Sins of the Spirit Series: Part 6 (Bitterness)

Sins of the Spirit Series: Part 6 (Bitterness)

Alright, let's take our Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter 4, and this evening I want to read a couple verses, verses 31 and 32. Tonight we're going to be in our sixth message on the sins of the Spirit. And this evening I want to look at the sin of bitterness, the sin of bitterness. So in Ephesians chapter 4, let's read there in verses 31 and 32. It's here that we read, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Father, in these moments together, help us to understand and identify the sin of bitterness. If there is any root of bitterness in our own hearts, Lord, may we allow you to identify that and uproot it that it may not grow and the taproot may not go deeper in our souls. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

So far we have seen the sin of gloominess and thankfulness, jealousy, prayerlessness, faithlessness, yielding to temptation, anger, pride, and tonight bitterness. In a way, bitterness is very subtle, I guess we can say, in our spirits at times and it's slow growing. It forms over a process of time, maybe almost imperceptibly. But we see that it tells us tonight, Paul tells us to let all bitterness be put away from us. Let all, of course, there are other things mentioned in this list found in verse 31. But at the very beginning of that list is this sin of bitterness.

If you have cancer in your body, don't you rejoice? Or if you have a loved one, someone you know that you're praying for, don't we rejoice when they're cancer-free? They are free of all cancer. There is no evidence of disease in their body. Well, should it not be the same way the Lord wants to get rid of all bitterness in our lives, all anger, all clamor, all even malice. Let it all be put away from you. And we want cancer to be rooted out. We want cancer to be destroyed. We want cancer to be put away because it's deadly. It robs us of life. It must go. And so it is with bitterness.

The Greek word for bitterness here is pikria. It's the word, speaking, it was actually used to describe plants that were inedible. And sometimes poisonous. They were so bitter if you try to go out and even take an acorn for instance. And you try to eat it, it's got so many tannins in it that it would be just bitter to your taste. Unless you're a squirrel, you know. But if you go, but if you work to soak those acorns for a period of time and change the water and all of that and boil them, then you know, you could get them to a point where they're not bitter because all the tannins would leach out of the acorns. And that's true of a lot of things that have tannins in them. They might be edible at some point but not initially because they're so acidic or they're so bitter.

And we actually, there is something called picric acid, P-I-C-R-I-C, picric acid that was used. It's not really used that much anymore but it used to be used in explosives in our country's history. But it was used in dyes and pigments. It was actually used in old laboratory chemicals. This picric acid. And we get it directly from that word, pikria. This idea of, um, picric acid, well, think about being used in explosives. All of these things are these chemicals. I guess they could be used for good but, uh, not that this is evident in the word itself, the idea there is very much the bitterness but it's interesting that it's used in explosives. Destructive, right? And so we see that, I think I've mentioned this before and in years gone by, but I mentioned, I read it somewhere and I can't remember who said it, but bitterness is like an acid. It will destroy the container that holds it. Bitterness will eat away. Eat away at you on the inside and eventually it will start coming out in a variety of different ways, will come out in your words. It'll come out in your actions, your reactions, bitterness, bitterness is like an acid. And really, literally the word has the idea of something that's like an acid, very bitter in its taste, and it will certainly, it will certainly damage and certainly hurt others as well.

But we're told here to put bitterness away from us. This morning I mentioned that storms the Lord may bring to us, kind of like the sea of life as we are going across the sea of life. We have been given chart and compass from the Lord. We've been given His word. We've been given the Holy Spirit to guide us and yet there are storms of life that come. We wish that it was always smooth sailing. You know this past week we had nothing but beautiful weather really. It got a little hot but it was sunny every day. And in some ways we really would just hope that life would be like that, right? There would not be storms to arise on the sea of life. And yet we're not to despise the chastening of the Lord. We're not to, in fact, we are to count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Well, as we go through the storms of life, we have to remember by faith whether our Lord has told us, we have to remember that His intent is to purge out of us those things that ought not to be in us. In fact, He intends to reveal in our lives, to reveal what is in the container when we get jostled by the storms of life. It is going to come out. Whatever is in there. Is it sweet? Is it bitter? Is it anger? Is it love? Is it, you know, jealousy? What is in the container of our lives, so to speak? What comes out when the storms of life jostle us about? Bitterness is like the Scripture describes it as a root, a root of bitterness. It develops over a process of time.

This year we have planted certain herbs that we hope to start harvesting next year and you harvest them for the root. You can use the leaves, but really what you're after is the root. One of them is not, I think we got maybe one really good one that's growing very well. But we planted a marshmallow plant. No, it's not for s'mores. But a marshmallow plant has a root to it that when you harvest it and you can cut it up and you put it in a drink and drink it and it's very soothing to the stomach. We didn't get enough of it to last us that long, but it's just interesting to see how that works. I've actually bought some marshmallow root before and put it in and it really does work very well. It's natural. But you're going for the root. It takes time. The point is that's a good thing. The marshmallow root is not bitter. It's very good for you. But the root takes time to grow. It doesn't just grow overnight, but it grows and we see that this root of bitterness, the Lord wants to uproot any and all bitterness in our lives.

And when He shows us that there is bitterness in our lives, we need to confess and forsake that thing, don't we? Let it be put away from you. Don't harbor bitterness. Harbor. What's the purpose of a harbor? To protect. It's to protect the boats in that harbor from the storms that are out on the sea. Well, don't harbor, don't protect the root of bitterness in your soul, in your spirit, but let it be healed. Let it be removed. Let the Lord perform surgery and say, I yield up this bitterness and let you take it away from me.

When we get angry in a moment, we talked about the word thumos, the word for anger. You know, reactionary anger against something. Well, we need to let the Lord deal with that. But sometimes when we justify anger, we say, well, I was justified in that. It can grow into the root of bitterness. This is the kind of, we allow it to just go on. We don't deal with the anger. It can turn into kind of like a smoldering fire that's burning on the inside. It is not apparent until that wind comes along and it flares up. The bitterness lashes out like an acid and begins to spew onto others, we might say. We hold grudges and we harbor bitterness. No, that's not what the Word wants. But the individual who harbors bitterness and holds a grudge wants someone else to pay. They want, let it go. They want release. Whatever it is they're holding onto and they feel justified in holding onto that acidic bitterness, that dangerous bitterness.

James talks about this in chapter 5, James chapter 5, verse number 9. He says, well, even if we go back before that, he's told us to be patient unto the coming of the Lord. Stablish your hearts, right? He's talked about the injustices of those who are rich in this world. Those who have mistreated even the brethren, those who have promised one thing and have not come through on it. And they led individuals to expect something that they did not follow through on. Well, don't allow the abounding of iniquity to cause your love to grow cold. Don't let the abounding of iniquity to cause you to cast off patience and become angry and bitter and to be holding grudges. Because it says here in verse 9, grudge not one against another brethren lest you be condemned. Behold the judge standeth before the door. Don't murmur and grow bitter one against another. Don't hold grudges one against another. But instead, take the prophets, brethren, who have spoken to the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure.

You see, enduring patiently is the opposite of growing bitter here. Even as James said in the opening, I already alluded to it, but James chapter 1 verse 2, what did he say there? My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. But if you're not kept with all diligence, keep that heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.

So, you know, one of those things we can see in the Bible, the Bible warns against this: husbands, love your wives. May your heart be filled with love towards your wife and be not bitter against them. Do not store up grudges against your wife. Do not store up anger and allow it to internalize. You know, love thinketh no evil. Love does not keep a record of all the wrongs done against it and ready to whip out that notebook and see. But look at all that you've done against me in the past. No, that's not what love does. Love does not put down a taproot of bitterness. Love forgives. Love covers a multitude of sins. And if there's something between you and your spouse, seek to resolve it. It doesn't mean ignore a problem, but seek to resolve it in love. Seek to resolve the matter in and with the love of Christ. Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her. Don't let it fester. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath because the root will just get longer, right? Don't let the sun go down upon your wrath. Even if you don't resolve the issue fully, you don't at least have to go to bed angry, right?

Naomi went through an intense trial in her life. A series of trials. She lost her husband. She lost her sons. And she was, what she hoped for, the outcome that she dreamed of, that she envisioned. You know, holding those grandchildren, having happy sons and daughters-in-law. And her husband, there by her side and watching little children run around and grab onto Grammy and Grand Daddy's legs and just being joyful. That future she envisioned came crumbling down and it was gone. It vanished. What she imagined would come. She hoped for better, but she ended up growing bitter, we might say. But she said in Ruth 1, verse 20, she said unto them, call me not Naomi. What does Naomi mean? It means pleasant or beautiful. Call me not pleasant. But call me Mara. We know the waters of Mara, the Lord can sweeten those waters of Mara. He will sweeten them for those who trust in Him. But call me Mara, bitter. For the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

Well, the Lord doesn't put us through the storm in order to make us bitter. He puts us through the storm to show us our need of the cross, our need of casting that sweetening influence of His, the work of His cross into the water. We may say the water of our own spirit into our own lives. And so she says, the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me. She said, I went out full and the Lord had brought me home again empty. Why then call you me Naomi, seeing the Lord have testified against me. And the Almighty hath afflicted me. When we have been walking according to our own understanding, walking by sight, viewing our circumstances in that way, it's easy to come to a place of bitterness, isn't it? It's easy to come to a very low and bleak outlook about our lives.

But this will affect others. Instead, we are to count it all joy. Count it all joy doesn't mean that you have to feel it. You just have to trust God's Word and believe it. And healing will bring the feelings in due time, but you just trust, trusting Jesus, that is all. Well, when the disciples got their eyes on the storm on the Sea of Galilee, instead of on the Savior, fear overtook them. In the same way, bitterness can overcome our spirits when we get our eyes on men and what they do and what they don't do. And what we hope they would do, but then they don't do that. Or they wouldn't do and then they do it. You know, we get our eyes on those circumstances and we get them on people. And even on ourselves, we can grow bitter. I'm a failure. I just failed. I can't do anything right. You know, we sometimes have a pity party, right?

But we can, and we should be filled with hope, joy, if we keep our eyes on the Lord, if we wait upon Him, His timing, His work, hoping in His mercy. You see the Lord dealt bountifully with Naomi. The Lord was the restorer of her life and her joy ultimately. Wait on the Lord. Be patient. Wait patiently on the Lord and He'll bring it to pass. Don't despise the storms of life. They simply cause what is in us to come forth. Don't wish to be free from the trial. I wish I didn't have to, you know, if we charted our own course, we would try to navigate around every possible storm there could be. We would try to avoid conflict. We would say, the problem is my circumstance. It's not me. But no, the Lord says, I've allowed you to go through the storm to show you that you are the problem. And that it is your spirit that is the problem. But I want to correct. I want to restore that spirit. I want to change you and conform you and mold you and shape you into what I want you to be. And remove the dross to purge out the dross.

We need to pray for that. Need to pray that the Lord would not take the storm away, but take away from us what ought not to be there in the storm. But as a result of the storms of life that He brings, that chastening, if we yield to the chastening, it brings forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. That's the opposite of bitterness, isn't it? Fruit is sweet. Kindness in our lives. What do we read tonight? We read here in our text that instead of bitterness, instead of wrath, instead of anger, clamor and evil speaking and malice. Because evil speaking is just the manifestation of the bitterness, isn't it? And the anger. We are to be kind, one to another. We are to be tenderhearted, not hardhearted, forgiving one another. Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Do you ever feel in your own spirit your tendency not to forgive? Do you ever feel in your own spirit your tendency to begin to grow bitter about things? And that self-defense mechanism, we might say, that tendency to defend self and say, you know, well, I should have never tried. Or I should have never gotten into this. I shouldn't have done this. I wish this hadn't happened. We tend to start building those little fences up. And we should just say, Lord, thank you for the storm. Thank you for speaking to me.

We have to, if we endure, if you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. What son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? Thank you, Lord, not only for saving my soul, but thank you for dealing with my spirit. Thank you for addressing the needs of my spirit because just like we want to get cancer out of our bodies, the Lord wants to remove every sinful attitude from our spirits. Every selfish attitude, every self-centered way of thinking, He wants to purge it out, pluck it out, pull it out so that the fruit may grow that is well pleasing in His sight. And then our lives will not be that acidic bitter influence to others. They will be sweet. We talked about the fruit of the Spirit recently, right? We want the fruit of the Spirit to be seen in our lives. And in order for that to be a full and wonderful reality in our lives, this is also necessary. The pruning and the plucking and the weeding and the removal and the purging of that which ought not to be there. May God help us to put away from us all bitterness, let all bitterness be put away from you and be kind one to another. And as the passage says, even as God for Christ's sake, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for these moments we've had in your Word tonight. We thank you for the reminders that you have given us about how bitterness has no place in our lives as Christians. We thank you for dealing with us, allowing the storms of life to come to address. Not so much, it's not really so much the circumstances of life that need to change, it's we who need to change. It's we who need to yield ourselves to your loving and chastening hand and to see and know that all things in your plan as your children do work together for good to those that love you and are called according to your purpose. Lord, we pray that if there's any bitterness in our hearts tonight, Lord, that as we begin this new week that we would allow it to be put away from us. Is there something that has come up this week or even today that has shown us very clearly that there is some bitterness in our hearts toward another or even toward God, toward you? We pray that we would acknowledge it, we would not be in denial about it, but that we would let you have your way with us. Bless us now as we conclude this service with a final hymn. We pray these things and ask them in Jesus' name. Amen.