Complacency – Part Two
The Devil’s Workshop
Good morning! It’s good to be with all of you again. Thank you for tolerating me yet another Sunday.
I’d like to begin by asking you a few questions: Were you watchful? Were you diligent? Were you worthy of God’s calling this past week?
I trust after last week’s message, you were not complacent. This week I would like for us to take a look at Ephesians 4:17-32.
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self,[a] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
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.
If you recall, the homework that I left you with last week was to think about some things in your lives that you may have gotten complacent about. Who would like to share an example of complacency in their life? {Sharing time}
I have something to confess to all of you. Deb and I were both convicted after last week’s message and spent Sunday afternoon discussing the complacency in our relationship. We found ourselves trying to justify certain things. Even though we tried to bring glory to God, we found ourselves falling short of that. So, we decided almost in unison to just get married. So, on Tuesday, during Deb’s lunch break, we went to the Justice of the Peace and got married. Now if you recall, last week I invited all of you to our wedding on May 16th. But NOW there’s not going to be a wedding on May 16th! Instead of that, we are going to have a grand celebration at our home on July 24th at 2:00 P.M. Please mark your calendars. We would love for all of you to come over and enjoy the time with us. We will have a barbeque-type picnic and casual outdoor reception-type of gathering.
In Ephesians 4, Paul talks about putting off the old self and putting on the new self. What does “putting on the new self” mean? As we take a look at the passage, we see that we must be different than the world. In verse 19, “not to become callous or greedy or impure.” We are told to put all of that stuff off. Then in verse 25 we are to put away all falsehood and to be righteous in our anger. We even see in verse 29 that we are not to have any corrupt talk come out of our mouths, but only what is good for the building up of others.
Now, I would like to pause there for a moment and ask ourselves, “What comes out of our mouth on any given day, as Christian people? Do we take the Lord’s name in vain? Of course not, because that would be breaking one of the ten commandments. Do we curse? Do we use the “F” word? The “S” word? What kind of vocabulary do we have when we are in church? What kind of vocabulary do we have when we get angry and smack our finger with the hammer? How do we talk about the people that may rub us the wrong way?
I can remember when I was a young Christian man just starting out in the ministry, I never uttered so much as one curse word or swear word out of my mouth. It wasn’t until I was in my late 40’s that I found myself becoming very complacent with my mouth. Before I knew it, I was using the “F” word, the “S” word, and a lot of other curse words. Being careful not to take the Lord’s name in vain, however, this passage says, “Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouth.”
I am appalled by all of the things that are happening in our world today. And as evil as they are, are they any more evil and harmful than what comes out of our mouth? In closing, as I said to all of you last Sunday morning, let’s be watchful. Let’s be vigilant. Let’s be aware that the evil one is watching you. And if you are not sober minded and vigilant, you will look a whole lot like the world does and less like Jesus. Shall we pray.
Dr. Alan Hickock
Listen To Audio: Service 04182021
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Pastor Joe will be on vacation this week. He will not be holding office hours on April 22. Pastor Al Hickok will be available for emergencies.
Loose change offering, (coins & bills), goes to Kenya
Sunday School starts at 8:30am with a study of the book of Galatians. A good time to join us.
PW is putting gathering recipes for a church/community cookbook. If you have a favorite recipe and would like to share it, it can be emailed to Bonne, or give it to her handwritten.
Men’s Breakfast 8:00 A.M. Wednesday April 21, 2021
Session meets 10:00 A.M. Tuesday April 27, 2021
CareNet (Baby Bottle) runs through Mother’s Day
PLEASE NOTE: We ask that you wear a mask as you ENTER and LEAVE the church.
Newsletter Deadline - Tuesday April 27, 2021, now extended to Tuesday, May 4th
If you are in the parking lot, PLEASE TUNE YOUR RADIO TO 89.5 FM TO HEAR THE CHURCH SERVICE.
