Learning to Walk Worthy Eph 4:17-24 NKJV 17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;
19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But you have not so learned Christ,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
1. According to verse 17-19; the believer is not to walk as the Gentiles, that is, as worldly people.
They call Christians "a new race," a race distinct from Jews and Greeks.
The point is this: believers are not to walk as other men walk. Why?
Because believers are new creatures in Christ Jesus, and the walk of worldly people does not please God.
2Cr 5:17 NKJV Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
What is it that other men do that does not please God?
This passage gives five characteristics about unbelievers that displease God.
Remember: believers are to have nothing to do with any of these characteristics.
They are never to return to the paths of their former life.
Unbelievers walk in the futility of their mind (v.17).
The mind includes the ability to will and to do the truth as well as know the truth; it includes morality as well as reasoning and understanding.
The word "futility" means empty, vain, senseless, aimless, unsuccessful, worthless.
When people push God out of their minds, their minds are not only void and empty of God but also His truth and morality. God is not in their thoughts.
Their minds are ready to be filled with some other god or supremacy.
There is room for their minds to be filled with the things of the world:
List some worldly things that could fill our minds and hearts.
worldly pleasures.
worldly religions.
worldly possessions.
worldly ideas.
worldly power.
worldly honor.
worldly position.
worldly gods.
Psalm 10:4 NKJV The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek [God]; God [is] in none of his thoughts.
Psalm 94:11 NKJV The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they [are] futile.
Pro 6:16-19 NKJV 16 These six [things] the LORD hates, Yes, seven [are] an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness [who] speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.
Pro 15:26 NKJV The thoughts of the wicked [are] an abomination to the LORD, But the words of the pure [are] pleasant.
The mind of a worldly person walks after these things, neglecting, ignoring, and rejecting God.
Once you truly receive Jesus Christ the believer must never return to the walk of an empty mind; he/she must never again allow his/her mind to become empty of God.
Unbelievers walk with their understanding darkened (v. 18).
To understand means to grasp, comprehend.
To be darkened means to be blinded and unable to see.
The unbeliever does not grasp or understand God; his understanding is darkened and blinded and unable to see God.
He understands this world and the things of this world, and he gives his life over to the things of this world.
But he is not able to understand God and His eternal plan for the world through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The believer is not to allow his understanding to become darkened.
Believers are not to return to the world of the spiritually blind, the world of those who walk with darkened understanding.
Psa 82:5 NKJV They do not know, nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable.
Pro 2:13 NKJV From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;
Pro 4:19 NKJV The way of the wicked [is] like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble.
Act 28:27 NKJV For the hearts of this people have grown dull. [Their] ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with [their] eyes and hear with [their] ears, Lest they should understand with [their] hearts and turn, So that I should heal them."
Eph 4:18 NKJV having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;
2Timothy 3:7 NKJV always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Unbelievers walk alienated from the life of God.
Unbelievers are spiritually dead and doomed to eternal death.
"Alienated" means to be separated, cut off, detached.
The Bible is clear about this issue.
Unbelievers are alienated from God because of their own deliberate hardness of heart.
The word "blindness" is the word hardness in the Greek.
Note the words "in them." The cause is "in them":
They choose to be ignorant within their minds--choose to be ignorant of God.
They choose to harden their own hearts.
Unbelievers are responsible for their own death.
God has provided the us with the way to live forever.
God had given His life, that is, eternal life, to man.
The only way a person can ever miss God's gift of eternal life is to reject God and His gift.
John 3:16-19 NKJV For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Unbelievers are past feeling.
They reach a point where they no longer have feelings for God and His standard of morality.
To be past feeling means to become callous, insensible, hardened.
The more a person walks without God the more callous a person becomes to God.
The more a person walks in sin, the more callous his conscience becomes to righteousness.
Sin becomes more and more acceptable and the person's conscience no longer bothers him.
He reaches a point of being past feeling. The believer is not to return to sin.
He is not to walk as other men walk--in sin, becoming callous and insensitive to God.
Act 28:27 NKJV For the hearts of this people have grown dull. [Their] ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with [their] eyes and hear with [their] ears, Lest they should understand with [their] hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.
Eph 4:19 NKJV who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Unbelievers give themselves over to lasciviousness,
Which means all forms of sensual living.
Lasciviousness is a gross form of wickedness that has sexual overtones in many cases.
It starts in a sinful heart, and manifests itself in fleshly actions, which can lead to a state of being “past feeling”
The word can mean several attitudes or actions.
When used to describe sexual matters it gives us the idea of excess, unbridled lust.
It suggests a disregard for public decency.
William Barclay says the word conveys the idea of a person “who is so far gone in lust and desire” that he or she ceases “to care what people say or think” (p. 52).
Josephus, the Jewish historian, once used the word to describe a man who indecently exposed himself to a crowd (Antiquities 20.5.3).
A good example would be the moral environment of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah…
Unbelievers indulge in all uncleanness with greediness.
The word "uncleanness" means to be dirty and filthy; to be infested with every kind of
unclean, immoral, dirty, and polluted behavior.
It is the most immoral behavior imaginable.
Romans 6: 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness
Eph. 5: 3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;
1Th 4:7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
The word "greediness" means, coveting, craving, grasping, wanting more and more.
It’s the person who hoards all they can get and still wants more.
It is being enslaved and held in bondage by the things of this earth.
Let’s talk about these examples:
Food…drink…self-centered behavior. Sins of the flesh
Believers are not to walk in such a life. They are not to walk as other people walk.
Exd 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Col 3:5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
2. (4:20-24) the believer is to walk in Christ.
The reason is clearly stated: believers did not learn to live a sinful life from Christ.
For the simple reason that Christ did not live a sinful a life, and He never once, taught us to live a sinful life like sinful people live.
If you have heard Christ and been taught by Christ, then you have heard and been taught the truth.
**Here is something you need to understand…
The Teacher is Christ, not the pastor or Bible study leader.
Through the Holy Spirit, Christ uses the body and voice of the minister/teacher to teach people how they are to live.
If a person has really heard Christ speaking to their hearts, then what they heard was not the kind of life lived by unbelievers.
The true walk is a walk in Christ, and a walk in Christ involves three actions.
1. The believer is to put off the old “man”
Eph 4:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts
When Paul talks about the “old man” he is talking about the old nature…the deeds the way we used to live, act, think and behave.
Paul tells us that it is up to each person to get rid of his/her “Old man”
2. The believer is to be renewed in his/her mind.
Eph 4:23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind
What Paul is saying here is that the believer’s mind is to be made new…readjusted…changed.
The mind set on the world is corrupt and unable to glorify nor please God. The mind that is set on the world focuses on the things of this world and sees no sense in focusing on Kingdom things.
3. The believer is to put on the new “man.”
Eph 4:24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness
This is the person who is:
* In fellowship with God…
* Obedient to God’s will…
* Devoted to serving God…
The “old man” refers to the person I was before I accepted Christ…
The “New man” refers to the person I am becoming as I allow the Holy Spirit to teach me to walk “WORTHY” of the calling…SO walk like Jesus.
Learning to walk
Eph 4:17-24 NKJV 17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;
19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But you have not so learned Christ,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
1. According to verse 17-19; the believer is to walk as the Gentiles, that is,
as people.
They call Christians "a new race," a race distinct from Jews and Greeks.
The point is this: believers are not to walk as other men walk. Why?
Because believers are in Christ Jesus, and the walk of worldly people does not please God.
2Cr 5:17 NKJV Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
What is it that other men do that does not please God?
This passage gives five characteristics about unbelievers that displease God.
Remember: believers are to have nothing to do with any of these characteristics.
They are never to return to the paths of their former life.
Unbelievers walk in the of their mind (v.17).
The mind includes the ability to will and to do the truth as well as know the truth; it includes morality as well as reasoning and understanding.
The word "futility" means empty, vain, senseless, aimless, unsuccessful, worthless.
When people push God out of their minds, their minds are not only void and empty of God but also His truth and morality. God is not in their thoughts.
Their minds are ready to be filled with some other god or supremacy.
There is room for their minds to be filled with the things of the world:
List some worldly things that could fill our minds and hearts.
worldly .
worldly .
worldly .
worldly .
worldly .
worldly .
worldly .
worldly .
Psalm 10:4 NKJV The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek [God]; God [is] in none of his thoughts.
Psalm 94:11 NKJV The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they [are] futile.
Pro 6:16-19 NKJV 16 These six [things] the LORD hates, Yes, seven [are] an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness [who] speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.
Pro 15:26 NKJV The thoughts of the wicked [are] an abomination to the LORD, But the words of the pure [are] pleasant.
The mind of a worldly person walks after these things, neglecting, ignoring, and rejecting God.
Once you truly receive Jesus Christ the believer must never return to the walk of an empty mind; he/she must never again allow his/her mind to become empty of God.
Unbelievers walk with their understanding (v. 18).
To understand means to grasp, .
To be darkened means to be blinded and unable to see.
The unbeliever does not grasp or understand God; his understanding is darkened and blinded and unable to see God.
He understands this world and the things of this world, and he gives his life over to the things of this world.
But he is not able to understand God and His eternal plan for the world through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The believer is not to allow his understanding to become darkened.
Believers are not to return to the world of the spiritually blind, the world of those who walk with darkened understanding.
Psa 82:5 NKJV They do not know, nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable.
Pro 2:13 NKJV From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;
Pro 4:19 NKJV The way of the wicked [is] like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble.
Act 28:27 NKJV For the hearts of this people have grown dull. [Their] ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with [their] eyes and hear with [their] ears, Lest they should understand with [their] hearts and turn, So that I should heal them."
Eph 4:18 NKJV having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;
2Timothy 3:7 NKJV always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Unbelievers walk from the life of God.
Unbelievers are spiritually and doomed to eternal death.
"Alienated" means to be separated, cut off, detached.
The Bible is clear about this issue.
Unbelievers are alienated from God because of their own deliberate hardness of heart.
The word "blindness" is the word hardness in the Greek.
Note the words "in them." The cause is "in them":
They to be ignorant within their minds--choose to be ignorant of God.
They choose to harden their own hearts.
Unbelievers are responsible for their own death.
God has provided the us with the way to live forever.
God had given His life, that is, eternal life, to man.
The only way a person can ever miss God's gift of eternal life is to God and His gift.
John 3:16-19 NKJV For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Unbelievers are past .
They reach a point where they no longer have feelings for God and His standard of morality.
To be past feeling means to become , insensible, hardened.
The more a person walks without God the more callous a person becomes to God.
The more a person walks in sin, the more callous his becomes to righteousness.
Sin becomes more and more acceptable and the person's conscience no longer bothers him.
He reaches a point of being past feeling. The believer is not to return to sin.
He is not to walk as other men walk--in sin, becoming callous and insensitive to God.
Act 28:27 NKJV For the hearts of this people have grown dull. [Their] ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with [their] eyes and hear with [their] ears, Lest they should understand with [their] hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.
Eph 4:19 NKJV who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Unbelievers give themselves over to ,
Which means all forms of living.
Lasciviousness is a gross form of wickedness that has sexual overtones in many cases.
It starts in a heart, and manifests itself in fleshly , which can lead to a state of being “past feeling”
The word can mean several attitudes or actions.
When used to describe sexual matters it gives us the idea of excess, unbridled lust.
It suggests a disregard for public decency.
William Barclay says the word conveys the idea of a person “who is so far gone in lust and desire” that he or she ceases “to care what people say or think” (p. 52).
Josephus, the Jewish historian, once used the word to describe a man who indecently exposed himself to a crowd (Antiquities 20.5.3).
A good example would be the moral environment of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah…
Unbelievers indulge in all with greediness.
The word "uncleanness" means to be and filthy; to be infested with every kind of
unclean, immoral, dirty, and polluted behavior. It is the most immoral behavior imaginable.
Romans 6: 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness
Eph. 5: 3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;
1Th 4:7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
The word "greediness" means, coveting, craving, grasping, more and more.
It’s the person who hoards all they can get and still wants .
It is being enslaved and held in bondage by the things of this earth.
Let’s talk about these examples:
Food…drink…self-centered behavior. Sins of the flesh
Believers are not to walk in such a life. They are not to walk as other people walk.
Exd 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Col 3:5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
2. (4:20-24) the believer is to walk in .
The reason is clearly stated: believers did not learn to live a sinful life from Christ.
For the simple reason that Christ did not live a sinful a life, and He never once, taught us to live a sinful life like sinful people live.
If you have heard Christ and been taught by Christ, then you have heard and been taught .
**Here is something you need to understand…
The Teacher is , not the or leader.
Through the Holy Spirit, Christ uses the body and voice of the minister/teacher to teach people how they are to live.
If a person has really heard Christ speaking to their hearts, then what they heard was not the kind of life lived by unbelievers.
The true walk is a walk in Christ, and a walk in Christ involves three actions.
1. The believer is to the old “man”
Eph 4:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts
When Paul talks about the “old man” he is talking about the old …the deeds the way we used to live, act, think and behave.
Paul tells us that it is up to each person to get rid of his/her “Old man”
2. The believer is to be in his/her mind.
Eph 4:23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind
What Paul is saying here is that the believer’s mind is to be made new…readjusted… .
The mind set on the world is corrupt and unable to glorify nor please God. The mind that is set on the world focuses on the things of this world and sees no sense in focusing on Kingdom things.
3. The believer is to put on the “man.”
Eph 4:24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness
This is the person who is:
* In with God…
* to God’s will…
* to serving God…
The “old man” refers to the person I was I accepted Christ…
The “New man” refers to the person I am as I allow the Holy Spirit to teach me to walk “WORTHY” of the calling…SO walk like Jesus.
