In Ephesians 4-6 there are 40 commands. Last time we considered the very first command in verse 25 - to put off lying. This morning we consider the second: Be angry and sin not. Have you ever seen someone angry? When have you ever watched an angry person lose it and you say to yourself, “that reminds me of Jesus?” Anger is usually sinfully ugly. But Paul admonishes us to “be angry” but don’t sin. How is that even possible? Let’s let God’s Word answer that for us in these 2 verses.

Paul is going to tell us, from chapter 4, verse 17, to the end of this book, how to get rid of that old coat and how to accommodate new clothes for the new man. We have learned what the new man is in the first three chapters.  Now we’re going to learn how the new man lives in the last three. He talked about the new nature and all treasures that are ours in chapters 1 to 3, and now, Pual is going to teach us to put on the new man and put off smelly, external, old man. Ephesians 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk.

In verses 7-10 Paul challenges us to recognize that we are all gifted to serve the church and to remember what it cost Jesus to make those gifts available to us. One of God’s gifts to the church is leadership. In verses 11-16, Paul describes the leadership gifts and then expounds upon the purpose and plan for church leadership.