Sin is anger that has now gone out of control. Dr. Tony Evans warns that unchecked emotions are never neutral and the enemy is always ready to exploit them. Whenever he sees that your emotions have the potential to lose control, Paul says that becomes the devil's opportunity to inflame them into something bigger. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr.
Tony Evans. Most of us can absorb a fair amount of hurt aimed at ourselves. But when our children are affected, our perspective shifts. Today, Dr. Evans helps us see why God feels the same protective concern for his family, the church, and how that truth should shape the way we live and serve together.
Let's join him as he begins. When you and I were saved. God placed us spiritually. In a new environment, it was like moving your home from Las Vegas to Jerusalem. It's a totally new environment.
Paul in Ephesians chapter 4. Says in verse 22, in reference to your former manner of life, lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit. That you may be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on your new self, which is in the likeness of God and has been raised in righteousness and holiness. of the truth. He says the first thing you're going to have to do is change clothes.
He says, Take off your old clothes. They do not fit with your new cleansing. Don't go back. to the worldview you had before Christ. Because if you go back there, you are.
Counteracting. the cleansing that has taken place by the blood. He says, you ought to put on a new way of thinking. By the renewing of the mind. What are the old clothes?
It's the old way of thinking.
So when he talks about getting dressed. He's talking about thinking differently. This leads him into verses 25 through 32, where he gives five things. that are necessary. for authentic community to take place.
Number one. Verse 25. Therefore, laying aside falsehood. Speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.
So you see, he's talking about the church, members of one another. One another refers to the connectedness. Of believer to believer. And he says: the first thing that must happen if authentic community is going to take the place. is that you gotta stop lying to each other.
You've got to stop putting on the facade, putting on the show. And you've got to. Speak truth. Yeah. He's dealing with something very critical here because the reason community does not take place.
is we don't want to tell each other the truth. He brings out the spiritual nature of this. Notice in verse 27: don't give room for the devil. Verse 30, don't grieve the Holy Spirit.
So He's saying this thing of truth. is a spiritual issue. It will either engage The work of the devil who is the father of lies. Or the work of the spirit. He's the spirit of truth.
So, this is a spiritual issue. We are hesitant. to admit our faults. Our failures. and our weaknesses.
We are quick to say things are all right. when they're not all right. He says the first thing that authentic community must do. is lay aside falsehood pretense. Which leads him to the second thing.
Maintain emotional self-control. Be angry. And yet do not sin. Do not let the sun Go down. on your anger and do not give the devil an opportunity.
Please notice he does not call emotional response sin. He says, be angry, but don't sin, which means it's possible to get angry and not sin. People regularly tell me I can't help the way I feel. That may be absolutely true. If somebody ticks you off.
You ticked off. Yeah. That's just the reality. If somebody makes you mad, if somebody has hurt you, and that's what you feel, that's what you feel. And that's not a sin.
to feel that. to have emotional responses to injustice. Unfairness in the community of faith is a reality. But God says there is a line there that you cross. and join forces with the devil.
When how you feel causes you to respond. in a way that you should not. Please note the difference. How you feel is one thing. And if it's a legitimate feeling.
Minutes How you feel? Sin is anger. That has now gone out of control. To put it another way, it's anger that's now controlling you. Not anger that you're controlling.
You see it in temper tantrums. And children are not the only ones who have them. You see, the devil wants to put a fire under your legitimate anger. John Doe has offended you. John Doe was wrong.
You are legitimately angry. What Satan wants to do. Is take that opportunity, which says that emotional instability creates devilish opportunities. Whenever he sees that your emotions have the potential to lose control. Paul says that becomes the devil's opportunity to inflame them into something bigger.
Yeah. You ever notice at home? That you're not speaking to each other for a week over something that should have taken a minute to fix. I mean I know a church that's split. Over whether they were gonna serve ham or turkey.
After church picnic. The church split and another church Came out of it, and you always know it's another church. You can look at the title, it's the greater St. James.
Now, if you would ask them, they would tell you they didn't split over turkey versus ham. No, that's where it started. But then it got flamed. And it began to burn. It goes on and on and on and on, but it got started with anger over a piece of meat.
Now, here's the problem. You thought the problem was the other person. Nobody saw the devil lightning a fire. He was lighting a fire. And now the house is burned down by something that started as a match.
As he stays in the background. Enjoying the burning a carry. Anger is sinful. when it plans to hurt. Anger is also sinful.
When it attacks the person. rather than the problem. Because usually we get angry over a problem.
Now, the problem may have come from a person, but it was the problem that the person created that causes the anger. That means the problem needs to be addressed. Man said. My wife and I promised. That we would never go to bed angry.
We haven't slept in seven years. He makes a statement that has confused many people. Do not let the sun. Go down. On your anger.
Many suns have gone down. on many of our anger. much about anger.
Some of us have been angry for years. We're filling counseling rooms. with unresolved anger. You say, but I can't control. How I feel.
It may take time to get over the thing that made me mad.
So how can I guarantee that By tonight, let's say I got angry at 11. It's midnight now. I got an hour to get over this. No matter what anger you are dealing with. That thing that made you angry, and that is the producing.
See, what God is after here is keeping the anger from getting to the sin stage. That's what he's after. He's not just talking about the emotion. You can't miss the point, and don't let that go over the sin. What he's saying is, deal with the anger so that it is kept out of the sin category.
That's his point. In other words, at least get enough handle on it. that by the time the sun goes down, you're controlling it. It's not controlling you. Which may mean some spiritual assistance that you may need to get.
Authentic community is the community of truth. If I've hurt you, if you've hurt me. And sometimes, in those communications and in those discussions. Clarity. Mistakes, misunderstandings.
can be corrected and addressed. Dr. Evans will return in a moment to show how authentic community does much more than just heal relationships. Stay with us. My father was 90 when he passed, and I had to walk with him through that aging process, having trouble walking, using a walker, that whole process.
The Unbound Podcast, hosted by Dr. Tony Evans, explores deep topics to help you feel more centered in your faith. And a lot of children are dealing with aging parents.
So the question becomes: how do we walk with them? Find guidance for difficult times. Listen to the Unbound podcast. The new Unbound Podcast with Tony Evans. Available now on all major podcast platforms.
Well, as we've been learning today, real community doesn't happen by accident. It's built on truth, grace, and love. If you want help cultivating those qualities in your home, church, or relationships, you can get clear biblical guidance from Dr. Evans' current message series, Love Will Overcome. This eighth-lesson collection addresses the root causes of division.
and shows how God's love brings healing and restoration. For a limited time, when you make a donation to the ministry, We'll send you the full audio series along with an added bonus of Tony's popular devotional book, Stronger Together, Weaker Apart. It's a powerful resource leading you into focused prayers that can help you navigate difficult conflicts and misunderstandings. Get the details today at tonyevans.org. or call 1-800-800-3222.
or a friendly team member is ready to assist with your request. I'll repeat that information after the second half of today's message. Here's Dr. Evans again in Ephesians chapter 4. Verse 28.
The third thing, let him who steals steal no longer. But rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need. He's now dealing with theft. In the church. Because he's talking about members of one another.
Stealing. Stealing is taking as your own. What belongs to somebody else. Theft. Theft occurs because You have something that I want.
Yeah. And without your permission. I get it. Stealing can take all shapes and all sizes, but what he's talking about is Christians ripping each other off. He says instead of stealing You ought to be, here it is, producing.
The best worker, the hardest worker, the most productive worker ought to always be the Christian. You say, why? Because Colossians says it is the Lord Christ whom you serve. That way, whatever job you do, you are to do it to the glory of God.
So the question is fundamentally not even what my boss man thinks about my work. It is what does God feel about my eight hours today? Was he satisfied with my commitment? my use of time and my productivity. Because believe me, if you do it for God.
The boss will be happy. The Bible says Satan is a thief. He likes to rip people off. That's why God has called every saint into service.
So that no one is burdened by the load of ministry, but that it is spread out and shared, so that everybody takes a piece of it and gives it the best that they can. Oh, here he comes to a doozy now. in building authentic community. Verse 29. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth.
But only such a word as is good for the edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed to the day of redemption. If you're going to build authentic community, You got to build up, not tear down. That's what the word edification means. It means to build up. based on the situation, the need of the moment.
Deal with it in such a way that it is clear you are seeking to help, not hurt.
Now, how do you do that? How do you do that? Because most of us are satisfied simply to give them a piece of my mind. You listen to the way that some husbands and wives talk to each other and about each other. Everybody in a relationship is going to have times of being angry.
If you have not ever been angry with your mate, it's because y'all are married. You can't have folk living in the same house year after year. Nobody ever gets upset. That happened. Instead of letting unwholesome words.
Come out of your mouth.
Now, I know nobody's perfect, and I know you may have moments where you do better at this than other moments, but what should be normal? What should be normal? Is that no unwholesome word? The truth comes out, but no unwholesome word. You say, How do I move from unwholesome speech?
Talk edifying speech. but still tell the truth. Two things. Colossians 4 says, season your words with salt. Put some flavor on them.
When we say Somebody's got soul. You know? They're soulful. That is an expression. Oh.
That which is bland having been seasoned. They're soulful in their dance. They got seasoning in their moves. They're soulful in their speech. You know, they're able to say it in such a way that it has a spin on it.
It's got some season, got some flavor. Put a little Tabasco on it. He says, season your words with salt. You can say Well, this is how I feel, and I'm going to speak my mind, and that be basic. Or you can add a little salt.
Give a little seasoning. Make it as tasty as possible. Second thing. Offer a solution to the problem you're correcting. Don't simply tell me what I did wrong.
But tell me what I did wrong. But offer me something to make it better. Because if you offer me something to make it better. Then what you have done Is you have offered to assist me. That's building up.
It's not lying. It's that you did this. This hurt me. This offended me.
However, This is what needs to get done to fix this. Because now I have something to measure to get it right. To only tell me what I did wrong every time you see me. It's like God telling me every time he sees me. how I've offended him, which is regular.
But he tells me what to do about it. If you confess your sins, I'm faithful and just to forgive you your sins, and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He tells me what to do about it. Finally. He says.
Seek peace. Verse 31 and 32. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you. Along with all malice. You put all those words together.
Stop fighting. Stop it. You got to build an authentic community. Everything can't be a fight. Instead, verse 32.
Be kind to one another.
Soft-hearted. Forgiving each other. Just as God in Christ. has forgiven you. To forgive is to cancel a debt.
If you're angry at somebody today, specifically another believer, because he's talking about the family of God, authentic community. The Bible says, leave your gift at the altar. And go to that brother or sister and say, I'm a little hurt, and I need to talk to you. Little offended. Work it through.
And then cancel the debt. To cancel the debt means I will no longer credit this crime to your account. Many of us today are living in unforgiveness. You say, but I can't forget what they did to me. All right, let's deal with that.
God hasn't forgotten what you did to him. Or else he wouldn't be omniscient. No, forgetting in the Bible doesn't mean you don't recall. Forgetting it in the Bible means when I recall it, I still don't bill you for it. Yeah.
What What would you feel like if somebody told you, if the people you owe MasterCard, says, we have canceled your debt, but every month they keep sending a bill? That means They haven't canceled your debt. Yeah, did I remember I bought it? Yeah. But they can't be giving me a bill every month for it reminding me I owe.
A lady told me. It's about her. Husband Eve, you said. He ought to be spending every day. for the rest of his life.
trying to get me to forgive him. I told her that's a bill that can never be paid. I said, how about this? He should spend every day for the rest of his life thanking you for your forgiveness.
Now he's responding in gratitude. He's not reacting. to the bill you keep sending. People have different backgrounds, different personalities, the Jews and the Gentiles. That was going to be a struggle.
And Selma. He got all that history, all that pain. It's the nature. of being a human. We shared earlier on in closing that God said.
How you relate to his family is how he will relate to you. Right? Yeah. When you go and you take your credit card. Or you take your debit card, you put it in, right?
You want some cash. They simply say Put in your PIN number. If you don't have a PIN number. Oh, you don't remember your PIN number. That bank not gonna help you.
You're not gonna get any cash. Because having a car is not enough. You got to have the number, the pin number. To get your cash. I know you've been saved, so you got a redemption card.
That redemption card means. God has put something on deposit for you. But when you go to God to get what he has for you. You need a PIN number. That's your personal intimacy number.
God wants to see how you're relating to his family. Because how you relate to his family. It's how he will relate to you. Dr. Tony Evans, with a powerful reminder to extend the same forgiveness, gratitude, and grace God has shown us.
Now, if today's lesson challenged you to think differently about relationships and community, Don't let that momentum fade. Tony's Love Will Overcome resource package gives you all eight messages from this series, along with the powerful devotional book Stronger Together, Weaker Apart. Followers of Christ can be part of an authentic community that leads the way to racial reconciliation. healing the deep divides that perpetuate injustice and lead to the kind of violence we've often seen around the nation. The Love Will Overcome Resource Package is our way of saying thank you for your support of the alternative.
Visit tonyevans.org to request yours or call 1-800-800-3222 to speak with a team member ready to help with your request. That's 1-800-800-3222. or online at tonyevans.org. It seems no matter how much we talk about the value of diversity, Our differences still separate us, whether they be economic, cultural, political, or racial. Tomorrow, Dr.
Evans explores the power of the unified church. Be sure to join us.
