1. Some AMAZING THINGS are happening at the University of Louisville’s Health Sciences Center in Kentucky.
a. Doctors, scientists, students, and businessmen have been feverishly at work with the hope of saving many lives…
b. Their desire? Their goal? They want to extend life, prolong happiness, & lengthen days…
c. They’re hoping hundreds if not thousands are helped by their invention & new surgical techniques…
d. In their quest, they’ve developed a new life-saving device which they’ve named: The AbioCor…
2. So what problem are they trying to tackle, what dilemma are they trying to solve? Heart Failure.
September 14, 2001, The Courior Journal, Louisville Kentucky: The criteria set by the federal Food and Drug Administration for the experimental surgery require that patients have no other options -- they must be so sick from heart failure that they are projected to live 30 days or less. They can’t be eligible for a heart transplant, nor are other treatments likely to help them.
3. It’s a one time, last ditch effort to save a life.
a. And what’s required? A Heart change, a Heart Transplant.
4. Did you know that the Bible has a lot to say about the ‘heart’?:
a. Not our physical heart but the heart of man, the seat of our emotions, our inner person… who we are!
Jer. 17.9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
Prov. 4.23 Keep (guard, protect, shield) your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
Prov. 28.26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.
The Bible’s verdict? The Summary? The Conclusion?
· We too, all of humanity, need a heart transplant!
· Not just a change of mind, but a change of heart! Nothing else!
· That’s exactly what the phrase ‘born again’ means…
John 3.3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
· Being born again brings an inward change, a heart transplant.
· Enabling us to live a New LIFE… & DEVOTION… & DIRECTION
By now you know that Ephesians divides neatly into 2 sections.
· CH 1-3 all about the work of God in us, to us, and for us…
· The doctrines & teachings of God’s great GRACE…
· CH 4-6 highlight our responsibilities… our duties.
· We’re in The WHAT TO, HOW TO, GO FOR IT section…
I find that there are really 2 ways of reading & studying the Bible:
#1 – We can study it with our minds made up… Rigid & inflexible.
#2 – We can study it with our minds open, ready to be changed.
· Let’s look at what a what a changed heart brings…
· And let’s be open to all the Spirit has to say to us…
I. (4:17-24) A NEW WALK
1. (17) No longer walk as the UNSAVED walk.
· There’s that word ‘walk’ again… It refers to our lifestyle, our practice, who we are and what we do.
· There is a difference, a distinction… between those with changed hearts and those that are still fighting God.
· We’re told… “Don’t live like those who live in the world.”
SO From this day forward, Paul says, don’t walk this way anymore!
· Isn’t your ambition, not your lifestyle, not you new way of life.
· Never walk again like the worldly people around you. No more!
· May approach Christianity as just another added task in life.
NOTE: I get up, GO TO WORK, GO TO SCHOOL, GO TO THE STORE, GO TO CHURCH, GO TO BED, get up, GO TO WORK… on and on
· BUT be careful… it’s not a mere routine but a relationship…
· Our relationship with Jesus is a freshness everyday of that spiritual man/woman inside of you learning to live a whole new life in Jesus Christ! (Jesus consumes everything.)
In this section before us, We get another glimpse of the person that is joined to, knit to, part of this world system looks like…
· In reality, it’s almost like a trip down memory lane…
· Amazing to think that we were there… we walked this way.
· Friends… be careful… Because Christians still do this!
2. (17) He/She is EMPTY IN THEIR MIND
· The world ‘futility’ literally means empty, vain, worthless.
· World is one big façade… promising a lot… delivering little.
AS a kid I remember clearly in my mind our family trips to Universal Studios.
· Driving through the back lots, seeing all the wonderful buildings.
· As you turned the corner a beautiful two story house was on fire.
· COOL! But only seconds later as we passed by, we noticed the house was a FAKE. The scenery FAKE. The shark trying to eat me? FAKE!
· The whole place was one big phony-baloney.
· As a matter of fact, I was afraid when we ate lunch that the meat was going to be plastic!
Not only is Universal Studios full of fakes… they produce them too.
· They’re called movies & TV shows & commercials.
· They’re all fakes with real people play-acting fake characters…
· And guess what… all the fakes take up the OUR REAL TIME.
· That’s Satan’s big lie isn’t it? We have all the time in the world! Stay busy, stay occupied, stay distracted…
As a matter of fact there is fable which tells the story of three apprentice devils who were coming to this earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan about their plans to tempt and ruin men.
The first said, "I will tell them there is no God." Satan said, "That will not delude many, for they know that there is a God."
The second said, "I will tell men there is no hell." Satan answered, "You will deceive no one that way; men know even now that there is a hell for sin."
The third said, "I will tell men there is no hurry." "Go," said Satan, "and you will ruin them by the thousand." EMPTY MINDS…
Q: Have you ever noticed how this world is designed to keep our minds empty of the truth.
· Satan uses this whole world system in a calculated way to lure you into emptiness of mind.
THOUGHTS LIKE: How do I look? How do I feel? Where should I live? What should I drive? Control our minds and time…
· These have become so much a part of society that many of us have forgotten that they are well-worn tactics of Satan to destroy the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Selfishness is something that needs to be broken…
· The worlds says, SERVE yourself, THINK of yourself, you DESERVE it, HAVE it YOUR WAY…
· The Bible speaks of SELFLESSNESS…
Matthew 16.24-25 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
3. (18) He/She has DARKENED UNDERSTANDING & BLIND HEART
· The unbeliever is alienated from God, ignorant of spiritual life and things. WHY?
· Their empty minds lead to blinded or lit. hard hearts.
· In this word is also the idea of anesthesia… unable to feel.
4. (19) He/She is PAST FEELING GIVEN OVER TO SIN
· Leads to all sorts of bizarre & sinful behaviors
· They’ve given themselves over to lewdness – And Why not?
· If there is NO God, then there’s NO accountability!
· And so uncleanness & greediness are the norm…
Gen. Omar N. Bradley in a 1948 Armistice Day address said: “We have too many men of science, too few men of God. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. ... Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.
5. (20-22) You have not so learned Christ!
· (20) OH we’re saved! Praise the Lord.
· My past is ugly, it’s shameful, it’s sinful and depraved!
· BUT In Him it’s gone, forgiven, washed away…
Isa. 1.18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
· (21) Since you indeed heard & been taught by Him.
NOTE: That’s exactly what is happening this morning… Jesus is being heard and taught through the assembly of believers!
· I get 45 minutes out of your life to speak to your Spirit!
· That is why it is SO IMPORTANT for you to wake up on Sundays, early… to get up, freshen up, and head up to church!
· And here you are submitting to the Spirit of God for change and encouragement and exhortation…
The world is into all sorts of sinful and immoral things…
· But Jesus, He’s taught us differently….
· (22) That you put off the old man… That’s right… But How?
6. (23-24) Be renewed and put on the new man!
· SO put off the old stuff and then change your mind!
· Be renewed… Renovate that mind of yours. Change it!
OK.. I have to confess something to you. There is a TV show that I have grown to like just a little… well a lot…
· It’s called “Trading Spaces”
· It’s really Marie’s fault, she started watching it…
· BUT I love seeing them take an ugly, worn out, beat up, drab room and RENOVATE it into something really cool.
· Changed, updated, revamped…
APP: But much more than a TV show… I love seeing the lives of people being RENOVATED and RENEWED! Changed & Transformed!
NOTE: That’s what happens when you hang out with Jesus…
· When you surrender to Him, become intimate with Him…
· You’ll find yourself changing your mind about all sorts of things…
1 Cor. 2.16 For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
Then with that new mind, that new way of thinking, through the lessons taught to us by Jesus… We Put on the new man.
· The man or woman of righteousness and holiness.
· Now look at the things we as Christians must guard against…
II. (4:25-32) A NEW WAY
1. (25) Communicate the Truth
a. First we’re supposed to put away lying. Stop it.
b. You aren’t, I’m not to be known as one who loves to tell tall tales… shares untruths… lead people down liar’s lane.
c. Instead our reputation must be such that when someone needs to hear the truth… Hey… go the Christian!
d. But it happens way too much in the church… flat out lies.
e. Small lies, big lies, white lies, purple lies, exaggerations, limitations, THEY’RE ALL INCLUDED.
NOW wait a minute Ed… you’re drawing a line too close to home.
· My little lies aren’t that big a deal to God… don’t hurt anyone.
· That’s a major deception my friend…
· First they do hurt the other person because eventually, soon enough they will find out and their trust in you will vanish.
· Second, they do hurt you, because now you’re known as a liar.
· AND Third, they do hurt… GOD. Yes, it breaks His heart to see His children act in direct rebellion to His will for our lives.
Remember… we are members of one another. Connected & Joined!
· We need to be able to trust each other. To speak the truth!
Prov. 27.6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
· Friends tell the truth… enemies lie to each other.
Communicate the Truth…
2. (26-27) Control Your Anger
a. (26) Be angry, but don’t sin.
b. It’s not possible to lie and not sin, but there is an anger that is not sinful. You and I can have a ‘righteous anger’.
c. Jesus did… Remember the moneychangers and rip off artists at the Temple?
d. They turned the house of God into a Wal-Mart. John 2.14-16
I get angry too as I open the newspaper every morning…
· Men blowing up houses as they tried to cook a little drugs for the neighborhood schoolyard.
· A little girl 8 or 9 stolen from her bed without a trace.
· I get angry… I so hate sin and what it does to people!
· A call in the middle of the night… I caught my husband…
· People who give up on church because of the church gossiper and everyone who makes excuses for her…
· Is there such a thing as ‘well-intentioned’ sin? It’s sin!
(27) SO be angry… but don’t sin. Don’t let it lead you in giving Satan a foothold, a stronghold, a stranglehold in your life.
· Pray about it, seek out your own heart, and abide in Jesus.
· You can start telling the truth today… speak the truth and trust.
· You can be angry… but don’t succumb to an outburst of wrath.
Communicate the truth… Control your anger…
3. (28) Cease Stealing
a. Oh I’m not a thief, I don’t steal. That may be true.
b. But theft comes in many shapes and sizes.
c. Not only can objects & money be taken but so can time, so can energy, so can glory…
d. Oh, it’s only a few pens. Only left a few minutes early.
e. I only claimed 10 extra dependents… Don’t steal!
f. Don’t steal someone’s reputation from them through gossip.
g. Don’t steal someone’s salvation from them by hypocrisy…
h. Don’t steal someone’s innocence from them w/ dirty words.
i. Paul says to STOP STEALING…
Communicate the truth… Control your anger… Cease Stealing…
4. (29) Contain Your Mouth
a. Stop speaking perverse and foul things.
b. Lit. Rotten, corrupt, filthy…
c. Dirty jokes, bad words, murmuring, complaining…
d. Instead speak those things that edify… imparting grace.
Communicate the truth… Control your anger… Cease Stealing… Contain Your Mouth…
5. Jump to (31) Let all bitterness be put away
a. Put away bitterness, wrath, clamor and evil speaking…
b. It only hurts you, creates ulcers, increases stress, controls your every waking moment.
c. Are you mad at someone? Humble yourself and go them.
d. Ask for forgiveness… and let it go! Matthew 5:23-34
6. (32) Be kind to one another.
a. Be kind… that delights the Lord. Forgiving one another, not holding grudges, moving on and not looking back! WHY?
7. (30) Don’t Grieve the Spirit
a. Grieving here means to impart pain… these hurt the Spirit.
b. They distress our Comforter, They lay a heaviness in the air.
Henry Ironside: It’s a poor thing to talk of living in the heavenlies if we are walking and talking in the world!
Oh believers… friends… Consider these things… a church full of
· LYING, STEALING, ANGER, BITTER, FOUL MOUTHED, people.
· Try putting that on your invitations to church!
· But see that’s the point Paul is making here…
· The Christian has a New Heart, New Mind, New Life.
· NO MORE. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. And walk in Jesus.
· With your new heart… have a new mind and a new life…
