truth, but find. We are to find reality, but often our perception and our experiences can cloud our understanding of the reality we see. What might lead someone to believe something false, what might lead me to believe something false?
This is why Paul says speak truth with our neighbor. He is not only encouraging us to say the right words. He is not commanding us to go out into the world to hand out gospel tracts that present the four spiritual laws to everyone we meet. He is telling us to live among our community and show them the reality of what we believe. We are to speak the truth with our neighbor, for we are members of one another.
The word translated as members here, literally means limbs, like an arm or a leg. We are part of a body. This speaks of organisms and organization. It speaks of relationships within our family, our church, our community, stretching out to our wider society, and to the ends of the earth. Those that challenged Jesus once asked who is my neighbor. Who are we organized with, with whom are we members? Jesus answered that question by telling a story of a man that was beaten and robbed, and how different members of society reacted to the situation. This story that we affectionately call the story of the Good Samaritan was scandalous to those of Jesus’s day. It was like saying the good Russian to a Ukrainian, a Good German during the world wars, a good terrorist in our American context. It is scandalous, how can our enemy be good?
This goes back to truth. And finding our truth. It is putting off the falsehood and speaking truth to our neighbor. How do we recognize a good healthy relationship? What is a good spouse? What is a good child? Who is a good friend? Every aspect of our lives is based on relationships and how do we know when we are in a good one?
Before we go there, we need to continue. We are to speak the truth with our neighbor. And then we come to the second command within this passage. Be Angry.
Yes, this is a command in scripture, we are to be angry. I stopped at this word this week. I sat staring at my computer screen as I was studying, because when an imperative or commanding verb is in a passage my computer software highlights it with bright fiery letters highlighted in yellow. Be Angry it screamed out at me. Why would the apostle Paul tell us, encourage us to be angry?
Obviously, this sent me on a quest to understand what anger meant. And if found that this is actually not what we think it is. It is a Hebrew idiom or figure of speech. Meaning a hot nose, or more accurately long hot nostrils. Paul in this statement is taking people back to Exodus 34 where we are told about the character of God. God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness.
As I looked this up and saw that anger was an idiom and not exactly what I thought it meant I found a great podcast by the Bible Project, and if you have a chance I encourage you to look this group up because they are amazing. But as they discussed this concept they pointed out that anger Exodus is really an attribute of God’s character but a reaction. Slow to anger, or the King James version says long suffering. Neither really capture the fullness on the idiom.
In our culture, we think of anger as an emotion, and it is. This is seen even in the Hebrew idiom. A hot nose is one that has flared nostrils. Like a bull ready to charge. Smoke escaping along with the dragon’s breath as it readies itself to spew fire upon it’s opponent. Anger is an emotion, but anger is a sign. NT Wright would call it a sign post point us to something else. We get angry when we sense some sort of injustice, when we feel as if someone has done something wrong or unfair. We burn, we are provoked into action.
But this command is immediately followed with yet another command, “Be angry and do not sin.”
Anger like fire can have two effects, one being positive and the other negative. To me fire is one of the most fascinating things in this world. It is terrifying and memorizing. It can provide warmth and it can consume us. It can rejuvenate life in the prairie and it can devastate an entire community. That is anger. Anger can move us to right a wrong or it can provoke us to cause harm.
“Be angry and do not sin,” Paul tells us. Sin is to miss the mark. So often we think of sin a transgressing a rule or law, and often it is, but to sin is to miss the point or to stray from what is true. Anger as an emotional sign post should point us to something, but we sin if we do not examine deeper. If we allow ourselves to enter into a fit of rage like the Incredible Hulk, often we miss the point. Paul is telling us to be like God, slow to anger. That does not mean that we bottle up our emotions and push them down into the recesses of our being. This means we slow our breathing, and we seek.
I want us to consider the relationships you have had or are currently in. I am guessing someone this week has upset you, someone has caused you to have hot nose. You know what the worst thing about it is? They have absolutely no idea that they have made you angry, unless you tell them. And that just makes my nose even hotter. How can they not know? Perception. Truth and falsehood.
We are to put away falsehood, we are to put off our old self. The old self is self consumed and selfish. This is the root of deception. Sin entered the garden of Eden because the serpent deceived our first parents that God was withholding something that we wanted. I want knowledge and God said that we could not have that knowledge because it was on a tree. I want it. I am angry. I have a hot nose, because I have been wronged. The old self is consumed with itself. What happens in a relationship when we are consumed with ourselves? We are constantly angry and offended. We snap at each other and go to war, why? Because we are so focused on ourselves to speak. We missed the point of the emotions that we are feeling.
The anger we feel is screaming at us, telling us this is not fair, but why is it not fair? This bring us to the forth command, Go, or to set and the fifth command give. “Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.”
Does Paul want us to yell at each other all night long? No. What he is meaning is that we should respond to the sign post of our emotions. And we should respond immediately. This begins first with ourselves. Am I angry because I wanted something and it did not happen how I wanted it to be? Or am I angry because this was wrong? If it is something selfish it is possible that we need to change our perspective because we are living in the falsehood of our old life, the idolatry of self. But what if it really is wrong? We need to speak truth and we need to speak now. We cannot let it wait or it will cause greater division within our relationships.
There is anger within our relationships. There is anger in our families, and within our nation. There is anger raging between nations. Be angry and do not sin, don’t let the sun go down on your anger.
Why are you angry? I have asked this question many times. And I am going to honest with you all. Most of my anger is based on falsehood. It is based on lies I have told myself, and deception perpetuated by other. This falsehood only wants one thing to divide. It seeks to cast clouds of doubt. It seeks to manipulate us into thinking we have been treated unfairly and we should respond in rage. Now I have admitted I am often angry. Now I want to turn this a bit, why are you angry?
Why do people get upset at the idea of new math or critical race theory, or any number of things? Why are we angry? It is because we are all too often allowing the devil to get a foothold in our lives. I sat and thought about this for a while this week. I played conversations that I have had back in my mind. Our world today tells us that we should find our truth, and scripture tells us to speak the truth. But how can we speak the truth in a world where we are all reacting to clouded persecution? I realized that often I get angry because I do not listen.
I used to work the overnight shift in retail. And often I would have conversations with my coworkers. Many of the people I worked with came from various parts of the world. We each had different perspectives and rarely did we ever agree with each other. Several of the people I worked with knew that I am a pastor, so often religion would be brought up. I remember several discussion that I had my Muslim coworkers. I listened to them, and they listened to me. I found that many of the things that upset me about them and that they were upset with me about were falsehoods. They thought that we worshiped three gods, God the father, the son, and Mary. This floored me. I asked them is this really what you believe about me and my faith, and all of them said yes. I realized in that moment that lies are easy to spread. Somewhere along the line someone began to spread a deception about Christians in an attempt to encourage them to find it reprehensible and that deceit became the understanding thousands believed from nearly every corner of the Islamic world.
I then realized that maybe I too had been told lies. I told them everything I know about their faith has come from one book written by someone that was once a Muslim but converted to Christianity. And I told them that as a Friend, integrity is important to me. I do not believe in their theology, and they may never come to believe mine, but I asked them to read only the chapters of that book that spoke about their understanding of faith and tell me if there is any deception there because I do not want to speak falsehood. The interesting thing is that they willingly took the book and read it. The next day they told me what was accurate and they then asked me what if there was something they were teaching about our faith that was inaccurate.
We listened to each other. We shared meals, and conversations. I asked them to forgive me for any untruth I shared, and they were open about their lives as well. I prayed with them and for their families and they prayed as well. I left that job and took another, and a few months passed. Then as I was working my new job on the other side of the metro area, one of those men I ate so many meals with came by my new store. He walked up to me and said, “I can no longer call myself a Muslim.” I asked him why. And he said he began looking deeper into the lives of the people he once held as pillars of his faith and he saw falsehood. He then turned away and walked off before I could respond.
Speak the truth with your neighbors. This does not necessarily mean we need to go out and knock on doors. It means we live our lives open and honest. We share our perspective and are willing to listen to theirs. We seek the truth even if it makes us angry and we do not sin.
What caused that man to seek me out? It was one conversation followed by another. And the one that really caused him to think. He asked me once if it was ok to have multiple wives and I told him that from my understanding the answer was no. He then asked me why. I told him that according to my faith we are to walk as Jesus walked, that we should follow his example and give our lives for each other, to do nothing out of selfish ambition but to treat others better than ourselves. And for me to seek multiple wives would mean I was seeking my own pleasure instead of giving my life to my family. He looked at me that day and I am sure he thought I was weird, because most did. He then asked me another question, “what do I think of people that do have multiple wives.” I told him that people that want power and that seek to manipulate others tend to seek after their own desires. And they will often justify their actions and use their influence to get what they want. But I cannot live like that. I cannot live like that because I believe that Jesus loved us and gave himself up for us so that we could return to the life and lifestyle God intended for us.
Speak truth, live it out in your life among your neighbors. Recognize your anger and seek out why those emotions are emerging. And address the issue not out of rage but compassion and love.
I cannot tell you if that young man turned to Christ. I cannot tell you honestly if anyone I speak to has ever come to Christ. All I can say is that we live in a world that seeks to divide us. We live in a world that wants to manipulate and spread falsehood. And we so often get caught right in the middle. They play our emotions like an instrument in a band and we respond with flared nostrils. That is not of God. We are missing the point. What makes God angry?
Paul says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Be imitators of God, as beloved Children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
The command of God is love him with everything we have and all that we are, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is what God loves, what he desires, that we reflect in our relationships the very love that he has for us. This is truth. But what angers God is falsehood. It is the opposite. We anger God when we love ourselves with all that we are and all that we have, and expect those around us to do the same. Are we speaking truth or perpetuating falsehood? Are we angry without sin, or is our anger focused on ourselves? Put away the old self and walk loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit and living the love of Christ with others.
Previous Messages:
Living Stones
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
Endure
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
Ransomed to Love
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
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