Easy to Understand, Hard to Do

In one paragraph

This message worked through Ephesians 4:25 through 5:2, a passage Pastor Ray said is easy to understand and hard to do. He traced Paul's rapid-fire sequence of commands, each built on the pattern of a negative command, a positive command, and a rationale underneath. The whole thing rested on what he had laid out in previous weeks from the first three chapters of Ephesians, without which, he said,...

Read together

1. Ephesians 4:25-32 the main passage preached through, covering truth-telling, anger, stealing, corrupt talk, and grieving the Holy Spirit
2. Ephesians 4:17-19 the Gentiles walking in futility, darkened understanding, alienated from the life of God
3. Ephesians 4:20-24 putting off the old self and putting on the new self created after the likeness of God
4. Ephesians 5:1-2 be imitators of God as beloved children, walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us
5. Psalm 23 Stacy quoted it as a verse she holds dear, beginning with the Lord is my shepherd
6. Psalm 4:4 cited as the source of the command in your anger do not sin, though the speaker noted uncertainty about the exact reference
7. Romans 5:8 while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, used to illustrate how God forgave us
8. James 3:3-8 the tongue is a fire, no one can tame it, with it we bless God and curse people made in his likeness
9. Luke (unspecified verse) out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks, cited alongside a Jeremiah reference in a seminary professor's lesson on communication
10. Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is deceitful above all else, cited to show that communication problems in marriage run deeper than technique
11. 1 Corinthians 4:14-17 Paul urges the Corinthians to be imitators of him as their father in the gospel, and sends Timothy as his emissary
12. 1 Corinthians 11 (partial) be imitators of me just as I am imitating Christ
13. 1 Thessalonians 1:6 the Thessalonians became imitators of Paul and of the Lord, receiving the word with joy during great affliction
14. 1 Thessalonians 2:14 the Thessalonians became imitators of the churches in Judea, enduring suffering from their own countrymen
15. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 encourage one another and build each other up, used as the closing benediction in recent weeks on unity
16. Hebrews 6:9-12 beloved, be imitators of those who through faith and endurance inherit the promises, an encouragement to persevere

Talk about it

1. Stacy described Jesus as her rock, redeemer, deliverer, strength, and fortress through some very dark valleys. Where have you seen God show up in a season you did not think you could survive, and how did that shape the way you talk about Him to others?
2. Pastor Ray said that if you do not have the first three chapters of Ephesians, what follows in chapter four is just behavior modification that ultimately does not work. What is the difference, in your own experience, between trying to change your behavior on your own and change that comes from what God has already done for you?
3. He described anger as something everyone will feel, but said we can steep it like a tea bag until we become a time bomb waiting to go off. What habits or inputs in your life tend to feed that kind of anger rather than help it settle?
4. Ray said that over ninety percent of couples who come in for marriage counseling say communication is the issue, but he traced the real problem back to Luke and Jeremiah: out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks, and the heart is deceitful above all else. What does that diagnosis change about how you would approach a communication problem in any close relationship?
5. The closing charge was to be imitators of God as beloved children, and Ray said you begin to imitate someone by spending time with them. Who in your life has modeled a walk with Christ that you find attractive, and what would it look like to saddle up next to that person?