Becoming a Christian is the greatest privilege in all the
world. The experience of receiving peace
with the God who made us in His image, whose holiness we
have assaulted, whose wrath we have incurred
as a result of the fall – this peace
by the forgiveness of our sin by Christ’s shed blood, applied by the
inner working of the Holy Spirit is, as
we said an unspeakable privilege. All
this stunning information concerning our salvation forms part of Paul’s first
part of the letter (Ch’s 1-3) to the Ephesians.
However, new privileges also mean new responsibilities. This
is how he starts the second half of the letter (Ch’s 4-6) – which
forms the application…. “I urge
you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called”
(4:1). Becoming a Christian is a total renewal of our
entire being, in which we will also one day be renewed in our bodies[1].
In the meantime the renewal of our sinful nature takes place. We are called to
put off our old self (4:22) putting on “our new self, created after the holiness of God in true righteousness
and holiness “(4:24). Becoming a
Christian means to follow Christ wherever He leads. And part of that means that
we need to be sensitive to the inner work of the Holy Spirit with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
We are now coming to a very thought provoking verse in Ephesians 4:30: “And do not
grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption.“
NOTE on being “sealed
with the Holy Spirit”
The Bible teaches that, upon conversion the Holy Spirit comes
to indwell the believer and secures and preserves his eternal salvation. The ‘sealing’
of which Paul speaks refers to an official mark placed on a letter, contract,
or other document. By this means a document became official, sealed by the
authority of the person whose stamp was on the seal. The Holy Spirit is given
by God as His pledge of the believer’s future inheritance in glory (cf. 2 Cor. 1:21). The Holy Spirit
authenticates / testifies in our hearts that we are the children of God.
4 Observations from our text
· The Holy Spirit can be grieved in the church
· Things that cause the Holy Spirit to be grieved in the church
· The implications of grieving the Spirit in the church
· Could we be grieving the Holy Spirit ?
1. The Holy Spirit can be grieved in the
church
We begin by looking
at 4 ways in which the Holy Spirit is said to be grieved :
(i) Eph. 4:30 by grieving
the Spirit (lypeo lit. causing
pain to body or mind, inducing grief, sorrow or heaviness)
(ii) Acts 7:51 by resisting the Spirit (antipipto lit. to fall
against ) The martyr Stephen accuses the Jews, ”You
stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the
Holy Spirit. “
(iii) 1 Thess. 5:19 by
quenching the Spirit cf.”Do
not quench the Spirit” (sbennumi used for quenching
of fire; the same word is also used in Eph. 6:16 to denote the quenching of the flaming arrows of the evil one).
(iv) By blaspheming against
the Holy Spirit – (blasphemeo
in Mark
3:29 which relates to the unforgivable
(eternal) sin of which Jesus accuses
the teachers of the law. The sin of
these people was of an ongoing nature as they
kept on saying…. There is an air of finality about this offense against the
Holy Spirit. The first three words do not have the same air of finality about
them, but they are warning signals and indicators that the Holy Spirit is being
grieved. When they become habitual they may well lead to the unforgivable sin.
The fact the Holy Spirit can be grieved, resisted, quenched
and blasphemed makes it clear that the Holy Spirit is not a mere ‘influence’.
He is a person, because only persons can feel these things. Let us
be reminded then that since He is the Holy Spirit, He is always grieved by unholiness. This brings us to the next point.
2. Things that cause the Holy Spirit to be
grieved
Here we are not left to do any guesswork. The context shows
us HOW the Holy Spirit may be grieved in the church. Consider that which precedes
and that which follows from our text in 4:30.
Remember, that chapter 4 began with a reference to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the
bond of peace… there is one body and one Spirit …”.
The Holy Spirit is
grieved when the unity
of the Spirit in the church is assaulted by
divisive people (see 1 Tim 1:3-4; 4:1-3; 6:3-5; 2
Tim 2:14, 16,17; Titus 3:9-11). I don’t
think that the church of the last 100 years has adequately meditated upon this
verse. The division of the church in the last century has been shocking! I am
not saying that division can always be avoided, or that it is not sometimes
even necessary - particularly when relates to
upholdingprimary truth (1 Cor. 11:19).
But the sad truth is that churches have divided on matters of secondary importance.
We must not become guilty of this. In Matt. 18:7 Jesus warns us, “Woe to the world for the temptations to
sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!”
The Holy Spirit is grieved
when Christians refuse to put off old habits of life, and fail to
demonstrate new patterns of godly living (4:20-25)
We also see from our context that the Holy Spirit is grieved when people
cause division through the
improper use of their tongues (4:29).The Holy
Spirit is grieved when Christians gossip, slander, belittle others and
when they spread lies. If these things are not stopped among
us it can become a negative church culture.
The same is true when people are allowed to express ungodly anger in the church (4:26, 31). The Holy Spirit is also grieved when bitterness (a deep root that defiles
many- Hebr. 12:15) settles in the
church. He is grieved when there is unaddressed sexual immorality in the
church. He is grieved when there is covetousness
and obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking in the church (5:3,4).
These are all signs of idolatry, and no
idolater will inherit the kingdom of heaven (5:5). These are all serious matters that ultimately reflect the
true state of our heart. If you claim to be a Christian, claiming to be sealed by Him for the day of redemption, but your
life shows no changes then you are indeed grieving the indwelling Spirit, and
the church is affected by your behaviour. When such things control the church (and the church is made up
of individuals), the Spirit is grieved
in the church. We will speak about the
implications in a moment.
It is the duty of the elders as shepherds of the church to watch and pray, to encourage and admonish and warn and teach their flock concerning these things. The Scriptures for instance instructs elders to “warn a divisive person once, and then to warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him“ (Titus 3:10). As your pastors we plead with you not to receive this instruction in vain.
# Your sin matters.
Your sin
as a church member affects us all. From
Joshua 7 (the sin of Achan) we learn that private sins have public effects. The
whole nation of Israel suffered, because Achan sinned. The whole human race today suffers because
Adam sinned. The private sins of church members can have public effects on the
life of the church. This brings us to the next point.
3. What are the implications of grieving
the Spirit?
(i) The Holy Spirit withdraws: There are
many examples in the Old Testament in which we read that the Lord withdraws
from His people when they had sinned. When that happened, they always lost
against their enemies (Ps. 44:9; Ps 60:10). David was very aware of the consequences of his own sin after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba: “Do not cast me from your
presence or take your Holy Spirit from me“ (Ps. 51:11).
In the New Testament
we find that this same Ephesian
Church, some 30 years later, was warned
by the Lord Jesus in His message to John
in Rev. 2:5 that He would
remove their lampstand, should they not listen what the Spirit had to say to
the church.
When sin or unholiness (as previously described) is allowed
to dominate the life of the church, and the elders or the church do nothing
about it, the Holy Spirit withdraws. We may well continue with church
activities, but there will be no spiritual power. Beware the church that is handed
over by God!
Our duty then is to watch
over one another, to pray and intercede for each other that we may not sin against the Lord. Beloved congregation, pray
that we will not grieve the Holy Spirit. We are called to be a holy people.
(ii) The Holy Spirit becomes our enemy: Isa 63:10 speaks about the Israelites, who had enjoyed the covenantal blessings and the love of God
like no one else. Isaiah says, 10 But
they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy and himself fought against them.” I have only one comment to make at this point : If God is
against us, who can be for us ? (Reversing the question in Rom 8:31)
4. Application: Are we grieving the Holy Spirit
in our church?
A checklist is here before us in Eph. 4 – 5:18. Please take some time on this Lord’s day and examine yourselves in the light of His Word.
Psalm
4:4 challenges us, “Ponder in your
own hearts on your beds and be silent”.
Remember also that we are corporately responsible for the
spiritual health of this congregation. No
one ever sins in isolation. Your private
sin has public effects (see Joshua 7) - firstly on your families, and then on
the church, and even on public life. Don’t be complacent concerning these
things. The church cannot be complacent in these matters.
Right now let us allow to take
a few minutes as we search our hearts and are silent, as we come to the Lord’s table.
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