I’m sure you have a friend or family member who is a sucker for all things new. Maybe it’s the latest Apple product I know people whose love of new is seen in their clothes, others in their hair, others in their car, and still other in whichever new diet craze is sweeping the country.

What “new” things do you most love? Among the many things John is at pains to pass along in his first letter is the fact that true Christians love spiritual things more than worldly things. I often tell my church members – in shepherding conversations – that disciples of Christ should not be popularly known as a fanatic of worldly things; we should be known as a lover of the things of God. And one thing that 1 John says true Christians love is the new birth.

1 JOHN ON THE NEW BIRTH

Some of you might remember that dark night in Jerusalem when the religious leader Nicodemus covertly came to speak with Jesus. Nicodemus began the conversation by saying Jesus must come from God because no one could possibly do the things He was doing if God wasn’t with him. Do you know what Jesus said in response? It wasn’t, “Thanks,” or, “You got that right brother.” It was, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” You are not a Christian if you haven’t been born again. Let’s scan through this letter to see what John says about being born again, what he says about the new birth:

• “You may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” (2:29)
• “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.“ (3:9)
• “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. (4:7)
• “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” (5:10)
• “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” (5:4)
• “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.” (5:18)

2 REASONS TO LOVE THE NEW BIRTH

First, the new birth comes from sovereign power. Did you notice how every single time John mentions the new birth he does so by saying either “born of God” or “born of him”? “The new birth . . . is not a work of man. No human makes the new birth happen. No preacher and no writer can make it happen. You can’t make it happen yourself. God makes it happen. It happens to us, not by us.”¹ If you aren’t sure you like this sovereign language of the new birth I would simply invite you to consider your own physical birth. Which one of us chose to be born? I mean I can’t even remember anything before the age of five or six. I may have cooperated with the process of my physical birth, but I did not control any of it. The continual testimony of Scripture is that God is the one who makes dead sinners alive. So this new birth comes from sovereign power and . . .

Second, the new birth contains sin-breaking power. Look again at some of those verses we just read:

• “You may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” (2:29)
• “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.“ (3:9)
• “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.” (5:18)

The new birth breaks the power of sin. “He breaks the power of canceled sin, he sets the prisoner free.” Those chains of sin that shackled your soul before faith in Christ have been broken once and for all. You are no longer a slave to sin and Satan, but are now a slave to Jesus and righteousness (cf. Rom. 6:20-22).

In his excellent study of the new birth entitled Finally Alive, John Piper writes,

If your heartache is for your own personal change, or for change in your marriage, or change in your prodigal children, or in your church, or in the systemic structures of injustice, or in the political system, or in the hostilities among nations, or in the human degradation of the environment, or in the raunchiness of our entertainment culture, or in the miseries of the poor, or in the callous opulence of the rich, or in the inequities of educational opportunity, or in arrogant attitudes of ethnocentrism, or in a hundred areas of human need caused by some form of human greed– if your heart aches for any of these, then you should care supremely about the new birth.

There are other ways of shaping culture and guiding behavior. But none so deep. None so far-reaching. None so universally relevant. None so eternally significant.²

True Christians love the new birth. What we need to see from this second test is not only if we have truly been born again, but also if our faith is a living faith. There is a reason I call this the experiential test. Our life in Christ is not some cold lifeless truth, rather it is a faith that is lived and experienced. The new birth changes everything: our goals, desires, hopes, actions, thoughts, and motives are all unchangeably altered. I mean think about the family you’ve been born into and how life defining that experience has been. When my boys are born they not only receive a name, but an identity, a way of life, a worldview, and a stated purpose. How much greater it is to be born into God’s family! What love this ought to generate in our lives.

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Have you ever wondered how you might know you really are a Christian? What are those things that distinguish true faith from false faith? How might you be able to biblically affirm the salvation of a friend or family member? Arguably the best place to turn in Scripture to answer such questions is the letter of 1 John.

The purpose of 1 John is for you to know that you believe Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:13). The “apostle of love” gives us a series of tests to tease out the reality of our faith. One of them is a doctrinal test that we might put simply as: True Christians know and love Jesus as the Son of God.

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” – 1 John 4:15

THE SON’S MISSION

For John, loving Jesus as the Son doesn’t just mean knowing He is the Son, but also knowing what He accomplished as the Son. There are four things in particular I want you to see about the Son’s mission according to 1 John.

A mission of destruction. Look at 3:8, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” The Son came to destroy Satan’s works; namely his work of sin and death.

A mission of propitiation. Turn to 4:10, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Do you know what propitiation means? A few years ago I wrote an article saying that “propitiation” is my favorite word in all the New Testament. To propitiate is to satisfy God’s wrath. It was on the cross that Jesus suffered, and His greatest anguish was not the immense physical pain associated with crucifixion, but the agony of being treated by the Father as a sinner. He who knew no sin was made to be sin, and so suffered the wrath of God. And His suffering was perfect for God’s wrath was satisfied. As the hymn says, “Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.”

What do you think about God’s wrath towards sin? Is it something you want to apologize for or remove from the Bible? Last summer a mainline Presbyterian denomination, the PCUSA, published a new hymnbook and much hullaballo ensued about their decision to not include “In Christ Alone” in the book. They’d contacted the Keith Getty and Stuart Townend (writers of “In Christ Alone”) asking them if the denomination could change “the wrath of God was satisfied” line to “the love of God was magnified.” The writers declined and the denomination yanked it from the hymnbook. God’s wrath is something they’d rather remove than sing about, and what they don’t realize is that to apologize for God’s wrath robs Jesus of due honor and praise. To lessen the wrath of God is to make light of the sin of men and rob majesty from Jesus’ work of propitiation.

A mission of salvation. Skip a couple verses down to 4:14, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” Easy enough: Jesus came to save sinners like you and me.

A mission of mediation. Look back to the beginning of chapter two. In 2:1 John says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” The Son is our advocate, our mediator. This is one of those roles of Christ that can easily get lost in translation today because the original Greek is depicting something more like a covenant lawyer. If you were to stand in God’s courtroom Satan would be the prosecuting attorney and he would have no shortage of evidence to convict you as a sinner worthy of death. But if you trust in Jesus saving work you will find that the Son will stand next to you as your defense lawyer, your advocate. He will mediate for you before the Father. His righteousness will be counted as your righteousness, and through faith you will hear the Father declare you not guilty.

THE SON DOESN’T NEED CYNICS AND CRITICS

Do you see how necessary it is that you love Jesus as the Son? There is no hope without it. Whoever loves the Son has life, who ever does not has no life (1 John 5:12). Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God and love Him as such?

One other thing I want to mention is what this doctrinal test tells us about a Christian’s relationship to God’s revelation. Look at 5:9-10. There John says, “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.”

John’s is essentially saying, “If you so easily receive the testimony of men, how much more should we receive the testimony of God.” I wonder when this week you have received some kind of news – some testimony – from a friend or family member. How quick were to you believe their words? I would assume that when it comes to your trusted friends and family members, you rarely doubt what they say. How much more should we trust the testimony of God’s Spirit! Notice 5:6, “And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” Here’s a simple application from chapter 5: If you would love Jesus, you must trust His word. What we see all through John’s gospel is the Spirit comes to work in and through the Word. He inspired it to bear witness to Jesus Christ. What’s your general posture to the word? One of submission or cynicism? Cynics and critics have a hard time loving Jesus.

The Son of God doesn’t need your cynicism or criticism; He calls for your devotion.

This sermon is adapted from an upcoming sermon that is an overview of 1 John.

Ephesians 4:25-32 represents a syllabus of sorts regarding life in the school of heaven.  We might simply say these eight verses show us that heavenly conversation and conduct mark new life in Christ.

On Monday we looked at heavenly conversation and today we want to look at heavenly conduct.

THE CONDUCT OF CLOTHING

Have you ever noticed how often clothing can transform conduct? If you don’t know what I mean, just keep your eyes open on Halloween.  You might see a child, or even an adult, dressed in a pirate costume and trying to talk like a pirate.  You might see a teenager dressed as Harry Potter waving around some stick as though he suddenly has attained magical power because he put on a normal white shirt and tie, and a black cape.  We could keep going, but I digress.

Is it not true that clothing can sometimes causes you to feel awkward, or confident, or ashamed, or maybe out of place? Clothing often transforms conduct.

This is the point Paul wants to get across when he tells us that putting on the new self means that we put on the new clothes of Christ righteousness.  And that new clothing must truly transform our conduct. We see him detail this new conduct in verses 4:26-28 and 4:30-31.  The first area of conduct that Paul addresses is anger.

PUTTING ANGER TO BED

²⁶Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷and give no opportunity to the devil.

Notice that Paul doesn’t come out and condemn anger, it is as though he sees it some appropriateness to anger.  It’s useful to know that Paul is quoting from the Greek version of Psalm 4:4 in which we find David angry at Israel’s idolatry.  It is possible to have righteous anger: anger at God being robbed of the worship that he is due, or anger at the hideous and offensive nature of sin.  But I would add that this anger should always be mixed with righteous grief.  The one instance where Jesus is said to get angry is Mark 3:5. Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath about to heal a man’s withered hand and the Pharisees would have none of this happening on the Sabbath day. It says, “Jesus looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.”  Righteous anger is to be upset and grieved with idolatry and sin.

What then is unrighteous anger?  You don’t have to look very far, just look down to verse thirty-one, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” Paul gives us five different words to show us the nature of sinful anger.  Sinful anger is filled with bitterness, wrath, clamor (which is yelling, brawling, or shouting indicating a lack of restraint), slander (profane or abusive speech), and malice (viciousness).  So let us look in the mirror and see whether or not our anger is righteous or unrighteous.  Does the name of Christ being profaned and the horrific consequences of sin cause us to get angry?  Or is our anger more of the shouting, abusive, and vindictive sort?  If we are honest, it probably is the latter category.

Paul hastens to add that anger ought not last long, for he says, “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Anger must be dealt with quickly and hastily because if it is not, we give an opportunity to the devil.  Let’s pause for a second here and notice the power of this truth.  Unchecked and unrepentant sin gives Satan an opportunity, a place or foothold.  Think about it this way.  Have you ever tried to close a door and then someone sticks his foot in the doorway?  As long as the foothold is there, that door will not shut.  To shut the door the foot must be removed or broken.  That’s the only way.  To knock off Satan from His place as the tyrant dictator of the dominion of sin, he must be removed or broken.  Such a thing happens only when we plead for the blood of Christ to cover our sin and for His righteousness to break the chains of sin and Satan.  After dealing with anger Paul moves on to the issue of stealing.

AWAY WITH STEALING & GRIEVING

²⁸Let 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.

Instead of stealing, the thief redeemed by Christ is to work hard and earn an honest wage.  Did you notice the purpose of earning an honest wage? So that he may have something to share with anyone in need. The Christian is not only marked by diligence and discipline in labor, but he uses his income to support and care.  In short, the Christian is generous.

³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Paul doesn’t give us a positive thing to put on here; rather he only shows us the negative, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” Once again Paul is drawing from the Old Testament, and understanding this not only helps clear up a verse that is often quoted out of context, but it reinforces Paul’s emphasis on walking as a heavenly people.  Here Paul is echoing Isaiah 63:10.  As he reviews God’s gracious actions, he looks back to the exodus and recounts how Yahweh brought his people out of slavery and into a covenant relationship with him.  Yet, despite such grace the nation of Israel, “rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit.” So here we see again, Paul addressing the new creation covenant community who has been sealed for the day of redemption by the Holy Spirit, the guarantee of our inheritance.  And he instructs the Ephesians and us to not be like the Israel of old who fell into continual idolatry and sin, but we are to walk in complete faithfulness before our God.

CONDUCT THAT LOOKS AND SOUNDS LIKE HEAVEN

Finally, notice the final, positive exhortations of 4:32.

³² Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

In the place of these six sinful actions, we are instructed to put on kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.  As people forgiven by God, so to we must forgive.  This is heavenly conduct isn’t it?  Paul calls us to be a people marked by righteousness, diligence, generosity, faithfulness, kindness, and forgiveness.

In the school of heaven we learn that not only is our conversation is to sound like heaven, our conduct is to look like heaven.

In Ephesians 4:25-32 we find Paul giving the Ephesians a syllabus regarding life in the school of heaven.  The text unfolds a magnificent structure for our new life in Christ. These eight verses offer a series of twelve commands pointing the church to a glorious reality: Heavenly conversation and conduct mark new life in Christ.

In this post I will simply focus on the exhortations to heavenly conversation found in verse twenty-five and twenty-nine. Later this week I will try to show how the other seven verses give us a glimpse into the conduct of heaven.

HEAVENLY CONVERSATION

You may wonder why I am using the adjective of heavenly.  “What in this text speaks of heaven?”  The answer is actually quite hidden within verse twenty-five and is easy to miss.  But it is an answer that provides a firm foundation for eight verses filled with twelve imperatives.

²⁵Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Paul says because you have put off the old self and put on the new self (therefore), let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor.  In this command, speak truthfully, we find the answer to why I am saying that Paul instructs the Ephesians in heavenly conversation.

The exhortation to speak the truth is a quote from Zechariah 8:16 where the prophet says, “These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another.”  This is the first in a series of commands that immediately follow divine promises regarding the New Jerusalem. Through Zechariah, God is telling us what kind of people His children are to be in the new heavens and new earth. So the first command Paul gives is an echo from Zechariah that was originally given to the people of God who would dwell with him forever in the New Creation, in heaven.  And doesn’t this beautifully fit with what has come before in Ephesians?

Chapter two tells us that Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, and God has created one new man, one new body in Christ Jesus.  We are later told that, in Christ we have put of the old self and put on the “new self, created in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”  In short, Ephesians repeatedly reveals the in-breaking of the New Creation.  Although it is not yet here in its fullness, it is already here in part.  Thus, Paul tells us right from the outset, “You are a heavenly people who are to be marked by heavenly conversation.”  And speaking the truth marks heavenly conversation for we are members one of another.

Let us now look at verse twenty-nine to see what else is to mark heavenly conversation.

HEAVENLY MEANS GRACE-FILLED

²⁹Let 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.

The word corrupting was used to refer to rotted wood, diseased lungs, rancid fish, withered flowers, and rotten fruit. Rotten, diseased, rancid, and withered talk belonged to the old self, but now we are instructed to speak in the opposite manner with words that are good for building up.  Our language is to edify and benefit those who hear it, as fits the occasion.  And isn’t this quite difficult, to speak edifying words at the right moment and in the right way?  Far too many of us are little concerned to wisely discern what other people need to hear from us with our words.  What Paul is telling us here is that heavenly conversation begins with wise listening.

Oh this is so hard!  I have the sometimes useful, but often cursed gift of being able to totally tune people out.  A week never goes by where my wife does not tell me that I wasn’t listening to her.  Heavenly conversation builds up as fits the occasion, so that it may give grace to those who hear.  Our words are to be saturated with and steeped in grace.  As salt seasons whatever it touches, so to must grace season our conversation.  Verses twenty-five and twenty-nine tell us that heavenly conversation is marked by truth, wisdom, and grace.  Truth, wisdom, and grace.

WIELDING THIS NEW CREATION WEAPON

This text reminds us of two realities. First, it cannot be mere coincidence that Paul the first specific thing Paul deals with regarding our new life in Christ is our tongue.  For we all know that there is nothing more telling about the condition of our heart than our tongue. After all, out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.  Thomas Brooks said, “The tongue is the nimble interpreter of the heart. If there be piety or iniquity at the bottom of your hearts, your tongues will discover it . . . What is in the heart will be in the mouth.”  Our tongues tell of our true heart.

Second, we are reminded of the tongue’s power.  It has the ability to corrupt and tear down, and the ability to edify and build up in grace. Brooks likened its power to a razor saying, “The tongue is often like a sharp razor, that, instead of shaving the hair, cuts the throat.”  It is designed to sooth, clean, comfort, and brighten, but one small misstep can result in great pain.

The New Creation renovation has dawned upon Christ’s church. And it’s a renovation heard in our heavenly conversation.