In his commentary on these verses, Dr. W.A. Criswell called them, “The sweetest verses in the Bible.” I think he is right!

Ephesians 4:29-32

“Let 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. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

There are a few things that are certain in this world:

One is that when God is really blessing His people Satan is always looking for a foothold to cause problems.

Another is that many times really good people get caught up in doing things that they ought not do which can cause hurt among people and hinder the work of God among them.

At our beloved Church, both of these things are true!

God is richly blessing our Church! In many areas, we see HIS manifest blessings. It seems that especially in our Children’s Ministries God’s Hand of blessing is clearly seen as HE moves among us to bless us and to bring many to Christ and to HIS Church.

How we ought to thank God continually for HIS blessings on the Children’s Ministries of our Church.

Also, we have just witnessed HIS blessing on our “Super Woman” Conference! HE richly blessed those who lead, those who served, and those who attended this great Conference.

Lots and lots of blessings are being seen. Of course, since we allow human beings to be part of our Church, from time to time we make typical human mistakes! Misunderstanding and miscommunication are among the most common of these mistakes, and some are indeed happening.

Some of us have said things we probably should not have said… some have done things we probably should not have done… some have taken things wrongly that have been said and done… and on and on it goes.

The issue is not to say “who said what?” or, “who did what?” The issue is, “How do we get back to the Holy Spirit-filled life that we have lived and need to live every day?”

As I labor to be a good Pastor to you, one of the things I can do is to find and present biblical answers to that very question: “How do we get back to the Holy Spirit-filled life that we have lived, and that we need to live every day?”

How do we do that? We do that by following the teachings of Scripture!

As the Lord allows, I will set aside our study of Genesis 1 – 11 for this coming week and address the subject of being reconciled to one another in the context of being Christian people in the Lord’s Church.

First, we need to understand the full implications of these verses in Ephesians being the divinely inspired words of the Apostle Paul. Since Paul is an Apostle of Jesus Christ, his words bear Apostolic authority!

Second, we need to think about what it means to us personally that we are called to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”  We are called to bear the name and reputation of Jesus Christ before the world. It is vitally important that we work hard to minimize our offenses against one another and that we maximize our Christ-like living.

Thirdly, according to these verses, God requires five specific things of us if we are going to be reconciled with those whom we have offended and those who have offended us. These include, “humility; gentleness; patience; bearing with one another”  and, an eagerness to, “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Fourthly, these things go against our human nature! (As do so many things we are commanded to do as Christ-followers.) It seems that most of what God calls us to do keep us swimming upstream against the current of our natural inclinations.

Fifthly, we must acknowledge that this kind of reconciliation and unity can only be achieved if and when we obey God’s Word!

In order to obey these verses, we must understand the POWER of our words. Words have the power to hurt or to heal; to discourage or to encourage; to bless or to curse. These verses clearly show us the difference between the results of criticism and blessing by the use of words!

We must also understand that as bad as it is to offend one of our brothers or sisters in Christ, it is much more serious when we consider that we also offend the Holy Spirit of God! One of the terrible things that happen to Christians is that when someone says or does something they should not, we add to the problem by the way in which we respond to what they do.

Every parent on earth knows the heartache of seeing disagreements between their kids. How much more must it grieve the Holy Spirit to see such disagreements between God’s Children?

The key to reconciliation is forgiveness! And, not merely human-like forgiveness; but, Christ-like forgiveness…

We must forgive others the very same way that Christ has forgiven us:

(1) He forgave us in spite of the fact that we caused Him great pain!

(2) He forgave us in spite of the fact that HE did not deserve the pain we caused Him!

(3) He forgave us in spite of the fact that He knows (and will always know) what we did to hurt Him!

(4) He forgave us in spite of the fact that He knows that we will hurt Him again!

(5) He forgave us by allowing His suffering to be the payment for our sins against Him!

So the key to “Unity” is “Reconciliation” and the key to reconciliation is “Forgiveness!”

The way we do this is to live like, love like, and to forgive like Jesus Christ!

A final, but, very important note would be that in any possible scenario, the individual Christian is given the responsibility from God to go to the other person involved and begin the process of reconciliation.

According to Matthew 5:23-24, if I have offended someone, I must go to them first and seek their forgiveness!

“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

And, according to Matthew 18:15, if someone has offended me, I still must go to them first and seek to be reconciled to them!

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”

I hope you will read over these verses and these notes and pray through them as you prepare your heart for the preaching on Sunday! Pray specifically that God will heal all of our hurts and fill all of us with His Holy Spirit for the work that HE has called us to do!

I hope to see you Sunday with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand, and your family and friends by your side!