A Change Is Coming
Text: Ephesians 4:20-24
By: Ken McKinley
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If you remember; last time we talked about growing up, today we are going to be talking about the changes that take place when you do. If you’ve ever been a parent then I’m sure you remember when your child first rolled over, it was an exciting thing, but then you moved on to trying to get them to sit up. After sitting up we try to get them to crawl, and before long we are walking around, holding our child’s hands over their head, trying to get them to walk. When school first starts a child is expected to sit quietly while being read to, and then soon enough, they are expected to read themselves. Everything living thing that God has created grows, and as it grows it goes through changes. When we hit puberty voices change, when we hit middle age, metabolism changes, and it continues right up until the time we are no longer living.
But what about things like habits, or behaviors? What about addiction? A person can be addicted to more than just drugs; they might be addicted to food, or immoral behavior. What about those areas? What about emotions, anger, bitterness, fear? What about the other things we do, like gossip, or slander others, or stick our noses into others peoples business? And then we open up God’s Word and we see God commands us to change as well. In-fact; here in our text, demands to change are on nearly every line of this passage.
We are told to put off the old self, be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new man. And we look at this and we probably go, “Yeah, right. It sounds simple enough, but have you ever tired this? It’s impossible.” It’s like telling a drug addict to “Just say no!” It’s not that easy.
Part of our problem is that we try and fail and then we just assume that it’s impossible and we give up. If you’re stuck in that rut, let me say this to you: Change happens TO US not BY US.
Change begins with an exchange.
There are three ways we can look at our text; two of them are wrong. Some people will read this and think to themselves, “Oh I came forward during an alter call, I’m saved, I can go on living however I want, because the change has already occurred in me.” Other people will read this and become overly critical of themselves. They will beat themselves up over it day in and day out and eventually become so frustrated that they give up.
Paul says we are to put off our former conduct, our old self. But if that’s all a person does; if all they do is stop a certain behavior, or get rid of a certain habit then there is trouble ahead. Because Paul not only says we are to put off our old self, but we are to put on the new self who has been created according to God.
In Luke chapter 11 Jesus talked about a man who was delivered from demonic possession, but after a while the demon goes back and finds the man’s life in order, but nothing is occupying his life. So the demon returns with 7 of its buddies that are even nastier than itself.
When MariJo and I were in college we lived in married student housing. When we first moved in the walls had been recently painted. But after awhile the walls in the kitchen began to be discolored. What happened was that the grease from the cooking of former residents was seeping through the paint. Jesus described it this way. He said to the Pharisees that they were white washed tombs, but on the inside they were full of dead man’s bones.
When is a thief not a thief? If you say when he stops stealing, you’re wrong. A thief who is not stealing is just between jobs, but he’s still a thief. When is a liar not a liar? When he stops lying? No; when he consistently tells the truth. So when it comes to change there is not only something that must stop, there has to be something that takes the place of the thing that was stopped.
So our text tells us we have to take off our old self, and put on the new. It’s not just subtraction, it’s an exchange.
Let me give you an idea of how this should be: Lets say that you are going out on a date with your spouse, or bf/gf; and so you go to your closet and pull out one of your favorite shirts. You put the shirt on and start getting ready but all of a sudden you start feeling itchy. So you look down at your shirt and you see that it’s covered with fleas and lice. So what do you do?
Well if you’re a rational thinking person you probably strip that shirt off as fast as you could. And that’s the idea that our text is trying to convey here. Our previous lives outside of Christ are horrible, disgusting things and when we are made aware of them we should put them off as quickly as we can. This isn’t simply turning a new leaf, or making a New Years Resolution. This is talking about a complete exchange. And it started at the Cross. The old man is in Adam. Paul tells in Romans 6:6 that if you’re a Christian it was crucified with Christ. In Colossians 3:9 Paul says that Christians should no longer lie to one another since they have taken off their old self and put on the new.
But if the old self is dead and crucified with Christ, why do we still struggle with sin? Well you might have ripped off that lice ridden shirt but you’re already infected. Christians should never believe the lie that as soon as they put their faith in Christ the struggle against sin will end. In all actuality; the struggle is just beginning. Before coming to Christ, sin was part of our nature, but now we are struggling against sin because we have a new nature. Paul says we put off the old self which grows corrupt. There is an ongoing corruption and the Greek word here means to decay or rot. So the old self is dead, it’s been crucified with Christ, but the smell of decay is still with us.
Paul tells us that this corruption comes from deceitful lusts, and that we are to be renewed in the spirit of our mind… This tells me that lust, or evil desire is deceitful. They trick you, and again this is in the aspect of our thinking. That’s why we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind.
What happens is that we tear that vermin infested shirt off and throw it in the washer, but we don’t realize that there were eggs in it, and so we take it out, we hang it up in the closet, and a few days later we put it back on. When what we should’ve done was burn it, or throw it away, but we fool ourselves in our thinking. “Its my favorite shirt, I can’t bear the thought if getting rid of it. I have a lot of fond memories of that shirt.”
I’ve seen people in church, serve the Lord with zeal, but over time their thinking gets skewed, and they start thinking about their lives before Christ. How much fun they used to have going to parties, or hanging out with the guys down at the bar, or whatever, and what’s happening – is that lust is deceiving them.
You and I must see the sinfulness of our sin. We have to renew our minds, stop thinking like the rest of the world does and live like God’s Word tells us we should.
What you think and believe controls how you act. There are many people who profess Christ as their Lord and Savior, they believe that He is real, that He is the Son of God, that He came in the flesh, and died for their sins, but they also think that He exists simply to provide them with health and wealth, and so this thinking affects their behavior, it affects their worship, it affects their witnessing, it affects everything they do.
That’s why expository preaching is so important. We should hear God’s Word the way it is intended to be heard, we should take the meaning of the text as it is intended, and not add our own meanings and ideas.
So let me ask you this: What areas do you struggle with?
Is your mind captive to the futile thinking of our culture that says you must achieve a certain social status? A bigger house, a better car, and the nicest clothes? Are you trapped by past wrongs that have been done to you? Are you addicted to behaviors? Are you consumed by selfishness? Do you constantly need the approval of others to feel worthy?
So how do we renew our minds? How do we get rid of these wrong thoughts? In verse 20 Paul says all of those things, all of those thoughts and behaviors are not learned from Christ.
This is actually a strange statement. We say that you learn about a person, but here Christ is both the subject and the object of what we learn. Change doesn’t come from an accumulation of knowledge about a person. Change comes from embracing the truth that IS a Person. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The truth that sets us free is Christ. He sets us free from our former master sin.
Sin is a strange thing. When we are sick and can’t get over our cold we go to a doctor for help. But when we struggle with sin, more often than not we run away from the only person who can help us. We look for anything other than what is best for us. Paul takes us back to the Cross.
God gives us the means of grace to change us. The Word of God takes us back to the cure for what ails us. We must come to the Word of God if we desire change, we must stay in the Word of God if we want to keep changing. Jesus said in John 8:31, “If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed.” In John 15:10 He said, “If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love.” In 1st John 2:24 John writes, “… if what you heard from the beginning abides in your, you will also abide in the Son and in the Father.” Remember our text? It says, “If indeed you have HEARD Him and been taught by Him.”
So this morning if you are struggling with sin, I would first advise you to ask yourself if you are a Christian. Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? And if you are a Christian, and you’re struggling with sin, I would ask you, “How much time do you spend in God’s Word each day?” Are you letting God’s Word, which is the truth sanctify you? Are you saturating yourself in His Word? If not, then why not?
Why isn’t God’s Word a priority for you?
Have you been changed by the power of God’s Word? Do you want to be?
INVITATION AND CLOSING PRAYER
