Wearing the Family Name
One of my favorite football stories is credited to Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers. It’s probably an urban or sports legend but I still like it...
It seems that there was a rookie running back (Paul Horning?) who celebrated wildly in the end zone when he made his first professional league touchdown .
Now this was way before the present time. Players didn’t do fancy little dance numbers or jump into the stands like they do in Green Bay games today. This was back when coaches wore fedoras along with a suit and tie.
When the running back arrived at the sideline the coach grabbed his face mask and yanked it close to his face and said, "When you make a touchdown act like you belong there."
The coach was trying to communicate that it was time to stop acting the way he did in High School and start acting like a professional football player.
In the passage we are going to look at this Sunday morning (Eph 4:17-5:5) Paul talks about how we are supposed to change.
When you are a follower of Jesus you are called to do more than just wear the uniform - you wear the name of Christ and carry the responsibility of acting like a part of God’s team. That means changing from the old ways of living and putting on new ways of living.
And the best news is that Paul tells us how to really change.
Wearing the Name of Jesus has a certain amount of responsibility!
We belong to the best of the best… It truly amazes me
that I am called and as a result I am challenged to live up to the highest of standards.
Wearing the Family Name. You see we are told to not live like the world lives…
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
Five Critical Reasons are given by Paul in the verse here and following.
People don’t always think and reason correctly. I watched a story on a woman who weighed 511 lbs and had major surgery to lose weight – that’s not bad, in fact for health reasons it was perhaps wise. But she thought that losing the weight would make her happy.
Today she’s an unhappy 170 lbs woman. That’s called futile thinking.
She looked to her husband who beat her for love. Her mother abandoned her in her time of need and she laid in the projects for days without help. She lived in a world without love and acceptance and thought it was normal. That’s called "darkened understanding"
This same woman made friends with a Pastor’s wife who reached out to her to build a friendship when no one else was there for her. But later she abandoned her Pastor wife friend and gave herself to a corrupt lifestyle. That’s a "hardened heart".
In that same story we see a woman caught up in drinking and partying - looking for love and happiness in all the wrong places. That is "being given over to sensuality".
The program closed with an update about her own daughter that is today overweight and hungering for love… When the reporter/narator asked about what she was going to do about her daughter she said she would change - but she didn’t. That is "without restraint".
You see the world’s way of living is focused on the self-centered and ego-centric life of personal pleasure.
That story can be repeated over and over with a thousand different variations. I had breakfast with two friends this past week who shared their experiences with me about the way it was
Perfect hangover cure – get another bottle
He said "That’s the way I used to live. Before I met Christ…" And that is the point. We have a different standard now that we have a different name.
We are to be made new in the attitude of our minds!
Eph 4:22-24
Eph 4:22 Regarding your former way of life, you were taught to strip off your old man, which is being ruined by its deceptive desires,
Eph 4:23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
Eph 4:24 and to clothe yourselves with the new man, which was created according to the likeness of God in righteousness and true holiness.
Clothes do make the Man. I remember a story my dad (he’s a preacher) told about a couple of robber who came up with the perfect plan. One would sneak in the house while the other dressed like a cop. The problem was that when the thief climbed out the window the one dressed like a police officer had so gotten into the role that he arrested his friend!
To change you need to follow the the “Put off - Put on” principle of what you wear in life. This is how Paul explains it in the remainder of the chapter:
If you are a liar:
Eph 4:25 Therefore, stripping off falsehood, "let each of us speak the truth to his neighbor," for we are members of one another.
To stop being a liar you have to do more than not lie. You see the problem with liars is not that they never tell the truth. They sometime do. And they sometimes don’t. You never know when they speak lies and when they speak truth. For a liar to change he has to put off falsehood and put on truthtelling - on a habitual basis. Every day!
If you are Hot tempered:
Eph 4:26 "Be angry, yet do not sin." Do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
Eph 4:27 and do not give the devil an opportunity to work.
Anger is not wrong. Anger is a God given emotion that is designed to prepare and motivate us for action. It is what we do with anger that can be terribly wrong.
Some people are volcano’s and they explote over others. Some take their anger and store it as cold rage in secret containers. Both actions produce awlful results.
God gives us anger to motivate us to properly and gently confront the people who hurt us "before the sun goes down" so that the relationship can be restored. You have to put off wrong actions when angry and put on on gentle confrontation when angry.
If you are a thief:
Eph 4:28 The thief must no longer steal but must work hard and do what is good with his own hands, so that he might have something to give to the needy.
A thief must not just not steal. He has to put off stealing and put on working with his hands (there is something theraputic about physical labor) so that he can give to the needy. This must become a way of life!
If you have problems with your speech:
Eph 4:29 Let no filthy talk come out of your mouths, but only what is good for building up as the need may be. This way you will give grace to those who hear you.
This is more than just cussing and swearing. Filthy langurage is certainly that but it is more. It involves cursing people with your speech.
When you bless someone you speak well of them. When you curse someone you speak ill of them. When you wear the name of Jesus you should put off filthy language - speaking ill of another person - and put on gracefilled language of blessing.
If you are quarrelsome:
Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, quarreling, and slander be put away from you, along with all hatred.
Eph 4:32 And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another just as God has forgiven you in Christ.
We are to put off hatred and all it’s characteristic attitudes and instead put on love and forgiveness and all their characteristic attitudes.
Now, these are not a bunch of rules that we have to live by to be accepted by God. That is already done by the power of and love of God through his son Jesus who died for you on the cross - while you were the way you were!
No, we change because we are part of the family of God and we want to live up the the high calling of that name.
It’s as if everyperson walks about the face of the earth carrying a couple of buckets filled with stuff. Some people have their buckets filled with garbage, trash and rotting carcases. When they bump into you the stuff in their live and buckets slosh over the sides and it is a very unpleasant experience. Others have their buckets filled with purity and love. There is the sweet smell of acceptance and joy. When they bump into you the good things happen!
What are you filling your buckets with? Do people want to run into you or do they run from you?
Live, like you belong in heaven – because you do! To really change is not easy. It will take time, devotion, and the help of God. Pray for his strength and help today!
