Earlier this year we looked at Eph 2:1-10. We looked at extremes. Do you remember the extremes we looked at? Extremes of weather: 40C Mongolia in winter to +45C Dubai in summer. Think of other extremes. Earlier in the year when we last looked at extremes the Mary River was in flood. We looked at the extremes of wet and dry. Slow and fast. Big and small.
And back then we looked at the ultimate extreme - death to life. Remember, normally we think of death following life. We live our allotted years and then we die. But this is the other way around! Remember, we started off dead as it says in
EPH 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
And then, through Gods amazing grace, he took us from death to life!
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions
This means that if we have been born again through faith and belief in Jesus Christ, then we have passed from spiritual death to spiritual life. And it means that when we physically die, it is not the end, for our soul lives on, and one day, when the last trumpet sounds we will be raised to life and live with Christ forever.
On the other hand if we do not believe in Christ, we remain in our sins, then we remain spiritually dead and under the judgement of God. When we die we will not live forever with Christ but instead the wrath of God will remain on us and we will suffer an eternity of suffering in the Lake of Fire.
What a contrast! On one hand, the state of death where we once were - under the judgement of God because of our sins, destined for an eternity in Hell. But if you are a Christian, if you have believed and trusted in Christ, then you have been taken from death to life. Youve been taken from the weight of sin, the snare of sin, that held you in its death embrace and youve been released from that.
And it was God who did all this. Eph 2:5b - it is by grace you have been saved. You see, being dead in our sins, we lacked the ability to do anything about our condition. We are saved through grace. That means it is the gift of God. Jesus Christ God the Son - who was not dead in sins, but very much alive in holiness and righteousness, came to die for us, in our place. And so life, eternal life, is a gift for those who believe in Jesus. We looked at all that earlier in the year when we looked at Ephesians 2:1-10. So why are we talking about that now, now that we are in chapter 4? Because Paul didnt finish with this theme in Ephesians 2, because you see theres more! You see, in Ephesians 2:1-10 Paul talks about the reality of what has happened, that weve been taken from death to life, from one extreme to another. And now in chatper 4:17 to the end of the book he talks about the consequences of this. And in our verses today, Ephesians 4:17-24, he starts talking about the consequences of going from death to life. Starting our new life in Christ and how it effects the way we live.
In these verses he again uses the language of extremes, comparing our old way of life, to our new way of life in Christ. Then later from verses 25 onwards for most of the rest of Ephesians, he talks about practical, down to earth things. Things we shouldnt be doing as Christians, and things we should be doing. As we go through those verses and chapters in the coming weeks, well be looking at things like
relationships with each other (4:25-32), specific sins we should not be engaging in (5:1-21), and submission in various relationships (5:22-6:9). But today Paul paints a stark contrast between two ways of living. The way of the unbeliever and the way of the believer.
Remember at the beginning of chapter 4 he says EPH 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. We have been called from death to life, into His wonderful kingdom, and therefore we must live lives worthy of that calling. And now from vs 17-24 Paul paints the stark contrast with the life we used to live, when we were dead in our sins, and the life we ought to be living now.
EPH 4:17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
EPH 4:20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
In painting two extremes, first Paul talks about the way of unrighteousness - the way the Gentiles live in verse 17. When we see the word Gentiles,we think racially of non Jews. But the Greek word ta ethne τα εθνη, had a much richer meaning than that. Its a pretty important word in the Bible, so it might be helpful to take a few moments to talk about it. Ta ethne and its Hebrew equivalent goyim גוים is used throughout the Bible to compare those who are not the people of God with those who are. In the Old Testament, we have the Jews Gods people in contrast to the goyim non Jews. In the New Testament, we have the church Gods people in contrast to the ta ethne. Sometimes with meaning of non Jews, sometimes with the meaning of non-Christians, but with the meaning of those not being Gods people. In other words, pagans, unbelievers.
So first thing to note is that there is or ought to be a massive difference between the life of a believer and a non-believer. We are told that as believers we must no longer live as the Gentiles, that is, as unbelievers do.
So how do unbelievers live? Paul tells us in the next few verses and its not pretty reading. First he tells us in verse 17 that they Gentiles, unbelievers - walk in the futility of their thinking. What does that mean? The word futility means pointless or meaningless. It is an unusual word but its the same word we find in Ecclesiastes.
ECC 1:2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless."
Its the same word, meaningless
In the book of Ecclesiastes, the author, no doubt King Solomon, who had everything one could want - money, riches, fame, 1000 wives and concubines, along with incredible wisdom. He had everything but he realised that it all was meaningless.
Eccl 7:2b for death is the destiny of every man;
the living should take this to heart.
It doesnt matter what we do - pleasure, wealth, power, even wisdom - it is here today and gone tomorrow. Meaningless. Back to Ephesians 4:17. This is how the unbelievers live, in the meaningless of their thinking.
Why? Why do they do this? Verse 18 tells us Eph 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
These are pretty strong words. Gentiles unbelievers people who are not Christians, are darkenened in their understanding. That means they dont understand true spiritual realities. They are separated from the life of God. Remember in chapter 2 we talked about death to life. Here it talks about life, they are separated from this life that is in God. Why? It says here in verse 18, because of the ignorance that is in them. And this ignorance is due to the hardening of their hearts. Gentiles, unbelievers, have hearts that are hardened to God. You may have noticed that when you mix with unbelievers and talk about God to them or talk about Jesus. Often the comments are not that complimentary. Or the topic is changed, they want to ignore God. Try and start a conversation about God with most people and see how far you get. The classic response is silence, changing the topic, or an awkward conversation. Most people want to ignore God. Ignore their creator. That will not do. For the few that you can get a conversation from, they may talk about God, but the idea of actually making God central to their lives is not something they want to do.
There is a hardness of heart towards God. There is an ignorance about God. This makes their thinking about God shrouded in darkness. And the only way that can be broken, as we saw in chapter 2, is by God Himself intervening and switching the lights on in our mind.
Verse 19 describes the result of not being in relation to God. Because unbelievers are not in relationship with God, they have lost all sensitivity. Another way of saying it is they have lost all feeling. Lost feeling to what? They have lost feeling, sensitivity to God, and to Gods standards. To Gods morals, ethics. Instead as it says here in vs 19, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. When we hear words like that we think primarily of the area of sexual misconduct. And while it does include this, it goes much further. The last phrase, continual lust for more, speaks of greed in general, not just what we think of when we hear the word, lust. If you want to know what some of these sins are, you can read ahead to chapter 5 verses 3-6, and well cover these in more detail when we get to them in a few weeks time. But the point is that unbelievers are sinners. They engage in doing evil, things that God detests.
Now it is very important to note the order. We often think that we get to God by being good, and that if we are bad, that will lead us away from God. That is, be good and you will get close to God. Be bad and you will be far from God. But that is not how it works. We can see here, the order of how it works is the other way around. Its not being bad that makes someone far from God. It is being far from God that makes someone bad. It is being cut off from God, hard and closed to God in ones heart, that causes a person to be insenstive to God and His standards and leads that person to live a life of sin. It is only when God intervenes and breaks down the hardness of our heart and draws us to Himself and gives us His Spirit that we can change and become good. We can do no good apart from God. It is only when we are close to God that we can be good.
But not only can we be good when we come close to God, when we come close to God, we must be good. And that is what this passage and the rest of Ephesians talks about. Verse 17 is strong. Paul is writing to Christians and he says that he
insists on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do. Remember the other day we talked about holiness as part of the Christian life. It is not an optional extra, like in McDonalds when asked would you like fries with that? Its not optional. Holiness is a must. And why is it a must? It is because it is all about what being a follower of Christ is.
Verses 17-19 have talked about how unbelievers live. The picture painted is one of depravity, sin, as a result of not knowing God. And the rest of the verses of our passage today, verses 20-24, talk about how believers live as a result of knowing God
and having our minds renewed by God. In verse 20 Paul hits us between the eyes. EPH 4:20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. In what way did we not come to know Christ? In the way of the Gentiles the way of unbelievers? The way of sin? That its okay to still remain in a sinful lifestyle? It says here that we did not come to know Christ that way.
or is it?
Paul does want to check us on that one, because in verse 21 he says, 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. That surely there, literally means, if, as the NKJV puts it, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him.or the ESV, assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him. Friends, what is the Christ that you heard? That you were taught? Is it the Christ who demands we change our lives? That we no longer live as we use to? Or did you hear something else? We live in a pluralistic society. There are many ideas floating around out there. And there are many different versions of Christ floating around there. We must be careful we follow the correct version of Christ, the historical, real one that we find in the Bible. The Christ who calls us to a holy life.
The next few verses, 22-24, talk about how we change our lives. It is to put off our old selves and instead of our old self, to be made new in the attitude of our minds, and to put on the new self.
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Now this might lead to a question: who changes us, makes us better? God or us? Well I think we can see here it is a two way street. Ultimately, it is God. As we saw in chapter 2.8, Eph 28 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. We cant save ourselves. It is God who takes us from death to life. It is God who through Jesus gives us this new self. But there is also a role we play. Because here we are told that it is us who must put off our old self - the old self that is corrupted by its deceitful desires - and for us to put on the new self. The words used here, to put off your new self, to put on the new self. - to put off and to put on - these are the words used to take off one set of clothes and put on another set. God has made the new set of clothes for us - the new self - but its up to us to work with Him in putting them on, to put on the new self.
But another interesting thing is that here Paul is not telling them to start doing this, to start putting off the old self and putting on the new self, but he is reminding them that theyve already been taught to do this!
We can see from this verse that in the Ephesian church, when someone came to Christ, they didnt just leave it there. There was some sort of system of teaching them what it meant to be a Christian, how they were supposed to live as a Christian, what this new life is they need to put on. When we become a Christian, we have a lot to learn all of a sudden. What is the Bible? What does it say? How do I relate to God? How do I pray? How should I live my life? I fear that we have lost this in our churches today, real instruction for new Christians. In olden days they had what is called a catechism, which was a system of teaching new believers about the fundamentals of the faith. Today we might call them New Christian Classes. But often our New Christian classes are pretty basic. And I also realise we dont have something comprehensive set up here at Gympie Baptist Church, which is something we need to attend to.
Sure, we have the teaching on Sundays and in home groups and they are important for our ongoing growth in the Lord. But when someone first becomes a Christian, theres a lot of basic stuff to learn which is going to take a long time to pick up just from Sunday sermons and home groups. And my thought is that perhaps there may be some here who have become a Christian at some stage but never received instruction on the basics of the Christian life. Then please come and talk to me, so that we can arrange for someone to take you through the basics of the Christian life. This is really important so if thats you, come and see me today about it.
But of course it doesnt stop there. Our whole lives we must work at putting off the old self and putting on the new. As we do this, what will be the result? To be what God originally created us to be. GE 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. That was the plan, and that is what we were. Created in Gods image, in His likeness. But we marred that, by turning from God and going our own way. But as we put on our new self, that is, as we are restored, as it says in verse 24, the new self is created to be like God. Not like God in terms of being the boss of everything! But like God in righteousness and holiness!
Brothers and sisters, becoming a Christian involves change, real change, from one extreme to another.
What has happened in Australian politics this week? Its been an interesting week hasnt it? In less than 24 hours Kevin Rudd was replaced as Prime Minister by Julia Gillard. Julia Gillard said, A good government was losing its way. And the Labour party was of the opinion that a change was needed and replaced Kevin Rudd with Julia Gillard. And indeed there is a change in prime ministers. Look at them they look very different. One is a blonde-grey haired man from a state that knows how to play rugby league. The other is a red head woman from a state that doesnt know what rugby league is. On the surface, they look very different. But what the press are asking and a lot of people are asking, is is there a real change? Its the same political party, same policies. The face has changed, the look has changed, but will there be real change? And only time will tell us the answer to that one.
Why did I bring that up? Im not trying to be political, just using the events of last week as an illustration, because a similar principal applies to us. For those of you who have made a profession of faith in Christ, which is probably most of you, that signalled a change in your life. Things looked different, but now ask yourself the hard question: has there been real change beyond appearances? Have you really put off the old self and put on the new self? Is the change real? If not do something about it. Please come and talk to me about it. Because being a Chrsitian, a follower of Christ, is not just about saying the right things. There must be a change to living the right way also.
And for those of you who know youve never made a profession in Christ. You know you are still dead in your sins, and would like to learn more about what it is to follow Christ, also please come and talk to me afterwards.
So today, weve had a look at some extremes we remembered chapter 2. The extreme of death to life. Now we have the extreme of two ways to live. Our old self - how we used to live, how unbelievers still live, cut off from God, and therefore insensitive to God and insensitive to His morals, His ethics. People make up their own ethics, what they think is right, instead of following Gods rules. But we who are believers have been transformed, putting of our old self and putting on the new self, with the goal of - as it says in verse 24 - to be like God in righteousness and holiness, as we were originally created to be.
