What About the Change

Whenever we have a service like this, weather has obviously drastically affected our attendance. I'm reminded of the young preacher that was just starting in his first church in the Great Plains state of Nebraska farming community out in the rural parts of the state and mostly farmers in the church. So one Sunday they had a terrible snowstorm and he made it to the church thinking surely somebody will be here. Well one farmer showed up, just one farmer. And so the preacher asked him, you know, I'm new around here. What do you usually do in a case like this? You usually just cancel the service or what? And the old wise farmer looked up at the young boy and he said, he said, well you know son said when I go out to feed cows, if only one cow shows up, I still feed him. So the young pastor nodded his head and said, okay, so they went into the service and the young preacher just preached away, you know, just boy yelled and screamed and pounded the pulpit and preached, you know as hard as he ever preached. Forty-five minutes later, closed the service. And he stood back at the door and the one farmer came out and shook his hand and said, does son one thing I forgot to tell you, when one cow shows up I don't dump the whole load on him. So we're not giving you the whole load this morning, okay? We cut the music short and I'm not promising that about the message. You may get the whole load on that because the other service, those folks have already heard it and I don't know what I'd do with you next week or the week after if I don't give you the whole load this morning. But I know the weather's pretty treacherous out there right now between the services, the usher told me that it was getting worse and so we'll try not to keep you too long to let you get home. And I would encourage you to check the website as Kevin said, check the website or the voicemail before you make any decision about tonight. If I were to make a call right now, I would say we will cancel services tonight. I'm going to get the brain trust together with people who are smarter than I am after the service and we'll decide for sure. But you know, we have an important business meeting tonight. January business meeting is the most important of the year. We have 18 issues besides the budget and deacons to vote on tonight. And if we only have a scattering of people here, we can't do that kind of business. So I really doubt that we'll have the service. Please check to make sure before you venture back out tonight. Ephesians chapter 4, have you opened your Bibles to this morning? A few years ago, Stephen Curtis Chapman wrote a song called The Change. And in that song, he says, well, I got myself a t-shirt that says what I believe. I got letters on my bracelet to serve as my ID. I got the necklace in the keychain and almost everything a good Christian needs. I got the little Bible magnets on my refrigerator door and a welcome mat to bless you before you walk across my floor. I got a Jesus bumper sticker in the outline of a fish stuck on my car. And even though this stuff's all well and good, I cannot help but ask myself, what about the change? What about the difference? What about the grace? What about forgiveness? What about a life that's showing I'm undergoing the change? Then he goes on the next verse to talk about 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Now the Bible says, we are to be new creatures in Christ and if the Holy Spirit's really living in us, our lives will be different. So Lord, help me to live up to the change that you've made in my life. And that is exactly what Paul is talking about in Ephesians chapter 4. Now if you were with us last week, you know that Paul talks about the fact there's been a great change in our lives because of our salvation. God has changed us drastically. But we are to live up to that change. We are to live in such a way that shows that we are new creatures in Christ. And it has to go beyond the bumper sticker and the fish sign. In fact, I'm glad some people put that on their car because I've never known they're Christian by the way they drive. You've got to tell you some other way. But you know it's kind of sad when that's the only thing that changes in your life. You've got a new emblem, a new symbol. What Paul is saying is, live in holiness. Live a holy life. Live a godly life. That's what he wants us to do. To live up to the change that Jesus has made in our lives. So really what we're going to see today, verses 25 to 32, really that is a commentary on what we saw last week. Paul described the change last week. Today he's going to say, now this is what it looks like. These are some areas of your life that really ought to demonstrate the change that should be there because of your faith in Christ. First of all, he says, there ought to be a change in honesty. Verse 25, change in honesty. He says, therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor for we are all members of one body. The absence of honesty Paul describes in the first part of that verse. Put off falsehood. The word put off a word which literally means to put off clothing, to lay aside clothing. In fact, it is the very word that is used in Acts chapter 7 and verse 58 when the people were gathered around the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Council were gathered around the stone Stephen to death and it says, the witnesses laid aside their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Same word, laid aside. They took their clothes off and laid them aside. They're outer robe, a coat or garment. Took it off and laid it aside. That's what Paul's saying that we need to lay aside, take off and lay aside falsehood. Now dishonesty, falsehood is just spread throughout our culture. It was that way in New Testament times. It is the same way today. Lying is a way of life for a lot of people. Falsehood is a way of life for a lot of people. Our culture oozes deception and falsehood. The media tries to paint the news a certain way to get you to believe a certain way. And quite often with the media that's a liberal slant. Authors plagiarize the works of others. Being told passages and even chapters from others' books and presenting it as though it were original pastors do that. I think I've told you the story of a high profile pastor in Charlotte who's written books spoken on the national circles at promise keepers, conferences and everything who was dismissed from his church because he was downloading sermons off the internet and preaching them as though they were his own. That's lying. That's dishonesty. It happens in a lot of different ways and you and I struggle with dishonesty as well. This honesty can take the form of a direct lie, just a flat out lie or it can take the form of an exaggeration. Purposely exaggerating the truth to make ourselves look better, to communicate something that is really not there. That's a lie. Lying can take the form of cheating in school or cheating on your taxes. Lying can take the form of padding your resume by putting things on there that you never really have done or degrees you never really completed or jobs you never held. Lying can take the form of betraying the confidence or of flattering someone to try to get something from them or making excuses for the things you do. Lying can take a lot of different forms. Two engineers were being interviewed for the same job and they were really equal in their qualifications, experience, background, everything looked pretty much the same. In fact, the company was really in a quandary about who they should hire. The guy who was doing all the interview process decided to give them one last test to try to see if that would make a distinction between them and so they locked them in the room and put the timer on, gave them a pencil in the test and said go at it. As you can guess, they both scored the same score, 95 on the test. So the guy who's doing the interview process called one of them in and said we're going to hire the other guy. And the guy said why? We made the same on the test, over coffee, case you say why are you going to choose him? And the interviewer said well, it's quite simple. On this test, question number five, the other guy said I don't know and you said I don't know either. This honesty takes a lot of different forms and it is endemic in our culture, the absence of honesty. That's why Paul speaks to the need for honesty in verse 25 when he says put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, the need for honesty. Now please understand honesty does not mean speaking truthfully does not mean you must tell everything you know or everything you've ever thought. Speaking honestly does not mean that you have to tell everybody every ill thought or bad attitude you've had toward them. Honesty does not mean telling everything you know or just spilling everything you've ever felt or said but what honesty is is when you do speak and when you do portray something in your life as being a certain way it better live up to the facts. It needs to be honest, the need for honesty. But notice the reason for honesty that Paul gives, he says for we are all members of one body. You might expect him to say be honest, put away falsehood, be honest because it's a sin against God to be dishonest and it is and that's the main reason why we should be honest is because dishonest is a sin against God. But remember in this context Paul's been talking about the body, the church, the unity of the body and so he says you know given what I've been talking about there's another reason why we should be honest with each other and that's because we're all members of one another, we're members of the same body and the body of Christ cannot function properly without honesty with each other. It simply cannot. You think for a moment about your human body, your human body cannot function properly if the members are not being honest with each other. If your brain sends a false signal to your feet you'll stumble over the curb. If your brain sends a false signal to your nerves or your nerves send false signals to your brain you won't recognize heat, you'll burn yourself. If your eye sends a false signal to your brain that curve in the road ahead really is straight, you're in trouble. You see if even your bodily members don't communicate honestly with each other the body can't function and that is true in the body of Christ too. If we are not being honest with each other then the body can't function as it should. That's the reason that Paul gives in this passage for honesty. So there needs to be a change in honesty but secondly Paul says there needs to be also a change in emotions. Versus 26 and 27 he talks about emotions and interestingly enough he picks out one emotion as a test case as a sample for our emotional life. I think he has chosen the one that we most have trouble with and that is anger. Anger. Pastor by the name of Pastor Nichols does not live in this area by the way so you don't know him but this pastor had put himself under a two year moratorium on playing golf. He had decided for two years he would not play because he always got angry when he played golf. Golf is a character building sport I've heard. So he said I'm not going to play and for two years he did not play golf finally felt like he'd conquered it enough where he could go back and he could get on the course again he could play without losing his temper until the twelfth hole. The dog leg around the lake got him. He lost five golf balls and twelve strokes to that lake and was infuriated to the point that he picked up the golf clubs and threw them in the lake and started walking back to the clubhouse and yelled out to his partner you finished on your own I'm out of here. This partner wheeled the golf cart around pulled up beside him and said Pastor Nichols I can't finish those were my golf clubs you threw in the lake. Well anger does get the best of us sometimes doesn't it? It's a difficult emotion to deal with and I think that's maybe why Paul chooses this one as his example of our emotions notice what he says he says first of all something about the reality of anger he says in your anger do not sin in your anger do not sin. Now there are those who believe there are actually two commands here one be angry to sin not but that's not really the case the NIV has done a good job of translating what in the Greek is called a conditional imperative which simply means this is going to happen and given the fact that this is going to happen this is how you respond to it this could even be translated although you will be angry do not sin. I think what Paul's talking about is the reality of anger we are going to struggle with anger we are going to become angry at times you know anger is simply an emotional reaction to something that displeases us it's a very normal natural reaction and anger in fact can be a good thing if it's anger at the right things and expressed in the right way the Bible talks a lot about God being angry with sin and wickedness especially in the Old Testament a lot of mentions of that we know that Jesus was angry the Bible says he was angry at the hardness of the heart of the Pharisees when he was in Mark 3 healing the man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath he was angry certainly in the temple when he overturned the many changers tables and loose the animals and turned that den of merchandise out he was angry so anger is not necessarily a bad thing Paul is saying there's a reality of anger but it must be dealt with properly and that's what he deals with next that's what he talks about next in verse 26 when he talks about the resolution of anger in your anger or although you will be angry do not sin do not let the sun go down while you are still angry the resolution to anger is this do not let it endure don't let anger hang around deal with it quickly and set it aside in fact that day don't let another day come without dealing with your anger now I think in dealing with anger we obviously need to start with with why am I angry what's the motivation of this anger why did I get angry if it was for a just you know righteous anger as it is in 95% of the cases with you I know if it's righteous anger and just and and justified even then process it deal with it lay it aside and go because if you don't even righteous anger can begin to eat away at you on the inside if it is unrighteous anger if it is sinful anger then obviously not only the motivation needs to be dealt with but the anger itself and how it was expressed needs to be dealt with and it needs to be dealt with today before the day goes by you need to deal with that anger the resolution of anger is not to let it go because if it sticks around if you allow anger to begin to lodge in your heart in mind it mutates into something very ugly it mutates into resentment and bitterness and hostility and self-pity and vengeance and even violence that's what happens when anger is not dealt with quickly and lay to side I love the way Frederick butchner in one of his books says this the thing that anger does to the one who is angry he said of the seven deadly sins anger is possibly the most fun the most fun he goes on to describe what he means to lick your wounds to smack your lips over grievances long past to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come to savor to the last tooth some morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back in many ways it is a feast fit for a king the chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself the skeleton at the feast is you what a graphic waiter describe what anger does to us and it does it really does it will eat you up on the inside emotionally physically and spiritually it will do untold damage to you if you do not follow this biblical command to in your anger or though you will become angry sin not don't let a day go by without dealing with it without resolving it did you know that every year in America on average 14 men die at the hands of soda fountain pop machines you know how they don't get the drink you know the button they push they don't get the right drink or they don't get the right change and they start shaking the thing every year 14 men die from that thing turning over and crushing them destroyed by their own anger very literally but there are lots of ways anger can destroy you if you don't deal with it in a biblical way so Paul says the resolution to anger is to deal with it quickly deal with it quickly but notice if you will the result of anger in verse 27 here's what happens if you don't deal with it quickly and do not give the devil a foothold now i'm not a rock climber but i've seen a little bit of it you know on tv or something and and from what i understand a true rock climber all he needs is a little crack in the rock or just a little crevice a little protrusion of rock just enough to get his steel toad boot or clawed boot onto and be able to lift himself up just a little foothold is all he needs in my friend that's all Satan needs and that's what he will use if you don't deal with anger properly if you don't process anger properly deal with it set it aside before they goes by what Satan will do is he will get a foothold which means he's got just enough all it takes is just a little crack he's got just enough to boost himself higher to get deeper into your life he has an in road it's like a Trojan horse you remember the story from Greek mythology how the the enemy brought a Trojan a horse the Trojans brought a horse into Troy and and the the residents of the city thought it was a peace offering a gift but inside there were soldiers who under the cover of darkness escape that large empty wooden horse and attack that city not dealing with anger is a Trojan horse in your life Satan sneaks his way into your life with unresolved anger and does all kinds of other things unresolved anger leads to other sins or hinders the spirit of God from working that's another way Satan gets a foothold hinders the spirit of God from working DL Moody told the story one time the great evangelist of the late 1800s who preached in cities all across America and Crusades in England DL Moody once told the story of him and Mr. Sanky as he called his song leader Iris Sanky that we went to a certain town and he said for the first week absolutely nothing happened it was dead nobody responded the spirit of God was not working and Moody said I got up one evening after a week and I said maybe someone here is harboring an unforgiving spirit towards someone else and he said the chairman of the committee that had put this crusade together got up off the platform and walked out of the meeting in front of everybody but what he did is he went to a man he'd been having a problem with for six months and asked his forgiveness admitted his part of the the fault of the problem and asked his forgiveness and he came back to Moody later that day and he said I am so thankful you came to this town because I had an unforgiving spirit an anger unresolved in my heart that I needed to deal with Moody said that very night in his words he said the inquiry room was full they would usually encourage people if they were interested in learning more about how to be saved to stay in a particular room didn't have a public invitation necessarily but just go to a certain room and someone would be there to explain the gospel to them and he said for the first time people responded now I'm not saying that to suggest that when there's a lack of response it's because of someone's sin and if there is a huge response it's because the spirit is free to move you don't always see visible evidence of what the spirit of God is doing but I am using that illustration to say this Satan can gain a foothold because of sin and the spirit of God choose not to work because of sin that is unresolved Bible says if we don't deal with anger we give Satan a foothold to do what he wants to do in our midst there's got to be a change in our emotions thirdly there must be a change in our work change in our work verse 28 he who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work doing something useful with his own hands that he may have something to share with those in need Paul points out the problem of stealing in this verse you see it there in verse 28 he who has been stealing must steal no longer problem of stealing stealing is huge in our world today did you know that department store chains report eight billion dollars a year in merchandise lost inventory that is gone now they have figured out that 10% of that is clerical error 30% of that is shoplifting of whopping 60% is employee theft employee theft is he stealing again just like this honesty is rampant in our culture and again like this honesty stealing can take a lot of different forms it may be the outright theft of something which is not yours it may be behind the scenes undercover embezzlement of funds it may be falsified cost overruns on the part of management it may be a padded expense account putting things on there that are not legitimate that's stealing it may be reporting hours that you really didn't work it may be income that you gained that is not reported on your tax forms it may be not returning items that you have borrowed it may well be using if the employer's time for things other than work you're stealing stealing from your employer stealing from someone else you remember art link letter some of you were remember art link letter and how I used to have those programs with the kids you know to ask them questions and they'd say the wildest things I think the program was called kids say the funniest things or something like that you know he was a master at talking with those little kids and one little kid he was interviewing art link letter knew that his father was a policeman and he said to the little boy who was you know five six years old what does your daddy do and the little boy said my daddy goes out and gets bad man and throws him in the slammer and art link letter said to the little boy does your mama ever get upset or worried about the kind of work he does the little boy said oh no he brings our all kinds of jewelry and earrings and watches oops stealing stealing lots of different ways that it happens the problem of stealing Paul talks about the alternative to stealing as well when he says he who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work doing something useful with his own hands what a novel idea work rather than steal it has been God's plan from the beginning of creation that those who are able to work do so now I understand there are some who are not able to have gainful employment but for anyone who is able to work it is God's plan and purpose for us to work and he says notice that we must work doing something useful an interesting word it's the Greek word agathos which means something which is intrinsically good something which is good in quality the idea is something that is God honoring and blesses other people any honor of any honest vocation should be able to provide a service or some help to someone else does something to help someone else and can be done to the glory of God now there are a few vocations that are exempt from that definition you know if you're a drug pusher you're in the wrong vocation you're working at some places you're in the wrong vocation that cater to man's sin but any vocation that serves to meet a legitimate need of someone else and can be done to the glory of God is work that God would bless and it's God's intent for us the alternative of stealing of getting what is not ours is to work diligently with our own hands notice however the opposite of stealing at the end of the verse and that is that he may have something to share with those in need now this is interesting this goes beyond just providing for yourself your own needs and your family's needs the idea here is a step beyond that the opposite of stealing is giving and Paul says that's one of the purposes for work is to be able to have something to give to others one writer on Ephesians one commentator says that this is the most outstanding example in all the New Testament of conversion the thief has become a philanthropist I love the way he says that and it is a great a great example of the change that should take place in our lives from the inside out person who used to do things that were wrong even outside the boundaries of the law to selfishly provide for his own needs now is working diligently within the confines of what's right and God honoring to provide for others needs the thief has become a philanthropist great great evidence of conversion of change in a person's heart in life is a change in our work but then notice Paul goes on to talk about the change in our speech 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 and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption Paul speaks of all first of all to the aspect of of rotten speech he describes rotten speech first of all you see there in verse 29 when he says do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths the word unwholesome was a word which was used in pause day of food that had spoiled rotten fruit rotten vegetables rotten food that's what he's saying here and there is such a thing as rotten speech what does rotten speech sound like well obviously it would include obscenity it would include dirty jokes off-color jokes profanity it would include that obviously but I think it goes beyond that rotten speech is any kind of speech which is done for the purpose of spoiling another person's life that spreads decay in your life or another person's life it's the kind of speech that runs other people down that delights in their weaknesses that in that that loves to cut someone to the core it's that kind of speech the humorous arm of bomb back was talking in one of her books about a family that talked this way to each other all the time and one day the 16-year-old daughter hollered down the steps as anybody seen my new sweater and her dad hollered back up the steps you mean the one that cost me 70 bucks and her sister hollered up the steps you mean the one you never let me wear and her brother hollered up the steps you mean the one that's stupid and makes you look fat and her grandmother hollered up the steps you mean the one that has the neckline that's too low and her mother hollered up the steps you mean the one that you have to wash by hand in cold water nobody answered her question but everybody got their dig in that's unholsome speech that's rotten speech has no place in the life of a believer oh yeah the humor joking around with family that's fine but the kind of speech that really has an edge to it it's rotten rotten so Paul says get rid of that don't don't talk like that replace rotten speech with right speech notice what kind of speech that is verse 29 it's helpful only what is helpful now how do you know something's helpful to someone well Paul gives three tests and these are three questions we ought to ask ourselves whenever we open our mouths first of all I can tell if something's helpful to someone if it builds them up so ask myself does this build up the other person you see what he says there in verse 29 only what is helpful for building others up is this constructive is it encouraging is it up lifting to them I mean even if you need to rebuke someone you can do it in the kind of spirit that is encouraging and uplifting to them not that just drives them down into the floor so it is it is it up building does it build that person up second question we ought to always ask about what we say is is it appropriate he says it this way in verse 29 only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs is what I'm saying does it meet the need of another person does it fit what that person really needs now that takes sometimes a little thought little little thinking about where is this person coming from I know what they said and I know what I'd like to say back but is that what they really need do they need to be challenged about their spirit do they need to be encouraged about something that's going wrong in their life do they need to be rebuke but if so in a gracious way what do they really need and what I'm going to say back needs to be in line with what that person needs not designed to harm them not designed to discourage them but designed to build them up and what they need the third question is is it gracious is it gracious only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen the word for benefit is the word in the New Testament for grace is what I'm saying gracious does it cut does it criticize or does it give them the benefit of the doubt does it does it jump on their weakness or does it back off and and allow space and try to change the conversation to something that is better does it jump on does it condemn someone for their fault or does it express love and care and concern to help that person overcome that fault is it gracious good tests for our speech as to whether or not our speech really shows the kind of change in our lives that Jesus wants there to be change in our speech but then he also talks about change in our attitude by the way verse 30 grieving the Holy Spirit that's the reason why we ought to change our speech the passage is laid out where Paul gives a command and then he always gives a reason for it you can point that out in each of these five areas the way the passage is laid out verse 30 is the reason why we're to change our speech why are we to change our speech because if we don't we cause pain to the Holy Spirit we grieve the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is God's Mark of ownership on us a Mark of ownership shows that where he is where his possession we ought to be different in our lifestyle and the one who has marked us out as God's own possession we're going to grieve him by the way we talked to others come on let's get with the program Paul would say change in speech but notice the change in attitudes look at verse 31 and the old attitudes that we need to put off he says get rid of all bitterness bitterness is that smoldering resentment that brooding grudge filled attitude that's just looking for the opportunity to get back at that other person it makes you sour it it it creates a desire for vengeance in your heart and life Paul says get rid of that get rid of bitterness then notice he also says get rid of rage that's that uncontrolled anger explosive anger like a shotgun just blasts away regardless of the harm it causes Paul says get rid of that and then notice the next one is anger same word he used back in verse 26 get rid of it he's already told us how to get rid of it deal with it before the day is up anger get rid of that it's the internal smoldering deep feelings of anger and then brawling you say well I don't have a problem with that I don't I don't bar hop and get in fights and stuff like that well it's it's not the idea here brawling is really literally a word that means to shout a brawler is a person who shouts others down a brawler is a person who wins arguments by just talking louder than the other person a brawler is a person who enforces his will on others by not listening but just by pushing as loud as need be his or her own point that's a brawler and the Bible says get rid of that and then get rid of slander slander is an ongoing attack on another person's character out of bitterness that you hold toward them that's slander get rid of that Paul says and then get rid of malice that's a general term for evil kind of covers all the rest of them get rid of all that evil stuff Paul is saying put that away now here's here's the new attitude you need to put on verse 31 get rid of all bitterness but verse 32 here's the new ones be kind gracious merciful generous be kind be compassionate he says to one another having a heart of empathy that reaches out to others loves them have that and then forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you forgiving each other while there's a lot to be said about forgiveness that's a message in itself but just remember the Bible requires that we forgive others as God has forgiven us that means graciously that means we do not allow resentment and bitterness to build up to where we are not going to speak to that person again all how many Christians have not spoken for years to their neighbor to a fellow Christian to a family member that's sin my friend that's just sin it's disobedience to God's word the Bible says forgive as God has forgiven you now I realize that forgiveness does not exclude justice God's forgiveness includes justice our sin is paid for paid for by Christ but forgive as God has forgiven you one young man stubborn hard-nosed got an in argument with his father pointed his finger at his father's face and said you will never see me again got his stuff together and walked out the door and his family never heard from him for 15 years didn't know where he was didn't know what had happened to him and one day after 15 years they got a letter the letter was from this son and said mom dad a lot of things have happened in my life a lot of things have changed I've had a lot of time to think and I realized how wrong I was could you find it in your heart to forgive me I'd like to come back home this is years ago and he said I'll I'll be I'll be taking the train on such and such a day and you know when the train comes by our house just before it pulls into the station in town he said mom and dad if you could find it in your heart to forgive me would you tie a white rag out on the old oak tree out in front of the house so he got on the train he was kind of nervous about what would happen and he had told them if I see the white flag I'll get off at the train station if I don't I'll just keep riding he sat down beside a pastor found out in conversation the guy was a pastor and he told the pastor his story and the closer they got to where he grew up he just was so nervous he could hardly bear to look and he said sir if it's okay I'm just going to close my eyes and and he described the house to him and all he said when we go by my house just before we get to this town would you tell me whether or not there's a white rag on the old oak tree out front so he closed his eyes and a few minutes later the pastor nudged him in the side and excitedly said look look you've got to open your eyes you got to look in the open his eyes yes every tree in the yard was covered with white rags every window in the house had a white rag on it all along the fence in front were tied white rags forgiveness was full you're willing to forgive Paul says lay aside all the bitterness anger laid aside forgive as God has forgiven you now I would like to suggest this afternoon when you go home I would like to suggest a test a spiritual exercise for you this will be the invitation this morning by the way I'd like to suggest that you go home and you take these five areas of life there could be others that Paul could have addressed but these five he chose to under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit take these five areas and just ask yourself a question do a self-examination how am I doing in my life when it comes to honesty how am I doing in my life when it comes to my emotions what about my work habits what about my speech how am I doing in my life in regard to these kinds of attitudes how much of the old life am I still displaying in these areas how much of the new life am I really living out that Christ has made me for now don't be like two people who went out the early service and said I'm going to go home and give that test in my husband well if you do that then let them give it back to you okay be serious about that examine what about the change what about are you really a new creature are you living it out let's pray together father thank you for the change that you brought about in our lives through Jesus Christ and I pray father you would help us to really live out the new life we have in him we ask in Jesus name amen