“But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
We should begin by reminding ourselves that Paul was writing to people who had come out of paganism. They were not from Israel, they had not worshipped in the Temple as Jews, they had, most of them, come out of idol worship, and had come to a belief in the one true God as a result of the Apostle’s teaching.
So when Paul describes here in this chapter, the condition of those still in paganism and doing the things that those in the pagan religions do, he is describing their former condition. Therefore we know that they not only understand what he is talking about, and who he is talking about, but they themselves are reminded of what coming to Christ has rescued them from, and Paul’s words of exhortation would, thereby, become cause also for rejoicing.
Just scanning down from verse 17, we see a dark, and dirty snapshot, if you will, of the world these Christians have come out of, and believer, we should just once in a while, stop and remember that the past Christ rescued us from was in many cases, no less dark and no less dirty.
They walked in futility of mind. They hadn’t a single productive thought, in the sense that there was no Godly thought or thought of God in them. Their mind being darkened, they walked in the darkness of rebellion, hardness of heart, callousness, sensuality, impurity, greediness… a list that speaks of unrestrained lust and pursuit of self and the passing pleasures of sin. Entirely self-absorbed, looking after the flesh and groping after the comforts and entertainments of the world, like unreasoning animals, living by instinct and ruled by the stomach.
And I want to assure you that this is not a description that is reserved for mobsters and muggers and prostitutes and drug pushers; the people of the night and of the street whose very existence is one of living off the pain and loss of their victims.
No, this description just as aptly includes the clean, finely dressed, manicured and socially refined businessman and businesswoman found in the highest echelons of commerce. It includes the wealthy and the famous and the beautiful. Because it is not a definition that is based on social status or financial position or political rank. It is of the soul; it is a definition of sin and its wages, and it applies to every man woman and child apart from Christ.
C. S. Lewis covered the topic very effectively when he wrote:
“The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loved to paint… but is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.”
But this picture of evil and debauchery has a sad element to it. We have to grieve for them, and for those all around us today who are still in this darkened state that defines the unsaved person.
Because there is one phrase in this description that should cause us the greatest alarm when we think of it, and for the person who has not come to Christ and hears it, the words should strike fear in their hearts for their own eternal future and extract from them the cry, ‘what must I do to be saved?’…
…and that phrase is “excluded from the life of God”.
Their thoughts are futile. Their understanding is darkened. But horror of horrors, they have no life! And this is how they walk; as those who have no life!
Now I’m going to go on from here and leave you with your own thoughts about that, and let the Holy Spirit speak to you about your own commitment to asking God to give you divine appointments, and looking for opportunities to tell the Gospel to those He puts in your path.
But now that he has painted that picture fresh in their thinking, he brings home a brilliant contrast and says, “But you did not learn Christ in this way…”
Well what does that mean? You did not learn Christ in this way. What is he saying to them?
He’s saying that that old way of walking is diametrically opposed to anything they’ve learned of Christ.
And that’s the thought we’re going to develop and build on today. Paul says, “…if indeed you have heard Him…”, and on that qualification hinges the difference between the dead and empty churchgoer, still dwelling in darkness, and the vibrant, fruitful Christian, walking in and emanating the light of Christ; not only then in the Ephesian Church, but in the Church in our time, our world, our nation, our town, right here where you sit.
HEARING
What I want to talk about today is the change that takes place in the one who has heard Christ; but first we have to clarify what Paul means by that very term; ‘heard Him’.
As I mentioned a few minutes ago, Paul’s initial reading audience is not from Judea. They are Gentiles in the flesh, and even if this letter was circulated to other churches around the region north of the Mediterranean, still, its readers were primarily people who had never been to Israel and certainly had never heard Jesus teach. None of them had even heard of Him until Paul and the others came preaching the gospel later. So we can be fairly certain that Paul is not reminding them of a time when they heard Christ with their own ears.
As I was researching for this sermon I ran across a story that tickled me and I want to share it with you. It really has nothing to do with the sermon, but please allow me just this little break; I think you’ll enjoy it.
The story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." The guests responded with phrases like, "Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir." It was not till the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. With a slightly puzzled expression, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, "I’m sure she had it coming."
Well maybe this story has more application than is first apparent. Because you see, the kind of hearing Paul is talking about in this verse, is a deliberate, intent giving of attention.
Now as to who it was they were literally hearing, it is probably a reference to the teaching of Paul and those traveling with him when they first brought the gospel to the region, and people were attending to them; listening to them, hearing the message, and responding in faith.
So in that sense, they ‘heard’ Christ, because what they were hearing were the words of Christ, related by His messengers, as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit in their teaching.
The same word for hearing that Paul used, is found in Acts 16:14, where Luke introduces Lydia. Paul and Luke and the others with them; probably Timothy at least, came to Philippi. Since it was a Greek city and there was no synagogue there to worship in, they went out of the city and down to the river to find a quiet place to pray. There they came upon a group of women, so they began chatting with them, and by the context of the passage apparently telling them about Jesus.
And it says in verse 14 of Acts 16, that Lydia ‘was listening’, using the same word Paul used here in our text, and “the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul”; and in the next verse we see Lydia and her household being baptized.
Jesus used the same word, recorded in John 5:24, when He declared;
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
So we’re not getting a general sense of hearing, like I might hear a bird in a tree, or hear a truck going by on the highway; but a deliberate effort to listen, absorb meaning, and respond appropriately to what has been said.
I think that this kind of hearing is something that is done far too little in our modern society. There’s a whole lot of the other kind of hearing.
We’ve been trained to pick up on sound bytes, many of which we take in without really giving any thought to what we’re hearing. Commercials on television and radio are honed to perfection. There is not a wasted word, not an unplanned note of music, because advertisers are paying a great deal of money for a 30 second spot, and they have to grab you in that 30 seconds, or lose you.
The same holds true for the news media. They know that you have things to do, they know you’re driving to work or to run errands, or whatever and you’re going to be in and out of your car. They know you just want the highlights, because your coffee is almost ready and you’re going to be out the door, so they give you the news in small, quick bites. And when they are breaking for a commercial or just coming back from one, they give you little one-line ‘teasers’ to try to keep you in front of the TV. until they can get back to giving you more details. It’s a modern art, to grab your attention, or get you to buy, or in some way influence your thinking or your actions, in the fastest, most concise and inexpensive way possible.
So we’re conditioned to absorb these blurbs as we go about our day, trying to squeeze as much as we can into the 16 or 18 hours we’re awake, and many, many people in our culture can go for a very long time, without finding themselves in a position of having to sit down, look someone in the eye, and with concentrated effort, listen to what that person is saying to them.
So of course it follows that this conditioning carries over into the church, like so many other things. And by the way, it is why, to a large degree, the gap between the church and the rest of society is growing ever wider, day by day. Because the church won’t change its methods, without changing its message, to reach people that for the most part aren’t even aware they need to be reached.
Another problem is that in too many cases, the church has recognized the need to change, but instead of changing their methods, they change their message, and though they reach many who need a place to belong and a place to have their minds occupied and be comforted and entertained, those churches have lost the ability to connect those people to Christ in a saving and growing relationship.
If we’re going to be effective in evangelism in the 21st century, folks, we need to find ways to communicate with people in a way that gets their attention, makes them realize their need, expresses our sincere care and concern for them to see that need met, and then teach them how to listen with purpose and have their hearts opened by God to respond to the words we’re saying to them.
Christ speaks to the listener through His messengers, and through His Word. As believers, we are responsible to listen attentively to both. For our spiritual growth, and for protection against the tendency of the flesh to fall back into the lifestyles and behaviors that marked us before we learned Christ.
“E. Dixon Junkin, Associate for Discipleship and Spirituality in the Presbyterian Church, reminds us that our commitment is not to ’study’ Scripture but to ’listen’ to it. It is not as if Scripture were a subject like mathematics, a useful tool that we learn, nor is our goal to analyze Scripture as if it were any other piece of literature. We are not out to learn Scripture as we would various historical facts. The point of our reading is less to master the words of the Bible than to offer ourselves to be mastered by the Word to whom they point.”
--As quoted in The Gospel and Our Culture (June 1993),
Paul said, “But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus.”
Those who have attended to the words of Christ, in a deliberate effort to hear and understand and learn; they are the ones who hear truth, and respond to the One in whom truth is, and they are changed.
They hear the word, and they are mastered by the Word.
LAYING ASIDE AND PUTTING ON
When Paul says “you did not learn Christ in this way”, he is drawing a line and saying, you have crossed this line into a new life, because you learned of the One who is infinitely apart from those I’ve just described, which you also were. You’ve crossed that line and there’s no going back.
To indulge any longer in those old ways is to contradict what you have now become as a result of hearing Him and being taught in Him who is Truth.
People who say they can be a Christian and yet continue in their old ways and do the things that the Bible clearly defines as sin, have not begun to walk the way of Christ.
Christ has called the believer holy. He says that, because in Him the believer is holy. It is impossible to be a Christian, and to live unholy. That is like saying I’m going to drive east and west at the same time in my car. It is tantamount to trying to be wet and dry at the same time. “I’m going to dive into that swimming pool, swim underwater to the other side, come up to the surface, grab the edge of the pool and pull myself out, and I will be perfectly dry as I stand up.”
Impossible.
The writer to the Hebrews very clearly expressed the absolutely opposite character and nature of our Lord from the world and the spirit of this world, and those who are of this world, in Hebrews 7:26
“For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens…”
Listen to the contrast:
Futile in mind, darkened in understanding, excluded from the life of God, ignorant, hard of heart, callous, given over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
Vs.
Holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners.
Now Paul is saying, to the Ephesians and to us, if you are Christ’s, how is it possible for you to be the opposite of what He is, and what He has called you? Walk no more in their way. It is a way of destruction and you have been saved from it. It is a way of defilement, and you have been cleansed from it.
It is a way of falsehood and you have been taught the truth. It is a way of godlessness, but you have been given life and holiness. It is the way of your old self; but you have been made new. How is it possible to walk the way they walk?
So the exhortation is to lay aside the old ways and the behaviors of the old self to whom we have died, and put on the new self which is made in the likeness of God.
This doesn’t take a great deal of explanation. I think we can all very easily conjure up a picture in our mind of what it is to take something off and put something on.
A personal memory that comes readily to mind as I think of this, is of when I wore a pair of cheap tennis shoes until there were holes in the soles of them, rips in the sides; they were dirty, they were stained green in places from when I mowed the lawn, the strings had broken in several places and there were knots where I tied them back together. I needed new shoes.
So I went to the store, picked out a new, clean, white pair of tennis shoes. Then I sat down, took off the old shoes and laid them aside, and put on the new ones. What a contrast! I looked down and saw these brand new shoes on my feet, and then looked at the old ones sitting there next to my chair, and they suddenly looked a lot worse than I had realized! Not only that, but the new ones were more comfortable because they had good tread, good arches, soft, spongy inner-soles… everything about them was better than the old.
And that’s all Paul is saying here. Lay aside the corrupted self, and put on the brand new clean and Godly self. It ought to be easy. Not a struggle. The struggle, for the Christian, should be trying to go back and live the old way. That’s what should be hard and even impossible. Casting off all that filth and putting on the new is what should be very easy to do on a daily basis, because that new self has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth! And Truth lives in you, to help you do that!
A RENEWED MIND
Ah, now there’s the rub. So often things seem so backward. It does seem easier to go back to the old ways. To surrender to the siren call of the old self. To fall to the deceit of the corrupted nature. But why? Why do we seem to have such a difficult time, just putting on our new, holy and righteous self and walking in it?
Paul knew. So he addressed it in verse 23.
“…that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind…”
When I still lived in California, and for a while was selling cars until I repented, I worked with a very lovely young woman named Sheri. We became good friends, because we were hired very close to the same time. She started to work there just a few weeks after I did, so we were sort of learning the business together. And when two people are starving they have a lot in common.
Well Sheri had very recently lost about 50 pounds. She was a beautiful, petite girl with blue eyes and blonde hair and a winning smile. So when she pulled out a photograph of a very over-weight woman and handed it to me without saying anything, I didn’t recognize that I was looking at a picture of Sheri.
“Who’s this?” I asked. And she said, “That’s me about 6 months ago”.
After Sheri had sold a few cars and was a little more comfortable financially, she asked me one day if I’d go with her to shop for clothes. She had no one else to ask and wanted someone’s opinion of the things she tried on. I went with her and waited attentively as she went into the dressing room with several items she had picked out.
As she came out of the dressing room each time, wearing either a dress, or a skirt, or a pair of shorts, I noticed that everything she tried on was too large for her. So I said as much. “Sheri, you need to grab some smaller sizes. These are all nice, but they’re all too big”. Oh, no. She couldn’t do that. She was too fat to wear that lower size. I was glad she ended up buying only a couple of items, because she wasn’t trying on anything her size.
It was months later, when I was at work and she wasn’t scheduled to come in until the afternoon, that she came into the dealership just beaming! She came straight to my office off the showroom and said, “Clark, guess what?” I started laughing because she was so bubbly, and I said, “What?” And she said, “I’m skinny!’
She said, “I was cleaning the apartment before coming to work, and I was just daydreaming as I vacuumed, so when I vacuumed past the mirror I wasn’t thinking about looking in the mirror, so when I looked up into it I saw this stranger looking back at me and it startled me. Then all of a sudden I realized, I’m thin! It’s the first time I’ve seen myself thin!”
That weekend I went shopping with her again, and she bought a whole new wardrobe of clothes that fit her. And she acted differently. She walked with a more erect posture. She approached her customers with more confidence. Her mind had been renewed as to how she thought about herself and saw herself.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, have you learned Christ? Have you heard Him and been taught in Him who is Truth? And is the truth now in you, who have been created brand new, according to holiness and righteousness?
Let Him renew your mind. Look in the mirror that is in His eyes and see yourself. You’re not that old person anymore. You’ve died to that old person, and you’re supposed to take off those old, dirty, ill-fitting clothes and put on the clean garments of holiness and righteousness that have been tailored just for you.
Pray and ask Him to do it. “Lord, renew the spirit of my mind. Let me see who I am now, and let that revelation change my thinking so that I will no longer be deceived by the old self, but daily put on the new self which is created in the likeness of God. Then I will find myself strengthened to walk in a way that manifests Christ; that proves me to be a member of His body; that demonstrates day by day, moment by moment as I go my way, that I am one of those who has heard Him.”
