Dead men don't jump

 I am beginning a new series of messages this morning. For the next several weeks, I want to talk to you about Ephesians 4:22-32. The passage has much to say to those who desire to grow in the Lord. Paul begins by noting in verses 22-23, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

 I know that you know the difference between putting something ON and putting something OFF -- RIGHT?

Nonetheless, I looked up the term translated "PUT OFF" in the Greek and I found that the original meaning of the word is... (Are you really ready for this?) "To put off or away; that which one gives up, renounces."

 (Take coat off) This is a test, only a test....  Am I taking off my coat or putting it on?  (Put coat back on)  Now, again, on or off?  Simple, isn't it? As Christians we are to know the difference between putting on something and taking off something.

 The KJV then tells us that which we put off or give up is our “former conversation...”  That simply means we put off or away our old "MANNER OF LIFE, BEHAVIOR, CONDUCT."

 This is seen in BAPTISM.  The old life is buried, as seen in the dunking under the water, and a new life is given birth, as seen in the coming up out of the water. Paul also uses THE CROSS to illustrate this principle. The old life is crucified and a new resurrected life is now lived out. Romans 6:6 thus states, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”

 Truly, when one comes to Jesus, old things pass away, and a new life begins!

THEN IN EPHESIANS 4:25 Paul BEGINS TO LIST SOME THINGS THAT WE ARE TO PUT OFF AS CHRISTIANS.  LET'S NOTICE THEM ONE-BY-ONE. 

 1.         “THEREFORE EACH OF YOU MUST PUT OFF FALSEHOOD....”

I enjoy telling the story of the fake blind man. The gentleman with dark glasses and his little tin cup was stand­ing on the street corner patiently wait­ing for some small contribu­tion. A fellow soon passed by and generously dropped some money in the poor fellow's cup. Then for some reason he turned around and to his sur­prise he saw the blind man's glasses pushed up on his forehead and his eager eyes closely examining the recent gift. When the fake blind man was then questioned about his ability to see, he noted that the real blind man was sick that day, that he was merely filling in for him.

 The fake blind man was not alone. One recent survey indicates that 91% of the American people lie regularly.

 Dr. Charles Ford, author of Lies! Lies!! Lies!!!, says that the average Joe lies seven times an hour -- if you count all the times people lie to themselves. Dr. Ford is a psychiatrist and professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

 One person, when questioned, explained, "Lying is a way of gaining power over other people through manipulating them in various ways. It's something that everybody does."

 As a rule:

·         men lie more than women,

·         young men lie more than older men,

·         and unemployed people lie more than those with jobs.

 Who do people lie to?

·         86% lie to parents,

·         75% to friends,

·         73% to siblings,

·         69% to spouses,

·         58% to best friends,

·         49% to neighbors,

·         32% to doctors,

·         21% to ministers, and

·         20% to lawyers.

I have had a number of people in my office over the years that have lied to me, and I KNEW that they were lying! The hard part is not their lying, though. It was their thinking that I am dumb enough to believe them that really bothers me!

 Americans lie about everything -- and usually for no good reason. In fact, the majority of Americans today (two in every three) believe that there is nothing wrong with telling a lie.  Only 31% of us believe that honesty is the best policy. In fact, Business News magazine reported recently, "People feel like suckers if they're honest."

 God hates lying

The Ninth of the Ten Commandments states in Exodus 20:16 (The Living Bible), “You must not lie.”

Proverbs 6:16-19 (New Century Version) adds, “There are six things the LORD hates. There are seven things he cannot stand: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that kill innocent people, a mind that thinks up evil plans, feet that are quick to do evil, a witness who lies, and someone who starts arguments among families.”

 Why does the Lord hate this sin?

Jesus revealed the source of all lies when He said of the devil: “…there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies”  John 8:44.

 Is it any wonder then that John writes in Revelation 21:8, “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.”

 The Psalmist David therefore pleaded to be free from lying. He writes, “Save me, O LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues” Psalms 120:2. In truth, when one deceives, he or she is the one who is the most deceived!

 As with all sin, when we lie, we align ourselves with the devil. Is it any wonder that Paul tells us to put off deceit; to put off all manner of dishonesty?

 A cow in Greenwood, Maine had a strange accident. She jumped a fence, stumbled on the other side, and fell on her head. Her horns ran under the root of a tree, and thus her head was held down. Her nose was submerged tight in a little pool of water, only an inch or two deep. She was found dead the next day...drowned in a puddle.

 The account obviously has a spiritual application. Sometimes people look at lying as a small matter. No big deal. “After all, I didn’t rob a bank.” Nonetheless, lying is wrong; lying is a sin. The Bible condemns it. To practice lying therefore is a serious and dangerous offense. Paul therefore says, put it off!

Next, Paul tells us to PUT OFF ANGER

Ephesians 4:26-27 now states, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still an­gry, and do not give the devil a foot­hold.”

 Charles Swindoll, in his excellent book entitled Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back, notes that there are several phases of anger.  Lets look at them briefly:

 1.  IRRITATION. 

Anger usually begins at this point. This is nothing more than an innocent experience of being upset. This is again a mild feeling of discomfort brought on by someone or something. The child spills his or her milk at the breakfast table.  Really, it is no biggie.  Anger can easily be whipped at this point.

 2.  INDIGNATION. 

This is a feeling that a wrong should be answered. 

 Max Lucado’s latest book, He Chose the Nails contains this account from the author’s life: I was driving on a two-lane road that was about to become a single lane. A woman in a car beside me was in the lane that continued. I was in the one that stopped. I needed to be ahead of her. My schedule was, no doubt, more important than hers. After all, am I not a man of the cloth? Am I not a courier of compassion! An ambassador of peace? So I floored it.

Guess what? She did, too. When my lane ended, she was a fender ahead of me. I growled and slowed and let her go ahead. Over her shoulder she gave me a sweet little bye-bye wave.

I started to dim my headlights. Then I paused. The sinister part Of me said, "Wait a minute." Am I not called to shed light on dark places? Illuminate the shadows? So I put a little high beam in her rearview mirror.

She retaliated by slowing down. To a crawl. This woman was mean. She couldn't have cared less if the whole city of San Antonio was late; she wasn't going to go beyond fifteen miles per hour. And I wasn't going to take my lights out of her rearview mirror. Like two stubborn donkeys, she kept it slow and I kept it bright. After more unkind thoughts than I dare confess, the road widened and I started to pass. Wouldn't you know it? A red light left the two of us side by side at an intersection. What happened next contains both good news and bad. The good news is, she waved at me. The bad news is, her wave was not one you'd want to imitate.

 Do you relate? The writer was indignant.

3.  WRATH. 

If fed, indignation leads to wrath. This is a feeling that demands expression!  Revenge is no longer an option; it is now absolutely necessary! “An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth!”

 4.  FURY. 

Anger is now very difficult to supervise.  Violence is quite likely.  Think of an old western movie where a mob in a frenzy is about to hang someone. The people are furious.

 5.  RAGE. 

This is the last stage of anger. No longer is the person in control, rather, the anger now controls the person. This is obviously when anger is the most dangerous. 

 How many of you remember “The Incredible Hulk”? Now, he manifested rage!

 Peter Wilkes in the Discipleship Journal gives a list several causes of anger, notice:

1.         INJUSTICE AND HUMILIATION

Any time our rights, real or imagined, are violated we are in danger of exploding with anger.  No one

wants to be put down or dealt with unjustly or unfairly -- no one!

2.         IMITATion.

Anger is infectious. It only takes one member of a household to get angry and before long everyone has caught the disease!

·         Proverbs 22:24-25 states, “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.”

·         Then Proverbs 29:22 adds, “An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins.”

3.         FRUSTRATION.

Let me pause here for a moment, saints. We set ourselves up for frustration. For instance: if there are two lanes at the bank and each contains one car, we will find ourselves guessing--based on the year, make, and model of each car--which one will pull away first. When our hunch is wrong, we get frustrated.

 At a grocery store, if we have a choice between two checkout lines, we find ourselves counting how many people are in each line, multiplying this number by the number of items per cart. Then even after we get in line we keep track of the person who would have been me in the other line. If we get through and the person who would have been me is still waiting, we are elated. We've won. But if the alter-me is walking out of the store and we're still in line, we feel frustrated.

 The car is a great place to get frustrated.  We drive, eat, drink coffee, monitor the radio, shave or apply make-up, talk on the phone, discipline our children and make gestures at other drivers -- all while driving seventy miles an hour down the interstate. And we wonder why thousands of people are killed a year on our nation’s highway. All of this pent up drive and frustration has brought about a new dilemma known as “road rage.”

The point is, we live lives that have the seeds of frustration built into them. This leads to easy anger.

 anger eats at us – or should I say on us.

Medical research has found new evidence linking heart disease and anger.  According to a Associated Press release, a Dr. Redford Williams Jr. and some of his colleagues did a personality study of 118 students in law school. They were graded on their hostility. Twenty-five years later, 20 percent of those who had scored highest at being angry persons had died, compared

with only 5 percent of those who had registered lowest.

I have here an overhead transparency on anger and its

effects on the body.  Notice:

·        The pupils dilate

·        Sugar increases so as to provide the body with more energy

·        The blood pressure goes up

·        The blood clots faster

·        The heart rate increases

·        The adrenaline starts pumping

·        The muscles in the stomach tighten

·        The lungs start to move oxygen to the rest of the body faster

Why?  The body is preparing for war.  It is preparing to hit and

be hit.  It is going  into its self preservation mode. 

 Is it any wonder that the Bible offers, “Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.”  Proverbs 16:32

“Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.”  Proverbs 25:28

As you know, an ancient city was safe as long as the walls were tight, but as in the case of old Jericho, when the walls went down, their enemies quickly and easily overran the place. If you cannot control your spirit, you too are vulnerable to whatever the enemy wants to bring against you---physically, spiritually or emotionally!

Thus, again, we are encouraged NOT TO REPRESS OUR ANGER, BUT RATHER TO PUT IT OFF.

·         Paul, in Colossians 3:8, commands, “But now you must rid your-selves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips.”

·         Furthermore, he adds in Ephesians 4:31, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”

 One cannot put off anger as long as he or she:

·         Nurses it.  (Plays the events over and over in his mind.)

·         Tells it.

·         Plans on ways and means to get even; to get revenge.

 What then is the answer to anger?

1.         Put the flesh to death.

Lets now look at Colossians 3:3-8, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips.”

As you can see, I have a real tombstone. Pastor Matt has agreed to lay here -- as if he were dead -- with the stone at his head. Matt, here is a flower.  Please hold it, if you don't mind. Be perfectly still -- don't move -- regardless of what I do or say. Dead men don't jump!

o        How many of you are aware of the fact that when Matt was born, his parents claimed that he had been switched at birth? That's right. The doctors had to do a blood test before the parents would finally claim him.

o        Yes, he was so ugly when he was born, the doctors had an argument about which end they were suppose to slap!

o        His doctor recently told him that he had to get more exercise, for obvious reasons. Now he has switched from watching golf on television to watching tennis. 

Thank you Matt, you may return to your seat. Thanks for being a good sport.

 What is the point?  The reason we react in anger to the fellow that cuts in front of us in traffic, the reason we react to insult or injury, the reason we respond to anyone in an angry or negative way is due to the fact that the flesh still alive and well!

 The reason Pastor Matt didn't react to all of the mean and ugly things that I said to him was that he was dead. The flesh, therefore, could no longer retaliate!  

·         I can almost hear someone say, “But pastor, I have my rights.” Dead men don’t care about rights.

·         “But that is not fair!” Dead men aren’t worried about whether or not something is fair.

 Paul the Apostle declares that we are to be dead to immorality and impurity, greed and evil desires, and yes, dead even to anger!

 Galatians 5:19-21 notes, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

I hope you noticed the company that anger finds itself in this passage.  I also hope you heard the dreadful end of those who are given to unbridled anger.

 Oftentimes, when we look at this list, we think of some acts of the flesh as being worse than others. For instance:

·         Someone might say, "I'd never dabble in witchcraft or sorcery -- but would you sow discord or maybe be jealous?

·         You say that you would never be immoral -- but the list also includes hatred, envy, dissensions and fits of rage. 

Hear me, none of these works are any less a manifestation of the flesh than the others.  Flesh is flesh regardless of how you cut it! It all comes from the same root and God has already cursed the whole tree!

2.  ACCEPT THE REALITY OF ANGER

The New English Bible translates Ephesians 4:26-27, “If you are angry, do not let anger lead you into sin; do not let sunset find you still nursing it; leave no loop hole for the devil.” 

God allows for anger. The “anger of the Lord” is mentioned no less than 18 times in the Word of God. Sometimes anger is a proper response to a wrong---remember Jesus cleansing the temple?

 However, anger has two limitations:

·         IT MUST NOT LEAD TO SOME WRONG OR SINFUL ACTION,

·         IT MUST RUN ITS COURSE BY THE END OF THE DAY.

Anything beyond those two limits gives Satan an opportunity to operate in our lives!

 3.         TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE ACTUALLY ANGRY ABOUT.

Sadly, many of the angry people that I have to deal with are only dealing with the symptoms. They rarely admit to what is really bugging them. They fail to deal with the root issue or issues.

If you are angry over an extended period of time, if you are angry and can't seem to get a handle on it, then you may need to take a trip to the altar. Let God show you what the underlying source of anger is. Confess it and deal with it. You may also need to talk the issue over with some trusted friend or counselor.

4.  LEARN TO RESPOND TO YOUR ANGER IN CONSTRUCTIVE RATHER THAN DESTRUCTIVE WAYS.

·         Pray. 

·         Sing. 

·         Work in the garden. 

·         Work out on some exercise equipment.

·         Go swimming.

In other words, try to burn off the anger constructively.

This allows for time to cool down.  It also, again, gives you an opportunity to think clearly about why you are angry.

5.  DON'T RESPOND IN ANGER EVEN IF OTHERS RESPOND TO YOU IN ANGER.

·         Remember the Scripture from Proverbs 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

·         Likewise, Proverbs 29:11 notes, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.”

I want you to think of anger as being like unto a raging fire. OK? As a Christian, which are you to be most like, water or gasoline? Water, as you know, will help put out the fire while gasoline will only intensify the problem. Proverbs 15:18 states, “A hot-tempered man (GAS) stirs up dissension, but a patient man (WATER) calms a quarrel.”

Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount, taught that if we are slapped on one cheek, we are to turn and let the person then slap us on the other cheek. Why? Turning the other cheek breaks the cycle of anger, violence, put downs. It stops it cold!

Dead men don't slap back!  If you are truly dead to the flesh, then you can do as Jesus commanded; if you aren't, you can't. The point is really rather simple.

Isaiah 53:7-9 says of our Lord, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”   

Jesus left us a blessed example of how we are to respond to insult and injury --therefore, do not do as the world does; do as Jesus did!

Again Proverbs say, “A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offence.”

6.  CULTIVATE THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IN YOUR LIFE.

After Paul lists the works or manifestations of the flesh in Galatians 5:19, he lists the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

The point is simple,

·         You can't love and at the same time hate.

·         You can't have joy and at the same time be angry.

·         You can't have peace and at the same time be depressed.

·         You can't be patient and at the same time be anxious.

·         You can't be kind and at the same time be mean.

·         You can't be good and at the same time be bad.

·         You can't be faithful and at the same time be disloyal.

·         You can't be gentle and at the same time be cruel.

·         You can't be self-controlled and at the same time be impulsive. 

The next time the old man wants to react, remember, DEAD MEN CAN'T JUMP!

If it jumps, it is not dead!

If it lies, it is not dead!

If it reacts in willful anger, it is not dead.

Put off such things! Put on Jesus Christ!