Old Self To New Self: Five Key Areas

INTRODUCTION

In several of Paul's letters to the churches, Paul starts with theological teaching and then moves on to practical instruction. He lays the theological foundations and sets out key theological truths. After that, he talks about how believers should live in the light of these truths. Belief should shape behaviour. In Ephesians, chapters 1 to 3 are the theological foundations. Then, in chapter 4, Paul moves on to practical application.

Priscilla, Sophie and Daniel quite often give me feedback on my talks. One of the things they tell me is to include practical application. They should be happy today! It’s almost entirely practical application.

Last week we looked at a vitally important principle. God wants to change us! He created us in his image. His image has become tarnished by sin, but God wants his image to shine through again. Paul talks about this in terms of putting off the old self and putting on the new self. We ended last week on 4:24. Paul has talked about putting off the old self. Then he says, ‘and to put on the new self, CREATED TO BE LIKE GOD in true righteousness and holiness.’ Our new self is supposed to be like God!

PAUL’S LIST

Paul starts the next section with a ‘therefore’ and then gives us five areas in which we need to put off the old self and put on the new self. But are these really the key areas we need to focus on?

Let me give you an analogy. Let’s suppose you want to know what the key attributes of a leader are. You ask one respected business leader. He tells you, ‘The most important attributes of a leader are integrity, communication and adaptability.’ You ask a second respected business leader. He tells you, ‘The most important attributes of a leader are tolerance, self-awareness and gratitude.’ You ask a third person. She says something different again. At the end, you’re none the wiser about what the most important attributes of a leader are.

Is Paul’s list like that? Does Paul say one thing here, but another part of the Bible says something different? Are these really the key areas we should give attention to as we try to put off the old self and put on the new self?

I believe they are.

One reason is that Paul also talks about old self and new self in Colossians and in Colossians he also has a list of key areas to look at. Paul almost certainly wrote his letter to the Ephesians after his letter to the Colossians. His list in Ephesians is very similar to his list in Colossians. It means that he didn’t just pluck these things out of the air the day he wrote his letter to the Ephesians.

A second reason is that all the areas Paul mentions are emphasized in other parts of the Bible. For example, lying and stealing come in the Ten Commandments.

So, what we have here isn’t just Paul’s list of areas we need to look closely at. It is also the Bible’s list, God’s list. We should take it seriously!

EXAMPLES OF OLD SELF TO NEW SELF

OLD TO NEW #1

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another.

Paul starts by saying ‘Therefore.’ He’s been talking about putting off the old self and putting on the new self. Now he’s going to give some examples. The first area Paul talks about is falsehood and truth. We must put off falsehood and we must put on speaking the truth with our neighbours.

Isaiah prophesied about Jesus. He wrote:

‘And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

AND THERE WAS NO DECEIT IN HIS MOUTH’ [Isaiah 53:9].

Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life’ [John 14:6].

There was no deceit in Jesus. And he is the truth. If we’re modelling ourselves on Jesus, there must not be deceit is us and there must be truth.

What does that mean in practice?

Most people today believe that that there is such a thing as truth and they believe that truth is important. They understand that truth builds trust and that truth and trust are essential in every kind of relationship.

Most people do not think that lying is ‘all right.’

But having said that, there is strong evidence from surveys that most people lie sometimes and indeed, the average person lies every day. There are lies in sport, lies in politics, lies in advertising, lies online and lies in conversation.

Do Christians lie? A commentator I read as I was preparing this talk commented that ‘One of the ways we lie is by exaggeration.’ He then added, ‘Some of the most guilty exaggerators are pastors, who use loud one-sided statements to make God look more wonderful and themselves more powerful.’ That isn’t the way to go.